TITLE: Essence of the Slayer (Chapter Five)
AUTHOR: Cherry <cherry@thekeep.org>
RATING: PG-13
PAIRING: Buffy/Darla, then maybe Buffy/Spike
SUMMARY: Buffy dies, discovers a new world.
ARCHIVE: http://www.thekeep.org/~cherry/
SPOILERS: BtVS: S5 'The Gift' & S6 'Bargaining'
FEEDBACK: I'm struggling to find direction with this, so any help would
          be deeply appreciated.
PREVIOUSLY: Buffy & Sunnydale prove to be unmixy things.

** From Chapter Four **

	Buffy stared at the bot, then slid her weapons away as well.
"First Kendra, then Faith, now a robot.  Is someone trying to give me a
hint here?"

	This got her friendly smile number seven, linked to an apologetic
tone.  "I can't give you a hint, I haven't asked the riddle yet."

** End Chapter Four **

	He didn't patrol.  No, he'd never go on a patrol.  At least not
when he was alone.  That would be too much like a Slayer, and the last
thing anyone would accuse him of being was a Slayer.  Slayer's pet,
possibly.  Of course, he killed most demons who said that.

	He stalked.  He prowled.  Sometimes, just for a change, he lurked.
He would even have called it hunting, if not for the fact that his kind
hunted humans.  But he never patrolled.

	Tonight, he was doing none of the above.  While the white hats
were researching for methods a vampire might use to live through being
staked, he was guarding Dawn.  Which was a damn shame.  On the off-chance
they found something, it would have been nice to know.  Just in case.

	The TV was turned low, so as not to wake her up.  Despite that, an
hour after she'd gone up, the stairs creaked as she came back down.
"Spike, Botty is missing.  Could you go do a patrol and find her?"

	He should have asked why she was still up.  He could have asked
why she felt the need to check on the robot.  "Sure thing, 'bit.  I'll
patrol for the 'bot."  Oh, bloody hell.

*****

	Of course she wasn't where she belonged.  That would have made too
much sense.  And sense was in short supply at the moment.

	He made his way into the motel room, already concerned before the
door was open.  The bedsheets were rumpled, and if this poor excuse for a
motel even had a housekeeping staff, it clearly hadn't made the bed since
it was last slept in.  There was an open bag of clothing on the small
writing table, which was a moderately good sign.  No signs of a fight,
either.  And no weapons.

	A second figure came in after the first, silently closing the door
behind them.  "I hope you haven't lost my student already, Methos."

	"Her clothing is still here, Mac.  So is her car.  I don't expect
she's gone that far."

	"I always wondered where she vanished to at night.  Are there any
night clubs in this town?"

	The man who called himself Adam headed for the door.  "I am her
watcher, so I'll go and watch her.  Do me a favor, and wait here?  She
might come back before I find her."

	Duncan made a sound of acknowledgement as Methos left, then sat
down and wondered when he'd lost his heroic urges.  He'd let a student
leave early, and now he couldn't even summon up the will to track her
down.

*****

	What he needed was a tracking device.  Without that, his best
method of searching was to try the local popular spots.  The Bronze seemed
most likely, judging from the traffic in and out of it.  If she was
looking for something to kill, the best place to look was where the
predators gathered.  And naturally, predators gathered where the prey was.

	Pausing to drink a beer or three couldn't hurt.

	And it would serve as good insulation when Methos finally found
his wayward charge, and discovered what new disaster had befallen her.
Perhaps Siberia would have been a better place to take her.  Perhaps it
wasn't too late.
	
*****

	Doesn't matter.  Don't think about it, just find the bloody
machine and drag it back.  Maybe the Bronze...  no, bloody hacker witch
said that that was off-limits for the robot now, because of the pool
hustling incident.  Still don't see what the problem was.  It's not like
it was my fault that Red decided geometry and physics should be part of
her programming.  Made nearly three hundred off it, too.  Shady Grove,
next on the list.  Looks dead.  Ha!  Looks dead.  Xander would have
appreciated...  Hang on, was that voices?

	"Dawn says my peanut butter and grape jelly sandwiches are the
best.  And Willow said I can watch cooking shows again, but I'm still only
allowed to make lunch."

	Spike inched up to, and peered around the corner of a mausoleum,
then ducked back.  He could see that the 'bot was sitting on the end of a
sarcophagus, facing his direction, and she seemed to be chatting with a
girl sitting on the opposite end, facing away from him.  Except something
seemed strange with the picture.

	A voice that sounded familiar asked, "Is Dawn doing well in
school?"

	After a pause, the chirpy voice of the BuffyBot replied, "Very
well!  She made many loud complaints about a pop quiz in her math class
during the last schooling cycle, and then Willow took everyone out for ice
cream when she got an A on the test."

	It was the same voice.  Either the 'bot was talking to herself, or
his long lost childe was still right here in Sunnydale, just a few meters
away.

	Spike strode around the corner as Botty finished speaking, and
chucked the butt of his cigarette at the base of their current seat.
"Well well, look who's finally back.  Hallo, Slayer."

*****

	"I hate to be the one to suggest this, but could it be time to get
Faith out of prison?"  Xander immediately wilted under the intense stares
directed his way.  He ducked his head and put his nose back into the book
in front of him.

	Anya smacked his arm.  "You are not allowed to have orgasms with
Faith!"

