Authors note: I have been reading a lot of fan fiction based on the further adventures of Buffy and the scoobies. Quite frankly none of them where very satisfying. Even CN Winters watchers series was not truly up to par with Joss Whedon's original series. So I have taken this opportunity to write a continuation of the Buffy series that I think better suits Joss's original story ideas. Before anyone freaks out let me explain the mythos behind my vampires. If you watch all seven seasons of Buffy and every season of Angel you can tell a great similarity between Joss's vampires and the vampires written about by monks in England. I will not bore you with details however I would like to say that I am going to throw in some things that joss had not mentioned. Also I would like to point out that there is going to be a little more religion in this fanfic than was present in Joss's series. I do this so that the dynamic between slayer and vampire is at least slightly more accurate to historical and religious records of vampires. I know that you are all tired of reading this long intro so I will shut up and let you get on with the story.

Watchers Council: New Beginnings

Prologue: The Lone Wolf

Night had settled over the city. Cleveland was a big town. Certainly to big for one slayer to patrol by herself. Luckily this was not the case the streets were not being patrolled by one slayer but thirty slayers many too young and inexperienced to do any damage on there own but in a group they were a force to be reckoned with. Many of the more experienced slayers had been killed when the Sunnydale hellmouth was closed. The slayers that survived had followed The Chosen One here to Cleveland. The watchers council had been working on building a base of operations in Cleveland due to the numerous hot spots in the United States. Unfortunately the watchers council had been destroyed by minions of the first evil. And the new building in Cleveland was not finished. When the slayers had come to Cleveland they had hoped that the council would still be here. What they found was a building empty of life and full of bodies. Every watcher and potential that had moved here from England were dead. The first had shown no mercy upon them.

It had taken weeks of cleaning to erase the smell of blood and Giles had almost given up hope. The tall British immigrant was sitting behind a large mahogany desk in a spacious office overlooking one of Cleveland's public parks. His slayer had incessantly asked him how they were going to get away with using and paying for the building they all lived in. It was a question he was not yet ready to answer. He held a letter in his hands. The paper it was written on looked ancient yet the ink was fresh. At the bottom was a large wax seal baring a large cross. The letter had come from England. The address had puzzled him for some time, the envelope it came in was addressed from the ministry of faith and had been signed by the minister him self however the contents of the letter troubled him more. The letter had said that since the destruction of the council, the Crown deemed it necessary to take control of its activities. The letter went on to say that for far too long the council had operated on a thin line of faith and needed to be put back on the path of the Anglican church. They were also sending an emissary to Cleveland to take over operation of the American branch. Giles was not sure what to do. If it was will of the Crown to take over, then he had no place in telling them that they were wrong. Getting up from his desk he leaned against the window sill and stared out into the night. What was he going to do? He was afraid that as bad as the council was the Crown may be much worse. At least he was going to be able enjoy a good cup of tea again.

Whiles Giles stood in his office Buffy was standing in the middle of a lush park. Willow had received a letter from her ex boy friend Oz. He needed her help and Willow was more than happy to do so. The whole gang was out to help her find him. He had told them he would be in the park but had yet to show up. Standing together the group looked like very suspicious. There was not many of them left. The original gang was still there but over the years they had gained and lost many good people. At the moment the scoobies were made up of Buffy, Willow, Xander, and Dawn. Both Willow and Xander had lost their girlfriends to The First. Xander's fiancé had died and Willows girlfriend had an emotional breakdown and had to be put into an institution. Both had been friends for a long time but their friendship could not fill the whole in their hearts. Buffy had lost a lover but not a love. No man could ever fill the whole on her heart. Dawn had lost a father figure. Not that Buffy would have agreed with that sentiment. In the days since Spike had given his life to save Sunnydale Dawn had come to realize that he had meant more to her than that. There was no reason to dwell on such things. He was gone and no matter how much she cared for him she could not bring him back.

The park was eerie at night. Not that eerie bothered any of them much. Buffy and Dawn had taken point with Xander and Willow behind them. Willow was deep in meditation, attempting to perform a location spell on Oz.

"Shoot" the red head exclaimed. "Its no use I cant get a fix on him, its like my magic is fizzing out."

"Come on Will, how can you be sure of that" Xander was trying to lighten the mood. "Maybe its Oz, maybe he's been cursed or something."

"Xander think before you speak." Dawn retorted. "That would be worse, now wouldn't it."

"Oh, yeah sorry Will." Xander gave Willow his best happy face and smile. "I didn't mean it like that."

"That's ok Xander. I know you didn't." Willow attempted a smile but it failed. "I just want to find him."

"Guys hush." Buffy raised a hand to signal them to stop. "There is something out here."

Willow gave up meditating and the four of them kept quiet. Buffy tried to listen for movement but got nothing.

"Maybe it was nothing." Buffy said.

As Buffy moved forward she gripped the stake tucked in the inside pocket of her leather jacket. She had lost the trail. It was like whoever she had picked up on had just vanished. She turned around to face her friends and shrugged her shoulders.

Swiftly and without warning a shadowy figure leapt at Buffy from the bushes. Launching at her chest Buffy's mysterious attacker pinned her to the ground. Lifting its head to the night sky the hairy creature let out a blood curdling howl.

"Oz!" Willow exclaimed.

The werewolf didn't respond he simply looked at Buffy as if he were picking a place to start. Buffy struggled to get leverage enough to throw him off but was defenseless against him. Struggling was no use, he was too strong. Xander attempted to pull Oz off of Buffy to no avail.

"Will do something." Xander looked at Willow frantically.

"I don't know, Buff is the one with super powers." Willow started to bit her nails.

"Come on guys think of something." Buffy gasped.

Dawn stood back terror in her eyes. She was looking at Buffy not the Buffy with a werewolf on her chest but a scared and troubled Buffy. The Buffy she saw was standing three feet in front of her. Her big sister was going to sacrifice everything for her. She remembered that night so vividly just like she had every night for over two years. Buffy had been within arms reach of her. She had wanted so badly to reached out and stop her from dying but she wasn't strong enough. she still wasn't strong enough to tell her sister the truth. God had given her a job to do. He had given her life, allowed her to see what it was like to be human. But in exchange she had to let Buffy die. She knew that god had a plan for her sister, she knew that Buffy had to die so that she could save the world again. The knowledge didn't change anything, the humanity she had craved for made her feel sick with anguish and pain. She knew Buffy was not going to die tonight at the hand of her friend, yet for the first time since that night she knew who she was and she knew what she needed to do.

Reality snapped back and dawn saw her sister lying on the ground with one of her best friends trying to decide which part of her to eat first. For the first time in her human life Dawn didn't hesitate to act.

Calmly she walked past Willow and Xander. Reaching her sister she bent down and grabbed hold of Oz by the throat. Without much effort she lifted him off of Buffy and pinned him to a nearby tree.

"Whoa, since when can you do that." Xander stood dumbfounded.

"I'll explain everything later but for now we need to get Oz out of here." With that she let go of Oz and he limped in to her arms. Picking him up she hoisted him over her shoulder and headed back to where they were staying.