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 7: The Old and the New

When the sun rose, Giles woke up. The memories of the night before came rushing back to him, causing him to feel like a deer trapped in the headlights. The shock was imminent, and soon hopelessness ensued. Buffy, poor Buffy, gone, and replaced by a monster with no soul.

Dawn was curled up next to Giles on the floor, having somehow fallen asleep sometime last night. To Giles, it appeared to him she might be dreaming. She was shaking slightly and her breath was coming out in random puffs. He contemplated waking her, but then thought better of it. Even if she was having a nightmare, if he woke her up who knew when she'd be able to fall asleep again.

A part of him thought he should stay by Dawn until she woke up. That would be the right thing to do. But no; as much as he hated to admit it there were more important things to be done.

He felt the bite wound on his neck. He needed to officially bandage it. Then, oh, he'd need to make some calls. Willow and Xander, they needed to know about Buffy. There was no denying that. Faith and Kennedy would need to know, too. Every Slayer in the world needed to know. Angel and Spike, too, well…as much as they might think they deserve to know, Giles certainly wasn't going to be the one to call them and tell them the news. The most important person who needed to know was Willow. Perhaps Willow could do a certain spell to give Buffy her soul back.

He stood up slowly, being careful of Dawn. Once steady on his feet, he walked towards the bandages. It didn't take too long to clean up all the extra blood around his neck and then stick a bandage on the wound.

As he was applying the bandage he had time to think, really think. Buffy was a vampire. Maybe Willow could help by finding Buffy's soul. Willow, Xander, everybody, they'd ask what happened. Who turned Buffy? That answer was obvious: Vamp Master. How did it happen? Now that, that question was the tricky one. Buffy was patrolling. That was all anybody needed to know. Nobody need know about the fight between them and about Giles's indiscretions. If they were to find out about that, they'd blame him for Buffy's turning, and he couldn't handle that. So once everyone knew, there could be no knowledge of any fight between him and Buffy, at least not until Buffy had a soul again. It was settled, in Giles's mind. They couldn't know about him letting Fred die.

Except there was one major factor that would play into the bad side of everything. Moronically, Giles had already told Dawn the truth about his fight with Buffy. How incredibly stupid of him. He couldn't keep it a secret if Dawn knew. God, what was he to do about that? He simply couldn't have the others knowing. He also couldn't tell Dawn not to tell the others, though; that would send her running to tell everyone. What could he do?

Oh, he'd figure it out later. He couldn't worry about it now. He needed to call Willow first, then Xander, then everyone else who needed to be called.

Willow just arrived back from helping out some Slayers with training. They were all doing pretty great so far. None of them had been Slayers for that long, really, but with their new strength and determination, they were coming along very far.

Just as she walked in the door to her new home, the phone began ringing. She hurried to pick it up. She was actually pleasantly surprised to hear Giles on the other end. Unfortunately, he didn't share the same excitement about talking to her on the phone as she did talking to him.

"Willow, I'm glad I caught you," he spoke, but his voice was insanely solemn and grim.

"Giles, what's wrong? Is everything alright?" her heart began to beat faster and faster.

"Well, um… There's simply no easy way to say this. Although, I feel as if just coming out and saying it would be too abrupt."

"Well, uh, if it helps, I won't say anything. You-you can just say whatever needs to be said and I won't interrupt you or anything. You can just say it, Giles, if it's important there's no need in putting it off anymore."

"Buffy's dead."

Willow's mouth fell open in shock. At first, she thought maybe Giles was just messing with her, doing some messed up prank…but no. The hopelessness in his voice told her that it was absolutely 100% true. She placed a hand over her mouth to keep herself from screaming or yelling. Tears welled in her eyes and then were falling down her face before she even had a chance to feel them. There was a sharp pain in her chest. A small whimper managed to escape her throat. All of a sudden, everything seemed to be falling apart. All the surroundings around her were becoming fuzzy and she could barely see straight. She needed to sit down, to do something, anything, but what could she do, how was she supposed to react? Her best friend was dead.

"Or, rather, um, undead actually."

And that was it. Willow broke down. The phone slipped from her hand and clanged to the floor. She fell to her knees and let out a sob. The tears running down her face were wet and cold and annoying and horrible and she just wanted to get rid of them to let it stop, stop, stop, stop, stop!

