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Real Me by CG again
 
Chapter 3
 
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In retrospect, I probably shouldn’t have shown up at the Sunnydale High library in leather. For one thing, it made it way too obvious what my plans were for the night, and put up Dawn’s defenses immediately.

For another, I’m pretty sure Dawn’s boyfriend was checking out my ass.

But back to Dawn.

She glared at me, eyes narrowed, and informed me, “You are NOT going on patrol with me.”

“Stop me,” I retorted. Why should Dawn have all the fun? From what I knew, anyone could shove a stake into a vampire and slay it. You didn’t need superpowers for that. “I just plan on strolling through some cemeteries tonight. No law against that.” I considered. “Well, maybe there is a law against that, but I’m a college student. It’s what we do.”

Dawn stood up then, slamming the book she’d been holding down on the table. “This isn’t some game! This is your life, and trying to be like me is going to kill you!”

“Like you don’t do this every night?” I retorted. “Come on, Dawn! Don’t tell me you don’t put your own life on the line every day to fight these monsters! Let someone else have a try for once!”

“I’m Chosen!” Dawn shouted. “Why don’t you get that? I’m the only one who can do this, and it’s killing you! Perfect Buffy, the one Mom’s proud of, so perfectly popular and the perfect cheerleader with all the perfect boys chasing you…But no, there can’t be one thing in the world that I’m better at than you! You just have to try to take that from me, too!” She calmed herself down with effort. “But now you can’t. One girl in every generation is the Slayer, and it’s me. It’s not something you can take away from me, and it’s not something we can do together as some warped form of sisterly bonding. It’s my destiny, and I have to do it alone.” She looked away from me. “And I did, you know.”

“Did what?” I asked quietly. Dawn was right, of course, much as it killed me to admit it. Not that I would ever tell her that. The girl has an ego the size of Texas. But she was the quiet brain in school, even during all the delinquent activities that started post-Calling. She wasn’t popular like I was, and was always kind of overlooked. When I was younger, my mom would even make me take her to parties and stuff so she wouldn’t feel left out. So maybe I can cut her a break, let her do her slaying alone… Not that I planned to call off my plans, but I didn’t have to rub them in Dawn’s face…

Her next words nearly made me reconsider. “Die.”

“Huh?”

Dawn looked down. “I died last year. Only for a few seconds. Janice and Angel found me, revived me...The Master, that vampire I fought last year, he left me in a puddle to drown.” She looked up to face me. “I’m the Slayer, and I’m pretty much destined to die young. Even superpowers can’t help. Do you understand why I can’t let you fight? If Mom lost both of us…” Her voice broke, and I moved forward to hug her. She might have talked a tough game, but she was still my baby sister, and she still needed me.

“Oh, Dawnie…”

Within a minute, we heard low voices approaching the library, and Dawn straightened, a picture of calm confidence again. “That’ll be Giles and Angel. Janice isn’t coming today. We’ve got a big test tomorrow, and her mom has threatened her Bronzing privileges if she doesn’t pass.”

Giles was the first in the room. He smiled when he saw me, and I suddenly felt like a high school student again, returning a library book months late. “Hello, Buffy. Dawn told us to expect you.”

“Hi, Mr. Giles. Or just Giles?” He nodded at the second. “So you’re really Dawn’s Watcher?” He nodded again. “What’s that like?”

Giles started to clean his glasses. “Well, Dawn’s a remarkable Slayer, defeating two Masters in the last two years… And unlike many Slayers, who are quite action-minded, Dawn enjoys the research element of slaying as well. She is, of course, action-minded, too,” he stammered, and I took pity on him.

“Sounds good! No need for a progress report, though.” I asked him some questions about the whole Watcher thing, and he was fairly quick to respond to most of them.

Finally, I turned my attention to the guy who had walked in after him and was now standing behind us. And yes, he had been checking out my ass! He looked embarrassed to have been caught in the act, and I chose not to mention it. It was understandable. I worked hard to have a very nice ass. “So you’re Angel.”

“That’s right.” He stepped out into the light, and I checked him out, not bothering to be discreet about it. He was hot, sure…tall, handsome, kind of big and bulky in a way that reminded me of Riley, an enormous forehead that kind of made his eyes look beady, but he’d probably be cute if he smiled… And he’s dating Dawn! I reminded myself.

Which raised another question. “How old are you?”

They all looked startled at that.

Angel shrugged. “Well, I was turned in 1753, so…”

I jumped back at that. “You’re a vampire?” I turned to Dawn and Giles, both of whom looked sheepish. “He’s a vampire? I thought you kill them, not date them!”

“We’re not dating,” Dawn put in quickly. “We’re just friends.” She glanced at Angel. “Okay, kinda dating. It’s complicated.”

“So sorry, I guess that’s okay then, you’re ‘just friends’ with the evil bloodsucker!”

“Standing right here,” Angel muttered.

“He has a soul,” Dawn explained. She went on talking about some gypsy curse, and I filtered her out, my eyes and thoughts still fixed on Angel. Not only is he a vampire, but he’s an old one. And ‘kinda dating’ my sixteen-year-old sister. And he looks like he’s thirty. I took another step back. Pedophile!

