"You've had that car less then a month!" Rory yelled. "Since your sixteenth birthday. What the Hell did you do to it?!"

"Went bowling with vampires."

"Say that again."

"About a dozen smelly fashion victims walking down the middle of Main Street heading for the Bronze."

"Crap, what the Hell - vamps may live like they're in packs, but they don't attack in packs. One, maybe two as partners, but a pack? Any idea why?"

"No, but we were talking at lunch today and Jesse mentioned there seem to be more of them in town than usual and he's right, we've all been noticing it. They've been sloppy too, like leaving a body in Aura's locker yesterday."

"That's not good, Sunnydale already has enough vampires, we don't need more. Fine, acceptable reason for why the car I spent six months restoring looks like crap. But you're going to help fix the mess you've made of it. Be here, Saturday, bright and early and if you find out anything to explain the increase in both the numbers and stupidity of the vampires, let me know."

"Cordy's dad wasn't very happy either, when we dropped her off. It's beginning to feel like a challenge to our claim to this territory and yet I doubt the vampires even know we're here." Alex said. "Time was there were thousands of packs of Wolfbloods, but we were hunted nearly to extinction. Whatever is going on with the vampires, the best we may be able to do is keep their stupidity from exposing us."

"You better get going you've got school tomorrow." Rory said. "And you may be right, just be careful, okay? You may have chosen to be part of the town pack, instead of the wild pack, but you're still family. I don't want you getting hurt."

Alex climbed back into Jesse's car and his friend, who'd remained silent during Alex's conversation with his Uncle now spoke up. "The vamps weren't just being stupid, they had a reason for going to the Bronze, Alex. The big one you kicked into the path of that car, he had something fancy on his forehead."

"I know, I saw it. Symbols are for rituals, religions, Magic. Vamps are demons, they worship other demons if they worship anything. Whatever they were doing, it wasn't random, they had a plan. And they may try again. We got lucky, if Cordy and I hadn't arrived right then, we could have walked into a massacre."

On that sobering comment Jesse drove Alex to his home and dropped him off. "I'll pick you up in the morning." He told Alex.

"Thanks, have a good night."

"You too." Alex headed inside, feeling exhausted and needing a good night sleep.

First thing the next morning Buffy headed for the Library to discuss the harvest dealio, as she was thinking of it, with Giles. She arrived just in time to hear Willow speaking.

"Guess what, it's morning and I haven't forgotten what happened last. Gang members on PCP, yeah right, you said they were vampires. I'm not forgetting that any time soon."

"Neither am I." Johnathan's voiced chimed in. "Or Buffy making them turn into dust. So an explanation would be nice."

"I'm the Slayer." Buffy told them, pushing the door and entering the Library. Giles frowned at her. "Oh, get off it, Watcher. Two days. I started school here two days ago and my biggest secret has already been found out."

"What's the Slayer, Buffy?" Willow asked.

"According to Giles it's an honor. I say it's a curse. On my fifteenth birthday I woke up from god awful nightmares of girls about my age, some older, some younger, dying fighting monsters. Later that same day, a man showed up and told me I'd been Chosen, all special, to fight monsters. I thought it was a sick joke. Until a vampire crawled out of its grave right in front of me and it turned to dust when I stuck a piece of wood in its heart. Turns out real vampires are corpses with demons running the body. They remember the life of the person who that body used to be, but they're not that person. I know that for a fact. Some of my classmates at Hemery ended up vampires. They attacked our Spring Formal. I burned the gym down to destroy them and stop them from massacring the rest of my classmates."

"That's the thing you mentioned?" Johnathan asked.

"Yes, the thing that made me realize I needed real friends. Ones that won't leave when the weird and the crazy and the embarrassing happens. I'm not suppose to tell anyone because it's supposedly safer for you to not know I'm the Slayer. But if you know vampires are real, does it make it better to know there's a way to fight them?"

"Yes." Willow said firmly. "As I see it, I have two choices, I could forget all about it like he wants me to," She pointed at Giles. "or I can acknowledge they exist and find a way to understand it. I don't think I can forget, I've spent my life learning, a friend used to call me Knowledge Girl. If I didn't know you and I discovered vampires existed, I'd still go looking for knowledge."

"Same here." Johnathan said. "We're nerds for a reason. Because we need to know answers to questions and there are always questions."

"Questions like how can we help you," Willow said. "and where do I find information, real information, not stories about vampires?"

"Does this mean you still want to be friends?"

"Yes." Willow nodded.

"Same here." Johnathan smiled. "I'm willing to learn and to help, as well as be your friend."

"They stay, Giles."

"Bloody Hell. Very well, tell me what happened last night before you lot jumped into my car."

"Are you sure it was a car? I thought it was an example of pointless modern art."

Yeah, that earned a glare.