Darkness (Book Two, Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

chapter 1 - When She Was Bad

Well, a summer had passed since the Master had died.

Buffy had spent the summer in L.A. with her dad.

I had spent the summer in Sacromento with my dad.

I had been at the Bronze when I saw Buffy back, on the way to meet up with Xander and Willow at the ice cream place.

Outside the cemetery, I saw a vampire going to attack Willow and Xander.

Xander put himself between them, punching the vampire in the face. The vampire wasn't fazed, pushing him down, grabbing Xander, trying to bite him. Xander struggled immensely.

Buffy grabbed the vampire's shoulder, pulling him off of Xander, punching the vampire in the face, kneeing him in the stomach, flipping him over onto his back.

I reached a hand toward Xander.

Xander looked at me in surprise, taking my hand, letting me help him up.

I looked from Xander to Willow. "Hi, guys!"

The vampire stood. Buffy kicked him in the chest, making him hit a tree, a branch impaling him through his back into his heart, killing him, making him burst into ashes.

Buffy looked at us. "Miss us?"

~~

"Zoey!" Willow said, hugging me.

"Buffy!" Xander said, hugging her.

"Hey," Buffy said.

"Hey, Will," I told her.

Xander hugged me. Willow hugged Buffy.

"Man, your timing really doesn't suck," Xander told us, laughing. He looked at me. "Your hair!" 

"Yeah, I know," I told them. "What a summer can do to make your hair grow." 

I smiled. 

"When'd you guys get back?" Willow asked.

"Uh, just now," I answered. "Dad drove me down to the Bronze so he could have a fight with Mom in peace."

"Where I found her," Buffy told them. "And we figured you two losers would be getting into some kind of trouble."

"I think we had the upper hand," Willow told us. "I--in a subtle way."

"Do either of you even have a cross?" I asked. "Very sloppy."

"Well, it's been a slow summer," Xander told us. He looked at Buffy. "I mean, that's the first vampire we've seen since you killed the Master."

"It's like they knew I was coming back," Buffy said.

We started to walk.

"So, what about you?" Xander asked. "How was your summer? Did you slay anything?"

"No," Buffy answered. "Uh, just hung out, partied some, shopping was also a major theme."

"Well, you haven't lost your touch," I told her. "That vampire..."

"I did kinda whale on him, didn't I?" Buffy asked.

Xander noticed her new hair cut. "I like your hair."

Buffy giggled.

"Sacromento isn't as fun as it sounds," I told them. "Oh, did you know that my dad cheated on my mom with Amy's mom, that he actually knew Catherine was a witch?"

"That must have been an awkward conversation," Buffy said.

I nodded. "Oh, yeah. I looked from Xander to Willow. "So, how did you guys fare? Did you have any fun without us?"