>"You broke my sword!" She accused. "Giles is gonna kill me." She moved fast at that point, reminding herself that she actually wanted Giles to get to her first. She ducked and rolled behind a headstone, pulling out a small dagger from her calf-high boots. She lunged to the side of the headstone just as the ferocious sword clashed against the pale stone, emitting an impressive display of sparks. A chunk of rock dropped unceremoniously to the ground. Beautiful, the Slayer thought sarcastically, it can cut through rock. She lunged again, this time with intent to hurt. She slid to the ground, wincing as small rocks and pebbles dug into her stomach and breasts, driving her dagger home she smiled as it embedded itself in the stranger's calf with a satisfying clang.
Clang? That wasn't the right sound. She rolled quickly to her feet, taking her wrinkled dagger with her. This was beginning to become disturbing. She moved to a fighter's crouch unsure as to what to do next, on impulse she grabbed a vile of holy water and smashed it against her attacker's body. There was no effect.
"I didn't really think you were a vampire, but it was worth a try," Buffy muttered as she backed up slowly. Running was not an option, she had known that as soon as she had watched this guy move.
Her mind reeled as it offered and dismissed tactics with lightning speed, all the while edging away from the slowly advancing threat.
She absently noted that the sun had finally risen, her attention fully on her attacker. She frowned, the stranger had stopped moving, and suddenly he twisted to face the rising sun. With a gut-wrenching scream, he burst into flames.
Buffy froze, too stunned to think about moving. Somewhere in the back of her mind she noted that the flames had even consumed the sword she had coveted a half-hour before.
"Nice exit," she finally said as she began to make her way home.
"There she is!" Willow cried out from out of her boyfriend's embrace, motioning towards Buffy. The entire group was standing together, chattering on the neatly trimmed lawn of the Sunnydale high school. Willow in Oz's arms, and Cordelia in Xander's. "More like there she isn't," Xander replied, noting the dark circles under her eyes. "What happened to you?"
Buffy looked at them with a pang of jealousy, they all seemed so happy. Willow and her budding relationship with Oz, and Xander... Well he seemed happier coming out of broom closets with Cordelia these days. She was happy for her friends, it's just that seeing them with their significant others made her loss so much more pronounced.
"Was it that dream again?" Willow asked sympathetically.
"No, well yeah that too, but..."
"Dream? What dream?" Scott asked as he snaked his arm around Buffy's slender waist from behind. "It wasn't about me, was it?" He asked as his eyebrows wiggled suggestively.
Buffy's body tensed in response. A touch as intimate as a hug from someone who wasn't HIM felt alien. Scott's face dropped, obviously feeling the rejection, as he started to lift his arm away. Buffy stopped him with a forced smile. "Only the good parts," she lied. This relationship wasn't working, she realized that from the beginning. Scott was nice, sweet and funny, but he just wasn't HIM. She would make it work, though. She was the Slayer, she reminded herself, that meant she could do that sort of thing.
Buffy raised her eyes with new resolve to meet Willow's. The observant redhead hadn't missed the dark shadow passing over her best friend's face, experience had taught her exactly what that shadow meant.
"Giles wanted me to tell you to meet him at the library. Something about overdue books." Xander added, noting the question in Scott's face.
Buffy rolled her eyes at the clumsy attempt, but played along, "sure. Will, you want to come with?"
Torn for a moment between her boyfriend and her best friend, the redhead nodded without much enthusiasm. Making a small, over dramatic face, Buffy conceded, "why don't you come with us, Oz?"
Buffy had to laugh as the happy glow returned to Willow's face. That girl was so easy to please.
"Come on, Cordy. We're going with them," Xander told her.
Cordelia ripped her attention from the early morning rays that were warming her face, "what? Why?"
"Because I asked you nicely," he answered blithely, completely ignoring the fact that he hadn't asked her at all, "and that doesn't happen very often." She wordlessly conceded, allowing him to manually drag her into the school building.
Scott watched as the diverse group of teens disappeared in the shadows of the open front doors, musing, like many before him, how much like a gaping, hungry mouth they looked. "Strange people," he muttered to himself, somewhat hurt that no one thought to invite him along. He absently shrugged it off and walked to class.
Giles uncomfortably shifted in his seat, "what exactly did he say, Buffy?" He asked for the third time.
"Was this before or after he tried to kill me?" She asked sarcastically.
"He said something after?" The librarian asked, intrigued. Catching her dirty look he coughed, failing miserably to cover up his embarrassment.
She sighed dramatically, but yielded just the same, "after I told him he threw nice punches he asked if I was human."
"In those words?" Giles demanded.
"Well, no. It was more like 'human?'" She attempted to imitate the stranger's accent, much to Xander's amusement.
"So this guy was German?" Xander asked cheerfully. They all ignored him, but he was used to that.
"Then he said something about Cirta being happy about him killing me. Conversation was sort of moot from there on."
"Interesting..." The librarian mused.
"Giles, the guy nearly killed me! He wastes four vamps in the blink of an eye, goes on to attack me, breaks my sword. Then bursts to flame when the sun comes up, and all you can say is 'interesting'?"
The librarian stared at her, the Slayer's outburst catching him by surprise. "Yes, of course you're right I apo..." His eyes narrowed suddenly. "You broke my sword?" He demanded, "Buffy, that was an antique!"
"Well she was trying to stay alive at the time," Willow said, jumping to her friend's defense.
Giles eyed her sourly, but let the matter drop. "I'll look up this Cirta character and see what I can find."
