See Part One for Disclaimer and details. Hi, and welcome to the latest chapter of the story! Now, the reviews keep coming, for which I am very grateful – thank you, all – but like a crack addict who always wants more, I can't get enough of the feedback. Good, bad, or anything in between; please tell me what you think of the fic so far! I'm hoping to hear from as many as people as possible, on how they'd like this story to end. But enough of that, let's get on with the fanfic...

Part Twelve: Aftermath, Revisited

City Hall, Sunnydale

January 22nd, 1998

Mayor Allan Finch was going over the report of how a lot of helicopter activity had taken place in Sunnydale earlier this morning.

( Most likely, Mr. Giles summoned help from his organization in England and the support troops came to get rid of the Judge's body parts, ) the newly-installed Mayor reflected as he considered the information provided him. ( Well, good – it saves me the trouble of doing it myself. )

Allan was still feeling annoyed with himself, though, for ever letting matters get this far. He knew it was impossible to get rid of every single vampire in Sunnydale – like Giles had said about the Gorch brothers, the malignant supernatural energy emitted by the Hellmouth attracted vampires and demons to it like moths to a flame. ( Still, I shouldn't have left the job from two months ago half-done like that. That Anointed One, he's really got to go! Maybe Anya can help me think of something? I wonder where she's gotten off to... )

Right on cue, the vengeance demon appeared in front of him out of nowhere. Anyanka looked distressed as she babbled, "Allan, I've got to leave! Right now. There are countless women out there in the world, crying out for vengeance, screaming in pain for my help!"

"I see," Allan nodded reasonably; luckily, he knew how to handle Anyanka's whims by now. "May I ask when you'll be back?"

"I don't know. Days. Weeks. Anyone suggesting months would not be accused of crazy talk!" Anyanka said urgently, totally missing out on the irony of her words.

"Well, that's a pity. Because you were scheduled to make a speech tomorrow at one of the ladies auxiliaries meetings, as I recall," Allan idly scratched the back of his neck.

"Well, yes, I mean women's rights ARE definitely important, and I had quite the target audience seminar prepared. Oh, maybe I should delay my travel plans – no, no, I mustn't! Vengeance is what I do. It's what I am!" Anyanka said crazily, repeating the words she'd uttered to Halfrek back in 1983.

"Well, personally, Anya, I like to think that there's a lot more to you than just vengeance. I mean, you've been an excellent official in my administration," Allan said smoothly. He held up some papers and said, "Your submission for a ten-year plan concerning the airport, the shipping port, and all the local businesses was very interesting, despite what the town select committee had to say."

"Well, of course it was – wait, what did the committee have to say?" Anyanka demanded, as she grabbed the papers from Allan and read them. Her eyes went wide with an unexpected burst of lucidity as she muttered, "Overly capitalistic assumptions...insufficient understanding of the local economy...not in line with City Hall objectives...OH!" the demoness seethed in rage. "This was written by a bunch of stupid MEN, wasn't it? I'm gonna liquefy their entrails for this, not to mention torture them for ages!"

"But I thought you were going to be too busy with the vengeance thing, answering the call of wronged women all over the world for the next few months?" Allan asked with a frown.

"Oh, vengeance-shmengeance, this is PERSONAL!" the demoness said furiously, somehow maintaining her coherent façade. "How dare those feeble males question MY conclusions for where this city needs to go, in order to survive the next ten years! I've been around for nearly twelve centuries! What – do they think I can't tell how this country is headed for a financial meltdown, within the next decade or so? Of all the..." Anyanka fumed angrily.

"Well, you could always try to persuade the committee to see things from your point of view. And instead of simply killing them, maybe you could get all those men to willingly support you and your plan? That would be quite the moral victory for women everywhere if you could pull it off, I'd say – an acknowledgment of female superiority, not to mention being able to think beyond the next election for the good of the community. Just my opinion, anyway," Finch said blandly.

"Pop goes the weasel, you're absolutely right!" Anyanka nodded eagerly, lapsing back into the depths of insanity. "After all, Mary-Mary quite contrary – you can kill as many men as you like, but their libidinous treachery and oppression of women will never change. I'll try Thompson in the Chamber of Commerce first, and if he doesn't listen, I'll threaten to make someone wish for him to be replaced..."

