Sophie could feel the tension in Buffy. The master of her new line was drawn tight as a bowstring. This battle was not like the last. That battle had challenged them, but it had been fun. They had gone into it with a laugh and a wink, tossing the older vamps around as if it were nothing at all. There was more on the line now.

She looked at Penn as he snarled at her. It was amusing, really. He still believed he could intimidate her. She felt her lips curve. This would be easy after training with her family. She thought about Giles, marching around correcting her form. Instincts aren't enough. Power isn't enough. Penn thought they were all he needed.

She let her eyes slide along his body appraising him. He seemed smaller now. He had become more monstrous in her eyes over the years. Each bit of pain he inflicted had inflated his presence in her mind, but now he looked like a boy trying to impress his daddy.

Her eyes flicked toward Buffy and Spike. They seemed to glow with purpose. She knew they would protect her. She was theirs, a member of their family. Her eyes slid to their joined hands. They would never abandon her. She felt her heart beating rapidly in her chest, still stunned by its occasional bouts of functionality. They were a couple, truly and happily mated, but they loved her and accepted her. She looked at Penn and felt the decades of pain slide away. She had found,in this new third strange existence, what she had always longed for. She took a deep breath. She was free of Penn and his games. she wasn't fighting for revenge. Her purpose was clear. This battle meant survival for the others, her new family. She ducked her head as an image of green eyes flashed through her mind.

The creature that had made her crouched before her, ready to strike. His fangs caught the moonlight and she let her demon visage fade. She smiled. He had spent years relying on others to do the difficult things. He was cruel, but he didn't know how to fight. Didn't remember the sheer joy of it. He was weak and she knew it, knew him.

She let her shirt gape open. The throbbing pulse of her new existence adding a delicate flush to her skin. Penn stared at the rounded curves, his mouth hanging open. He had always been easily distracted by a bit of juicy flesh.

She trailed her finger along her neck, proudly calling his attention to the mark that had obliterated his and remade her, knowing he would see the throbbing pulse, the life that came and went. She wasn't his anymore. She wasn't dead anymore either, not completely anyway.

His fists clenched as an inarticulate cry of rage broke free from his throat. She whirled as he charged, spinning and kicking out her leg. She felt the crunch of bone as her foot collided with his face. The scent of blood tickled along her senses, his blood.

"Does it hurt you, Daddy?" She asked, twisting words he had spilled into her ears so often over the decades. "Tell me hurt how good it hurts."

"You'll be begging for it to stop before I'm done with you," he snarled.

"If you had ever managed to keep it up for more than five minutes that might have been true, but I can guarantee you I'll never beg for anything from you again." Sophie tossed her long blonde hair over her shoulder with a flick of one hand while she invited his attack with the other.

She caught flashes of movement from the corner of her eye as Buffy and Spike battled Angelus, but she couldn't help until Penn was dust. He wasn't much of a threat, but he would take advantage of any distraction.

She watched his eyes. They shifted constantly always revealing his next move. She grinned and stepped to the left just as he did, meeting the side of his head with her fist and enjoying the hollow melon sound it made as he staggered back from her.

She pursued him. Her graceful steps following his stumbles as they traded blow after blow.

Her knuckles bled. She could feel the blood dripping. She held up the dripping wounds and smiled as he looked at the rivulets running down her arm.

"I am not like you anymore. I am not an empty carcass stealing the lives of others for my continued existence." Sophie smiled at her prey.

She hit him with a left hook. He went to his knees.

"My heart beats." She spun and kicked him. "My blood flows."

She landed in front of his prone form, light on her feet.

"I could suck you dry and leave you to whither for centuries." She bent over him and pressed her hand upon his chest above his unbeating heart. "But I don't want the rancid taste of your dead blood in my mouth."

"You are still a vampire, Sophie. I made you." He was panting. She stroked his skin with her fingers.

"You stole my human life." She stepped across him and settled astride his waist. "I won't let you have this one."

"You used to love me." He stared up at her, his face sliding back to his human guise, and raised a shaking hand toward her cheek. She could feel him shudder underneath her.

"I didn't know what love was." She felt the stake against her wrist, knowing she should let it fall into her hand, knowing she should end him. Killing him wouldn't change her past or give back the lives he had destroyed, but it would make the future better.

He bucked underneath her and she fell to the side. He was on her, ripping at her blouse as she flicked her wrist and felt the stake fall into her hand. She closed her eyes and plunged the wood deep and true. The hot rush of his dust on her skin left her stunned for a moment.

Sounds of the battle drew her back to the world. She turned her head and true dread filled her. Buffy was fighting Angelus alone. They were moving so quickly they blurred. She swallowed and forced her eyes to focus on the far more deadly battle.

Drusilla stood facing Spike, both motionless as he battled her thrall. Sophie shoved her body from the ground, letting her sire drift from her body. The battle wasn't over, yet.