I forced a smile onto my face when Dawn finished talking. “Cool. That’s just…cool.” No need to start up anything with Dawn, not while we were getting along. I didn’t trust the vampire pedophile, though, and I planned to keep my eye on him.

“So, will you and Angel be patrolling tonight?” Giles asked Dawn, back to business.

Angel nodded and spoke for them. “I’ve heard some news. Spike’s killed the Anointed One, and it looks like he’s the big guy in town now. His minions will be all over Sunnydale tonight. Probably nothing we can’t handle, though.”

Dawn turned to me. “Buffy, do you want to come along?”

I gaped. Giles gaped. Angel didn’t gape, or show any expression at all. I had the feeling he didn’t do facial expressions much. “Say what?”

She shrugged, smiling shyly. “You heard Angel. It’s going to be a pretty easy night, but lots of staking. You can tag along.”

I grinned. “Dawn, I think there’s hope for you yet.”

--

Dawn hadn’t let me use a crossbow, claiming that I wasn’t ready for it. After nearly putting out Giles’s eye, I conceded the point and stuck with a big stake and a wooden cross. Besides, she was making an effort, so I did, too. I let her beat up the two vampires we encountered without trying to interfere, and in return, she stepped back once they were on the ground and let me stake them.

It was an exhilarating feeling, thrusting the stake and watching the vamp explode. Kind of like popping bubble wrap. One quick move, and it’s history! Plus, you know, fighting evil and all that jazz.

Pedo-vamp had disappeared two cemeteries before, tracking a large and smelly demon. I wasn’t sorry to see him go. Maybe it was the vampire thing, maybe it was the age thing, maybe it was the forehead thing, but I just didn’t feel comfortable around him. I mentioned that to Dawn, and she shrugged.

“I guess he takes time to get used to.” She laughed. “The first time I kissed him, I didn’t even know he was a vampire. Then his face changed, and I screamed.”

“I remember that!” I recalled. “You were shaking, and when I came in, you told me you ‘saw a shadow.’ I figured that you were, like, high or something!”

Dawn rolled her eyes. “Sisters…”

“Sisters,” a voice repeated from behind us. “Oh, that is too precious for words.”

We spun around, stakes out and raised. “Spike,” Dawn spat out.

The vampire smirked, running his tongue over his teeth. “Hello, cuties.”

Dawn charged at him, a whirlwind of punches and kicks. He dodged most of them, deflected a few others, and managed to send her stake flying. “So the little snack I let go earlier this week is the Slayer’s big sister! How thrilling!” He grinned, throwing Dawn backward. “Have I met all the Summers now? Got any men hidden in that big, old house?” He dodged a punch and another stake Dawn produced from out of nowhere. “Yes, I know where you live, Slayer,” he taunted. “But you know who I haven’t seen? Daddy dearest. Wonder where he could be.”

Dawn and I both leaped forward at that. I jumped into the fray, wanting to hurt the evil vampire at least a little, get at least one punch in…

But Spike grabbed me before I could, holding me by the neck and swinging me around and up against the outer wall of a mausoleum. “I guess I’ll take you first, love,” he murmured, his breath cool against my neck.

I kneed him in the groin an instant before Dawn ripped him off of me. “Get out of here, Buffy!” she shouted frantically.

“Oh, I don’t think so!” Spike hissed from the pain. “Your sister is nearly as interesting as you, Slayer!” He reached out and grabbed me by the leg, pulling me down beside him. Catlike, he rose and bent over me, his vampire face appearing at last. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a few other vampires approaching Dawn, holding her off while Spike drew closer to me.

I tried to flail, but Spike held me down. “I think I’ll turn you,” he murmured. “You’d make a magnificent vampire.”

My eyes closed, and I waited for the bite. His tongue ran over my neck gently, lovingly, and he pressed rough lips to it.

“BUFFY!” Dawn was shouting, but it sounded distant, like a dream.

Spike slid his fangs into my neck painlessly. I shuddered, and it wasn’t from the cold.

“You like that?” he whispered against my neck. “You like how that feels, love?”

An involuntary moan left my mouth.

And then…

A sudden white light seared through my eyelids, and my eyes shot open as Spike jumped up. Another vampire was screaming, and Spike was running, and four black-clad men were giving chase…

“Buffy.” Dawn was at my side, her eyes wide and worried. “Run. Now.”

I ran.

After what seemed like hours, I noticed that Dawn hadn’t followed me, and I started to turn back. But there’s no point, I reminded myself. I’m useless in a fight. If anything, the night had proven that to me. Besides, she probably just went home.

I headed in the direction of my dorm, trying not to think about how close I had been to becoming a vampire. Trying not to think of anything.

Then I hit a hard body and was jarred into reality. “Buffy? Are you okay?” Riley Finn looked down at me, concerned. “It’s not safe out here at night.”

“Right. Um…” I stared up at him unseeingly. “Just…just jogging.”

“Oh.” He smiled at me with that disarming, all-American boy grin. “Well, can I walk you home?”

“Uh…sure.” I was still visibly shaken, but if Riley noticed, he didn’t say anything. He kept up the chatter on the way back, talking about everything and anything and babbling more than a little. I didn’t respond. I couldn’t respond.

And once I had gotten safely to my room and called Dawn to make sure she was okay, I curled up in my bed and cried.
 
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