Differences: Buffy never got over her death by the master but hid it well. Angel left soon after the beginning of season 2 leaving all that he did to not happen. No new slayer was ever called. Buffy's mother died. Buffy is in a state where she hates everything. (imagine 'The Wish' Buffy)
Enjoy!
Fire crackled everywhere, the sound a low roar blending in with the unrelenting whips of the torturers. Each crack of the whips was followed by a horrific scream. The noise of clanking metal echoed everywhere. The place was so vast, it seemed to go on forever. It could be known as chaos. However, a better term would be hell.
Charissa grimaced at the fact that her body ached all over. Would she ever be finished for her time? Desperately, Charissa hoped to Zeus that she’d finally be relieved and taken back to her cell to sleep at least just some time before she was to be brought back again to work. No point in praying to Zeus, Char, you’d been abandoned here. Charissa told herself.
She groaned to herself as she picked up her hammer and pick yet again to chisel away at the stone. Her fingers felt as if they were on fire every time she missed the pick with the hammer and instead hit with what used to be her beautiful hands.
As she worked, Charissa's thoughts drifted to how drastically her beautiful body had changed in the first moments she had been sent to Tartarus. Charissa had lost track of time, forgotten how long she had been in hell but she knew it should not matter. It was not as if she was going anywhere.
Her memory sought back to the first time she came to her fateful place in the underworld. The guards had given her the rags she was now using as clothes and had forced her to change into them quickly. Gone were the beautiful silks that used to adorn her beautiful olive skin that her lover, Cyril, had given her along with the jewels he had bestowed to her as well.
Now all she wore was a rag of clothing that was made of the same material her mother would use to hold her potatoes in. Her once beautiful raven hair was matted together from countless hours of labour in the work area.
Snap!
Charissa screamed in agony as the long whip made new marks against her back.
“Get back to work!” She heard one of the torturers bark at her.
“You know better than to daydream, Charissa.” Charissa turned her head to look at her cellmate, who also worked next to her. Alpha had been in the same sweep of souls into Tartarus as Charissa. However, she was a much older woman when she had passed. Her crime that had brought her to hell was adultery against her husband and the killing of her child. Both were unforgivable sins to their people.
“I know, Alpha.” Charissa continued to drive her pick further into the stone with her hammer. Others in the same situation she was in also did the constant work, afraid they too would be whipped again if the guards thought even in the slightest that they were not paying attention to their work.
This is your fate, child and you must live with it. Her mother's words that she had repeatedly said to her long ago before they split up rang in Charissa’s ears and just seemed to anger the woman further.
I did not ask for this. I specifically made sure I got what I wanted.
When she had died, she had been sent to Tartarus while Cyril was sent to the Elysian Fields where his docile wife Athena was waiting for him. She thinks she’s so great just because she’s named after the Great Goddess Athena. I am sure Athena knew how to keep a man happy. Charissa thought bitterly as she cursed the woman she was sure she had gotten out of her hair so long ago. Somehow though, it seemed as if Athena, Cyril’s wife, would always be above Charissa.
For years now and to come, Charissa was going to be something that she used to think was below her even before her status as hetaerae. A slave in hell.
Welcome to Sunnydale. Always sunny to brighten up your day.
That’s exactly how the sign read. Cheesy and stupid huh? The whole thing was erected at the side of the main road leading into town in a little grassy area. The picture on the wooden billboard sign depicted a bright sunny day, where the little sun in the corner had a smiley face and glasses. Rarely does it ever rain in good old Sunnydale That was the idea former Mayor Richard Wilkins III had wanted to project to visitors of Sunnydale when he had the welcome billboard built three years ago.
When in reality, it was just a way to reassure tourists that all the rumors about countless murders and missing people were fake and that none of it happened. A cover-up for cases where people were found dead with puncture wounds on their necks, drained of their blood. Because then that would sound like as if vampires existed, and those were just out of the norm. Or that everything weird happening in Sunnydale was due to the fact that it rested on some mystical magnet that brought weird things. It was simply too crazy, and seeing as that too would be the cause to get you locked up in a loony bin if you ever thought that, really it would just be better to be ignorant about it like all the residents did, pretending to think they didn’t live on the mouth of all hell. They even ignored it when Home of the Hell Mouth had been spray painted at the bottom of the sign in big red letters. The sign had simply been replaced and not a word was spoken about it. Though of course, to those who weren't fooled, knew that the vandalization was caused by one of the many things that weirdly occurred.
