by Mace

Prague, two months after Spike and Drucilla left Sunnydale. Spike walked down the street. He spotted a girl struggling with a sack of food. Spike approached her as she drops an apple and caught it before it hit the ground. The girl looked up and a piece of dark hair fell in front of her eyes.

"Oh, thanks," Bex said as she took the apple.

"No problem. You speak English?" Spike asked, slightly surprised.

"Oh, yes," she replied.

She reassembled the food and shifted it to one side. She began to walk away, but Spike kept pace with her.

"Planning on a meal?" Spike asked, flashing a friendly smile.

"Uh, no, actually, I'm just really hungry. I've got no food in my house," Bex replied.

Spike responded, licking his lips in anticipation, "I think I can safely say I'm hungry too."

Spike vamped out and grabbed her by the neck. She punched him in the face and knocked him to the ground. Spike stood and she vamped out. He stood back, stunned.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Bex screamed at him.

"I didn't know you were a vampire, doll! I swear!" Spike said as he saw a figure in the shadows. "Drusilla, come over here!"

"Drusilla? Did you say Drusilla?" Bex asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah. Do you know her?" Spike replied.

Bex morphed back into her human guise.

"Only by reputation. Are you Spike?" Bex replied, flashing a smile.

"Yeah, you heard of us?" Spike asked.

"Hmm . . . let's see you two were supposed to be at the Hellmouth, fighting the Slayer. What are vamps of your status doing away from the Hellmouth?" Bex asked, slightly teasing.

"Who's she, my Spike?" Drusilla asked, looking over the other vampiress.

"Uh . . . I'm sorry, didn't catch your name," Spike said.

"I'm Bex. I heard the Slayer was something. She killed the Master and stopped his rising," Bex replied extending a hand that no one takes. She drew it back.

"You haven't heard the latest news, then?" Spike asked, ignoring her hand.

"Is she dead?" Bex asked. << God, don't let her be dead. >>

"She killed Angel. We were going to destroy the world, and she killed my Angel!" Drusilla said, whimpering slightly.

"She nearly killed us, Dru," Spike chided, irritated.

"Angel as in *Angelus*?" Bex asked, trying to mask her surprise . . . and fear.

"Yes, poor thing. She had to go and kill him," Drusilla said, sing-song.

Spike moved uneasily.

"You knew Angel?" Spike asked, trying to ignore Drusilla.

"When he was evil, hanging with Darla and her company. I couldn't stand Darla, so I beat her into a pulp and went to the Orient," Bex replied, smirking.

Spike laughed. Drusilla notices the food on the ground.

"It passes the time. Hunt during the night and go shopping. During the day, sleep and eat human-food," Bex said, noticing Drusilla's questions.

Spike and Drusilla nodded.

"So the Hellmouth's got a great little Slayer, huh? I might just have to go and put and end to her. I was rather fond of Angelus," Bex said.

"It's the funniest thing, after he made Drusilla, the gypsies gave him a soul as a curse. He spent some a whole century as a nobody, then, out of the blue, he was evil again. He really got to be a pain, ducks," Spike said, hate working its way into his eyes.

"You two boys were always fighting," Drusilla said, amused.

"I think I'll join them at the Hellmouth. Europe just isn't what is used to be. I mean, you drink someone dry now, they accredit it to animals. A thousand years ago, it was demons, and we got some credit," Bex said.

"You're one of the old ones, aren't you? I could feel your power coming. How old are you?" Drusilla said, spaced out.

"Seven-thousand, eight-hundred four," Bex replied almost proudly.

Spike whistled. Drusilla rubbed her hands together in anticipation.

"How did you manage to live that long?" Spike asked, trying to image nearly eight-thousand years.

"I didn't spend my time living like a 'family' with morons like the Master and the Annoying one. I have hunted alone always. Why congregate with others? It only makes it easier for a Slayer to find you," Bex replied.

"Can we go back? I wanna rip the Slayer's throat out!" Drusilla asked.

"Two in less than six months, good luck. I'm not going back to Sunnyhell until I'm sure she's been dead a hundred years or so," Spike said.

"Of course not, young'uns don't like fixing their mistakes," Bex teased.

"You won't see me getting myself staked," Spike said.

In Los Angeles, a blonde, whose face cannot be seen, was standing in a black leather jacket. She leaned over and kissed some guy on a motorcycle. He handed her a wad of twenties, and she got on the back of his bike. They drove off. Buffy stepped onto the curb and sighed, praying she never has to stoop to that. She walked into a clothing store.

"No, no, ugh . . . NO, no, doesn't this store have anything worth wearing in it?" a girl complains.

Buffy didn't pay attention. She picked up a pair of leather pants and a red top and held the top against her leather jacket to see how it looked. She shrugged her shoulders and picked up a different style, blue blouse that the other girl passed by.

"That could work," Buffy said aloud.

She picked up a scarlet dress and held it up to her. She glanced at the girl who was complaining and looked down quickly.

"Buffy, Buffy Summers?" the girl asked.

Buffy looked up at the girl.

"Oh, hi, Melody. What's happening?" Buffy asked.

"So you going for a grunge-look this summer?" Melody asked.

"I hear it's in style. But, hey, it's just clothes," Buffy replied, looking around.

"When saying something like that, you should sound more sarcastic. Clothes aren't clothes, they're how you tell your losers from your in-crowd," Melody said with an ex-Cordelia-esque attitude.

"Well, I have to run . . ." Buffy said as she began to walk away.

