Sunnydale May 1982





Sounds of feral wails and the clash of metal upon metal filled the old dusty room in the chaos that abounded there.





The blonde slayer slashed her sword wildly at the dark haired vampire who approached her with a menacing glare.





“Ready to quit, Kitty Kat?” He asked her leeringly.





“Not even close.” Katarzyna replied with distaste painted all over her pale face, her heavy accent coming through as she spoke.





Her long blonde locks were pasted to her shoulders with sweat from the exertion of the fight, but she had no intention of surrendering.





She could not allow Angelus to suck the world into hell.





Katarzyna endeavored to blank out the wails from the female vampire who was being held back from intervening in the fight by William the Bloody.





Her most unlikely ally.





Yet he had come to her and promised to help, and she had agreed.





Now here she was.





Ducking to avoid the sharp edge of the sword, she rolled and managed to use the blunt handle to strike Angelus right at the junction of his neck and back. He fell forward onto his knees, and taking advantage of his temporary handicap, she struck him in the middle of his back with her heavy booted foot.





She raised the sword to deliver the killing blow, but Angelus managed to dodge out of the way of the blade just in time.





“Daddy!” The dark haired, deathly pale female vampire screamed. She sounded so tormented that Katarzyna lost her concentration for a split second, giving Angelus the opportunity to pin her to the floor and knock the sword from her grasp.





She cried out in pain as he twisted her wrist, struggling underneath him when he rolled on top of her.





“Bloody hell!” Spike shouted when he realized the way the scene was unfolding. He had backed the little blonde slayer as the horse to win this derby and if she lost he knew that his fate would be something far worse than hell’s eternal torment.





Thinking on his feet, he tossed Drusilla from his arms to the floor and lurched forward, grabbing Angelus and pulling him off of the small slayer, giving her the chance to wriggle back to her feet.





Angelus launched at Spike with a vicious backhand, sending him careening to the floor, but it was too late.





The eyes of the larger vampire widened comically as his vampire visage melted away. He gasped when he looked down and saw a small piece of wood protruding from his chest. In seconds he dissolved into dust, leaving the young slayer panting, still holding the splintery piece of wood.





Spike was about to tell her to leave when his paramour, Drusilla, came barreling into the blonde human. She knocked her to the grimy floor and straddled her, lunacy evident on her face.





“You killed my Daddy, naughty little bitch!” Drusilla raged, gripping the blonde’s throat. Before Spike even registered what was happening he heard the crunch of bone and saw the human lying lifeless on the ground underneath her.





Not missing a beat, Drusilla rose to her feet and whirled on her childe.





“Naughty boy!” She reprimanded with cold, hostile eyes fixed on his. “I know what you did, my William. But you’re not mine anymore. You’re all dirty, soiled by the nasty slayer.”





"No Dru!" He cried in a heartfelt plea. "I only helped her so I could get you back!"





"Poor Spike. So lost. Looking for a plum and only finding a stone." She spoke sorrowfully and it tore at his heart.





Drusilla swayed as she came toward him, her eyes wild and childlike. Before he had a chance to duck out of her way she raked her claw-like fingernails down his pinched face, drawing blood before licking it from his skin. She cackled in a hauntingly chilling manner.





“You killed Daddy." She hissed accusingly, the laughter halting abruptly. "Bad boy in need of a spanking. Princess is locked in the tower but it should be the prince in her place."





Spike reached for her, trying to calm her down, but she jerked out of his grasp.





"I will have my vengeance, poor William.” Drusilla smirked, insanity leaking through her eyes. “And it will be so sweet.”





A flash of light exploded in front of the couple and both their heads whirled around to face the new presence in the room.





A smile spread over Drusilla’s face as she realized her vengeance would come sooner than she’d expected.

Sunnydale - July 1999

In the cerulean sky the sun was fierily beating down on the throngs of locals enjoying the warm weather in Sunnydale Park. Teenagers were scattered across the arid grass and the sound of their laughter tinkled in Buffy’s ears as she traversed the crowds in search of her friends.

