02
Time and Again - Part 1: In The Beginning
Shady Hill Cemetery – Sunday, 7th September 1997
Buffy was bored. The bright three quarters lit, gibbous moon shone down upon the still loneliness of the empty graveyard. The cold light clearly delineated row after row of grave stones undisturbed by any newly arising vampires. No demons lurked amongst the shadows behind the scattered mausoleums. Everything was perfectly peaceful.
Buffy sighed. Three nights patrol alone with absolutely nothing to fight. She could feel the frustrations building up inside her with nothing to release them on. Of course, it did not help that Angel seemed to have pulled another disappearing act. She had thought that everything was going so well. After he confessed his jealousy for the act she had put on dancing with Xander at the Bronze, she was sure they'd resolved the awkwardness between them. But now he'd vanished and she was not as confident.
So she was trudging through the graveyards searching for something evil – and preferably not too slimy – to beat up in the hope of taking her mind off her pathetic love life. But as so often happened when she actually WANTED something to fight all the evil creatures of the world were nowhere to be found.
No new supernatural threat had raised its ugly head in Sunnydale since she and her friends had put a stop to Chris and Eric's little build-your-own-girl scheme last week. //Oh, and wasn't that a big success! // she thought to herself. //Another burnt down school building to add to my record. Guess I should be grateful that at least this time the fire was an accident and the building was abandoned rather than in regular use.//
At first Buffy had been a bit worried that the fire investigators might start asking some awkward questions once Daryl's remains were discovered. So she had asked Willow to keep an eye on what reports and evidence were being filed in the Fire Department's and Sunnydale Police Department's computer systems. So far, they were not reporting anything other than the missing remains of the exhumed cheerleaders. They even seemed to be treating the fire as accidental rather than arson, with one report rambling on at length about lack of maintenance, faulty wiring, the improper storage of highly flammable chemicals and for some strange reason, mice.
When she had listened to Willow's recounting of Cordelia's big thank you speech to Xander on Friday morning, Buffy had been amused to hear that he had just blown it off in a completely self-absorbed and clueless rambling on his dateless status. Perhaps there was hope for Cordelia yet. After all if she could unbend enough to thank Xander, of all people, for saving her life then maybe she wouldn't feel compelled to make snippy comments to Buffy or her friends whenever their paths crossed. //Yeah, and wasn't that a flying pig I saw earlier! // Buffy thought with a snort. //She did look kind of cute with her face all smudged though. And getting to ride on top of her like that would sure have been more fun that getting pounded on by the NFL's answer to Frankenstein junior.//
//Whoa, I did not just think…// Buffy shook her head vigorously as though to dislodge the unwanted thoughts. //Nah! It must be the boredom. No way am I imagining what it would be like to feel my body pressed up against her firm…//
"Arghh!" Buffy exclaimed aloud in disgust. "I so need a good slay! Where are the vampires when I really need them?"
"Why right behind ya darlin'," a new voice said in an exaggerated Western drawl.
Buffy whirled around to face the newcomer and could not help laughing out loud. "You have no idea how ridiculous that cowboy hat looks on top of your game face do you?" she asked cocking her head to one side. Watching as the vampire turned a bright red with rage, she answered her own question. "No, of course not. What with you being reflectionally challenged and everything."
The cowboy charged furiously, growling low in his throat, the curled talons on his out-stretched hands grasping for her throat. Buffy merely side-stepped and gave him a hearty kick in the back side, as he stumbled past, sending him crashing face first into a nearby grave stone. "Oh, come on. You can do better than that surely. How am I meant to work off my frustrations if you make it this easy for me?"
The vampire staggered to his feet and brought his hand up to wipe at the slow trickle of blood seeping from a shallow cut above his right eyebrow. Looking at the red-black stain on his fingers he snarled at the Slayer and swung with all his might towards the Slayer's smirking face. With a snort, Buffy simply leaned back slightly, letting the fist swish past her. Then shoving the seriously off balance vampire with her foot, she sent him sprawling across another grave.
Pulling a stake from the waistband of her pants and twirling it lightly in her fingers, Buffy put her left hand on her hip and looked down at the fallen vampire in disgust. "I can't believe I'm going to say this," she told him. "But you're making this way too easy."
"Why ya lil' bitch! Wait till I get my hands on you. I'll rip your head off and…" he yelled, leaping up to attack once more, only to stop with a stunned look on his face as he ran right into the business end of Buffy's stake. "Sh…" he started to say, before bursting into a cloud of ash.
"And another one bites the dust." Buffy smiled with satisfaction. //Now why does that phrase sound familiar?// She shrugged dismissing both the thought and her recent foe. //Well I guess that's my duty done for the night. What little there was of it. Time to go home I guess.//
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