Concept of Immortality
Catgirl


I don't own any of the Buffy characters, nor do I own any Highlander
characters. I have no money, so if you want to sue me, the most you'll
get is a paper clip, hair elastic and, um, maybe a stick of gum.

Author's note: This is my first attempt at fanfiction. Please be kind!
It is a BtVS/HL crossover. Please send me feedback!
Pleeeeeeeease!


Part One

Buffy Summers sat down on the bench of the bus stop. Sat and thought,
which was pretty much what she had been doing for the whole trip. She
didn't know where she was, how long she had been riding, (Minutes?
Hours? Days? Months? Years? Sometimes it felt like decades.) how much
money she had, where she would stay and sometimes she momentarily
forgot who she was. But she would never forget Sunnydale. Willow,
Giles, Xander, Cordelia, Oz, a sea of faces left behind. A sea of
hearts broken by her. The blood… And Angel. Angel, Angel, Angel. The
very sound of the name brought tears to her eyes. She brushed them
away, absently. She had made her decision, he was gone forever. Leaving
Sunnydale, giving him up, working with Spike, telling her mother of her
destiny, the hardest choices she had ever made. But they were made, and
there was no going back. Sobs racked her body as she heard her mother's
words in her head.

"You leave this house, you don't even think about coming back!"
She had been hearing voices in her head through the whole trip.

< Hello, Cutie! >

< Have you tried not being a slayer? >

< I'm the only chance you've got. >

< There's no deal without Dru! >

< The sword's not enough! You have to know how to use it. >

< What's going on? >

< What happened? I don't remember. I love you. >

< In the end, you're always alone, you're all you've got. >
A jumble of unforgotten phrases danced through her head. She wondered
if she would be hearing them for the rest of her life. A strange
tingling sensation crept up her spine, making its way to the back of
her skull. She doubled over in pain.  She had no idea what this feeling
was, but she wished it would stop. 

"I am Duncan MacLeod of the clan MacLeod." Another voice in her head.

"And you are?"

It took a minute to realize that the man speaking to her was indeed
standing beside her with a stern look on his face. As soon as she
looked at him, the strange pain stopped. He spoke with a light Scottish
accent. He was tall, dark, in about his mid twenties and extremely good
looking, although he looked very wary of her at the moment.

"Um, I-I'm Buffy, B-Buffy Summers." She stammered. She had just given
up everything she had ever cared for, the last thing she wanted was
this stranger getting involved in her problems. Then, to her utter
shock, he pulled a long and EXTREMELY sharp looking sword out of
NOWHERE!

"WOAH! I don't know what kind of medication you're on, buddy, but GET
THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!!"

Looking very confused, MacLeod put the sword back into, well, wherever
it came from.

"It's alright, I won't hurt you. Do you even know what you are? What
your destiny holds?"
Tears sprung to her eyes. "I left my destiny behind me when I
sacrificed everything I have EVER cared about to save this earth and
everyone on it!!" She screamed, not giving a damn about whether this
man thought she was out of her mind. "All I have left is myself, all I
ever had was myself." Here, she couldn't hold it back any longer. All
of the pain and sorrow that she had ever felt in her entire life came
flooding out of her in a river of tears. She cried for her mother, she
cried for Angel, she cried for Ms. Calendar, she cried for Sunnydale,
she cried for all the friends she left behind and she cried for
herself.

Duncan MacLeod was extremely confused. This girl was obviously one of
his kind. At first she seemed to have no idea, but now she appeared to
know everything. Was it all a front? Or did she just lose something
more than her mortality? Looking at her crying form, he decided the
latter was the case. He put his arm around her, trying to comfort her,
only to have it instantaneously brushed off.

"Leave me alone!" she sobbed.

"Listen to me, Buffy is it?" He began, "We really need to talk. There
are things about yourself that you can't even begin to believe. Come
with me to my dojo, I'll explain everything on the way."