Buffy…undead. Vampire.

She wiped the tears away, but they were just replaced by more. She tried to think happy thoughts, good thoughts, thoughts about how things could be so much worse, no matter how cliché that was. Buffy was a vampire. Okay; that was probably, like, her worst nightmare. But she was still undead. No heart beat, but alive. And soulless.

"Willow?" the faint voice of Giles through the phone, repeatedly calling her name. "Willow?"

She picked up the phone lying next to her. Before she could speak, she sniffled. She wiped the tears away again, trying to calm herself down. Trying to look at the bright side of things. Because she knew what Giles was going to ask next.

"I know this is a bit much to ask. With this given emergency, though, I see no other solution. Come to England, Willow. Buffy needs you. We need you. If there's the slightest possibility we can restore her soul, we must take it."

Willow nodded, and then remembered he couldn't see her. "I'll come. I'm buying a plane ticket now. Giles, what happened?"

A pause. "I'll explain it all later. Please, just get to England as soon as possible."

"What about Xander?"

"I'm calling him next."

"He'll want to come to England too."

"Yes, I figured as much. I figure everyone will want to come to England to support Buffy. It'll be tricky…but we'll manage."

As they hung up, Willow couldn't help but think back to the nightmare she'd been having and how in that nightmare Buffy had seemingly miraculously turned to dust. Hopefully, real life wouldn't have that same outcome.

Xander's reaction to the news was similar to Willow's, except quieter. Tears fell down his face in silence. He didn't bother trying to wipe them away. The news that Buffy was a vampire was rough, but it wasn't over just yet.

"I'm coming to England," he stated, not questioned. His voice was wobbly, weak.

"Of course. I've told Willow. She is coming also. We believe she might be able to restore Buffy's soul."

"Giles… How's Dawn?"

"I-I'm not sure. Terrible, I believe. She's yet to wake up, though. We'll have more time to talk once you're in England. Hurry, Xander. I urge you."

They hung up. Xander, having had the day off of work, immediately started packing while simultaneously searching the internet for a plane ticket to England today. Once a mess of clothes and other accessories were thrown into a bag he called his boss and told him he'd need to take the next week off, at least.

"You can't-"

His boss had started, obviously angry, but Xander hung up. He didn't care if he'd be mad or pissed off, that didn't matter. Buffy was what mattered.

Xander managed to find one last ticket to a flight that would be leaving in a couple of hours. He bought it; printed off everything he needed, and then rushed to the airport. The only thing keeping him together was the fact that, with Willow's help, Buffy might be okay. Undead, but with a soul. It wasn't an ideal situation, but it was all they could offer.

Stay strong, Xander thought silently, hoping that somewhere Buffy's soul could understand what he was saying and know that she'd be back soon, before they knew it.

"Man, I'm gonna miss you," Charles Gunn said. He and Wes shared a hug.

Ironically, Wes was leaving for Rome on that same day. He had, in reality, only accepted Giles's offer yesterday, but that led him to become very enthusiastic to get started. Thus, he was leaving today. He'd packed all necessities and arranged everything that needed to be arranged. Of course, he had no idea about Buffy.

"I'll be back soon enough," Wes told his friend. He'd said goodbye to Angel and Spike back at the offices; neither could drive him to the airport in the daytime. Thankfully, he avoided talking with Illyria. After their last conversation, with her turning into Fred, well, he didn't want to see her anytime soon.

"I know, it's just gonna be different," Gunn commented. "First Cordy, then Fred, and now you're leavin', English."

"Not for good," Wes reminded him. "I'll be back."

"Yeah, yeah. Well, you should get goin'. Don't wanna miss your flight."

"I hope Illyria stays okay," Wes said. "I wouldn't want her to…overreact to me leaving."

"We'll all make sure she doesn't do anything crazy. It won't be easy, but we'll manage. Now go! I gotta get back to work."

They laughed and said goodbye. Wes started walking away, feeling good about this, about getting away for a while. Sadly, he didn't know this feeling of excitement would soon turn into one of worry.

Faith received the news of Buffy's vampirism. Her and Giles talked and decided that she and Kennedy should still remain in Rome, though, until further notice. Especially now, with Wesley coming, they couldn't just up and leave.

