Warning: Rated T for now, but may change later to M for darker subject matter.

Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel belong to their copyright holders, I own nothing.

Chapter 4: Return Home

Buffy approached the Vamp Master and the lady who accompanied him. Neither had really noticed her until she was too close not to be noticed. They both turned to her, the woman vampire immediately changing to her game face. Vamp Master stood there coolly, watching through thick gray eyes.

Up this close, Buffy actually got a good look at the Vamp Master. He was admittedly good looking. Tall and muscular, and it didn't hurt that he stood up as straight as he could, as if extremely proud. His hair was dark, darker than Angel's, and short. It lay flat on his head with a few pieces touching the tips of his forehead. His eyes were gray and intense. Buffy could imagine being one of his servants and crumbling under his glare. No wonder this guy had such power over so many vampires. He was so imposing.

The woman was blond and not very pretty (at least not with her vamp face). She took a daring step in front of Vamp Master, as if protective.

"Well, well, well," Buffy started, "you need a girl to fight your battles?"

Vamp Master didn't react to her words. Instead, he stood still as a stone and kept his eyes locked on her.

"Don't talk to him, Slayer," the woman vampire said. "You are not worthy of such greatness. I will kill you and we will drink your blood for your indiscretions."

Buffy faked a shiver. "Oh, I'm so scared," she said sarcastically.

The woman leaped at Buffy. Buffy moved to the right and instantly hit the woman with a kick to her side. She fell to the ground but rolled over and stood back up, clearly much angrier now. Just based on the first move, Buffy knew this would be easy enough. The vampire wasn't much of an experienced fighter.

Buffy blocked a punch and sent one of her own to the vampire's face. She stumbled backwards, confused. Buffy stepped forward, raised her stake, and swung it straight at the vampire's chest.

Unfortunately, she ducked right in time, causing Buffy to miss her entirely. The vampire jumped up and tackled her to the ground. The stake flew out of Buffy's hand, over near the Vamp Master who was still remaining in his spot, casually watching the fight between Slayer and vampire.

The vampire and Buffy were sort of wrestling on the ground, with the vampire on top of her, bearing her fangs. She was trying to reach down to get a taste of the Slayer.

Nobody saw it, but Vamp Master lightly tapped the stake with his foot, sending it back towards Buffy.

Out of the corner of her eye, Buffy saw the stake on the ground next to her. She thought it got thrown farther than that, but didn't second guess it. She grabbed the stake with her right hand, still holding off the vampire with her left. Once she grasped it, she raised it straight into the vampire's chest, where her un-beating heart was. She turned to dust on top of Buffy.

Buffy stood up, wiping all the dust off of her outfit. She looked at Vamp Master.

"Well, it appears you've killed my date," he spoke for the first time. He had an English accent and spoke loudly, almost with much authority.

"What do you care?" Buffy asked. "It's not like you have a soul."

"Obviously not," he said. Every word he spoke sounded meticulous and thought out. "That doesn't mean I wouldn't have jovially shared a meal with her. We hadn't even found a victim yet."

"You were looking in the wrong place," Buffy informed him, pointing at the cemetery. "This is where the dead and buried people are."

Vamp Master smiled. "Based on your fighting and comebacks, you must be Buffy."

"The one and only."

"Have you spoken with Angel or Spike recently, those two soulful freaks? I would love to know how things are going at Wolfram & Hart before we head to L.A."

"Don't you mention them," Buffy said, grimacing. At their mention, she was reminded of the imminent despair of that situation. They were done with her. Fine. Maybe she could accept that. She didn't need them anyway, especially if Angel wouldn't even listen to her side of the story or believe her when she told him on the phone she didn't understand what he was talking about. "How do you know about them?"

"Doesn't everybody? And doesn't everybody know about your constant back and forth between the two vampires?"

Buffy shook her head. "I never went back and forth between either of them."

"Oh, really? My apologies then. So, which one are you in love with?"

"Are we gonna fight or not?" she avoided the question. Talking about Angel and Spike now anyway was just making her distracted, making her off her game. The fact that they were prepared to just say goodbye to her and not hear her out…well, it hurt. And the fact that Giles was turning into some kind of liar was affecting her too. Her bent up anger was disappearing and turning into a sadness that made her feel weak and wouldn't be useful in a fight. Still, Vamp Master was here, so she had no choice but fight him now, no matter the outcome. "Because I'd rather not spend all night in this graveyard."