"Look, Mr. uh, MacLeod? I came to, uh," she looked around and spotted a
sign reading Welcome to Seacouver, Seattle, "Seacouver, to get away
from my life." She said, wiping the tears from her eyes.

< Ah, > he thought, < she does know. > "You can't escape it," he began,
knowing where this would lead. "It's not something you can control,
it's who you are."

"I know," she said, looking away, "But it has to end sometime."

"Yes," he agreed, "everything ends sometime. Nothing lasts forever, but
you could come awfully close. I know it must be hard, with your
apparent age, but it's hard for everyone at some time or another."

"Well, if I had known sooner, it could have been so much easier. But I
wouldn't listen to anyone, it was just so hard to accept the fact that
I was different."

"Being different isn't always a bad thing."

"It is for me."

"It doesn't have to be. Come with me, let me teach you." He offered.
She sounded like she was pretty new; she probably hadn't been trained
yet.

"I don't need your teaching. I may be small, but I can knock you on
your ass before you even realize I've moved!" She threatened. 

He looked around to make sure the bus stop was indeed deserted, then he
said, "Ok, then, let's see you try."

He stood up, motioning for her to do the same. She rose, and instantly
ran at him, aiming for a punch to his face. He easily blocked it, but
as he moved his arm, she planted a kick to his chest, setting him
seriously off balance. Using this to her advantage, she swung her leg
at his, sending him hurdling toward the ground. As he lay there,
sprawled on the concrete, he realized he'd underestimated her, he made
a mental note never to do that again. She extended her hand to help him
up. She held back tears as a feeling of Déjà vu swept over her, and she
saw Giles telling her to work on her last roundhouse.  

"See," she retorted, in a matter-of -fact voice, "I can take care of
myself."

"I see," he replied, taking her hand and marveling at her strength,
"But there is more to this that just combat."

"Yeah," she said, "There's the heavy duty nail polish! Whittling stakes
all day can totally destroy the nails."

"What on Earth are you talking about?" He asked, utterly confused.

"ME? What are YOU talking about?"

< Okaaaaaaaay, so she doesn't know. >  "Buffy," he started, "There's
something I need to tell you. I'm sorry, I thought you knew. You're
immortal."


Part Two

Buffy sat on the top of her favorite hill, overlooking the town of
Seacouver. It had been a year since the mysterious Duncan MacLeod of
the Clan MacLeod had told her of her, ahem… unusual state. She could
still play the scene over in her head. Duncan MacLeod had taken her
back to his dojo and introduced her to his friend and fellow immortal,
the good-looking redhead named Richie Ryan. They sat her down and
proceeded to explain to her exactly what they claimed she was.

"You see, Buffy, you can't die." Duncan began, "Well, you can, but only
if someone removes your head from your shoulders."

"Uh huh." Stated Buffy, "You actually expect me to believe that?"

"Just let him finish," Richie said.

"As I was saying," Duncan continued, "There are thousands of us all
over the world, that feeling that you got when you came close to me and
Richie was the 'Buzz', it's how we sense other immortals.  We play what
is called the 'Game'. It's basically a combat to the death. We fight,
and the winner, the one who takes the other's head, gets the
Quickening, all the skills and knowledge of the defeated immortal. At
some point, probably sometime soon, all immortals will be pulled to a
certain location on the planet; this is called the 'Gathering'. We will
fight until there is only one left. That one gets the prize, no one
quite knows what this prize is, but we think it's the combined skill
and knowledge of every immortal that ever existed. You are now a part
of the Game."

"Okaaaaaaay, and how exactly did I become part of this 'Game'?" Buffy
asked, deciding to humor them.

"You become immortal when you die for the first time."

Buffy gasped, "I did die! The Mast- um, I drowned." She remembered that
she had put slaying behind her. Besides, they would believe her about
vampires as much as she believed them about immortals right now. "But I
still don't believe any of this immortal stuff."

"Alright," Duncan started, "we'll show you. Richie, pass me your pocket
knife."

