Her Mom, her Dad, Sunnydale, Willow, Xander, Giles, Angel, Spike. Darkness…
The foul stench of earth filled her lungs as she took her first unneeded breathe.

She could hear the worms wriggling through the moist dirt, the gnawing of termites on decaying wood, and the re-growth of skin attaching to her bones. Her heart, she could not hear the once comforting sound of its gentle beats.

Panic set in as she recognized her surroundings as a cramped wooden box. She scratched at the rough ceiling, slowly picking up the speed until she was frantic to get out of her tiny prison.

The rotten earth spilled then pored into the coffin as she dug upward into the dirt, searching for air. The earth was now compact against her, compressing her lungs, filling her nose, and stinging her eyes. Oxygen was all she could think about when her survival instincts took over her senses.

Strength was reborn in her arms as she pushed her arms above her as far as they could go, and broke through. Her fingertips maneuvered around the surface to widen the opening enough to push up to her elbows.

Desperately needing to reach the surface, Buffy used her forearms to pull herself out of her now collapsed grave and lay on the cool night grass. Coughing up the mounds of dirt she seemed to have inhaled, Buffy found the strength inside of her to look at her surroundings.

Around her grave were dripping burned out candles, a broken vase, and scraps of burnt paper. Exhaustion finally caught up with her at this point as she felt the world darkening to black.

“Bye Dawnie!” Willow yelled up the stairs.

“You don’t think she knows, do you?” The redheaded witch asked her fellow witch and girlfriend, Tara.

“Of course not sweetie, nobody knows except for you, me, Xander, and Anya, you know that.” She assured Willow. A loud clumping sounded through the house as Spike followed Xander, Anya, and Joyce to the front door.

“You really don’t mind taking care of Dawn for me?” Joyce asked Spike, knowing she could trust him.

“F’ course Joyce, you know I love taking care of the little nibblet. I know that this gallery showing is important to you, so I’m here to help.”

“I’M NOT LITTLE!” Dawn’s voice could be heard from her room. She had been moody ever since Buffy had jumped off the tower to save her life, it was obvious that she felt guilty, and Spike knew how she felt.

“Yes, it is good to have you here, so that we can…”

“Go to the bronze!” Xander cut Anya off before she could reveal what they were planning to do.

“Uh huh! The party like its 1999! Yep!” Willow thought she should add some emphasis, but just got a ‘what are you on’ look from the bleached blonde.

“Right, well, off you all go” The mood of the Scooby gang had changed from Spikes point of view since the death of…her…and he found himself wishing for her to come back more each day.

“Bye William.” Joyce said partingly, God, he wished he had never told them his real name, even though part of him felt like he finally belonged to this little group he had tried to kill so often. And that was it, they were all gone, let alone one little bit sulking up in her room. He figured that he better go make nice if this evening was not reserved for brooding in a dark corner.

He hated that he had picked up that quality ever since Buffy had…died. Some times he would sit down to watch some telly at his crypt, and snap out of a sort of trance three days later, wondering how the time could have gone by so quick. She was his light, keeping him on the side of good guys everywhere, and now he had to constantly berate himself when he wanted to taste the fresh blood of some innocent victim.

Things would be so much easier if he could go back to the way he was before Sunnydale, before the chip, before Buffy…Oh well, better go sacrifice myself to the hormonal time bomb…

All four of them were sitting around their once-leader’s grave, three holding candles, one holding a life-giving urn. From Anya’s opinion, Willow was crossing the line with this spell. Sure, she liked Buffy enough to know it was good when she was around, but what if she didn’t want to be brought back?

These obviously dark magic’s that Willow was invoking were something Anya wished she could have avoided, considering that the Witch in question was being tortured by some unknown foe.

Tara tried to convince Xander and I that all was going as planned, but she cant fool me, this was dangerous power we were all messing with.

Lightning crackled through the sky as a large beam of swirling energy entered Willow, and even I could see the dark roots showing on the usually red head. Xander thinks I don’t understand a lot of “human” things, but I do understand the attraction to darkness, the very expression that is showing on Willows face right now.