She was dressed stylishly in a short white linen skirt and baby pink T-shirt teamed with strappy wedge sandals, and her ensemble attracted more than one pair of eyes. Surreptitiously she wiped at the back of her neck with her hand as she felt a bead of perspiration trickle down and wished, not for the first time, that the weather was not quite so hot.

Spotting her friends sitting on a bench, she headed over to the group.

“Hey biatch!” Cordelia greeted her rising to her feet from her seat on a bench to give her best friend a warm hug when the young blonde reached them.

“Hi Cordy.” Buffy smiled, glancing at the rest of the group. “Hey guys.”

“Hey!” Harmony, Larry and Amy chorused flashing her warm smiles.

However, it only took moments before she realized one of the group wasn’t present.

“Where’s Scott?” Buffy asked as soon as she noticed her boyfriend’s absence.

“Can’t keep track of your own boyfriend?” Cordelia sneered playfully, flicking her hair back behind her shoulders.

“Of course I can. He told me he was gonna be here.” Buffy said.

“Don’t have a crisis.” Cordelia laughed. “He went to get an ice cream treat for you. He wanted to surprise you when you got here.”

“Aww really?” Buffy smiled fondly at the thought of her boyfriend. Scott was always so attentive to her, and never seemed to ask for anything in return.

“Yeah! You are like so totally lucky. It’s not fair!” Harmony whined with a childish pout.

“He is a great guy.” Cordelia agreed, a little begrudgingly, and Amy also nodded in concordance.

Suddenly Buffy let out a little shriek as she felt an arm snake around her torso and twisted her head to see who was behind her.

“Hey baby.” Scott smiled, pecking her on the lips with a short kiss.

“Hi Scott.” Buffy blushed.

“I got something for you.” Scott said. “It’s not as sweet as you, but nothing is.” He handed her a Popsicle while the other girls watched on, their expressions a mixture of dreaminess and jealousy.

She thanked him and unwrapped the icy treat, sitting on the arm of the bench while he stood behind her, allowing her to rest her head against his chest.

“So…” Scott asked Larry with a smirk, “…how did it go last night?”

“Oh man!” Larry laughed remembering how much fun he’d had egging the house of their tyrannical former high school principal. “It was fucking sick, dude! Snyder came out just after we ran away and he looked like he was gonna have a coronary.”

Everyone laughed, their hatred for the wannabe-dictator welling up inside them.

Principal Snyder had managed to make their four years of high school an absolute living hell, mostly because he resented their popularity. It was his favorite pastime to torment them with after school detentions and forced hellish weekends cleaning the school bathrooms.

Oh yeah he deserved what he got.

Since they graduated and were off to college in the fall, doing dares had become customary for the friends, and Larry’s turn was the latest in the series.

They were all a little concerned that this would be their last real chance to have fun together as they were going to different colleges and so they had determined that they simply had to pack as much fun as possible into this last summer together.

Of course, that ‘fun’ primarily entailed getting drunk and doing dares.

And Larry had leaped at the chance to take the dare of egging Snyder’s house, although it was juvenile.

However, Buffy didn’t think that he quite lived up to the swagger. No dare was complete unless you waited for the fallout.

“You ran away?” Buffy smirked when the laughs died down. “Didn’t you have the balls to stick around and rub it in his face?”

“Oh, I got a big pair of cojones, baby.” Larry replied affronted. “Want to see them?”

Buffy wrinkled her nose up and a laugh bubbled through her lips. “Sorry, Larry, I don’t think I can see them right now…I left my microscope at home.”

“Ooh burn!” Scott chuckled.

Buffy smiled and placed her hand on Larry’s arm. “I’m just kidding, Larry. You know that right? I don’t think you’re a wuss…much.”

He gave her a lopsided smile but his eyes twinkled mischievously in a way that told her he would somehow try and get his own back.

“Now it’s your turn, Buff.” Cordelia pointed out with a devilish smirk. “You’re the last one standing without a dare under your oh so stylish belt.”

