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Thanks to P-Money for reviewing!

I would like to say, I am indebted to Kiana Caelum for beta-reading this piece for me and making it better!
Thank you!

Chapter 2

Willow's knees buckled. N-no...it couldn't be Tara -Tara wasn't - Her Tara was dead. . She's been killed by Warren, and no many times how hard she'd tried, she couldn't bring her back! She had even tried to destroy the world, all for the love of her Soulmate…

Tara laughed again. "My poor darling Willow – missed me?"

Willow's eyes widened. Tara had never acted like that before... Willow gritted her teeth, chanting a short incantation to reveal the wearer for who it was, and saw a red haze surround Tara. It wasn't Tara, because Tara's aura had been blue, and her signature mark was different. Willow immediately realized it was a spell. She whispered some quick words and blew her magic over to the woman.

Tara's face paled, "Willow, what are you-?"

A thick mist descended over Tara. Everyone waited with bated breath, and when it finally cleared, a different woman was revealed. She wore a vibrant green and silver gown with a low neckline, her bright scarlet hair emphasising the paleness of her white skin. Her large green eyes glowed with an unearthly light and her blood red lips pulled back to reveal small dainty fangs. Unlike many vampires, her visage didn't twist into an evil caricature of herself.

Willow heard Buffy suck in a deep breath next to her. "Lilith."

Lilith was the mother of all vampires, who Willow had met when they had crashed the dust waltz party Lilith had hosted on the Hellmouth underneath Sunnydale High. Willow had some disturbing memories of that party.

"Well, hello there, Slayer," Lilith drawled.

Willow saw Buffy's fist clench, and put a hand reassuringly on her shoulder. "She's not worth it, Buffy."

Buffy nodded, and Willow was relieved.

Lilith's attention turned to Willow, anger in her eyes. "Shouldn't you be mourning the loss of your beloved Tara?"

Willow felt a wave of blackness rise up inside her, and pushed it down. She would NOT rise to the bait.

"I will never forget Tara, I still mourn her death, but I have a new lover now, and I'm trying to move on, make a life for myself." Willow smiled and snuggled against Kennedy. Kennedy laid a kiss on her head.

Lilith's face was as white as death, her eyes two dark holes in her face. "I have had enough of this senseless banter! Attack!"

The monsters rushed towards them, and Willow had a brief flash of fighting the Turok-Han underneath the high school before Sunnydale was destroyed, and then she had no more time for thought as she lunged at the monster that was coming towards her. For the next coupe of minutes, all one could hear was the sound of fighting, as chaos erupted around them.

Willow stopped and wiped her hand across her brow. She looked around and surveyed the damage that she saw. Over half the monsters were either dust in the wind or bursting into flames. Willow saw Xander, an intent look on his face, his black eye patch obstructing his missing eye, but then glimpsed the vampire creeping up behind him, blood dripping from its mouth.

"Xander! Watch ou-" Willow started to say, and then saw Xander whirl around and chop off the vampire's head. Well, looks like Xander can take care of himself, Willow thought, and turned back to the fight.

It wasn't long before the only person left alive was Lilith. Wrapped in her magical shield, she surveyed the scene warily, disgust on her face.

No one had been injured fatally, and they all stood together, watching at Lilith pressed up against a tree.

"Now what should we do with the Wicked Witch of the West?" Xander mused.

"Let's kill her." Faith suggested.

Buffy shook her head. "You can't kill her. She's impossible to kill."

Kennedy spoke up. "So what should we do with her then?"

"I have an idea." Everyone turned to look at Giles. "We could interrogate her and then dispose of her… if necessary."

If necessary? Willow arched an eyebrow. "As in she's no threat to us?"

Giles nodded. "Without the power of her parents or her sister to back her up, Lilith is quite vulnerable."

"Nuh-uh. Not a good idea." Xander shook his head fervently.

Giles glared at him. "Then what do you suggest?"

"This!"

Everyone turned to look at Lilith. She had dropped the shield, and fire was crackling in her hand. She had time to mouth; I'll be back, before teleporting out.

Buffy sighed. "Great. Now the Wicked Witch of the West has gone to kill Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz."

Xander chucked. "Because she really wants to steal Dorothy's ruby red slippers."

After the gang checked the whole of the town to see if there were any surprise visitors left, they settled in a house that amazingly hadn't managed to fall down yet.

The next morning, Willow woke up, her stomach rumbling. She padded out of her room into the kitchen. Everyone was awake and sitting down at the table. Only Buffy and Faith weren't there.

"Where's Buffy and Faith?" Willow asked.

Kennedy came over and put her arm around her. "They've gone out to look for some food."

"Oh." Willow nodded, and just then the Slayers came through the doorway.

"Hi all," Faith said walked into the kitchen and sat down.

"So, did you manage to find any food?" Willow asked.

Buffy shook her head. "No. We have to go find another village."

"At least we had someplace to crash." Xander shrugged, and Willow followed him out the door. They had to find someplace to stay.