Allan Finch smiled as Anyanka disappeared out of his office. ( To think I'm actually starting to get used to that sort of thing, and that I'm beginning to get rather fond of her, ) the new Mayor thought to himself with pleasure as he got back to work. ( Well, if nothing else, Anya certainly keeps things from getting boring around here... )

The next moment, Allan put down his pen and gazed thoughtfully off into the distance. Anyanka's words had just given him an idea on how to handle Collin.

Sunnydale High School, Sunnydale

Later that night

Willow Rosenberg was seriously grieving as she left the girls' bathroom to go back to the library, not long after sunset.

( Jesse got turned into a vampire, ) the redhead thought to herself, trying not to start crying again. ( Oh, God, but I still can't bring myself to really believe it. How can he be dead? How can he be DUST? Who, who did that to him? Probably that Ford guy... )

It was just too much to deal with – especially after what had happened with Ms. Calendar, and how the Computer Science teacher had explained she didn't swing that way to her favorite student. Right now, Willow's mind was full of memories of the boy who had been her best male friend, and her first ever friend. From the first day of kindergarten with the yellow crayon, to the last time she had seen him alive – walking out of the library, and chasing after Darla as usual.

Willow could remember Cordelia saying at the mall what had happened, how Xander had saved her from an undead monster that had tried to kill her in public. Harris himself had looked stunned when Queen C had mentioned just who her attacker had been – apparently he hadn't seen Jesse's face, before he'd stabbed him in the back.

In Willow's mind, that made it a little easier not to hate Xander for what he'd done.

( I'm just glad I didn't see Jesse as one of the walking dead, and that I can remember him the way he was instead of one of those – things, ) Willow thought numbly as she walked slowly down the corridor. She suspected Buffy and Giles felt the same way, even though neither of them had admitted it to her yet.

"Willow," Xander came out of the library and walked over to her in the school corridor.

"What is it?" Willow sniffled, as they both came to a stop.

"Uh, I was wondering if it'd make it any easier if I, um, kinda stayed out of your way from now on. 'Cause I know you and McNally were really tight, like almost right from the cradle," Xander looked down for a moment.

"No, I don't think that'd change anything," Willow said lifelessly. "Jesse's dead-"

"And I killed him," Xander interrupted.

"No. Giles explained it to me last year. He told us that first day Jesse and I found out about the Hellmouth, how when you see a vampire you're not looking at a person anymore – you're looking at the, the thing which killed him," Willow replied in that same dead tone of voice. She then looked up at Xander and said, "I, I should thank you for staking the evil demon wearing Jesse's face before it could kill Cordelia or anybody else, but I can't. At least, not yet – it's, it's just too soon."

"I understand," Xander nodded compassionately. "And for whatever it's worth, I'm sorry for your loss. McNally never liked me much, and the feeling was fairly mutual – but the guy sure as hell didn't deserve what happened to him."

"Thanks," Willow said mournfully, hugging her arms around herself.

At that moment, the lights went out. "What the hell's going on?" Xander said in confusion, looking up and around.

"Willow. Xander," a female voice from the other end of the corridor said, the owner's face was shrouded in shadows but both teens recognized it as belonging to their vampire acquaintance.

"Darla?" the red-haired girl said in confusion.

"Yes. Do either of you know what's up with the lights?" the evil vampiress asked, even though she had been the one responsible for cutting the power – taking a leaf out of Spike's book from Parent-Teacher Night, ironically enough.

"Never mind that – where, where have you been ever since last night? Oh, wait, did you see where Jesse went after he left the library? Who might have turned him?" Willow demanded.

"Someone turned Jesse?" Darla's voice was free of all traces of amusement, her acting as impeccable as ever.

"Yeah, I staked him at the mall last night while he was trying to bite Cordelia," Xander replied, frowning as he saw Darla stiffen in the distance. He suddenly remembered how the Judge had had a demonized human arm at the mall, he had seen it with his own two eyes – and yet Darla had reported how the Judge's real arm had been stolen from her at the docks, by persons unknown. ( Wait a sec – if it wasn't the vamps who grabbed it like we all assumed it was, then who was it? There's another player here in town? Or maybe... )

Xander's instincts suddenly started screaming warnings at him, as Willow began walking towards the undead woman. Xander asked Darla suspiciously, "So where were you while we were taking care of the Judge?"