“We have to come up with something crazy-ass fun for you, Buffster! Something that proves you’re not a…wuss.” Larry chuckled.

“Ooh ooh!” Harmony shrieked and jumped off the bench as if she was suffering some kind of seizure. She waved her arms manically and the entire group took a communal step back. “I have the best dare!”

Cordelia rolled her eyes and huffed out a laugh at her platinum blonde friend’s expense and Buffy hid her smile behind her hand as she noticed the brunette’s antics.

“I don’t care what you say, Harm, but I’m not wearing fake designer shoes.” Buffy smirked at her platinum blonde friend. Every time they picked new dares, Harmony always contributed the same suggestion.

Harmony wrinkled her nose and pouted. “But that’s like in the top ten of icksome fashion crimes. Only poor people wear fake designer stuff. That dare would be kick-ass!” This time everyone in the group rolled their eyes. While they all realized that they had a touch of superficiality to them, Harmony was pretty much a one-dimensional Barbie doll.

Cordelia waved away Harmony’s suggestion, disguising the laughter in her voice with a cough. “It would be bad, but we still want Buffy to be able to show her face in public, Harmony. And fake clothes would be at least a half a decade in forced exile.” She said, heavily sarcastic.

Buffy smiled at Cordelia. Over the past few months, she had really witnessed the girl maturing from the superficial pseudo bitch she had once been.

“How about the Crawford Street Mansion?” Amy piped up, taking a swig of her drink.

“What about it?” Buffy asked warily. Even the mere mention of that place made her skin crawl. It was the stuff of legends and not the good kind.

“You should spend the night there. Prove that you’ve got the balls.” Amy said, nudging Larry who nodded vigorously.

“I’m a girl. I don’t have balls.” Buffy replied.

“What she has is way better!” Her boyfriend chimed in, leering sleazily.

Buffy slapped his chest with the back of her hand lightheartedly but her posture was tense. She really didn’t want to go near that house.

Ever since she had moved to Sunnydale three years earlier, she had been regaled with tales of the ‘haunted house’ on Crawford Street. The legends about the mansion ranged from ghosts to monsters to weird sex cults.

It wasn’t that she even believed in the existence of anything supernatural. But a tiny part of her was still that little girl who was afraid of monsters in her closet and it shied away from the idea of going into the creepy-ass dilapidated house. Whether or not there really was a ghost, a monster or a squad of murderers living there, was a moot point in Buffy’s mind.

Creepy is as creepy does.

And whatever the truth was, she was happy to stay far away.

“Come on, Buffster.” Larry encouraged her heartily. “It’ll be fun.”

“Fun for you guys, maybe.” Buffy scoffed. “That place gives me wiggins of the major kind. It’s creepy.”

Cordelia laughed. “You don’t really believe the haunted rumors about that house, do you?”

“I believe that spending the night in a big scary abandoned mansion can never be of the good.” The blonde retorted, raking a hand nervously through her hair.

“I can think of some ways it could be of the good.” Scott smirked. “I could come with you and I bet there’re some beds there where we could have a little fun of the NC17-rated kind.”

Buffy threw up her hands and stamped her foot.

“Listen guys and listen hard.” She yelled vehemently, her eyes scanning the group. “There is nothing and I mean nothing that will ever get me to go spend the night in Crawford Street Mansion!”

“I can’t believe I’m spending the night in Crawford Street Mansion.” Buffy sighed, throwing her boyfriend a nasty glare as he ambled along beside her.

As the duo turned onto Crawford Street, Buffy froze, and Scott paused too.

“Come on, Buffy. You did agree.” He sighed turning to the pale-looking girl.

“I only agreed because all this heat totally frizazzled my poor brain. And anyway, I was totally peer pressured. This is exactly what the teen magazines warn about. Drugs, sex and creepy haunted places where blood sucking monsters rip out your intestines and use them as a jump rope.” Buffy told him, crossing her arms smugly.

“There’s no such things as monsters, Buff. Geez, you used to be fun.” Scott said, only half joking.