"Sure thing, Mac." Richie produced a small, folded blade and passed it
to Duncan.

Duncan unfolded the small knife and held out his arm. He locked his
eyes with hers and he flinched as he made a long, deep cut into his
extended arm.

"Oh my God!" She cried and leapt up. 

Richie grabbed her arm and said, "Just look."

The cut began to heal as a sort of blue staticy thing jumped along the
cut. It was gone in a matter of seconds. Buffy sat down, wide-eyed.

"You're the same way, you know." Richie said, passing her the
bloodstained knife. She looked at him suspiciously and pricked the top
of her finger, drawing a drop of blood. Almost instantly, the slight
pain went away, and there wasn't even the slightest mark on her when
she wiped away the blood. Not even her slayer healing could have healed
it that fast. Deciding to venture further, she opened her hand and
slashed open her palm. It healed almost as fast.
Trembling, she sat down, staring at her bloody, yet scarless palm. She
looked up at them, utter astonishment reflected in her eyes.

"You'll need to learn how to use a sword." Richie said.

"I already know how to use a sword." She replied.

Buffy remembered that Duncan had asked her what she thought he was
talking about at the bus stop. She had told him it was nothing, slaying
was something she was going to avoid, and it looked like she would be
avoiding it for a hell of a long time. Just then, Richie came running
up the hill.

"Hey, Buff!" he called, "Me and Mac were about to grab a bite to eat,
wanna come?"

"Sure!" she replied, getting to her feet. And they started the short
walk back to the dojo.

When they reached the dojo, they found Mac watching the news.

"Hey, Richie, Buffy. Let's go." He reached over to turn off the TV when
Buffy stopped him.

"Wait!" she called, listening to the newscaster's voice.

"And in other news, two bodies were found outside a deserted alley last
night. Cause of death appeared to be loss of blood; it seemed to have
been sucked out of the bodies through two small holes, looking like
bite marks, in the jugular vein. More on this at eleven." 

Buffy's eyes grew wide and her face grew pale. Without a word she
turned and bolted out the door.


Part Three

Richie had been searching the city for her for over an hour, and he was
running out of places to look. He hoped Mac was having better luck.
People were killed every day; he didn't see why the murder had scared
her, if that was the word. He had lived with Buffy long enough to know
that nothing scared her. He and Mac constantly wondered about her past,
who wouldn't when an incredibly strong immortal shows up, who has
mastered hand to hand and is undefeatable with a sword, and is new to
the game. It was that last part that had him constantly wondering, just
how new to the game is she? He had always brushed away that thought
thinking that if she were going to pretend to be new, why would she act
so experienced? 

Feeling her buzz, he pulled his bike over to the side of a deserted
alley. Or was it so deserted? The buzz was definitely coming from
inside. He soon spotted the eighteen-year-old huddled between two
dumpsters. She appeared to have been crying.

"Buffy, what the hell happened back at the dojo?" He asked.

"I've done some thinking," she replied, "and there's something about
me… I mean, my past, that you should know." She looked into his eyes
and wondered if he had ever gone through the same thing she was going
through. She doubted it. His past was a big mystery to her; he didn't
talk about it much. That was OK, he could have his secrets, she could
have hers.

"Tell me." He implored, settling down beside her.

"Um, I don't think I could tell the story twice."

"Right," he handed her his spare helmet, "let's get back to the dojo."

*       *       *

 "Yes, Mac, I found her." Richie said over the phone. "She says she has
something important to tell us."

"Right," said Duncan, already turning his car around, "I'll be there as
soon as I can." He hung up his car phone.

*       *       *

"You see," Buffy began, uncertain if she should be telling them this
after such a long time, "It began in LA. I was 15 when a strange man
approached me. He told me he was my Watcher…."

*       *       *

"You actually expect us to believe that?" Richie asked, incredulously,
breaking the sad silence after she had finished her story.

"No," she replied, wiping the tears from her eyes, "not now, come with
me tonight. You'll see for yourselves that what I'm saying is true."