Rather than answer, Darla moved with vampire super-speed. She had an arm around Willow's throat and her game face was finally visible in the dim emergency lighting as – dropping the act once and for all – the demon snarled, "Where was I? I was at the mall too. Less than thirty feet away from where you killed my childe!"

Willow couldn't believe the words that were coming out of Darla's mouth. ( She turned Jesse into a vampire-? ) The redhead then yelped in pain as Darla tightened her grip. ( This, this can't be happening... )

The next moment, by coincidence, both Giles and Buffy came out of the library; then they stopped at the sight of Willow in the grip of the snarling vampiress. Darla saw the new arrivals and growled, "Well, it looks as if the gang's all here! Apart from the bimbo cheerleader, of course – and let's not forget your lover, Rupert. She was quite the screamer, before I finally ripped her throat out!"

"You – killed Ms. Calendar?" Buffy said in complete shock, unable to believe it and staring blankly at her former ally.

"You, you..." Giles was staring at Darla in sheer disbelief, before a raging hatred was born in his heart as the Watcher became a true believer. Drusilla's prophecy about everyone turning on her grandsire had finally come to pass, and there was no way to put the genie back in the bottle now.

"What? Did I drink that gypsy spy like the two-course meal she was? Laugh as your girlfriend begged me not to kill her and her unborn child? Yes, to both questions," Darla smirked, relishing the stricken expression on Rupert's face. "Ah, let me guess – that damned daughter of the Kalderash never told you she was pregnant? Well, then, I suppose it's pretty much pointless to say congratulations at this point – Daddy!"

"Darla, what – what's happened to you?" Buffy wanted to wake up from this horrible nightmare.

"Something wonderful," Darla bit back, her yellow eyes gleaming in the semi-darkness. "And trust me on this, if nothing else, Slayer – I WILL kill you for what you did to my sire, just like I'm going to kill that damned friend of yours over there for dusting Jesse!" It went without saying that Darla would have killed Xander anyway, on general principles, since he had been sent here by Whistler to aid the Slayer just as she had – but now, just like Anyanka earlier on today at City Hall, it was personal.

"What – have you, like, lost your soul or something?" Xander demanded, and then everyone human felt their eyes go wide as that thought sunk into their brains. "Oh my God, you HAVE!"

"Maybe. Maybe not. Either way, you're all going to die!" Darla growled, pinching Willow's cheek and eliciting another pained yelp from her. "So cute and helpless, isn't she? Reminds me of that gypsy girl, way back when..."

Darla's fangs were headed for Willow's throat – when all of a sudden, a strong wind began blowing in the school corridor. It quickly turned into a gale, as SOMETHING yanked Darla away from Willow, picking her up and hurling her all the way down the corridor.

"WHAT'S GOING ON?" Buffy screamed to be heard over the howl of the wind. She saw Darla crash into the door leading outside, before the vampiress furiously left the scene of battle – and then the wind started to die down.

"What the hell's going on out here?" Cordelia demanded, as she finally came out of the library.

"Oh dear Lord," Giles breathed, as he and everyone else saw the translucent ghost of Jesse McNally materialize near Xander.

"Jesse...?" Willow whispered, before she heard the words 'love you' quite clearly in her mind as McNally looked at her.

The Jesse ghost then turned his attention to Cordelia, looking apologetic, before staring Xander directly in the eye.

Harris immediately felt a burning sensation on his right arm – exactly where his Special Forces tattoo was, as a matter of fact. And even though no one could see it, the green beret on top of the skull and crossbones glowed briefly – imbued with an elemental force from beyond the grave.

'Green fire,' Harris heard the words echo in his skull, a portent of what was to come.

The last thing the ghost did was look upwards, as if in expectation.

High above on the ceiling, a bright light appeared, and the spirit of Jesse McNally dissolved into swirls of white mist that ascended to leave this world for the next. As quickly as it had appeared, the light on the ceiling was then gone.

"This damn town did it to me AGAIN!" Cordelia cried to no one in particular, trying to get Jesse's voice out of her head along with his farewell message: 'help Xander'.

Outside 1630 Revello Drive, Sunnydale

A short while later

Giles' Citroen came to a halt outside Buffy's house, as Rupert pulled over and switched off the engine. Both Watcher and Slayer just sat there for a few moments, with the only noise to be heard that of the crickets outside.

