It was all Parker Abrams’ fault.

No, really. I mean, talk about your early college screw-ups! Me all new and nervous, he pulls the vulnerable act, and next thing I know, he’s telling me he’ll “see me around.” As if it wasn’t bad enough trying to get over the disaster that was losing my virginity to Scott Hope the year before and having him totally walk out on me...

So yeah, I was depressed, and Willow and Xander were being super supportive and bringing me to the Bronze for old times’ sake and some therapeutic non-Parker time. But when I turned and saw him sitting at the bar, chatting up another naïve co-ed, I needed some space.

“You sure?” Willow asked me, concerned.

I managed a grin. “I’ll be back in a minute. Just gonna get some fresh air.” It was stupid, of course. People who go out to get some fresh air or… just get some…behind the Bronze don’t usually come back. Common knowledge that no one really liked to think about. I mean, serial killer on the loose means no more partying, right? So I was doing the whole selective-thinking thing. What was going to happen?

In my haste, I brushed past a girl and nearly knocked her down in the process. “Sorry,” I mumbled, then blinked. “Janice, hey!” My little sister’s hellion of a best friend smirked at me in response, and I followed her gaze, turning to see Dawn behind me.

“Buffy,” she nodded at me, looking a little annoyed. Like I was on her turf. Puh-leeze! So I went to college. Doesn’t mean rights to the Bronze go to Dawn.

Maybe once, I would’ve been happy to see my sister around. We used to be close, back before Sunnydale. Did sisterly things like shopping and makeovers and gossiping about celebrities… Then she went into some weird juvenile delinquent stage, burning down the school gym and ranting about monsters. So Mom and Dad had her sent to a mental hospital for a bit, and I was left alone to deal with the great news that they were getting divorced. Dawn came home, and I guess we just drifted apart.

When we started in Sunnydale, she kept up the whole bad girl thing out of Mom’s earshot. But really, how stupid did she think I was, that I wouldn’t notice her climbing out the window at night to meet up with some big hulking boyfriend at midnight? Or her talking to Janice about meeting up at cemeteries, or the nonstop cutting of classes to hang out in the “library”? Like Dawn reads! I figured that she was in a gang with Janice. I wouldn’t be surprised if her friend had gotten her into it- that girl was just trouble.

I never made a big fuss about it, knowing how stressed Mom would get. So I mostly ignored Dawn and let her wreak havoc on her own.

But now I was in college and going to be the mature one, so I put a wide smile. “Dawnie! Didn’t expect to see you here!”

She scowled. “Don’t call me Dawnie. I’m not a kid.”

“Sure as hell acting like one,” I muttered under my breath. So much for mature. But she was so aggravating!

“Get over yourself, Buffy,” she said scornfully, rolling her eyes. “Shouldn’t you be off getting drunk at some frat party right now?”

“Shouldn’t you be burning down SunnyD High right now?” I shot back.

“Tempting,” Janice offered, sidling up next to Dawn with a glass in her hand. “Maybe we should put that on the agenda for parent-teacher night. Snyder would have a cow.”

I squinted at the drink. “Is that alcohol?”

Dawn sighed. “Move along, Buffy. Find some nice one-night stand and leave us alone.”

That stung, more than I wanted Dawn to know, so I just gave her a scathing look and headed for the back alley of the Bronze at double speed. Luckily, there were no couples making out there at the moment. I didn’t need any more reminders of the action I so wasn’t getting.

I took a deep breath. Think happy thoughts…non-Parker thoughts… Damn. No luck. But then, a distraction!

The door slammed open, and a big guy appeared, saw me, and grinned. “Delicious.”

As if my life couldn’t get any worse. The serial killer shows up. It figured.

I started to run, but before I could get my legs to work, the guy had my head in his hands and was growling at me. And through my terror, I could tell that there was something weird about his face. It was all bumpy, and…were those fangs? He bent toward my neck while I struggled futilely…

And he was suddenly yanked off of me by a strong hand belonging to a tall girl I knew well…or, apparently, not at all.

“Slayer,” the guy snapped.

“Slayee,” my little sister retorted, then slammed the guy with a punch strong enough to make him reel backwards.