"You're gonna run? Are you crazy? You haven't paid for that!" Melody shrieked.

"I fully intend to *pay* for it. What's your deal?" Buffy asked, slipping into the snob-vocabulary.

"Well, it's just after you burned down the gym. . . ." Melody began.

Buffy walked away. She put the clothes on the counter and the clerk rang them up. She glanced back at Melody who was still rattling on, to the thin air. Buffy smiled as she took her clothes and left.

"And I used to be one of them . . ." she said, smirking. "Moron."

Willow and Oz walked down the sidewalk in the park under an umbrella due to extreme rainage. The day is the epitome of everything Sunnydale usually isn't.

"So, you wanna go to the Bronze tonight?" Willow asked.

"You know I would love to go with you, Willow, but it isn't really . . ."

"Safe. I know. Sunnydale won't be the same without our own, personal Slayer," Willow said. "It's like all the vamps have this personal vendetta against us."

"Well, we are the Slayer's friends. You wanna come over? We could eat popcorn and watch TV," Oz said.

"Sounds fun . . ." Willow replied.

"Well, you and your boys did a good job. Summers has been run out of town, and things should be returning . . ." Snyder began.

"Right. That's why we've had eight kids show up dead since last night. So far, parents have filed forty-seven missing persons' reports and sixty-eight people have been found dead," the police chief said.

"Your point being?"

"I'm not sure what Buffy Summers had to do with the Hellmouth, but since she's run away, things have only gotten worse. Willow Rosenberg, Alexander Harris, and Cordelia Chase's stories all match up. They say that it was a woman with dark hair that killed that girl. Your janitor has already said he saw Buffy Summers run by and the police were right behind her. There was no way she killed that girl," the chief replied.

"I don't care what he anyone said. I don't care if she did it or not. I just don't want her in my town," Snyder ranted.

"I have news for you, Snyder. You're just a high school principal."

He left on that note. Snyder looked out the window and smirked evilly.

"That's where your wrong . . ." Snyder said sinisterly.

Buffy beat a vampire into a bloody pulp and staked him. Bex watched from the shadows. Buffy sensed someone watching and turned to face her. Bex stepped out of the shadows.

"Chilly night. Are you next?" Buffy asked.

"No . . ." Bex replied.

"You aren't gonna say I am, 'cause that's really gettin' old. Don't you vamps think of anything else?" Buffy quipped.

Bex leaned forward and touched Buffy's cross. Buffy looked at her hand. Bex pulled back her jacket and to reveal that she was wearing a cross also. Buffy twitched nervously.

"You'll excuse me if I seem a little confused. Are you insinuating that I am some common vampire?" Bex asked in good-humor.

"What are you?" Buffy asked.

"That's a difficult question to answer. Let me try to tell you *what* I'm *doing* here. You are the only one of your kind, stuck between mortality and immortality. You can never be a real person, and you don't wanna give in totally to your other side," Bex said. "Your other side being the Slayer who cares for nobody and nothing."

"You seem to know a lot about me. How come I haven't heard of you before?" Buffy asked, sensing that she was hitting dead-center with her questions.

"'Cause you don't listen to me. All this time, I've been telling you to stop worrying and go back home. You have this uncanny ability to block me out," Bex said.

"What do I have in Sunnydale? No love . . . no hope . . . no friends . . . bunch of bloodthirsty vamps . . . no boyfriend . . . no mother . . . no life. You have something to say, I want you to say it," Buffy ordered.

"You met Whistler. You're his favorite. Whistler was given a job. He was supposed to train Angelus to help you. Angelus was supposed to help you defeat Acathla," Bex explained.

"Then, I made a mistake and he's in Hell. So, right now, I'm hearing a lecture," Buffy said irritably.

"Right now, your life sucks. The only thing you have going for you is me. Your love is in Hell. Your mother, who loves you, kicked you out. You got expelled. The cops want you for murdering someone. If you were gonna lose, Slayer, it would be in a battle in a blaze of glory. If I have to kill you myself, I will not let you waste away on the streets. Your life sucks. The questions is: what are you gonna do about it?" Bex asked.

"So, I'm supposed to go home? Swallow my pride and crawl to my mother? I think you're under the misconception that my life is simple. Giles says kill vampires and my life comes second. . . ." Buffy stated harshly.

"You think that you want to be free. Tell me, Buffy, if you had the chance to go back and forget everything that ever happened to you, would you . . . ?"

"In a heartb . . ."

"You will have to forget Willow, Xander, and Cordelia. You never got to meet Angel. He spends the rest of his life waiting for you because he needed you more than you needed him. Do you think it's just destiny? Ha! Would you really give up everything you had?" Bex challenges.

"Is this gonna be one of those what-would-happen-if-I-didn't-do-something-or-another?" Buffy asked, trying to mask her sadness.

"Nope. I want you to consider what would have happened. Into each generation, not one is born. Only one is *chosen* that someone thinks has strength to handle this life. It's not destiny that you're the Slayer. You're the only person on this earth that would have been able to do everything that you do," Bex replied sympathetically.

"So what?" Buffy asked.

"Sleep tonight," Bex replied cryptically.

"What?" Buffy asked.

"Go to sleep. Tell yourself what you saw," Bex said.

Buffy turned abruptly and walked away. Bex just smiled for a second. A tear rolled down her cheek as she saw Buffy's shoulders slump. Faint crying sounds came from Buffy. Bex turned around to leave. << I thought I had it hard. >> Bex thinks.

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