She meets and falls in love with Angel, and soon finds that he is a vampire. Although freaked at first she learns that he has a soul and wants to help her to make up for the terrible things he did as Angelus, scourge of Europe. Their love leads to him losing his soul, turning back into Angelus and having a desire to kill all her friends and then her.

She finally has to kill him and send him to hell when he raises the demon Acathla, Willow manages to restore his soul but it is too late. Although he returns from hell, soul restored, and they renew their relationship, Angel ultimately realises that, although their love is eternal, their relationship is doomed and he leaves. But not until he has helped her defeat the evil mayor-snake.

Buffy moves on, a new school and a new relationship with Riley Finn, who also turns out to be more than at first thought, being a part of a secret Government initiative that captures and experiments on demons. Unbeknown to Riley they have also created a monster, Adam, built from human and demon body part’s. He kills his maker and goes on a rampage through Sunnydale. Buffy finally defeats him using a spell to combine the forces of all the past slayers. Her love life is not that successful though and, realising that Buffy never really loved him, Riley leaves her.

Buffy, however, has other things to worry about with the arrival of Dawn, a key to a demon dimension that has been sent to her in human form for her protection, and the death of her mother. Of course there is another evil to be fought, Glory, a god who needs the key to return to her own dimension. When Glory captures Dawn and the dimensions barriers come down, Buffy kills herself to save Dawn and the world.

After spending three happy months in what she believes is heaven, Willow, Tara, Xander and Anya bring her back to life. As if being dragged out of heaven isn’t bad enough, especially since she can’t tell her friends where she has been as they believe she has been in a hell dimension, the added pressures of looking after her sister and paying the mounting bills become too much for her and she leans heavily on Giles. When Giles leaves for England, she finds a job at the local burger bar, The Doublemeat palace, and cold comfort in the arms of Spike, finding that sex with him is the only thing that makes her feel alive. She soon realises that she doesn’t really love him either and breaks up with him. Her rejection leads to him attempting to rape her, before leaving town. But Buffy again has more important things on her mind and her hardest fight yet. Her girlfriend killed by a bullet meant for Buffy, Buffy’s best friend Willow is bent on vengeance on Tara’s killer and the world. In the end even Buffy cannot fight her and it is down to Xander to save the day.

Buffy’s troubles are not yet over and a new big bad is looming in the shape of The First Evil, who’s Bringers are killing off potential slayers one by one and destroying the Watcher’s council. Giles returns to Sunnydale bringing the surviving potential slayers with him. The pressures of looking after all the girls and trying to defeat an impossible army of ubervamps and a non-corporeal enemy finally gets to her, and with the arrival of an another old friend, Faith, she finds herself kicked out of her home. Left to herself, she finds the one thing that can defeat the First, an ancient slayer axe. Finding that the axe carries a great power Buffy gives it to Willow who uses it to give each potential slayer around the world her full power. With a now enhanced army of girls Buffy, with the help of a newly ensouled Spike and an amulet from Angel, saves the world again, destroying Sunnydale in the process. As she stands at the edge of where Sunnydale and the Hellmouth used to be Buffy realises that, at long last, she can be what she has always wanted to be. A normal girl.

So what’s she going to do now?

Well she travels to Italy with Dawn and there meets a new love by the name of The Immortal much to the disgust of her previous demon lovers, Angel and Spike.