Buffy closed the door quietly behind her, silently muttering to herself. She’d been relieved when she’d spotted Spike’s black car outside Giles’ house, thankful that he hadn’t have time to leave yet. This was just so typical; she should’ve figured it would come to this. Giles screwed up, and as always, she was the one who had to fix it. It wasn’t the first time it happened; she’d seen this so many times before, with William. Sure, she loved Giles like a father, and without him she probably wouldn’t be here today, but sometimes he could be so… stupid.
She hardly knew Spike, but she could already see some resemblances with William. Her boyfriend had been proud and stubborn, yet caring and sensitive. And he had absolutely hated being the Slayer. She and William had been in the same class back in high school, and they had hit it off right away. A part of her had found that strange, and she knew he had as well, because they couldn’t possibly be any more different. He was quiet, somewhat withdrawn, and very smart. She was social, very popular, and couldn’t care less about school. But still, there was something between them that just seemed to click. And it didn’t take long before the two of them were pretty much inseparable.
They had been together for almost a year, the longest relationship either of them had been involved in, when something seemed to change. Suddenly, William started to avoid her, making up lame excuses why they couldn’t spend time together as much as they used to. She could still remember how afraid and miserable she had been. William was the only guy she had ever loved, and just the mere thought of not being able to spend the rest of her life with him terrified her. Of course, she had thought that he didn’t love her anymore, that he had met someone else. Because how could she possibly had known what was really going on?
Buffy hadn’t been proud of it, but one night she had followed him, having decided that if he was going to leave her, she had the right to know for who. And she had gotten the shock of her lifetime. She had followed William to one of Sunnydale’s cemeteries, where he had met up with, not some pretty girl, but his father. At first she had been relieved. Then she’d seen the vampire. She had panicked, just about to scream bloody murder, when she realized what was happening. William and his father didn’t seem surprised at all; they had known that the vampire would be there. Hiding behind one of the large crypts, she had watched him fight. It was amazing.
It didn’t take long before the vampire disappeared - literally - into dust. Hesitating, wanting to make sure there were no more around, Buffy had finally left her hiding place and made her way over to him. To say that William had been surprised to see her was a huge understatement. But at the same time, he had seemed relieved. Giles on the other hand hadn’t been happy. But then he had asked her to come back to the house with them, where he had explained everything about vampires and Slayers to her. After that night, she had started training with Giles as well. And a week later, she had gone with William on patrol for the first time.
Of course, it had been a total disaster. A vampire had to be staked through the heart, or decapitated. It had looked so easy when William did it, but when she’d tried, she’d missed. William had to come to her rescue, much to her embarrassment. But a couple of nights later, she had managed to slay her first vampire. After that, they always patrolled together, and her fighting skills got better and better, although she would never be as good as William. After all, he was the Chosen One, they came with special abilities.
She soon discovered that William wasn’t happy about having to fight the forces of darkness every night. More than once, he insisted to quit. Of course, that wasn’t possible, as Giles kept pointing out. Giles had been working for the Council of Watchers, and his eagerness for William to get over his ‘issues’ and start accepting who he really was, made their father/son relationship more than a little strained. Then there was the Cruciamentum. It was a cruel test all Slayers had to endure exactly one year after they got called. The Slayer had to face a vicious vampire, stripped of all his powers. It was simply to kill or get killed. Giles had refused to be a part of it, and quit the Council. That hadn’t been taken well.
As the horrible memories now came rushing back to her, Buffy closed her eyes, willing herself to stop thinking about it. She hadn’t cried yet, and wasn’t going to start now. She had spent the first year after William’s tragic death in a fog, not speaking to anyone. It was Giles who finally had managed to pull her out of it, forcing her to realize that William wouldn’t come back, and if she kept withdrawing herself from the world, his death would be meaningless. So, she had started training again. And eventually, she had also taken up the slaying; doing her best to keep Sunnydale safe from the vampires and demons until the next Slayer would be called.
What neither of them knew was that the new Slayer already had been called as soon as William died. Without his contacts at the Council, Giles didn’t have much to go on, and soon, the thought of a new Slayer became more of a myth for all of them. But then one day, almost three years later, Giles had gotten a desperate phone call from his sister - Anne. After hearing the story about all the trouble her son had gotten himself into over the past years, Giles had no choice but to accept the facts. Spike - his nephew - was the new Slayer.
And now Buffy realized that he obviously wasn’t any happier about it than William had been. Not that she could blame him, of course. But it didn’t matter; William never had a choice, and neither did Spike. Sighing, Buffy knew that it was up to her to make him see that.
TBC
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