Who: Buffy Summers; OT Faith, Giles, and others? What: Hunting alone at night. The world still turns and vampires still kill people. Some things never change. When: September 24, 2010 (Backdated to last night? Please Mods ^^) Where: Sunnydale, California; graveyard Rating: Pg-13 Status: Incomplete
The night air sent a chill down the young woman's spine as she slowly ventured into her favorite, non-favorite place in the world. The graveyard with all its solitary stones with names of those people forgotten long ago. Though she hadn't checked, she was quite sure her mom was among them as well as countless others she had failed to save when the time called for a hero. It bothered her once upon a time and she supposed somewhere inside her beating heart it still did, but her mask only became better and she didn't appear so wounded. Buffy had numbed her heart to all she had lost and in the heat of a fight or being with her friends...she didn't think about the life slashed into shreds by an inescapable destiny... one that robbed her of her lover, but also most of her friends and herself. She had slashed their lives to bits too and while she was forever thankful that they were apart of her life, to ease the suffering, she knew she would never truly forgive herself for bringing them into the whole mess in the first place. They were all so stubborn though, Xander and Willow, determined to be apart of the darkness even as she fought to keep them out and safe. How many times had they been hurt by this life she had led them into? Too many times. Yes, she knew they were human and capable of making their own decisions, but still she couldn't keep the responsibility from resting upon her shoulders heavily sometimes. Buffy wished for a do-over, but life was the kind of game that didn't give you those options.
Twirling her stake in her hand, the slayer picked her way through the unsteady ground, boots sinking into the grass and mud with each step. Buffy had decided on knee-high boots, jeans and a simple top to slay in that night, donning a leather jacket (courtesy of Angel) only after she popped the window in her house and found the night air chilly, goosebumps rising on her flesh with the incoming breeze. Though even his jacket did little to stem the cold that hung heavily in the night around her and she found herself pulling it tighter around her petite form for protection against the chill. Part of her had been tempted to ask Faith if she wanted to join in the patrol, but after looking about the house for a moment and not finding her, she decided to strike out on her own. Besides, the job really didn't need two slayers anyway and Faith deserved a break as much as she did. The last few weeks had been hell on them both.
Suddenly arms grabbed her from behind and pulled her up, sharp teeth scrapping her neck, followed by the all too familiar "Slayer". Was that the only word they knew? Kicking back, she struggled against the tight grip before raising and elbow and smashing it into his freaky face. "I have a name you know", she retorted as he came flying at her again, fresh from the grave in a suit and tie, dress shoes fling in the air as he attempted to kick her in the face, sloppily. "Ahh...you're new, I guess I could let it slip this once", she spun and sent a heel into his neck, knocking him backwards to the ground before she raising her stake and stuck it deep into his chest, where his heart once beat. In moment, she was sitting on the grass, in dust, where her attacker once rested. "One down...only a million more to go", she said with a sigh and pushed herself up, she might as well get started.