This piece of FAN FICTION is written by Ariane Budberg and does not express the views or opinions of TimeWarp fan club. No copyright infringement is intended.

Part II of VI

The man chuckled slightly and smiled at her. "I don't think so, darling. We've handled bigger problems that a seventeen year-old human girl, haven't we?"

"Yes, we have. And I think I already have a plan on how to win her trust. Then it's easier to kill her." And smiling, she sank back on the bed, laughing in a very malicious way, while the man was kissing her wildly...

Principal Snyder looked at Buffy like a hyena looks at its prey. "What do you think I should do with you? You haven't been at school for three weeks without an explanation or excuse. I can't just go on as if nothing had happened. And honestly, I don't wanna."

Buffy was furious. All this man could think of was the reputation of his school and his own sadistic satisfaction. "But I told you..."

"I know what you told me, Buffy. You wanted to become a usual student, without any extravagances. And all you do is making trouble. Killing people in the library isn't exactly helpful on that, don't you think?"

Buffy rose from the chair and faced Snyder. If he did not understand her quiet way of explaining, then he had to accept the other way. She at him furiously. "Listen, I've had some problems which I don't wanna discuss with you, and I also won't give you an explanation because you would never understand it. But I'm back, and I'm gonna attend this school for the rest of the time being, do you get me?!"

Also rising from his chair on the other side of the big desk, Snyder lowered his voice until he sounded really dangerous - at least to his secretary who was listening outside the door. "Young lady, has anyone told you that you're quite brazen for your age? I can only give you an advise - if you really wanna attend this school any longer, you should watch your tone with me, is that understood?"

Buffy smiled and turned around to leave the room. "Yes, Sir. I wish you have a nice day." With these words she shoved the door open and frightened the secretary who hurried to her desk as if she had never thought of listening at the door. When would Snyder finally realise that she was not like other students at his high school?

Willow and Xander left school late that day. They had helped Giles to find something out about these two people Buffy had seen. Unfortunately, they had not been very successful. Not even the Internet had had information about them - and if Willow had not found it there... Then probably nobody would be able to do it. But there really seemed to be something about this couple. When there was absolutely no information provided, it could mean that Buffy had really dreamt - or that they were really dangerous and knew how to cover the traces of their existence. But it seemed so strange to Willow that they had not found any hint as to who they were. Maybe they had just searched the wrong territory. Willow stopped in her way and took the notice with Buffy's description of the couple out of her bag. "Xander, wait!" When he also stopped, she spoke again. "I think we've overseen something. There must be a piece of information, I can't believe we're hunting ghosts!"

Xander looked up to the sky and sighed. "Willow, please. We've been searching for the whole afternoon. Why can't we go on tomorrow?"

"Because I wanna know now! We've just searched at the wrong end of this story. Maybe we shouldn't take all her words literally, I mean... there has to be something, come on, Xander. I thought you wanted to help Buffy. Now you've got the chance to do it."

Xander made a step towards Willow. "Look, Willow, I'm tired, I'm hungry, and I've spent enough time in school for today. I won't go back into this building until tomorrow morning, okay?"

Willow gave those facts a second thought and found them slightly appealing. "Okay, but you've got to promise that we'll go on with our search tomorrow."

"I promise. Really. Why are you looking so sceptically?"

"Because I know you, Xander Harris. And work isn't one of your favourite activities, as far as I remember."

"Alright." Xander sighed again. "You got me. But we'll go on tomorrow, or you're gonna have to pull me back into this building." With these words he turned around and started to walk away. "Come on, Willow, even you need to get some sleep!"

"Okay, Xander, okay, I'm coming." Willow gave up. And she had to admit that he was at least a little bit right. She was tired. And she could also continue her search tomorrow.

Darkness began to fall when Buffy left her mother's house again that late summer evening. She had dressed up and she wanted to go to the Bronze. She had to start a normal life again. A life as normal as it could be when you were a vampire Slayer. Wearing a tight red sleeveless shirt and trousers which fit the colour of her shirt exactly, she made her way to the club where she saw the usual crowd of young people. They were chatting with each other and clearly enjoying themselves. Buffy passed them on her way to the entrance. When she stepped inside the club, she first could not see very much. Smoke hung in the air and the music was as loud as ever. She saw a lot of students who attended her school but nobody she really knew. Willow and Xander seemed to have decided for a nice evening in front of the TV set, and even Cordelia was absent. Buffy made her way to the dance floor and fetched a coke from the bar while she strode towards the dancing crowd. It was quite amusing to watch these people doing the oddest moves because they thought that no one was watching them. Suddenly Buffy felt a presence beside herself. Someone was now standing there. And he spoke. With a heavy, British accent. "Are you here on your own." It sounded much more like a statement than like a question.

Buffy looked at him. He was a tall, good-looking, young man. "Yes, I am." She sipped at her coke, hoping desperately that he would notice she was not in the least interested.