I notice that the flashes in the clouds are getting more intense and before I can say ‘Don’t hurt the money!’ The normal kind of energy from the sky crashes down and splits the urn right in two! This I could have predicted! Silly mortals…

“Dawnie! You wanna play poker? I can teach you how to cheat undetected! Nibblet?” Spike swept through the upstairs hallway toward the youngest Summer’s room. “You ever wonder how I get money for supplies? Well that’s the…” Dawn was gone. Spike ran over to the open window.
“DAWN! DAWN! She is so bloody dead…” At that he jumped out the window and raced down the street.

“Why does everyone treat me like a kid? Sure, I’ve made my mistakes in the past but I don’t need a babysitter. Buffy would have treated me like an equal, like a friend. Oh, who am I kidding! She would kill me if she knew I was sneaking out, even if it is to get away from Spike.” Dawn walked briskly down Main Street, not knowing where she was headed at such a speed. She had noticed lately that Spike wasn’t his usual cool, easy going self. Not that he was Mr. Lenient before, but now he was mostly like a dark cloud of despair. Even worse was that he had taken to pacing around and guarding her like a Doberman. She knew it was about Buffy, he would always love Buffy, even after her death. This worried Dawn more than she would have liked. “What if he never gets over it?”

Fear washed over him as his footsteps sounded on the pavement like a heartbeat. How could she leave? I’m supposed to take care of her, cant go back on the promise again… “Promise me you’ll protect her” “Till the end of the world…even if that happens to be tonight”

Thirsty, so thirsty…She could hear the trickling of blood nearby as her focus sharpened and became more detailed than it had ever been. Behind a large patch of tall grass, ten feet away, Buffy knew a mouse lay, curled up for its evening rest. Finding her strength, she crouched for a moment then sprung herself in perfect aim to achieving her goal. The tiny rodent didn’t have a chance as she ripped into its furry carcass with her razor sharp canines.

This meal was however, not enough to fill the hunger pains inside her. The visions of her family and friends dissolved as her only thought turned to blood. The sound of blood rushing inside veins was stronger now, and belonged to a human. Buffy started to salivate as she raced with all of her speed in the direction of her next meal.

Dawn had reached the “Shady Hill Cemetery” when she heard heavy footsteps. First instinct told her to hide, so she ducked down behind a large tombstone.

“DAWN! Where the bloody hell are you!” Relief set in when she realized that it was just Spike. Then again he sounded pretty mad right now, and being a vampire it’s not a good idea to face his wrath. The prospect of him being any more upset with her brought her to her feet.

“Yah, I’m here.” She claimed in defeat. As Spike stopped moving he wore a face of confusion. He fixed his vision on a direction into the cemetery, Dawn did the same and at first didn’t see anything. Until a woman in a long black dress and flowing hair appeared over a nearby crypt and darted in a straight path towards them!

Tombstones in the way posed no challenge for her as she jumped clear over them with room to spare. Spike darted in front of Dawn, but still seemed conflicted about the whole situation.

Her face was masked by her vampiric visage but something about the way she moved and looked reminded Spike of someone he used to know.

As one who has lived over century, he didn’t think much of it. He slid into game face as he prepared himself for the battle.

The graceful vampire reached them and immediately knocked the bleached blond to the ground, leaving Dawn unprotected. Past experience of fighting the undead told Spike that this was not an ordinary strength vampire.

Feeling a strong urge to protect Dawn, he got up and threw all of his weight on top of the female vampire. Expecting her to do all in her power to escape, he kept his arms pinned to her inner-elbows as he sat atop of her waist.

But she did not try to move.

Memories of Dawn, who she just tried to kill, came flooding back to her. She pushed her ravaging hunger back down and faced the man who was currently on top of her. ‘He still protects her…’

“…Spike?” He almost didn’t recognize her when her human face replaced the demons. ‘It’s her, its really her, no its not, but it looks like her. Oh god, how did she become this? Why would anyone take her light away?’

“Buffy…what…”He was interrupted by the high-pitched shriek of Dawn.