“Scott, you’re missing the point.” Buffy said seriously. “Going into this place is insanity.”

He cupped her face with sweaty palms and she sighed, already knowing that she would cave in despite struggling not to.

“Listen, we’re young, footloose and fancy free. Now is the only time in our lives we’re gonna get to do some crazy shit like this. And don’t you wanna prove to Larry that you’re not a wuss?” Scott said.

With a sigh, Buffy relented, feeling a shiver course down her spine that she couldn’t attribute to the cool evening air.

“Fine.” She agreed.

When they reached the gates surrounding the mansion, the pair stilled, and Scott lifted her up, allowing her to straddle the top of the gates before jumping down on the other side, and then following close behind her.

The house loomed over them like a living, breathing presence. It had no doubt always been imposing but the legends that surrounded it made it all the more sinister. It reminded Buffy of some kind of Hitchcockian mental institution which didn’t provide her with the most comforting of images.

They crept forward, keeping a look out for anyone who might see them, but the block had been deserted and so were the grounds.

High overgrown trees framed what had clearly once been beautiful grounds, and the large expanse of grass was at waist height, having been neglected for so long.

When they reached the doorway, Scott pulled on the brass ring of the old wooden door and found no resistance as it swung open with a pained creak. They switched on their flashlights and ventured forward.

Inside the house it seemed to be no better than the outside, with debris littering the floor and upturned furniture everywhere. Scott flicked the flashlight beam around the first room that they went into but it was virtually uninhabitable, and certainly not the kind of place to spend a comfortable night.

Well, as comfortable as any night gets in an eerie old house.

Buffy wrinkled her nose in disgust as the stench of stale, musty air hit her nostrils with a mammoth blast.

“Yuck!” She squeaked. “It stinks in here.”

Scott just shrugged, eager to get inside and find a bedroom. After all, the only real reason why he’d wanted to accompany Buffy on this dare was the high probability of actually getting laid. He liked Buffy but he always thought that a girl was at her best when her legs were spread.

Yes, Scott Hope was absolutely one-hundred percent interested in the females of the population.

And, of course, getting some from Buffy would just cement that fact.

“It’s okay, babe.” He cooed seeing Buffy’s growing unease. “Upstairs is probably much better.” Scott winked at his girlfriend, although she missed the gesture in the near darkness, and led her up a flight of wooden steps to the second floor.

At the top of the stairs was a long hallway lined with doors on each side. Picking one at random, he turned a handle and opened it, throwing up a layer of dust as he walked inside.

Buffy coughed to clear her polluted lungs and waved her hand wildly in front of her face.

“Well, if I don’t die from being murdered by a vengeful spirit, then I’m pretty sure there’s some form of Ebola in here that will kill me.” Buffy said wryly.

Scott ushered Buffy through the door and tossed his supply-filled backpack down on the ground, setting the flashlight upright on the floor so that they had some light.

He began massaging her shoulders gently as he stared at her round little ass before turning her round and leering at her shapely figure.

“Come on, chill babe.” He said soothingly, feeling his lower regions become excited with anticipation now that they were finally alone in a room with a bed, albeit one that was covered with a layer of something resembling mold.

Pushing her back against the grimy wall, he fastened his lips against hers in a sloppy amateurish kiss. She almost gagged as he thrust his tongue into her mouth and wiggled it around like an eel on an acid trip.

As she adjusted to the unrelenting stabbing motion of his tongue in her mouth, his hands reached down to grope her butt and she squealed in pain as he squeezed too hard, pulling her lips from his and pushing at his chest.

Scott clenched his fists in frustration. He just wanted to get laid, damn it!

He should have known Buffy would be a frigid bitch. She never even let him past second base before, in all the months they had been together, no matter how nice he pretended to be, so why would tonight be any different?

“Take it easy!” He warned her. “I’ll be gentle.”

“You hurt me!” She exclaimed with a pout.

“I’m sorry, sweetie.” He said with a false saccharine smile, pausing only a moment before resuming his attentions. With a resigned roll of her eyes she gave in and just tried to keep the bile in her stomach where it belonged.