So, that night the three of them were in the graveyard. MacLeod knew
that Buffy was not insane, so they might as well humor her. He had
lived for four hundred years and had never once seen a vampire. Of
course, he thought something major had gone on in her life, whether it
was vampires or not, it would explain her words at the bus stop. It
would also explain her skills and strength.

"So, Buffy," he began, " even if there are 'vampires' here, how do you
know that we'll see one tonight?"

"There's one nearby, I can feel it."

He began to reconsider his sanity theories.

Suddenly, Richie screamed, "AAAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH! WHAT is THAT?!"

Duncan looked and saw the weirdest thing, a man with a horribly
disfigured face, long fangs and skin the color of a corpse! Buffy ran
at it, knocking its legs out from under it, but it rolled away before
she could use the stake she had been holding. It jumped up and slugged
her in the face; she hit it back, harder. Finally, she pinned it up
against the wall of a mausoleum.

"THAT," she stated," is a vampire." She rammed her stake into its chest
and it growled at her before crumbling into dust.


Part Four

"So, everything you said is true?" Richie asked, once they were back at
the dojo. "You’re a Slayer and you were trained by a watcher? The love
of your life was a vampire with a soul who turned bad once you and he…
and then you threw him into Hell to save the human race from eternal
torment? You died your first death at the hands of an evil vampire
called the Master trying to stop him from taking over the world?"

"You got it," She replied. "I know it sounds farfetched, but..."

"I believe you," Duncan replied. "I admit it does sound crazy, but if
immortals can exist, and vampires can exist, and Watchers can exist, I
see no reason to not to believe that Slayers can exist."

"It’s weird," Richie began, "the human race came so close to being
sucked into hell and nobody even realized it. For all we know, some
strange witch or warlock could be conjuring up a spell to turn everyone
in the planet into frogs right this minute!"

"I don’t think we have to worry about that," Buffy stated, "Kendra was
killed, so another Slayer has probably already been called, and if
she’s anything like Kendra…" She broke off, pain creeping into her
voice.

"Or you," Richie added to her unfinished statement. "I was just
kidding, anyway."

"Do you think your Watcher might be connected with the Watchers? The
organization that watches immortals, I mean." Duncan asked. Not too
long ago, he and Richie had discovered a secret society of mortals
called "The Watchers" who watched immortals and recorded their lives
for use in the future.

"I doubt it," She replied, "Giles never struck me as a member of a
secret society trained to watch immortals."

"Well, you never struck us as someone who spent her nights wandering
through graveyards looking for vampires." Duncan argued.

"You could be right," Buffy admitted, "Let’s go see Joe."

*       *       *

"You’re the Slayer?! Wow!" Joe Dawson was a high-ranking member of The
Watchers, he had seen and met immortals with awesome skills and names
in history books, but he had never even been in the same country as a
Slayer before, much less spoken to one.

"Yes," she answered, "Now the Watcher who trained me…"

"One of ours," He answered her unfinished question, "A branch of the
Watchers was assigned to monitoring vampiric activity, Mr.Giles was
lucky enough to have the position of THE Watcher, the one that trains
the Slayer. You say you’re from Sunnydale? That’s…"

"The Hellmouth," she finished.

"Joe," Richie began, "if you knew there were vampires the whole time,
why didn’t you tell us?"

"Well, to my knowledge there weren’t any here to tell you about. Plus
you would have thought I was insane."

"Well, they’re here now."

"Hello again, sacred duty." Buffy muttered.

"Thanks for your help, Joe." Duncan stated.

"Hey, keep me posted on the vampire situation, okay? If there’s a lot,
I might have to get some men down here to help with the slaying."

"I thought your rule was ‘watch, don’t interfere’?"

"That’s just for the immortal Watchers, vampire/Slayer Watchers are
sort of obliged to do away with any creature of the night they may come
across."