“NO! It’s not true! Not like this! She’s…” With a guttural sob, she took off in the opposite direction. Buffy’s thirst was coming back to her when her demon told her a potential meal was escaping. Finally struggling under Spike’s grasp, she managed to break free and sprint in the path of her little sister.

Snapping out of his stupor, Spike scrambled to his feet and lunged after the slayer/vampire. He caught her left ankle with his powerful arms, and managed to trip Buffy the Bloodthirsty Vampire. With a vigilance she had never known to have, she twisted around and sunk her teeth into his pale neck. A blood cocktail of different types filled her senses and gave her even more strength than she had before.

“What…get off me Slayer!” He tried to knock the sense back into her by kicking her square in the stomach. She flew ten feet across the graveyard and hit her head on a gravestone.

Temporarily knocked out, but for how long Spike wasn’t sure, Buffy looked as she had looked before her demise. Seeing her so peaceful in the moonlight gave Spike a thought to kiss her, but decided against it. If he wasted time she would wake up and terrorize the town he was just getting used to. Pulling himself up off the moist evening grass he strode over to the former love of his life and carried her back to his crypt, which wasn’t that far away.

It was the best idea really, and had nothing to do with his growing arousal…really.

The world began to come back into focus, but not much because the world she was in right now was dimly lit. The pains in her stomach were gnawing faster and harder in her stomach now than before in the cemetery, she needed blood.

No smell of life was in this musty room, no frantic heartbeats, no rushing of blood, any…wait a second, was that the wafting of cigarette smoke? A rush a sensations raced to her at that moment, leather…bourbon…Spike.

There he was, sitting in a ratted red velour armchair, smoking like a chimney and staring deep into her eyes. His look was that of concern, curiosity, and a hint of mischief.

It was then that she noticed that she was currently chained up between two pillars! The old Buffy would have panicked, but new and improved Buffy thought ‘let him try.’

Noticing that she had recovered from the head injury, Spike stood up and started pacing around the room, not knowing what he was to say to the woman he loved and lost. ‘I could give her something to eat, she looks damn hungry’ He knew how hard it was going to be for her give up fresh human blood, he still craved it…sometimes.

“You hungry?” She looked at him menacingly, was she still his Buffy?

“Why, you gonna make me beg for it?” She spit venom at Spikes heels. She was gonna make this hard for him, he could tell. She didn’t trust him. Gone was the innocence of Buffy Summers.

“Well, since your own arm is probably looking mighty appetizing right now, I thought you might like it bagged.”

“Bagged? Not what I had in mind…” She leered at his healing bite wound with hunger. Spike figured from this comment that he was not going to have a proper conversation with Vampire Buffy, and could maybe get some information out of her. Swaggering towards her, he stopped just out of reach.

“You want this? Not your usual dialogue Slayer…what changed?”

“Since you became the only thing in the room with extra blood to spare, you gonna give it to me…or not?” She was trying to play his obsession to her advantage, but he would not let it get to him…

“You don’t get a drop until you tell me why you’re here.”

“Cause you’re a super-creep with an extra set of chains in your bedroom?”

“No! How did you get turned, love?” This foreign term of affection startled Buffy, did he actually think he could win her over with sweet talk? She was a fricken’ creature of the night!

“Well Spikey, I’m not too sure on that one, have to get back to you when I’m not chained to a wall!” Frustration rose in Spikes gut. She was just as annoying a bint as she was before she died.

“This doesn’t just happen! You’ve got to know Buffy! God, who did this to you?” Seeing the sorrow in his eyes she backed down a little.

“I…I don’t know, I just don’t know…” A tinge of sympathy hit Buffy. ‘He still loves me.’ Spike ran his hands up Buffy’s arms in a desperate need for connection. Noticing that Buffy did not protest, he pulled her into his arms and chuckled from emotional despair.

“I thought I had lost you…” He lovingly petted her long locks of hair. As if a red light went on in Buffy’s mind, all of her senses focused in on his neck. Closer…closer…her new teeth lightly scraped his jugular, but he didn’t notice. Spike was blinded with joy he thought was his Buffy, but she had changed.

With one quick push she sank her canines into his vein and began to feast.