Prologue

Surveying the damage, there was a lot to take in. The Bringers had certainly made their mark. The house was wrecked, again. There were girls everywhere babbling incoherently and crying. Xander was tending to Andrew’s injuries. Giles, in all likelihood, had yet another concussion and Spike was still unconscious. Dawn knew that he wasn’t completely dead since hey, no dust, but that much blood loss couldn’t be good, even for a vampire. Willow and Giles had managed to close the large wounds to his neck and abdomen with suture they’d stolen from the hospital, but he wasn’t giving them any signs that he was going to wake up anytime soon.

That wasn’t even the worst of it. The really creepy looking Turo-whatever vamp had killed two of the Slayers-in-Training, before it and the Bringers suddenly left in the middle of the battle. Shortly after that was when they found Spike. That was also when they realized they couldn’t find Buffy. The Bringers had evidently taken Buffy and all but mortally wounded Spike. They were all nearly defenseless now. Without Willow’s magic, the Bringers could come in and pick them all off one by one until there were none left. With that thought, Dawn slowly sank down next to the stairs and cried.

**********

Buffy rattled against the chains. The no-eyes creepies had left her alone once she awoke and found herself in her current predicament. She was chained to the floor, and barely able to move, in what was probably one of the many caves around Sunnydale. It really was amazing the whole place didn’t just cave in on itself.

She’d freed herself from this type of situation more than once before, though she seemed to be having difficulty now. She would manage escape again though. She had to. She needed to get back to the others and see what damage the Bringers had done. If the goons fought the others half as hard as they fought Spike, she wasn’t sure there would be much to get back to, but she needed to try.

They hadn’t been prepared for the attack. Though Giles brought what was left of the Council with him, including the information on The First, it wasn’t enough. They had barely even begun training some of the girls before this attack. They had a lot of work to do if they were going to win this.

“I trust you are comfortable?”

A voice called out through the cave. Though she hadn’t heard it in years, it was all too familiar. The Master. The one she defeated not long after arriving in Sunnydale. This had to be The First.

“Sure! A little TV and a soda, and I’m good,” Buffy said in a cheerful voice.

“Good to see you remain your usual witty self,” The First remarked. “We’ll see just how long that lasts, shall we?”

“You do realize I’m going to get out of here, right?” Buffy questioned. “I’ll be waving goodbye before you know it. Too bad my friends aren’t here to watch me stomp all over you. Well, figuratively speaking.”

“I think at the moment you will find your friends have their hands more than full, Slayer,” The First sneered; an interesting rendition with The Master’s toothy grin and red mouth.

“Then you won’t mind me getting back to help them,” Buffy said, giving the chains another jerk.

“You’ll find those chains don’t give so easily. I had my minions reinforce them with an old Tolo’thrian spell. It’s not infallible, but it should do the trick for the time being,” The First commented, seeming amused with itself.

“So, are you just lonely or are you holding on to me for a reason?” Buffy replied.

“Oh, I definitely have a reason, Slayer. You took away two of my most depraved warriors in this dimension and swayed them to the other side. I plan to get a little revenge, before turning the tide,” The First said, with a look to Buffy that made her want to shudder.

“You know, if you’re going to be all big and evil, you might want to get your story right,” Buffy retorted. “I wasn’t responsible for Angel’s soul. Little band of gypsies in Romania did that I believe,” Buffy stated as if contemplating the fact.

“Ah, but my dear slayer, you are the one who gave him purpose. True, he wasn’t my brightest and bravest anymore, but at least he wasn’t around trying to lead some crusade against me. Now you’ve even managed to recruit Spike. I simply can’t let this sort of thing go unanswered you see,” The First explained.

“Great, so you’re planning on boring me to death down here with your sob stories of days gone by?” Buffy asked.

“Oh no, my dear. You… will be my greatest challenge and my greatest accomplishment. We must, after all, balance the scales of good and evil, yes? I can’t have two strong Slayers plus those two all running amok now can I? No, Slayer, you will be the price paid for those two souls. I will most certainly enjoy breaking you while my followers eliminate the rest of the Slayer line. You will be the last...and then you will be mine,” The First said in a matter-of-fact voice.

“You are dead wrong if you think I will ever be yours. I don’t care who you kill, or how much you beat me, I will *never* be yours,” Buffy spat at The First.

“Sweet child, who said anything about beating?” The First grinned at Buffy. “Yes, I do imagine some of my followers will beat you. But you see child, I’ve been watching you for some time now. I know that being helpless and alone is your greatest fear. And since I can’t take your powers from you indefinitely, I’ll just have to resort to something else to break you,” The First said, shrugging one shoulder.

“I think you’ve seen one too many James Bond movies,” Buffy retorted, despite her growing panic.

The First gave a small laugh before continuing. “No, I had something much different in mind for you,” The First replied as a strange purple demon with horns protruding from its neck entered from an opening in the cave wall.

“Now, I’ll leave you two alone. I’m sure you two can… entertain…yourselves while I’m gone,” He said. The realization dawned on Buffy’s face as The First vanished in his trademark flash of light.