“Apparently not, Wills,” Xander inserted, staring at the two women. His fangs dripped blood, and Willow fearfully glanced at her Xander’s neck. Blood ran freely from twin puncture wounds, but she detected his shallow breathing. “If she was dead, assuming you didn’t turn her, then she wouldn’t be walking here right now.”

“See this little amulet?” Anya asked, holding up her power center. The vampiress nodded balefully, glaring at her. “It kind of protected me. I still had it in my hand when you drained me. The power in it restored my blood to full capacity within minutes. Had I not had my amulet, I’d have died, yeah. But, na na na na boo boo, I had it and I’m still kickin’.” Anya crossed her arms and stared the female vampire down. She snarled and lunged, and Anya tossed the amulet to Willow, who surprised a very off-guard vampire Xander by kissing him full on the lips. She took care not to nick her lips on his fangs. The kiss allowed her time to slip the amulet into Xander’s hands and fold his fingers over it. She broke off the kiss and pulled back from the vampire.

“I just wanted a taste of it, since I’m not ever going to experience it,” Willow snarled, kicking him hard in the chest. When he doubled over, she plunged her stake through his back and he howled in pain.

“Dumb bitch,” he hissed. Willow waited for him to explode into dust and when he didn’t, she backed off in alarm. “Your strength is admirable, but your aim needs work,” he spat, reaching for the wood still embedded in his back. He hissed in pain when he yanked the stake out of his flesh. He also noticed his living counterpart rise slowly, glancing around in confusion. Willow caught the direction of his glance and looked as well.

“Xander!” Willow cried, burying herself in his arms. Xander gripped Willow fiercely, still not understanding what was going on. It took a few seconds to get his bearings, but he finally took in the scene unfolding before him. The vampire Xander stood off from the two of them, not wanting to get into the middle of Willow and Anya’s fight, but also not willing to be anywhere near his human counterparts. Xander looked down at the amulet in his hands and looked up at the two fighting women.

“Anya!” he called. She looked up, momentarily distracted, and Willow moved in. Xander held up the amulet and she raised her hands to catch it. Xander glanced at the sullen-faced vampire and at the girl he held in his lap. Xander raised the amulet and looked once more at the vampiress holding Anya in a vise-like grip. Then he plunged it towards the cement beneath him and shattered it.

“Xander!” Anya and Willow screamed as the vampiress sank her teeth into Anya’s flesh. She sucked the life from the now-mortal girl in her arms, finishing every last drop.

“Thank you, Xander,” Willow said gratefully as she dropped Anya’s husk to the ground. “Now the dumb broad can’t come back and screw up my plans.”

Willow stared in horror at the man who held her protectively in his arms. “Xander?” she whispered, her voice thick with tears.

“I was,” Xander said with a shrug. His face shifted until it was identical to the vampire’s, who stood right behind him with a satisfied smirk on his face. Willow screamed in terror. “See, I had already completed the ‘whole sucking thing’ before you gave me the amulet. I just hadn’t had the chance to make a total transformation. Giving me the amulet sped up the process.”

“No!” Willow wailed, dropping her head. She refused to look at any of the three vampires. “Just kill me and get it over with,” she commanded in a dull and lifeless voice.

“Aww, come on now, where’s the fighting spirit we all know and love?” Xander mocked. He helped pull the other Xander off the ground; Willow still clenched in his grip. “Don’t give in so easily.”

“Xander, I need to know one thing before I let you turn me,” Willow said softly. She held a stake loosely in her hands and showed it to the Xander who held her. “I can use this, and I will if I have to. But if you can tell me one thing, I’ll let you turn me.”

“What’s that?” he asked curiously.

“Do you love me?”

“I may be a vampire, but when the day comes that I do not love you, Willow Rosenberg, that is the day that I will throw myself on a stake,” Xander pledged, his voice dark and deadly serious.

“Then I want to be with you,” she whispered, tilting her neck. He smiled as he sank his fangs into her throat. He drank deeply, then bit his lip until the blood flowed freely. Xander dipped his head until his lips touched those of the nearly unconscious girl in his arms. He kissed her hard and her tongue instinctively reached out the lick the blood from his lips. He sank to the ground, still holding her, and grabbed for a piece of the amulet.

“I don’t know if it will make a difference, but we can try to revive her quicker,” Xander muttered, pressing the shattered gem into Willow’s still hands. Though it took longer, since the power of the amulet was not concentrated within a whole stone, it still had an effect on Willow’s revival time. She sat up about ten minutes after Xander gave her the amulet, and her eyes glowed yellow.

She looked around, somewhat disoriented, but her mind quickly clued in on what had happened. She ran her tongue over her fangs and brushed her fingertips over the ridges on her face. She and Xander stood up and the four vampires squared off against each other. “Xander,” the new vampire whined, clinging to the Xander of her dimension, “I’m getting a headache.”

“Why’s that, Wills?” he asked casually.

She stared at the two vampires from the alternate dimension, each sizing her and Xander up. “I have a bad case of double vision.”

“I know, Giles, I know,” she whispered in a child-like tone. She turned from the scene of the vampire massacre she and Giles had just instigated. “I just sometimes like to look, and think that their souls are watching over us while we fight for the end of the race that took them away from this world.”

“They’re watching, somewhere, I can assure you,” Giles reassured her. He took her hand and led her away from the site. “Someday we’ll know from where.”

The four vampires looked down on the pair from the safety of the shadows. Two redheaded vampiresses turned and curled up in the embraces of two black-haired, leather-sporting vampires. The two pairs walked off, never turning an eye back. All four knew, when the time was right, they would return. And chaos would rain down on the heads of the innocent.