"Me too." For a while, both were silent again, watching the couples on the dance floor. Finally the young man took the word again. "What's your name?"

Buffy answered reluctantly. "Buffy. Who are you?"

"I'm Richard." He paused for a moment. "Would you like to dance?"

What should she do now? Could she really dance with another man after all that had happened between herself and Angel? Their relationship had also started right here, in the Bronze, when he had begun to help her on her quest against the powers of the night. 'Come on, Buffy', she told herself, 'it's just a dance.' She could not deny her life forever, and she knew that Angel would never have wanted that. And this Richard seemed to be really nice. "Well, I think so."     

Richard smiled. "You're too kind." Taking her hand ever so slightly, he led her to the dance floor and pulled her close to himself. But he still left a small distance - enough for Buffy to feel safe. The band was playing a slow song now, singing a story about a young girl who had died early. Buffy let herself be led by Richard and moved in the time of the music. There was something about this song. She seemed to know it from somewhere but she could not figure out where she had heard it before. However, it seemed to move Richard greatly because when she looked into his eyes, she saw tears shimmering in them. She decided to ask him about it. "Richard, are you alright?"

When he heard her voice, he blinked and seemed to return to reality from somewhere. "What?"

Buffy forced him to look at her. "I asked if you were alright."

He nodded hastily. "Yes, yes, I am. You see, it's just that... excuse me for a moment. I'll be back in a few minutes." He broke from Buffy and hurried out of the club and into the night. Buffy shook her head. What kind of a reaction had this song awoken in him? Did it remind him of someone? She went back to the bar where she could watch the entrance and see when Richard came back. A few minutes passed, twenty minutes passed, and yet nothing happened. Richard did not come back. After waiting another five minutes, Buffy went out to see where he was. He also could have become a victim of a vampire. She just had to check this out. Stepping out into the darkness, she called him. "Richard? Is everything alright?" And that was when she saw him. He sat on a bench at the bus stop, holding his head in his hands. He looked up when he heard Buffy and sighed. "I'm sorry, Buffy. I shouldn't have let you wait for so long. It's just... the song reminds me of my sister."

Buffy sat down beside him. She had suspected that it was something like this that had kept him from coming in again. "She... died young?"

Richard nodded. "Yes, she was eighteen when she was... killed. I loved her like every brother loves his little sister, she was my one and only, and I can't... I can't overcome her death. She had so wonderful red hair and a smile... I always tell myself that... that there was something I could have done but I don't know what. If I would have been with her that night, she would still be alive."

Buffy was shocked. Richard was really suffering. "I'm so sorry for you, Richard. I mean I don't know what happened that night but I'm sure it wasn't your fault." Hesitating, she took his hand slowly into hers. "I'm gonna leave now. Perhaps we can meet again?" She looked at him, her face a question.

Richard nodded. "Yes, I hope so. I'm sure we'll meet again, Buffy. I'll call you, okay?"

"Okay." She handed him a small note with her telephone number written on it. "I'll wait." With these words, she turned around and walked away, not noticing that the red-haired girl was standing behind the corner.

The girl with the illuminant red hair waited another moment until the Slayer had disappeared behind the next building. Then she rushed out to the young man called Richard and stopped right in front of him, with only a few inches between their lips. "Oh darling," she breathed, her body longing for his touches, "you were great! I'd never had imagined what a great actor is inside you! Your story about your sister who died at the age of eighteen... It was of genius. I'm definitely sure that you've got her pity. I mean she didn't even recognise you."

"Yes." Richard leant a little bit closer to her until she started shivering. "And this is gonna make it much easier to get her killed. By the way..." He looked down at her and up again into her face where her lips seemed to force him to kiss her. "You shouldn't run around like this up here. The police could think you're a prostitute."

She smiled in a very seductive way. "If you say so, then I'll dress up next time." All the time, she could not take her eyes off him. He was so good-looking, so full of care for her... But maybe this was usual after the vast amount of time that they had spent together. "You know, darling, sometimes it's not easy having a good time. I'm hungry! We'll leave this place now and look for someone nice, alright?"

Richard smiled back at her. "We will, my dear, we will. Come on." Again waiting for her to lay her hand gently on his, he stepped aside and allowed her to walk right beside him. Together they made their way to their dinner, slowly, proudly, aristocratically.

After a while, you could hear a cruel and amused laugh from the girl when she had finally found someone who was destined to be her dinner.