I watched in silent horror as Dawn and the monster-guy traded punches, each more powerful as the next. Shell-shocked, I barely noticed as Janice pulled me away from where they fought, hissed, “get inside!” to me, and ran back into the Bronze.

I didn’t go back inside, but backed up into the shadows, my eyes still glued to the fight.

“Aren’t you a pretty thing,” a voice right next to my ear purred, and I jumped, turning to stare at the man beside me. When did he get here?

“Stay away from me,” I warned, my voice shaky.

He laughed at me. “You’re lucky I’ve got some business with the Slayer, or you’d be dead already, pet,” he warned me in a low, accented voice. “But now that I’ve had time to consider it, I think I’m going to save you for Dru.”

I edged away, and his hand caught my wrist. “Don’t move, or I’ll drain you dry now, anyway.”

I froze. Drain me dry? What was he…

Then Janice came running out with a wooden stick in her hand and it all clicked into place. The monster’s fangs, the stake that Dawn had just plunged into the guy’s heart and the dust he became…

Vampires!

But before I could reel from that information, my captor was emerging from the shadows, clapping as Dawn turned to stare in disbelief. “Nice work, luv,” he drawled, and I took the moment to slide away from him and move closer to the door.

Dawn gaped at him. “Who’re you?”

“You’ll find out on Saturday.” I was past the bleached blonde’s back, and in the light where Dawn could see me.

She glanced at me, but kept her attention on the man. “What happens on Saturday?”

The man’s expression didn’t change, nor did he even turn to look at me. “I kill you.”

Dawn visibly flinched, and the guy smirked and moved away, pausing only for a moment to murmur in my ear, “Another time, luv.”

Then it was just us.

“Dawn,” I said weakly, staring at her. “What the hell just happened?”

--

I lay in bed later that night, my eyes fixed on the ceiling while Willow slumbered peacefully in the next bed. What Dawn had told me was unbelievable. Vampires and demons? Real. Dawn? Some sort of superhero whose sacred duty it was to fight them. Sunnydale? Apparently, the mouth of Hell. No gangs, no delinquency, just Dawn, Janice, the school librarian, and some guy named Angel trying to stop the bad guys. My sister the superhero. It sounded like some cheesy action movie Xander would drag us to. But apparently, this was the real deal. Dawn had killed, no, staked two vampires last night while I watched.

“This isn’t a game,” she’d warned me. “This isn’t something you can do, just because ‘Dawnie does it.’ Slayers…the Slayer is unique. So don’t start wandering cemeteries at night with a piece of wood, thinking you can take on the vamps. You’re not strong enough.”

“And you are?” I’d retorted. In response, she lifted up the Dumpster beside us in that alley and raised it over her head.

“Yes,” she had said simply.

I sighed. Dawn knew me too well. I wasn’t just going to let this lie.

“So Janice is also a Slayer?” I’d demanded. “You said one per generation. How does she help you if she’s not strong enough?”

Dawn had looked very tired. “Janice…helps with other things.”

“Magic,” Janice had added cheerfully. “Research. Okay, fine, Giles does the research while I bring the coffee,” she conceded. “Plus I’m fully trained in six different types of fighting, including a bunch of martial arts.” She faked a punch. “I can defend myself.”

Magic. Huh. If that was real, too, maybe Willow’s Wicca group wasn’t as full of crap as I’d assumed.

“Well, it doesn’t matter much, in the end, does it?” I’d pointed out crossly. “I can stay out of the cemeteries and still get bitten at the Bronze. Twice.”

Dawn had nearly growled at that. “Just…stay out of isolated places, Buffy. Don’t invite strangers into your dorm room. I can’t always be there to save your ass, you know.”

“Like she’s God’s gift to humankind,” I muttered. “She can’t keep me from doing a little vamp hunting of my own.”

It was a lot harder to be scared when I wasn’t less than a foot away from a vampire out for my blood. Now I was just angry. I hated feeling helpless, and I hated having to be saved by Dawn.

There are defense classes on campus, I told myself. Starting tomorrow, you’re going to learn how to fight back.

I would not be the stupid damsel in distress in the saga of “Dawn the Great.” I was going to learn to hold my own. And if I ever saw that British, peroxide-blonde vampire again, I wouldn’t freeze in terror.

I’d turn him to dust.