"Yes, I suppose we should get down to it then. I've never had a Slayer before. I wonder if the blood tastes any different. It's a shame my date won't be here to find out. Eh, I didn't really like her anyway. Too chatty. Not fit for a Queen." His gray eyes stared into Buffy's own eyes. There was something super creepy about the way he was looking at her.

"Queen?" Buffy couldn't help but question. Then she shook her head. She didn't want to know. This wasn't important right now. "Come on," she provoked. "Let's fight."

And the fight began.

He was quick, much quicker than Buffy ever expected him to be. In mid-run he turned to his vampire face. Just as Buffy tried to move away from his direction, he hit her in the side at full speed, causing both of them to fly off in opposite directions.

She jumped up and got in a fighting stance, holding up her stake. But as she looked around, she couldn't see him. Where'd he go?

Suddenly, off to her left, he leaped out of the darkness with a shout. He tackled Buffy to the ground. This time, Buffy made sure to hold on to her stake with dear life.

She tried to use the stake against him, to fight him off, but for some reason she didn't feel strong enough. She felt weak, extremely weak. At this point, she was only holding up her arms to defend herself from his attempts to punch and bite her.

With a surge of strength, she managed to bring her legs up and kick Vamp Master right in the chest. He went flying back a few steps. With her usual dedication and accurateness, she should have thrown him much farther. Why did she feel like this? Why was everything coming to this point?

By the time she got herself standing, Vamp Master was already upon her again. With a fast punch, he knocked the stake right out of her hand, sending it flying. His grin looked truly evil with his vampire face; his now-yellow eyes burning the night. Looking into his brightly frightening eyes, she saw something she didn't want to see.

She saw everybody, the entire Scooby gang; minus herself. Willow, Xander, Giles, Faith, Kennedy, Dawn, and heck, even Andrew was there. They all had disgusted looks on their faces. They were all surrounding Giles, shaking their heads at the words he spoke.

"She just let her die," she could practically hear Giles telling everybody. He told them about Fred and her not wanting to help Fred. That wasn't true! Everyone was eating it up, though, believing Giles completely. No one trusted Buffy after that, not anymore. She had to be such a horrible person to let her feelings get in the way of saving someone's life. They all weren't going to hear her out, either. They were going to shun her like Angel and Spike were doing. It made sense. What she'd "done" was absolutely terrible. They'd want her to go away, to never speak to them again. They'd all believe Giles, because surely he wouldn't tell the real truth. She'd have no one. No friends, no relationships. She'd be completely and utterly alone—even more so than she already was.

The small vision she saw brought tears to her eyes.

Buffy couldn't move as Vamp Master came at her again.

He wrapped her in his giant arms, letting out a puff of breath so close to her ear she felt it on her skin. She could practically see as he brought his face down and she felt his fangs sink into her neck. The pain was terrible. She tried to call out, tried to yell, but failed. Her mouth hung open in shock. Still, all she could see was Willow, Xander, and everyone else. All she saw was the pure contempt they'd have in their eyes when Giles told them about her refusing to help—and of course he'd tell them about it, and if not Giles, then Angel or Spike would mention it to Willow or Xander or someone else.

The blood rushed into Vamp Master's mouth. He savored this moment as long as he could. Him and a Slayer. This, surely, would solidify his ranks as a Vampire Master. Everyone would be so ecstatic.

He pulled his fangs out of Buffy's neck. She still had plenty of blood in her and would be fine (for now) but he didn't unwrap his arms.

Tears were streaming down Buffy's face.

"Do…it."

Vamp Master frowned. "Excuse me?" he asked.

"Do…it," Buffy repeated in a hoarse whisper.

Vamp Master shrugged. Well, if that was what she wanted. He began lowering his face to her neck again, getting excited just at the sight of her delicious blood.

But then; no. A thought was brewing in his head, a genius thought. Killing a Slayer would grant him so much praise, but there was another way he could get mass amounts of praise. He could do something that's never been done before. As the thought continued and continued to blossom in his head, the more he loved the sound of it.

He reached in his pocket with his right arm, grabbing on to a pocketknife he carried around. Buffy stayed in his left arm, unable to move. She saw him raise the pocketknife to his left arm and make a cut on his wrist. Blood dribbled out.

"Open wide," he whispered to her. Buffy was too weak to do anything. It didn't matter. Vamp Master shoved his bloodied wrist over her mouth. Blood dripped into her system, and she couldn't do anything about it. Before she knew what she was doing, she found herself actually sucking, wanting more, wanting more. And then she grew awfully drained. Her eyelids were heavier than heavy and closing fast. Nothing could be done as she fell into a deep slumber.