Buffy was lying awake in her bed. She could not sleep. There was something about this mysterious Richard, something which made her want to see him again. He had been so sad when he had talked about his sister. Obviously loosing her had hit him hard. She could not imagine how he felt because she had never had brothers or sisters but perhaps it was the same as loosing Willow or Xander. Buffy rolled around on her back and looked over to the window where she could see the stars shining silently. It was nearly four a.m. and she had not slept a minute. She had the feeling that she had overseen something concerning this couple she had seen on the graveyard. Something very obvious. And she had absolutely no idea what that was or where she should start looking for her mistake. Giles still had not informed her about progress in his search for hints to the couple and she was tired of waiting. With a short sigh, Buffy swung her legs out of the bed and got up. She would not find anything out if she stayed in her bed, contemplating about a possible mistake. She would have to take the action if she wanted to solve this mystery. Slowly she put on her clothes and made her way to the front door, down the stairs and through the hall. She took her key and left the house. Stepping out into the moonlight, she took a deep breath of the fresh air. She did not know what made her feel this way but this night was strange. It had something Buffy could not explain although she felt that it had something to do with this couple. The key to the problem and its solution were somewhere in their relationship and she was sure that she would find something in Giles' books.

When she knocked at Giles' door, she noticed that he also was awake. Light shone through the slit under his door and showed her the way inside. She heard his voice from inside. "One moment, I'll be right there!" Steps came towards the door and stopped right behind it. A moment later Giles opened the door and looked at his visitor in astonishment. "Buffy! What are you doing here in the middle of the night?"

"I can't sleep. I need to know about this couple because they steal my sleep." When Giles did not step aside to let her in, she asked, "May I come in or do I have to wait outside until you found anything out?"

Giles shook his head and asked her to come in. "I'm sorry, Buffy, but I just found a possible hint to a couple that died in Ireland under mysterious circumstances. Your description fits their looks nearly exactly."

"What do you mean with 'nearly exactly'?" Buffy sat down on the couch and took one of the chocolate muffins Giles had put on the table in front of it.

"Well..." Giles took his glasses from his nose and laid them on the table. "The girl died at the age of eighteen, the man was twenty-four. And she didn't die in stockings."

"Hm, I already thought about that."

"But Buffy, they died three hundred years ago."

Buffy swallowed a piece of the muffin she had just bitten off and started to cough. "Three hundred years ago. But they were quite alive that night. They walked away from me and vanished."

Giles laid his hands on his knees. "I'm sure that they were killed by vampires. I found an old drawing from their deaths in an Irish mystery book and there were wounds which look like the teeth of a vampire."

"That means they're just a couple of vampires? Like Spike and Drusilla?"

"No, I'm afraid it's not that easy. They made their way up through vampire society and eventually became the Regents of the night, one of the highest titles in their society. Unfortunately, they got in trouble with the Master who took their power from them as a consequence. Now that he's dead, I think they want to get their power back. Which means that you're in great danger because you're the only one to step in their way." Giles felt obviously uneasy but there was not one thing Buffy could have done against that.

"Okay. But I hope you don't expect me to wait for them to have their power back, do you?"

"No, I don't. But you have to be extremely careful. If the records in my books are correct, they're both very cruel and dangerous. In addition, they seem to have a strange kind of relationship. Every man who got near the girl without her will got killed. Seems as if her lover is very jealous. I suppose this care also works the other way round but I don't have any records abut such cases. I think the girl's much smarter."

Buffy grinned. "I thought that's usual."

"Buffy." Giles shook his head. "This isn't a game. Perhaps you haven't yet realised how dangerous this mission is. Do you know why I could hardly find any information about them? Nobody survived an encounter with them, so records could not be made. What I told you bases mainly on speculations, the only evidence of their existence I found was that picture I told you about. The rest are myths and suppositions."

"Oh, come on, Giles, I've had greater problems than this couple. Would you please think of the Master himself?" She leant back and let her free hand rest on a pillow.

"Oh, Buffy, I don't know how I shall make you understand it. Perhaps I should just let you run into your ruin, then you'll see where your ignorance gets you." He had hardly spoken these words when he already regretted them. Buffy had gone through so much and he gave her such insensitive words.

Hearing such harsh words from him, Buffy finally realised that her was indeed serious. She sat up straight and looked at him. "Alright, I see your point. What are you suggesting concerning how to go on?"

Giles stood up again and walked through the room. "Well, I don't really have an idea how to stop them but there has to be one. Until I come up with a solution, you'll keep yourself away from them and especially from the man. Did you get me?"

"Yes, Giles. But... Didn't you find names? I hate to talk about someone as 'the girl' and 'the man'. " Buffy herself had no intention of standing up. Of course, she could have gone home to try to get some sleep but she knew that was useless. She could also spend the rest of the night with Giles, eating muffins and thinking about how the day had gone. "You know what, Giles? I'll stay here and look that at least you get some sleep. I wouldn't like a tired Watcher trying to rescue me from the claws of these people."

Giles tired a small smile. "I've always liked your humour, Buffy. If you want to stay here, stay. Make yourself comfortable and feel at home - which I think you're already practising." He pointed to the plate with muffins from where two of them had already found their destined way into Buffy's stomach. 

"I knew that you would say that. Oh, Giles, by the way, your muffins are delicious. Did you make them yourself?" With an innocent smile she looked at him.

He shook his head in desperation. "No, I didn't, Buffy. I bought them in the supermarket."

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