But there it stood, tall and proud in the quiet night with the little lights shining from below to bring awareness to drivers at night. Yes, it was a good night (as good as it could get in Sunnydale). That was until a roaring sound of a large hulking car pierced through the silent night air. A large old black Desoto with painted windows drove down the road like a bat out of hell, jumped the curb and purposefully drove straight into the sign, running it down. The crash of the wooden billboard was deafening, echoing throughout the whole town.
Once the purposeful damage had been done, the car stopped, the engine was cut, and the driver's side door opened. Slowly, a large black boot stepped out, followed by another one and then a whole body, equally covered in black. In contrast, the man had pale skin, deep azure colored eyes, and shockingly bright bleached blonde hair. A lit cigarette dangled from the corner of the driver's mouth, the smoke floating up into the night sky. Taking a large pull from the cigarette and pulling it from his lips, he exhaled a stream of white smoke, all the while looking around.
He stood tall and dangerous. Because that’s exactly what he was. A very dangerous man. Some called him the Big Bad. While others knew him as Spike. His alias to scholars who studied him and his “kind” was William the Bloody. Many recognized him as a Master Vampire and he got that reputation from being known as the slayer of slayers. He'd already killed two and he was barely even 200 years old.
Spike as he liked to be called, could rip the head off of any creature that pissed him off but could quickly change his tune to seduce and charm a woman before taking her as his next meal.
“Well if it isn‘t home sweet home,” Spike said, his voice heavy with a thick British accent. Yes...William the Bloody had arrived back in Sunnydale and was on a mission that he was itching to complete.
The night was quite warm, which was not uncommon in the Southern California town of Sunnydale. However the silence was. That is only to the chosen one. The Slayer.
Buffy Summers, age eighteen, had been the Slayer for almost four years now. During half of that time she was alone in her sacred calling against evil and sadly, that half was the most recent one.
The Slayer trekked through the cemetery with her usual grim look on her face. Her crossbow was slung over her shoulder resting against her back, like a backpack within arms' reach if something was to finally show up, her bag of weaponry in her hand.
To Buffy’s annoyed aggravation she had yet to use the said crossbow, since the night had been rather slow. Not only tonight, but the night before as well. Usually even when it was slow, she would still bag at least one vamp or demon. However, during the past two nights Buffy had yet to see anything remotely demony and this left Buffy feeling more aggravated and the urge to pummel something grew even greater.
Hell, not even a murder, or any suspicious deaths had occurred in the past week where the Hellmouth resided underneath the little unknown town of Sunnydale.
Normally Buffy would be happy for having an easy night (or as happy as she could ever be). Having multiple nights free of slaying left Buffy feeling like a recuperating sex a-holic going without their needed fix of sex. At the back of her mind though, she had the unsettling feeling that something beneath her, or even above the ground was brewing. If it was an apocalypse, Buffy would not be a happy Slayer. Then again, it had been a long while since she had been a happy Slayer.
She had not had a real good apocalypse since The Master, of course. Although, a near one had popped up almost six months ago at the end of the year, but Buffy had metaphorically stomped it out with her fashionable high heels.
The mayor, Richard Wilkins III, for some weird unknown reasons to Buffy, had decided to become a rather large snake demon and surprise, surprise, tried to rule the world as this snake demon. The day of his transformation just happened to be on the same day he was scheduled to make his speech at the Sunnydale High School Graduation, where he hoped to eat the entire class of 99’ as his first meal. However, Buffy had been tipped off by a demon and it had told her that the Mayor would be receiving a package that would allow him to change into the demon at the Sunnydale Airport, which was where Buffy had decided to intercept it. From there she had kicked Richard Wilkins out of town, never to be seen again.
As Buffy continued to walk through the un-normal, eerily quiet cemetery, her thoughts drifted back to the graduation that had still been able to take place despite the Mayor's plans to screw it up. It was painful for her to think about it sometimes since she was never able to join her classmates because she had dropped out of school at the beginning of her senior year. It was too hard to deal with it all. So instead she had watched it from afar.
Earlier that year in June
“Congratulations to the Class of 1999. You all proved more or less adequate...” Mr. Snyder’s voice drawled on, floating over the sea of graduates and an audience of family members, all the way to the back where Buffy Summers stood, hidden by the shadow of a tree. Her arms were crossed rigidly over her chest, her sunglasses shielding her eyes as well as a way to disguise her emotionless expression plastered on her face, an expression that had yet to make itself scarce for the past countless months.