"I was sort of wondering about that," Buffy said, "Giles has staked his
fair share of vampires. By the way, do all Watchers have tattoos?
‘Cause Giles doesn’t have one."

"He has one, you’ve probably just never seen it. Vampire/Slayer
Watchers have the tattoo on their upper arms, don’t ask me why."

"Okay, well, the sun will be down in a few hours and I need to get some
supplies. See ya!"

"Bye!"


Part Five

It wasn't until Buffy returned to the loft that the realization struck
her.

"Oh my god, I didn't even think about who the vamps were following!"

"Come again?" Richie asked, clearly confused

"Almost every time there are vampires, there is some sort of master
vampire who leads them! That's why they're here now! This is where the
leader is setting up some big terror fest! If we can find and kill this
master dude, the other vamps will be follow easily, as long as they're
being ruled, they'll fight us. If they have no one to follow, they'll
be easy game, to scared to actually fight, thus scoring several points
for the good guys!"

"So, kill the general and the army will follow? How do you propose we
find him?" Duncan mused aloud.

"We go back to the place where we killed the vamp. Maybe he was looking
for something and left a clue as to what it was or maybe there was
something left in his ashes, Giles and I once found a ring in the ashes
of a vampire I slayed which helped us stop an evil prophecy from coming
true." Buffy's voice turned solemn at the mention of her lost friend.

"To the Graveyard, Robin!" Richie couldn't resist.

*       *       *

"So, what are we looking for again?" Richie asked for the ten millionth
time that night.

"Anything that could lead us to the Master." Buffy reminded for the ten
millionth time that night.

"We've been looking for hours and we still haven't found…wait."

"What?" Duncan asked.

"I thought I saw something." Richie reached under a nearby bush and
pulled out a small silvery object. He inspected it closely and passed
it to Duncan. Duncan made a thoughtful noise and passed it to Buffy.

"Make anything of it?"

Buffy looked at the small object she held in her hand and her last
coherent thought before the darkness claimed her was 

*       *       *

Buffy awoke with a start. She'd had another dream about Angel, how he
used to hold her, comfort her, kiss her.  She told herself,  Her eyes
slowly began to focus on her surroundings. Sunlight was streaming in
through an open window onto her face. She was back at the dojo. Upon
feeling the telltale buzz, she slowly sat up and watched Richie enter
the room.
"What happened?"

"You fainted. Remember? As soon as you saw the ring. Why?"

"Angel…"

"Ah."  It finally dawned on Richie that Buffy had told them about Angel
giving her a ring as a sign of love. It must have been the same as the
ring they had found. "You were calling out his name while you were
unconscious."

Duncan chose that moment to enter the dojo. "Oh, I see you're awake.
That's good."

"Better than being unconscious." Buffy quipped.

"I agree!" Richie chimed in.

"Riiiiiiiiiiiight," said Duncan, drawing the word out, "So, what do you
make of what we discovered?"

"It could be nothing, just a ring somebody dropped, but something tells
me it's important. I just can't put my finger on it, but my instincts
are telling me to pay attention, the answer's right under my nose."

Just then, a young girl, maybe 16 or 17 walked in. She had long, fluffy
brown hair, glasses and incredibly blue eyes. "Oh, sorry if I'm
interrupting anything! I was looking for my brother, he comes here
sometimes. It doesn't look like he, or anyone, is here so I'll just go,
'kay?" Just then, her eyes settled on Buffy, noticing her for the first
time. Her eyes widened and her heart started pumping a mile a minute.
Duncan looked at her,

"It's Sunday, we're closed."

She simply stood there and stared at Buffy, as if she hadn't heard
Duncan at all, looking as though she had seen a long lost sister for
the first time.

"Buffy." It was whispered so softly that Buffy wasn't even sure she had
heard it.

"Do I know you?" She asked with a voice she barley recognized as her
own, "What's your name?"

"W - I mean - um - I - you see - ah - Claudia!" She stuttered, "No, you
don't know me." She sounded a little more sure of herself. "I should
go." She quickly walked out the door, never taking her eyes off Buffy. 