Faith wasn't sure how to react to the news of Buffy. There was the initial stage of shock. Once she really took the information in, the shock seemed to go away and be replaced by a sense of worry. Buffy was a Vampire Slayer, already having plenty of extra strength and fighting skills. Now she was also a vampire, most likely adding to that strength. If worst came to worst and they had no choice but take Buffy down, it would take plenty of Slayers. Even Faith had to admit Buffy was a good fighter before she was a vampire, and now things were going to be that much harder. Again, if worst came to worst.

After a while, Kennedy came into the room and found Faith just sitting down, as if in some kind of trance.

"Um, Faith?" Kennedy said, frowning. What was wrong with her? "Are you alright?"

Faith sighed and rolled her eyes. "Buffy's a vampire. And here I am, trying to figure out how many Slayers it would take to stake her."

"What?!" Kennedy exploded. "Buffy's a vampire? Are you joking?"

"Nope, I'm completely serious. Don't get too enraged, Ken. There might still by some hope. Willow's going to England. Giles is hoping she can do a spell that'll bring Buffy's soul back."

Kennedy ignored the pain in her chest at the mention of Willow. "We should go to England to. They might need us, if we do have to take her down." Faith gave her a weird look. "Not that I want to stake Buffy, it's just we have to be cautious. You know that, Faith. We can't just sit here-"

"We can't leave, either. Wesley's coming."

She groaned. "I don't care about Wesley. I don't even know who he is. So how about I go and-"

"Look, Ken, I want to go too. But they'll let us know if they need our help. In the meantime, we just have to chill. Everything will work out."

"Fine," Kennedy gave in. "I just wanted to help." She stormed out of the room.

"Are you sure about this? I mean, its daytime, and we all really need to get some sleep." One of Vamp Master's most loyal followers was talking to Buffy. "You should get some sleep too."

Absentmindedly, Buffy said, "I'll sleep when I'm dead." Then, she took it upon herself to laugh.

They were back in the house they were in before, of course. Most everyone was sleeping, but Buffy wasn't tired quite yet. She was a vampire, felt more powerful than ever, and something was off. It wasn't like she could look in a mirror, but if she could; she would know that it was her entire appearance. Her hair, her clothes, her entire style was the old Buffy. Well, the old Buffy was long gone, now replaced by the new and improved. So, she needed to change.

As she stood now, her blond hair was long and clearly visible, a little past her shoulders. It was so blond and bright and long and totally not who she was anymore. She was going to change, and with the help of this guy who was extremely loyal to Vamp Master and now extremely loyal to the woman he claimed to be his queen. Buffy wasn't quite sure how she felt about that title. Didn't matter, though, did it? It'd be gone before long anyway.

"Now is the perfect time," Buffy told the guy. "I can't stand being this way any longer. Besides. When they all see me again, I want them to know deep inside their guts that things have really changed. Nothing will be the same anymore."

She sat down in a chair. The guy vampire grabbed a pair of scissors. "How short?"

Seeing as she had no help of a mirror, she started feeling her hair and feeling around her head, trying to picture the perfect place she wanted to go. She didn't want it too short. She still wanted to see her hair, even if it was just a little sliver out of the corners of her eyes.

"Chin length," Buffy responded. A long time ago (or so it seemed like) she had gotten her hair cut about that short, and it worked out, for the most part. But that wasn't the only change she was planning on making.

As he finished, she ran a hand through her hair. Perfect. Now, if only she could get rid of that blond color.

"What now?"

"What color do you suggest?" Buffy asked the guy. "I want something completely different and yet not too flamboyant. Something sexy. Something almost light and dark."

"What if we were to get the best of both worlds? We make your hair better than it already is, maybe a white-blond type color. Then we add dark highlights, maybe brown?"

Buffy shrugged. "Whatever you say. Do it."

He got to work.

In the end, she thought maybe a white-blond color would be more flamboyant than she had originally wanted, but she'd make it work. The more she thought about it, she liked it. She wanted to have that look. That look that caused people to take a double-take at you.

She wasn't sure how long it took. When it was done, she ran her hands through her hair, bringing some of it in front of her eyes to catch a glimpse of it. Surprisingly, it worked. She turned to the guy. "How does it look?"

"Just like I thought it would. The dark highlights work much better than I had anticipated."

Buffy grinned, and then swiftly changed into her vampire face. "Still look amazing?"

The guy's mouth fell open. "Even better."