She hated the fact that she was here. It kept reminding her of too many things that she was currently trying to push to the back of her mind. Somehow, though, she had felt the obligation to come. Buffy just kept telling herself that she was making sure nothing like the Mayor's botched up plan of ascension would happen when in reality, it was for a different reason.
The Slayer observed, still from afar, as students began to line up to accept their diploma when their names were called. Yeah...she definitely hated being here. Which was why she was hiding at the edge of the courtyard far from everyone, even the audience. Buffy Summers wanted no one to see her. Especially those three to four people that she had known. Because, if they saw her, then they would think that she had forgiven them. No... she hadn’t; but she still felt the need to come.
A half hour later all the names of the graduates had been called and given their piece of paper that essentially meant they were no longer bound to high school. Explaining that they had succeeded in passing their requirements and were now graduated adults, more or less. The new mayor, some woman who had replaced Dick Wilkins after he had “mysteriously disappeared”, made the final speeches.
The class of 1999 was congratulated and the traditional tossing of the mortarboards had occurred. By now the sun was beginning to set. Buffy continued to stand there and spotted her former friends standing in the distance near the set up, dressed in their red gowns and holding their diplomas as they talked in a small circle. Even though she was still mad at them, mad for what they had put her through, Buffy was still proud of them. They, unlike her, had endured the hell of their senior year and were now being properly awarded.
Two adults walked up to the group of teens and seemed to be congratulating them on their success. Rupert Giles, her now former watcher, was someone who had been more of a father to her than her biological one stood in one of his usual tweed suits with Ms. Jenny Calendar. Buffy felt just a slight ache in her heart as she watched the librarian smile at Willow, Xander, Cordy, and Oz, obviously pleased with their success. She remembered when he gave her that proud smile too, before everything had gone downhill.
Suddenly she noticed Giles freeze, an act visible even from the distance. He seemed to stand up straighter as if something had poked him. And, Buffy knew why. No matter how far she pushed herself away from them, even going as far as not talking to any of them for months, there would still always be the watcher and slayer bond between them that would continue to be un-severed until one of them died. She could tell that Rupert Giles had sensed his former charge.
His head turned and their eyes instantly locked. His expression was full of shock, while Buffy’s expression maintained the same stony look. She did not even reveal the anger that she still felt towards him and the others.
They continued to stare like that for who knew how long. Minutes, hours, seconds. Finally when Buffy noticed that her former group of friends were starting to realize what was distracting Giles, she turned around without looking back and walked away towards the now pink horizon, and, once again, away from the people that cared for her.
It had been six months since the graduation and Buffy was sure the group had settled into college life. She rarely spotted them when patrolling the Bronze but every time she did she made sure they never saw her. The group was the same except some blonde chick had joined them and Cordelia was never to be seen again.
The sound of a twig snapping behind her caused Buffy to whip her crossbow around from behind her. A fledging vampire emerged from out of the shadows a second later, revealing itself.
Finally! Buffy thought. She dropped her bag and crossbow at her feet as the vampire let out a loud feral growl. If she used her weapon to take out the vamp then it would be dust in a matter of two seconds. She wanted to drag out the fight, what with the trip down memory lane plus the lack of any combat for two days, Buffy really needed the fight.
She gave a round house kick to its vamped out face before he could tackle her, sending the undead demon reeling back and crashing into the wall of one of the mausoleums. The primal fighter within her awoke and she seemed to be set free, allowing the Slayer to encompass her fully. He snarled at her, his eyes flashing and all Buffy could do was smile. She was reveling in the power that she felt. No matter what, the Slayer would continue to have the upper hand. Buffy stood tall in a battle stance, ready to take whatever he had to dish.
The vampire began to charge at her, she jumped up into the air kicking out again. This time the toe of her boot connected with the vampire's gut. To her dismay the fledging didn’t fly back as far as the last time.
“Slayer,” It growled, feeling the strength and power coming off her. Every demon that knew of the existence as a Slayer would always be able to recognize her instinctually when fighting face to face. The fledging jumped up from the ground. Buffy gave him a fake dazzling smile. Out of nowhere, the vampire snuck in a punch but she quickly gave two of her own. She watched in amusement as the vampire began to run off.
