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Author's Chapter Notes:
Second chapter up! Hope you enjoy it! Thanks so much for all the reviews! I was really nervous about posting the first chapter but I’m a little more confident now with all the positive feedback I got. Please keep them coming and let me know what you think!

**This chapter has been edited and since been reposted. A big thanks to Andrea for beta'ing thia chapter for me!
Chapter 2


Angelus let out a roar of fury and plunged the stake he was holding into the cowering minion’s chest. The rest tried to appear unafraid in the face of their master as they watched the sixth minion of the night turn to dust before them.

“She escaped,” he stated out loud in a sarcastic manner, “and would anybody like to tell me how the little bitch got out?” Spinning around he seized another of his minions by the throat and lifted him in the air so his feet were hovering a good foot above the ground.

The minion Angel was holding let out a gurgling sound of protest from the pressure Angel was exuding upon his neck. Angel watched in a morbid satisfaction as the vampire grappled at his hand, trying to pry his fingers off of his throat before his head was literally torn from his body.

“Sorry? What was that? I can’t quite hear you; you’re going to have to speak up.” Angel spoke in a mockingly sincere voice as the minion struggled in vain in his grasp. “I want her found, and I want her brought back alive. I don’t care how you do it. If she is not back by morning, those who return without her will be dusted.”

Angel squeezed just that much tighter as he said the last word and the remaining minions watched as the vampire Angel had been holding sprinkled to dust before them, knowing full well that by morning that would be them if they returned without the Slayer.

Spike watched from the confines of his wheelchair as Angelus dusted his way through the minions, Drusilla hanging off his side and dancing with glee at each vampire he killed. Spike smirked to himself as he gazed upon them, knowing full well that by morning he would still be without the Slayer.

By now the Slayer would be safely tucked away in the house of one of her mates, safe from any vamps without an invitation. Angelus was distracted enough not to notice Spike slip off into the night without the aid of his wheelchair.


***


Buffy avoided the looks of pity her friends were sending her way as Giles secured the last of her bindings. She felt like she was some kind of ancient Egyptian mummy. Her torso was almost completely bound by the white bed sheet Xander had ripped up. Attempting to move, Buffy found movement difficult in the restricting bindings.

“I think we should talk about Angel,” Buffy said as she sat up, slipping the shirt back on over her head and shooting Giles a quick smile as a way of thanks. “You all need to do a disinvite spell or something on your homes. We should all stay together so I can protect you. I doubt there is much more he can do to me that would slow me down. None of you should leave the house at night without me or go anywhere alone even during the day. There is a sewer entrance outside of the mansion to which they have relocated. They can get almost anywhere during the day, especially the school. There is an entrance in the basement that they are able to access, which means no more Scooby meetings in the library or walking back late. I won’t let him do to you what he did to me. No one goes anywhere alone from now on. No one goes out without crosses, holy water and a stake.” Buffy turned around slowly, and saw the grim determination and understanding on her friends’ faces, her eyes finally settling on her Watcher. “Giles, we need to find out if I can move about in daylight and if I need an invitation into our homes. I need to know what I am.”

“Of course,” he said, even as he moved to his book case. “I suppose it is logical to assume that you are either something related to a vampire, or to the demon used to make the First Slayer. Perhaps both.” He passed books out among the teens as they began scanning the pages.

“They used a demon to make the first Slayer?” Buffy asked as she wrinkled her nose and passed the book Giles had handed her to Xander. Giles nodded absently as he read over the title on the cover of a book before replacing it on his shelf.

“The first Slayer was made through the merging of a girl and an almost extinct demon that had been sent directly from the Powers That Be to help even out the numbers of demons and man living on the earth. The name of the demon itself and the magicks used have been lost over the centuries; however, it is know that demon had many similar characteristics to that of a vampire. Hence the title ‘Vampire Slayer’, despite the fact that you kill demons as well.”

“So, you’re saying that it’s possible that I somehow reverted back into this demon?” Buffy’s eyes went wide as a thought dawned on her. “You mean to tell me that I have been part demon this whole time?” Giles’s brows furrowed as he shook his head.

“No, no. As time went on, each generation of Slayer received less and less of the demon that was used to create the original Slayer until only its essence was being transferred. The girls still received all of their powers just none of the demon side effects that the first Slayer experienced.”

“Oh! Maybe then when Angel tried to turn Buffy, he inadvertently woke up the essence of the demon within the Slayer!” Willow exclaimed with excitement. Giles whipped his glasses off as he carefully lowered himself onto the edge of the sofa.

“Of course! It all makes sense,” he said, sharing a knowledgeable look with the redheaded teen seated beside him. “These demons fed off of the blood of vampires to survive, and their lack of a heart beat or need for breath made them immortal. When Angel tried to turn you, instead of your body dying when he fed you his blood, the essence of the demon within you latched onto it!” He shot a quick look across at his Slayer. “You said he made you his childe?” Buffy nodded slowly, not sure she was following where he was going with this. “To do that he would have fed you almost all of the blood he had originally taken from you. It was most likely enough for your body to undergo the changes necessary for your survival. Your heart would have stopped and your breathing ceased; therefore, he would have assumed you to be dead. In fact, you never died; your body just became comatose while it underwent the changes. For all intents and purposes it would have appeared that you had been made a vampire upon awakening.”

“So, does that mean that Buffy’s immortal?” Joyce asked in an awed voice. This was the sort of stuff you watched on the TV or read in books, and her daughter had been living it for the past two years! She was finding herself forming a headache as she tried to follow everything that was being said.

“I don’t know. I have a book…” Giles got up quickly and walked over to the bookcase, where he pulled down an old book that looked like it hadn’t been opened in centuries. He flipped it open quickly and scanned through the pages until he came across what he was looking for. “It says here the original demon that the Powers sent to inhabit the first Slayer could only be killed by beheading or… ingesting human blood.”

“Is that it? I need to know my weaknesses. Can I…. can I go into the light?” Giles gave his surrogate daughter a soft look at the sound of her quiet question.

“I don’t know.” The room fell into a heavy silence as Buffy could feel each and every one of their eyes on her.

“So, Buffy’s some kind of—super Slayer. Only she needs vamp blood to survive. What happens if she doesn’t get it?” Xander’s question broke the deafening silence. Buffy gave him a small thankful smile.

“I would say that the symptoms would be close to that of a vampire. She would be unable to revert back to her human features and she would progressively weaken and be unable to control her powers until she became almost a living skeleton.” Joyce’s face paled as she pictured a malnourished Buffy in her mind.

“So we need to find her a vampire she can eat.” A series of varying grossed out expressions passed across the faces of the room’s occupants at the statement they had never thought they would ever hear.

“I’m not going to eat a vamp! That is like so gross, who knows where those things have been!”

“Buffy, it could very well be essential to your survival” She scrunched her nose up and looked at her Watcher.

“Giles, you have seen some of those vamps. They look like they haven’t had a bath in weeks. It’s not like I can get clean vamps hand delivered!” The irony of her statement was not lost on her friends as there was a knock on the door. “It’s Spike.”

“Spike?” Buffy nodded and got up to move towards the door slowly. “I thought he was confined to a wheelchair.”

“So did I,” she said as she quickly opened the door. “Spike.”

“Slayer.”





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