Eventually, the British man broke the silence. "Buffy, you need to be extremely careful from now on – Darla, she'll-she'll come after you first, most likely. Her profile, uh, well, she – prior to the curse, the books describe how she hated Slayers with a passion, and if one adds your killing of the Master into the mix..."

"Yeah, I know. Bottom line is that without some kinda miracle here, I gotta kill her first chance I get. What about Xander, though? Darla seemed to have a major hate thing going for him too," Buffy replied, looking down.

"Yes, well, I spoke with the boy before we all left the school, I-I advised him to also be on his guard at all times. The coming days and weeks a-are going, are going to be hard...I, I suspect on all of us, but on you and him, especially," Rupert acknowledged.

"Giles, about what Darla said in that corridor..." Buffy started to say.

"Buffy. We've both been aware for some days that, that it – it had almost certainly come to this," Giles interrupted her, no sign of his inner rage and fury visible on his resigned, middle-aged face. "There's been nothing, no response to th-that spell I used to scry for Jenny's location. Darla must have killed her right from the start." That wasn't true as City Hall was warded against such spells, thanks to Richard Wilkins' handiwork, but then Giles and the others didn't know that.

"That's not what I meant, Watcher mine. Look, what Darla said about Ms. Calendar being some sorta spy, and being pregnant with your-"

Giles raised an arm to stop his charge from continuing with that sentence. "Buffy, the Watcher diaries are clear on how both Darla and Angelus often used psychological torture on their victims, for close to 150 years. In fact, the vampire known as Drusilla – the texts mention how those two drove the woman completely insane, before Angelus finally turned her into one of the undead. So we cannot trust anything Darla may have said on face value – not anymore."

"Yeah," Buffy said sadly. "But just between us, Giles – it's also possible Darla was telling the truth, isn't it? I mean, I get me the definite feeling that, uh, things had already gone that far between you and Ms. Calendar-?"

"Buffy, I'll only say this once. My private relationship with Jenny – is not your concern," Giles said bluntly. He was planning to get his weapons and fire-bomb Darla's apartment later tonight for revenge; even though he knew the odds were that the evil vampiress would have already abandoned the place.

"Yeah, you're right, I've totally overstepped my bounds," Miss Summers replied, knowing that the answer to her question was 'yes'. "Can we change the subject here?"

"Of course," Giles said with a significant sense of relief. "Uh, i-in your opinion, how's Willow coping with everything that's happened?"

"Weird as it sounds, I think the Jesse ghost showing up the way it did – that actually gave her some sense of, of closure. So I, I think she'll be okay, knowing that right now he's in a – a better place," Buffy semi-stammered, trying to get her emotions under control. "What happened in that corridor – that was way freaky, Giles. I mean, professionally speaking I've known for years how this sorta stuff exists – but that was the closest thing I've ever gotten to actually getting a glimpse of Heaven."

"Yes," Giles nodded, hoping that his beloved was up there right now and smiling down upon them. "But, um – have you given any thought as to what we should, ah, tell Jesse's parents? As far as I know, they're, they're completely ignorant regarding the true nature of the Hellmouth. I-it would seem a, um, a terribly cruel punishment to tell them nothing, but, but I fail to see how we can say anything concerning what r-r-really happened to their son..."

"You're right. I mean, what are we gonna say? That Jesse became a bloodsucking creature of the night, and he got staked at the mall by Xander? Here's his dusty remains, so sorry for your loss? They'd call for the men in white coats like straightaway," Buffy shuddered. "Y'know Giles, ever since the Master drowned me, I'd almost forgotten how this isn't a game. How people associated with the Slayage are going to die; Willow, Xander, Cordy, you, even me. Again. Only this time, Jesse won't be there to bring me back – 'cause I wasn't able to prevent him getting killed by someone we all trusted!"

"I-if it's blame you're looking for with respect to that, Buffy, I-I-I'm not your man. All you will get from me is, is my support. And my respect," Giles said, choking up a little. "No Watcher could, could ever ask for a finer Slayer."

Buffy smiled at him through her tears, before hugging her Watcher goodbye and going into her house. It had been too long since she and Joyce had done some mother-daughter bonding together, to remind the seventeen-year-old girl that there was more to life than battling the monsters that lurked in the darkness.