	Giles was the first to break the uncomfortable silence that
followed Anya's outburst.  "I am certain that our solution lies in
information.  Information about what this law firm did to Buffy.  In the
event superior fighting skills are required-"

	Willow broke in excitedly, "Oh, I think I've got something!
There's a procedure that demon doctors use to remove the heart of a
vampire...  Oh, wait.  It says the vampire dies with the next rising of
the sun."

	It was nearly ten minutes later that Xander ventured to speak up
again.  "Say, uh... Will...  I was thinking.  What if, instead of removing
the heart, they just moved it?  Like six inches to the right, or
something."

	Tara's eyes went wide.  "You mean I missed VampBuffy's heart?"

	At that moment, the phone rang.

*****

	The real Buffy barely flinched at the appellation, sliding off her
cold perch as both Slayer and vampire ignored the friendly greeting from
the robot.  She moved back a few steps as Spike approached, one hand
tucked inside her coat, then held her place, simply watching as he
continued forward, putting himself within arms reach.

	"Looking for easy information, are we?  Trying to suss out who
dies first, I suppose.  Always figured you'd be just like the fairy,
wanting to drive them mad first.  Has it already started?  That why the
little kitty's missing?"

	Her expression was fairly stony, a momentary confusion passing
over her features at the mention of the cat.  "I wouldn't-"

	Spike cut her off with a curt, "Don't bloody lie to your sire,
bitch!" swinging his fist at her jaw with the final word.  It came as a
total shock when his head was suddenly struck by an agonizing pain,
driving him to his knees as the chip nearly made him black out.  When the
pain finally faded, he looked up to see Buffy sprawled on the ground,
mumbling something as she stared at him in shock.

	After the third repetition, he realized she was repeating two
words over and over, slightly louder each time.  What took a bit longer to
figure out was that she seemed to be trying to convince herself, not him.

	"I'm... human?"

*****

	He stopped the tape, and hit rewind.  Again.  When it hit the
start, he started to reach for the play button again, then hurled the
remote against the wall, watching dispassionately as it exploded into
plastic shards.

	Angel was barely aware when Cordelia entered his room and sighed
loudly.  "You've been watching that thing over and over for two days.  Are
you trying to figure out which one you're jealous of or what?"

	There was no response at all.

	"Oh I get it.  You're just pissed no one invited you to the party.
The two women you spent the most time obsessing over, and it turns out
they'd rather be with each other.  Was it good?  Did it get you all
tingly-"

	"Cordy, what do you want?"

	"A pay raise, but I'll settle for you paying attention.  Wesley
figured out where the apartment in those pictures is.  Except she's not
there anymore.  So I called the magic shop a few minutes ago.  Guess who's
in Sunnydale?"

	"Buffy."

	"Oh yeah.  But wait, it gets so much better.  Stakes don't work on
her.  Willow said that she fell down like she was dead, then when no one
was around, she pulled the stake out and left.  Of course, no one was
looking, but the stake was there, and she wasn't, and they heard her car
driving away."

	A very old memory tickled at the back of his mind, someone that
both Angelus and Angel had run into before, more than a century separated.
"Cordy, was Buffy, by any chance, carrying a sword?"

	Cordelia frowned, then crossed her arms.  "Yeah.  Two of them,
actually.  How the hell did you know that?"

	Angel ignored her question, "Did you know that Buffy was adopted?
She was apparently abandoned at birth, found on the doorstep of a church."

	As much as Cordelia disliked Buffy, it was hard not to feel at
least a tiny pang of sympathy for her.  "No wonder she has so many issues
about people leaving her."

	Angel reached out and picked up one of the pictures he'd been
sent.  "I should have figured this out before.  Look at the drapes in the
window.  A vampire would have black-out curtains to keep safe."

	"Whatever.  Little miss can't-be-staked might also be sunproof."

	"I've got a different theory."

*****

	If a vampire could be accused of pouting, Darla would have been.
"Two days and she still hasn't called."

	"Yes, well.  She's been a very busy little demon.  Got herself
staked last night by that other witch.  Don't look like that.  Joan is a
little more difficult to kill than a vampire.  She'll be back and biting
you again before you know it."

	Darla smiled, nearly purring with satisfaction.  "Long slow bites
that last for days...."

	Lilah quirked her lips.  "Joan is learning a very important lesson
in Sunnydale.  You can never go home again."

*****

	Spike walked into the Magic Box, calling out as he entered, "Hallo
all!  You'll never guess what I learned tonight."  The researching crew
looked up as not one, but two Buffys followed Spike into the shop.  The
second one looked rather nervous.

	"Spike, what the hell-"

	Spike dropped his arm on the shoulders of the real Buffy.  "Quiet,
whelp.  I'm not going to pretend I understand how, but she's human.  The
chip nearly fried my brain when I hit her."

	Willow was the first out of her chair, and the first to wrap her
arms around Buffy, hugging as tightly as she could.  The others were
barely half a step behind, all of them babbling loudly and happily.  Spike
backed off with a bemused expression, listening as Anya declared that she
was happy Buffy wasn't dead, Tara apologizing for the stake, and Willow
simply weeping for joy.

	Giles backed away first, and began cleaning his glasses.  He
cleared his throat only to say, "Welcome home, Buffy."

-- End Chapter Five
$Revision: 1.8 $
$Date: 2003/02/12 07:32:39 $