The sun was high in the sky, and since it was summer, they managed to get to another town by nightfall.

There was a sign that read Welcome to Happy Vale. Enjoy your stay!

Willow noticed that it was like the Sunnydale sign, and smiled to herself.

The bus entered the village, and came to stop in what seemed to be the middle of the town square. A woman came running up to them as they dismounted from the bus.

"Hello! Are you okay? Do you need somewhere to stay?" she asked worriedly. The other townspeople came out of their houses, and went forward shyly, though keeping behind the woman. Willow noticed that there were a lot of girls who were around sixteen or seventeen.

Buffy came forward. "Um, yes please."

The woman smiled at her. "Don't worry, Lilith won't be able to come here. We have wards preventing evil from coming inside the village."

Willow gaped at her, her mind spinning. Who was this woman? How did she know about Lilith?

The woman suddenly looked straight at her. "Spellcaster, do not be afraid. This town -" she waved her around, indicating the people "- is full of hard-working decent people. There are many Slayers and Witches here. You could say it's a preternatural community, and after what happened in Sunnydale, we have been keeping a close eye on you to keep you from harm. It was not luck or accident that brought you - you were brought here by purpose. I sent my Tbareshems to guide, as you did not know they way."

Giles blinked. "Thank you very much. May we know your name, please?"

The woman nodded. "I am Shiana Livestri. Come with me, I will introduce you to the others later. But I'm sure right now you'll want somewhere to eat and rest!"

They followed her to her house, and on the way Willow spotted a school that looked a lot like Sunnydale High.

When they got to the brownstone house, the woman opened the door and ushered them inside. All of them trooped into the foyer and stood there, looking lost.

"Come in." Shiana led them into the living room, a wide spacious room that was enough to fit all twenty-one of them, and they sat down on the chairs and couches dotted around the room. It looked like she had been expecting them, because not soon after she brought trays of steaming coffee and cake, enough to go around.

Shiana settled down on a chair. "Now that I've introduced myself and given you all something to refresh yourselves, I'd like to know you names."

Buffy did the introductions. "I'm Buffy Anne Summers, this is my sister, Dawn Summers, Willow Rosenberg, Alexander Harris, Rupert Giles, Faith Amelia Lehane, Kennedy --, Robin Wood, Andrew --, Vincennes Leon, Rona Douce, Kendra Marine, Leanna Houst, Marie Daemon, Anita Athens, Romaine Frauder, Lynnette Blake, Cassie McGregor, Carmen Wisorchid, Lily Bloom, and Patience Muggler. The girls are the remaining Slayers; the others were killed by the Turok-Han."

Shiana raised her eyebrows. "You've got quite a group there, Watcher."

Giles nodded. "All the survivors of the town."

"Do you all want to stick together or would you prefer to move into different houses?" Shiana asked.

The group looked at each other. We should really stick together, Willow thought.

It was almost as if Giles had read her mind. "We'd all prefer to stick together, thank you."

Shiana nodded again. "Wise decision. It is better to go for safety than comfort of a loved one in these dangerous times. My house is large enough to accommodate all of you, but I'm afraid there are only five bathrooms to accommodate all of you, even though my house is the largest in the town, me being the leader of the community."

"I'm sure it will be adequate enough for our needs." Giles said mildly.

Shiana smiled. She bore a passing resemblance to Jenny Calendar, and Willow felt a twinge of sorrow, but less than Giles's burden of pain.

"I am sure people will be happy to give you some clothes," she said. "Now please excuse me, I must clear things away."

Whilst Shiana began gathering the cups and plates, the group huddled together.

"So, are we gonna stay here or what?" Faith asked.

"I don't know," Giles said. "We could stay here a while, and then I simply do not know where we could go next."

"So, we should stay here then?" Lily asked.

"Yeah. At least for the time being," Buffy answered.

"Shiana seems a nice enough person," Carmen mused.

"Nuh-uh. Hansel and Gretel alert! Hansel and Gretel alert!" Xander intoned, shaking his head wildly.

Dawn rolled her eyes. "First you were all 'the Wizard of Oz' and now you're all 'Hansel and Gretel'. Come on."

"Have you even read Hansel and Gretel?" Xander asked.

"We had to do it for English lit." Patience used to be in Dawn's class at Sunnydale High.

"Yeah. And we know what goes on in it as well, Harris." This was from Lynnette, Dawn's other friend.

Xander held up his arms, surrendering to them. "Fine! You win. Women nowadays."

"Hey, grandpa," Dawn teased, but just then Shiana came back in, and they went about their own ways.

Weeks passed, and the group found life in Happyville peaceful, unlike Sunnydale. The Slayers were trained, and the Slayers in the village were only too happy to show them the cemetery where the vampires and demons of their town hung out.

But Willow was becoming increasingly unsettled. The Scoobies all felt that something was coming, and didn't like the peace and quiet one bit. They were waiting for the storm to hit.