Wanda felt torn; she hated things that were not right about the world, war and greed and oppression and hurt. And vampires fit right in -- or so she had thought. They ate people, it had seemed so simple.
When Buffy asked her what she thought, Wanda felt put on the spot, doubtful of her ability to make the right decision, and with Buffy looking at her, she remembered suddenly the carnival on Naboo, and how she had wanted to sneak in, and how in the end she hadn't. Because she didn't want to lose someone's good opinion...
And now she didn't want to do something that would make Buffy think less of her. Asked to be the judge, to venture her opinion, she took a step back.
She had done too much that was wrong in the name of what she thought was right, to punish the wrong and stop the injustices that plagued her country, her life, her world. Revenge, yes, but also she'd seen -- she'd known deep down -- that the use of her power was just, a balance against the power of others that had for so much of her life made her feel powerless.
She'd acted, sure of herself and her cause, and almost destroyed the world. Now her only certainty was that she should only fight when she had to, in self-defense or in clear defense of others who needed help--
And now she'd lost that certainty, in this fight.
All stories, all lies, she thought, staring at the vampire with the inaccessible mind.
Then she stared at Buffy instead, trying to figure out... Why was Buffy asking Wanda?
"She's a vampire," Wanda said. "We killed the rest, and they turned to dust like the were ashamed of tricking the universe into thinking they should be awake and moving when they were...the undead, the ones who prey on the living..."
At least, that was how the stories she'd heard had framed it.
"Not like them, not like the others, that still leaves room, enough room for--" She didn't know exactly what, she didn't know much about vampires, but her mind was filled with predators and prey. Not all predators were...sloppy, she thought Buffy had put it. That didn't make them any less dangerous.
"What makes you not like them?" she demanded of the vampire. "Do you eat people? Ever? Do you take what you want, do you leave them crying and hurt? Ever?"
And then she turned to the victims, her eyes alight. "And you, what do you know?" she asked them directly. "You can tell us, we will listen to you. What do you think about this one? Would you spare her the fate of these other vampires?"