The Master's cave, somewhere underneath Sunnydale

January 23rd, 1998

The vampire that had been Billy Fordham was screaming in pain, just as he had been doing for the past forty-eight hours – because Collin needed a target to vent his fury upon, and the undead didn't go in for that whole 'kick the dog' thing.

Ford was strapped naked to a bed of nails, in the middle of the cavern. Collin was strolling around and inspecting the various bruises and burn marks his underling had accumulated, thanks to the beatings and the holy water the Anointed One had liberally splashed all over him. There were also half a dozen assorted vampires in attendance, bearing witness to the whole gory show.

It was important for the minions to understand the price for failure, after all.

"Let's start again. Why did you betray me?" Collin asked his captive calmly.

"I didn't! I DIDN'T!" Ford pleaded truthfully but also pointlessly, in between the screaming.

"The Judge is gone; possibly destroyed, but certainly lost to us. And you were spotted talking with the Slayer afterwards-"

"I was FIGHTING her! Summers was doing the whole pointless quip thing and I – AHHHHHHH!" Ford shrieked in agony as the holy water splashed directly onto his penis, which began to smoke and burn.

"I expected better from you, Ford. You were my firstborn, after all," Collin said with an expressionless look on his face. The little boy vampire was feeling very disappointed with his creation, vowing to be a lot more choosy with the next human he decided to turn into one of the undead.

"Please, master. I'll make it up to you; I'll do anything you want. ANYTHING!" Ford pleaded with his sire.

"Anything?" Collin looked down at the prisoner in distaste.

"YES! YES!"

"Would you kill your parents for me?"

"No problem!"

"Would you kill the Slayer for me?"

"In a heartbeat!"

"Would you kill Xander Harris for me?"

The hesitation lasted less than half a second, but to Collin, it almost seemed like an eternity before Ford screamed "Yes!" to that one as well. The Anointed One thought to himself, ( A human that a vampire wants to remain alive and unharmed, to the point of going out of his way to protect him? That's so strange...what is it about that particular human that's so special? Perhaps I should make HIM my next childe, in order to find out. )

"YOU'RE going to kill the Slayer's little friend? How quaint," Darla's sarcastic voice interjected, as she strode into the lion's den like a princess amongst peasants. Throwing the undead help aside left and right, Darla walked over to the Anointed One. "Hi. I'm Darla."

The Anointed One stared in curiosity at the vampiress standing brazenly before him. He'd heard the Master talk about Darla. And the stories he had told of her exploits! The legends of the matriarch commanding the Scourge of Europe were still whispered about today, here and there. Even with the soul, Collin had heard, she had massacred those gypsies that had cursed her before sinking into obscurity.

The Anointed One thought he could learn a lot from this particular vampiress...starting with why she helped the Slayer, and sided against her own kind.

"I know who you are. The Master used to speak to me about you," the undead boy intoned solemnly. "Why are you here, Darla?"

"To take my rightful place as the Master's successor, seeing as I'm the last direct descendant of the Order of Aurelius," Darla sent Collin a chilly smile.

"Others have tried to supplant me as the master of the Hellmouth. The mayor Richard Wilkins and Kakistos, to name just two. They were all better armed for the task than you. What makes you think you'll succeed where they failed?" the Anointed One demanded as his servants surrounded Darla completely.

"My own secret weapon, of course. ANYA!" Darla called out, summoning the demoness who appeared out of nowhere.

"Oh, for Yekk's sake. Olaf! Your troll lair is a complete mess!" Anyanka called out, oblivious to the confused stares of all the vampires. "Where are you? Come on, Olaf, this is no time to play games! Come out, come out, wherever you are!"

"Anya! As a wronged woman, I wish for you to burn the Anointed One – this MALE – into ashes right now!" Darla yelled, pointing at Collin and bracing herself for a quick getaway if the insane demoness didn't play ball.

"DONE!" Anyanka growled automatically, going into her demon face and staring at the child vampire. She could feel Darla's pain from the loss of Jesse, and even though her addled brain didn't remember why she'd actually agreed to come here earlier on, granting Wishes to females screaming for vengeance was second nature to her.

Collin was quickly consumed by a column of fire, screaming in pain and disbelief as he was unexpectedly erased from existence.

The king was dead. Long live the new queen of the damned, who would rule Sunnydale's vampires as Allan Finch's unwitting and unwilling servant.

TBC...