When Buffy was a little girl, she had always dreamed about finding the perfect guy. She used to pretend that she was a princess trapped in a tower and the dashingly handsome prince would come and rescue her.

However, real life had shown her that princes were a myth and the Scott Hopes of the world were real, however grope-y they might be and no matter how stomach churning their sloppy kisses could become.

He was a nice guy from a good family and that was the kind of man her friends expected her to be with.

Suddenly Buffy’s eyes snapped open as she felt a chilly breeze wash over her, and she shoved her boyfriend away sharply.

“What the fuck is your problem?” He yelled in sheer frustration, but Buffy stood paralyzed in wide-eyed fear and she stared into the amber eyes of the monster standing behind him.

A shrill scream pierced the air and it took her a moment to realize that it was emanating from her lips.

“Buffy? What is it now?” Scott seemed like he was close to exploding with exasperation.

“Monster!” She shrieked, raising her right hand and wildly gesturing at the creature that was penetrating her with its fiery yellow gaze. The creature was only fairly small in build, probably the height of an average man, but in the dimness of the room, it looked no less imposing.

Scott whirled round to see the creature standing just inside the doorway of the room, staring intently at them and fumbled for the flashlight on the ground, almost tripping and falling as he grabbed for it.

“Fuck!” Scott shouted when he aimed the light at the creature, illuminating the deformed features of the monster. It wore a long black leather coat and its hair was seemingly a stark white but it was difficult to accurately judge the color in such poor light.

“We gotta get outta here.” Buffy hissed, almost in tears.

She had known this was a bad idea all along and now she was going to die.

The thought of all of the things she would never get to do flashed through her mind and with a sudden rush of determination she howled out a battle cry and grabbed Scott’s hand pulling him forward and bounding into the monster, managing to use surprise to knock it off balance and therefore giving them enough time to bolt through the doorway.

Panting for breath they careered out of the room and back down the hallway, the way they had entered not long before.

Scott ran ahead, thinking of his own safety more than Buffy’s. He could always get another girlfriend but if he lost his life he felt that it would be much more tragic.

Buffy followed hot on her boyfriend’s heels trying to keep up with him as he ran. She could feel her stomach churning with fear, not daring to look back in case the monster was after them. This felt like something out of a horror movie and Buffy swore that, if by some miracle she managed to survive this experience, the most daring thing she would ever do in the future would be wearing white after Labor Day.

All of a sudden, as if in slow motion, she heard an almighty crack and felt the ground fall out from under her. She was vaguely aware of the sensation of falling as she waved her arms in the air to try and find purchase that didn’t exist, before hitting the ground with a crunch. She felt pain sear through her and everything went hazy until she knew nothing more except for darkness.

Hearing the crash Scott screeched to a halt and glanced backwards, his mouth gaping open as he saw the hole in the floor through which his girlfriend had disappeared. Unsure what to do, he hesitated but a shaft of moonlight that dribbled through a crack in a grimy window highlighted a figure approaching from the other end of the corridor.

Seeing that the monster was slowly ambling toward him, Scott gulped and turned in the direction of the stairs, clearing them two at a time as he left the building without another thought.

As the night air hit him he shivered and felt a tiny frisson of guilt before shrugging.

“Sorry, Buffy.” Scott whispered over his shoulder into the thin air before clambering over the gate and disappearing into the shadowy night.

Inside the house the guise of a monster melted away and pair of azure eyes studied the girl lying motionless on the ground, her left leg twisted at an unnatural angle.

He could hear her heart beating steadily and her regular breathing and he couldn’t really smell any blood so he wagered that the fall had just knocked her out.

With a sigh the black clad figure scooped the young woman up into his arms, cradling her tenderly to his chest. He’d forgotten what the touch of another felt like and took a moment to savor the feeling, inhaling the sweet vanilla aroma of the girl’s hair.

Whirling around he headed back up the stairs toward his bedroom, disappearing once again into the darkness.