"Well, that was weird." Buffy stated.

"Who was she?" Asked Richie, curiously.

"Like I know, she's probably just someone who thought she knew me." The
three friends looked at each other and resumed their discussion.


Part Six

Later that night

"So, are we going hunting again tonight?" Richie asked, still a little
concerned about Buffy's fainting. As soon as he spoke, someone knocked
at the door. He opened it to reveal Claudia.

"Hi," she said. "Is Buffy here? I need to talk to her."

"Um, yeah. Come in."

Claudia walked over to Buffy. "Hi. Listen can we go for a walk? There's
something I need to talk to you about."

"Uh, I guess so. I'll be back in a minute, guys." Buffy called to Mac
and Richie as she and Claudia turned the corner and walked out the
door. 

Once they were outside, Buffy turned to Claudia. "So who are you and
why do you seem to know me? I've never seen you before!"

"Yes you have," Claudia replied. "Just not like this." She raised one
hand into the air and chanted a few words in a strange language. There
was a bright flash of light, and Buffy was no longer standing beside
Claudia. She was standing beside…

"Willow! What…?"

"Hey, it's okay, I had to talk to you, and I knew that if I walked in
there as myself, you'd flip out. Ever since I placed the spell on
Angel, I, well, I started looking for other spells. I've been
practicing with magic ever since you left, and might I add it took
forever to find you. Next time, send a postcard!"

"Will, I…" she was cut off by the snarling vampire that leapt out of
the bushes at Willow. She grabbed him and delivered a good sidekick to
his gut. She pulled out her sword and cleanly beheaded him.

"Uh, Buffy?" A very uncomfortable looking Willow began, "You usually
carry a big sword around?"

"Uh, it's kind of a long story."

"You want to tell me or should I guess?"

So as they walked, Buffy told Willow about immortals, the game, the
quickening and pretty much everything else that came with the package.
When she had finished, Willow looked slightly skeptical, as was to be
expected. To prove it, Buffy once again pulled out her sword and drove
the long, gleaming blade into her stomach. Panicked, Willow rushed to
her side, trying to stop the bleeding. 

"Pull it out!" Buffy gasped. "The sword! Pull it out!"

Shaking, Willow pulled the hilt with all her strength, removing the
sword as Buffy fell over, dead. Willow dropped the sword, screaming,
tears running down her face. She was so upset, she thought she was
seeing things as Buffy slowly opened her eyes, stood up gingerly and
lifted her shirt, revealing unbroken flesh. As Willow began to calm
down, Buffy told her about Duncan and Richie, and their hospitality.

"I've been living with them ever since I found out what I was. They're
great! Richie has this motorcycle and takes me everywhere on it! He's
amazing, I can't wait for you to meet them! This is so exciting! I
really missed you."

"Buffy, there's something else I need to tell you."

"What?"

"Well, my magic. When we found Acathla minus the sword, and Xander came
forward and revealed that he didn't tell you I was trying the spell
again as I had asked him to, we filled in the blanks pretty well. I
found a spell that allowed us to travel to Acathla's demon dimension
and bring Angel back. He's back, Buffy." They had stopped walking.
Buffy stared at her, unbelieving. 

"It's not true. I killed him! You can't bring back dead people!"

"No, Buff, you didn't kill him. We found him and brought him home. Come
back with me to Sunnydale. Everyone misses you, especially your mom. I
think she's finally okay with the whole Slayer thing. Now, of course,
with have to drop this immortal bombshell…Giles is going to love this!"

"Will, I don't know if I can. I belong here, now. There are vampires
here I need to slay."

"But…Hellmouth!" 

"I know, but..."

"But nothing! We need you, Buffy! Please, come home."

"I don't know if I can. I don't know if I can face everyone. Face
Angel."

"You can face me, can't you? Everyone forgives you. Even Angel."

"But…"

"You have to come home sooner or later. As much as you'd like to, you
can't hide here forever."