“Ding Ding Ding! You got it right, vamp boy! Why don’t I tell you what you had won.” The Slayer broke out into a chase after it, hopping onto the headstones and jumping from one to another to catch up to it faster. Flipping off the last stone, she landed right in front of the vampire, bringing it to a halting stop. “How about an all expenses paid trip...” Whipping the stake out from the back of her leather pants, the vampire only saw a flash of the stake before he found it jutting out from his chest, effectively piercing his heart. “To hell,” Buffy finished. Pulling the stake out, she walked away even before it crumbled to dust.
Making her way back to where her weapons still laid, Buffy grimaced. She had staked the vampire too soon, leaving the slayer side of her still craving for a fight. She checked her watch and decided it was for the best anyway seeing as it was already 7:30 and she was due to start her shift at 8:00 at Elegant Secrets.
Gathering her weapons and placing her crossbow into the bag, Buffy began to exit the cemetery. By the time she got to the street, the Slayer observed her surroundings. Very few cars were on Main Street, in fact, more people were walking rather than driving.
She walked swiftly down the street, her long jacket flowing behind her along with her honey blonde hair. As she got farther away from the town, the traffic of both people and cars became less. It wasn’t until Buffy was another ten minutes away from Elegant Secrets when she suddenly felt alone on the street. She slung the canvas bag that held her weapons further onto her shoulder and wrapped the coat around her tighter.
In the past twenty minutes, the temperature seemed to drop ten degrees, which Buffy found quite odd. In the end she shrugged it off since it was the beginning of November.
Down the street, she saw the building she worked in at a short distance. Elegant Secrets. Gentlemen’s Club. the neon sign above shone in the dark night. It was just a nicer way to say strip club/joint. However, Buffy did not strip. She did not have the courage or the stomach to withstand some gross married bastard groping her because he couldn’t get any at home. Instead, she was head bartender there, even at her young age.
When she had been looking for a job, she did not even consider a placement in a gentlemen’s club. She had simply been trying to get a job at a diner almost a year ago when the owner of Elegant Secrets had been there and had witnessed her struggle to try and talk to the owner of the diner about a job. Jack had seen her potential as a bartender, and her attitude made her great for a head bartender. He didn’t care about her real age and would teach her everything she needed to know about mixing drinks. At first Buffy had been apprehensive about it all, worrying she’d have to serve drinks nude or do something provocative. Jack had tried to allay her fears, pleading with her by telling her that she was bartender material. She’d make great tips because she was naturally pretty and looked like the only respectable woman in the place. True enough, the tips poured in and at first she was shocked at the amount she could get. True, Buffy didn’t like the fact that it was a gentlemen’s club but the pay was good and she got to keep all her tips. Besides, it worked well with her odd schedule of sleeping during the day and in her best element at night.
Buffy didn’t even have to put up with any crap seeing how she was head bartender and Jack barely came down from his office. Although, Cody the other bartender was pretty ticked that someone who wasn’t even legal to drink had been given the position he'd wanted. The Slayer had made it clear that she didn’t put up with crap and wasn’t going to start with Cody’s.
Walking the rest of the way to the club in a brisk pace, Buffy came to the door of the front entrance. The parking lot were full of people seeing as it was Friday, their busiest night. Joe, the bouncer and head of Elegant Secrets security, smiled at Buffy and stepped aside. Joe was the only one that she could stand. When she had first started working here she kept getting weird glances from the six foot two and 200 pound bouncer. Then she found out he was half Quiox demon. When she'd first found out about it, Buffy was about to slay him when he had assured her that all he wanted to do was make a living for himself and his wife and kid. He had known she was the Slayer which explained all the weird glances he threw at her all those times. He was like any demon that knew of the powerful warrior linage that Buffy belonged to, and he could always feel the strength rolling off her.
“Hello Buffy,” Joe greeted. Buffy just gave him a wave and walked into the club.
Surveying her surroundings, Buffy found that the whole place was practically packed to the max. Men, as well as some scarce women sat at all the tables and booths waiting for the first dancing act to begin. Sighing heavily and making her way to the bar Buffy thought to herself that tonight was going to be another long night.
A/N: Enjoy it? Little confused? I promise I'll explain more in next chapter's A/N about the prologue. PLease Review. I like reviews.
Spuffy_obsessed