"You'll wake soon," Vamp Master spoke, slowly laying her gently on the grass. He switched back to his normal face. "You'll wake soon…Queen."

"Hey, Giles!" Faith yelled, generally excited. "Long time no talk. Thought you'd forgotten about us Slayers over here." Kennedy started walking downstairs. "Hey, Ken, come here. It's Giles."

Kennedy rushed over. It'd been a while since she last talked to anybody in England, which made her kind of nervous. Did that mean there was some emergency or something? A part of her hoped so. She really had an urge to go out and kick something's butt.

"Ah, good. Faith, I must speak with Kennedy."

"He wants to talk to you," Faith told Kennedy. She didn't hand the phone over, though. Instead, she brought it away from her ear, looked at it, and pressed the speaker button. "Whatever you have to say, you can say to both of us, right? Come on, Giles, you can't stay a stranger and then just expect me to get off the phone. I miss you, old friend."

Kennedy giggled. She was really starting to like being in Rome with Faith. She was really a lot of fun. The only down side was: no Willow.

"Faith, this isn't the time for jokes," Giles preached.

"Sorry, father," Faith rolled her eyes. "Okay, serious now. What's up?"

"You remember Wesley?"

"Duh," she responded a bit sarcastically.

"Well, I've, uh… I've offered him a sort of…job. Another Watcher-typed deal, I suppose."

"Well that's great," Faith said. "But I really don't think he'll want to leave Angel and all his friends. Especially with that Fred girl. There was some serious chemistry going on with them last time I was there."

"Faith, Fred is dead."

"Oh my God," Faith whispered, clearly shocked.

Kennedy, having not known Fred, took the phone out of Faith's hand. She wasn't as surprised and didn't really know how to react to the news. "So why are you calling us about this?" Kennedy questioned Giles, leaving Faith to let the news of Fred sink in.

"You see, Kennedy, his job would be to come to Rome. He'd, uh, train you specifically. Help you become a fantastic Slayer."

"So I'm not a good Slayer?" Kennedy frowned, offended.

"No, it's not that. It's just… Kennedy. It'd be good to get some extra help."

"I heard about him and Faith back in Sunnydale. I don't know if-"

"He's grown a lot since then, Kennedy. And besides. He hasn't even accepted the offer yet. I'm just warning you in case he does."

With a sigh, Kennedy told Giles it was okay. It'd be kind of cool to meet this famous Wesley that Faith had spoken of many times before. After that, Giles got off the phone, saying he'd call back once he heard from Wesley again. Awkwardly, Kennedy placed a hand on Faith's shoulder.

"You okay?" she asked her friend.

"Yeah," Faith nodded, closing her eyes. "Just surprised. I feel bad for Wesley."

There was nothing she could say after that, Kennedy felt. She felt sorry for Faith, sure, and sorry for Wesley, also. But she didn't know Fred. There was nothing she could say to Faith to make anything better. All she could do was leave Faith to mourn on her own.

Back in his office, Wesley looked around. The office looked so…empty. He had no family pictures up or anything of that sort. Why would he? It wasn't like he was close to his parents. The only pictures on his desk were ones of him and the rest of Angel Investigations. One of him, Angel, and Cordelia. One of him, Cordelia, and Gunn. One with everybody, including Fred and Lorne. And one with just him and Fred.

He picked up the picture with him and Fred. It was a picture that was taken by some photographer at the Halloween party they had not too long ago at Wolfram & Hart, when they were both "drunk." They both had dumbfounded smiles on their faces like they were really confused but really happy at the same time. Wes really liked the picture.

It was clear to him. He needed to get away from Wolfram & Hart, away from Illyria. He'd go to Rome, help further train Kennedy, and then come back. Maybe then, everything would be easier to deal with.

Dawn's eyelids were growing heavy. Too much researching in one night. And even after all that researching, flipping through book after endless book, there was nothing she could find on the new Vamp Master. It sucked. So much.

She closed the book she was currently looking at and then threw it on the ground. After she heard the bang as it connected with the floor, she pulled herself under the bed covers. Reaching over, her fingers brushed against the lamp that was on. She pulled the switch thing, turning it off.

Darkness followed.

Dawn closed her eyes. In her mind, she heard Buffy and Giles arguing again. It was such an ugly sound. Everything needed to be better tomorrow, Dawn was really hoping. Buffy was still out patrolling, though, so they weren't going to make up any time soon. Buffy had been gone for a while, hadn't she? Was she just avoiding coming home?

Return home safely, Dawn silently willed her sister as she really began drifting off to sleep. Return home safely.