"But what about the vampires? I can't just leave and let the vampires
kill everyone here! I have to at least find their leader. If I kill
him, the rest won't be a problem."

"Forget it, Buffy, we need you!"

"I can't leave them!"

"What about Richie and MacLeod? They can handle them! You can kill a
vampire by cutting off it's head, you know! They'd be good at that!"

"I don't want to leave them with the responsibility of killing a
master! They're too inexperienced. They'd never be able to do it! Once
I kill him, I'll come home with you and leave the slaying to them. Like
I said, if I kill the master, the others won't be much of a problem.
Mac and Richie could handle them, easy!"

"Please! Don't put yourself in danger! Leave with me!"

"Will, I don't understand why you won't give me time to track this guy
down! I can't leave him alive and I can't believe you can either!
What's gotten into you?!" Buffy glared at Willow, daring her to admit
that she could just walk away from this town, leaving the master
vampire to kill the helpless people.

Willow sighed "Very well, Slayer. I didn't want to fight you, you know.
I figure I'll just convince you to leave and all will be well. Oh
well." She raised her hand and Buffy was once again standing beside
Claudia. A very demonic looking Claudia.

"It's you! You're the master!"

"I really don't want to fight you, but if I must, I must."

"How… how did you know so much about me?"

"Simple. I've had my eye on you for awhile. I couldn't believe it. A
Slayer! I simply listened to the tale you told your companions and took
your friend's form from the description you gave! I do practice magic,
you know. Oh, I know what you're thinking 'But, Claudia, I saw you in
the daylight!' Oh, Buffy! I'm so old the sunlight doesn't even effect
me! That happens after awhile.  Don't worry, Dear, I'll make your death
quick!"
"Yeah, that's what you think!" Buffy snarled and drew her sword. She
leapt at Claudia, who easily stepped aside.

"Foolish girl! You think you can defeat me?!" Before she knew it, Buffy
was lying face down on the ground, the ancient master's fangs inches
from her throat. 

"Stupid child!" Claudia whispered in her ear. "You thought you could
defeat me? Well guess what! You never stood a chance!" Fangs brushed
her neck. "Now, Little One! You shall know true death! Once I drain
your body of blood I shall kill you in the traditional manner you so
foolishly described! Are you ready to di -
AAAAAAAARRRRRGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!" Buffy suddenly realized that all that
pinned her down now was a skeleton. Brushing it aside, she looked up.
There was Richie, holding his sword over the skeleton.

"Whew!" he exclaimed. "That was wild!"

Gasping, Buffy rose to her feet. "Thanks for the save! What are you
doing out here, anyway?"

"Thought you'd been gone a long time. I didn't exactly trust Claudia, I
have good instincts when it comes to people, so I came looking to see
if you were alright." He chuckled. "She didn't even hear me come up
behind her."

"Well I appreciate the help! You saved my life!"

"All in a day's work, milady! Come on, we better tell Mac what
happened!"

*       *       *

"So she was really an evil master vampire? She looked so sweet!" Mac
said as he listened to the pair filling him in on what had happened.

"Yeah! I can't believe I actually believed she was Willow! She did make
a few good points, though. I can't hide here forever. I need to go home
and face everyone. You guys can handle any strays, right?"

"Absolutely, Buff! You need to work this stuff out with your friends.
We can handle things here!" Richie said, placing a supportive hand on
her shoulder.

"I know, and thanks! I'm going to make arrangements with the airport to
catch the next flight back. I can't thank you enough for helping me out
and giving me a place to stay!"

"You're more than welcome. It was a pleasure getting to know you, and
I'm sure we'll meet again." Duncan replied. "Good luck on your journey
home, and goodbye."

"Yeah, Buff, we'll see you around. Now you'd better get packing!"

"Goodbye, you guys." Buffy sighed, wiping the grateful tears from her
eyes. She then turned and raced up the stairs, finally ready to return
to the home she missed so much.


The End