Aftershocks (1/?)

[sombrerogiles@xxxxxxxxxxx]

I know that 'Euphemism' was short, but there was a reason :) It was 
kind of a prologue to this story.

Title: Aftershocks
Author: Aly
Rating: PG-13ish
Author's Notes: Sequel to `Euphemism'. Willow turned Buffy on the 
hill by her grave a day ago, and now the Slayer rises&

Chapter 1:

The first thing I was aware of was the light. It was bright&shining 
in my eyes.
"Willow?" I croaked out sleepily. Almost immediately I felt someone 
sit next to me.
"I'm here sweetie," She said soothingly, touching my bare arm. I sat 
up in the bed and blinked my eyes a few times. "How are you feeling?"
"I feel&my neck hurts." I replied, and subconsciously brought a hand 
up to gingerly touch the source of the aching. My slightly calloused 
fingertips were greeted by the rough texture of dried blood and a 
scabbed wound. Suddenly, it all came back to me. The hill at night, 
Willow, her fangs&
"You're weak, you need to eat." She said, and disappeared out of the 
door.
"Yes&eating is good&" I replied absently, trying to re-order things 
in my jumbled mind. I looked around at my surroundings. I was in 
Angel's old mansion, or one like it. Heavy black curtains masked the 
light of day and prevented most of it from filtering in. Candles lit 
the room, flickering in the dull, gothic atmosphere and architecture. 
A small beam of sunlight managed to get past the shrouding drapes 
that covered the window, and it struck the wall in a far corner. 
Throwing the sheet off, I walked unsurely up to it. I glanced at the 
door, then hesitantly outstretched a hand into the rays. I withdrew 
it almost immediately, expecting a nasty burn for my troubles. A few 
seconds later I realised that there was no pain, and I extended my 
arm again. The sunlight struck my pallid flesh, but there was no 
flame. No smoke. Nothing. Suddenly I heard a clatter outside my door, 
and I quickly retracted my arm, and took a step back. Willow entered 
the room a second later, dragging a moaning, barely conscious boy 
with her. I moved silently back to my bed, and sat on the end of it. 
The red head brought the boy to me, and forced him to his knees. My 
eyes immediately went to the gaping wound at the side of his neck, 
then to a small trickle of blood that ran from a corner of Willow's 
mouth.
"Here ya go honey, dig in." The vampire said, pulling back the boy's 
head by his hair. I shrank from the sight and moved back slightly on 
the bed, shaking my head.
"No&" I said, appalled. Willow sighed, and let the boy's head fall 
forwards. She placed both of her hands on her hips, and for the first 
time I noticed her form-fitting black leather suit she wore.
"You have to eat. If you don't eat, you'll waste away, and we can't 
have that." Willow said, exasperated. Her mood suddenly changed, and 
she slid up beside me on the bed. "Besides," she purred, her hand 
stroking my thigh. "You'll have no energy for later." I decided the 
best thing to do right now would be to play along with the demon act. 
If Willow got mad&I don't know what she'd be capable of. Grimacing, I 
moved forward slowly, and took the boy gently by the collar, pulling 
him forward. I heard a sigh from Willow again, and I could imagine 
her swinging her legs on the side of the bed in boredom. I gave what 
I hoped was a convincing growl, and moved my head forward towards his 
neck. The smell of the blood was repulsive, the wound even more so. 
But nevertheless, I shifted into my demon visage. I was actually 
surprised that I managed to do that, when I was human I'd thought 
that it would take some kind of training to be able to do that at 
will. But I instinctively knew how to do it. I think that in that 
moment I truly began to understand how I'd changed. I wasn't Buffy 
Summers anymore, I was something else. I heard a little squeal of 
delight come from Willow as my teeth ripped the boy's throat open, 
and I began to drink the warm red blood that flowed. Before I'd fed, 
I thought I was going to retch. As I was committing the act, I found 
myself worried and afraid.
Part of me was enjoying it&

=============

When the sun set I went out. Willow offered to come with, but I said 
I needed some alone time. She'd been remarkably accepting actually, 
for a demon I mean. I walked aimlessly, without anyplace to go, and 
without any direction or purpose in mind. It must have been at least 
two hours before I realised I was drifting, and began to take a look 
around. I was outside Giles' house. Sighing, I walked up the small 
path to his house, and knocked on the great oak door. Bumbling sounds 
came from within, and a cry of `Just a minute'. I quickly checked my 
scarf to make sure it hid the almost faded bite mark that my siring 
had left. Giles fumbled with a latch, and I heard a deadlock sliding 
across. He threw open the door, and his eyes widened when he saw me 
there.
"Buffy!" He cried, opening the door fully. "I was worried something 
had happened to you, your mother said you didn't come home last 
night."
"Um, yeah. I didn't. Can I come in?" I asked, purposefully avoiding 
the subject of my absence.
"What? Oh, of course!" Giles said, in his typically clumsy British 
manner. It was very Hugh Grant. I stepped across the threshold, the 
invisible barrier dissipating as soon as the words were out of my 
former Watcher's mouth.
"So nice of you to invite me in Giles." I said, stressing the word 
invite. I could mentally picture him cocking his head in puzzlement, 
the way puppies do when they're confused. My newly awakened vampire 
senses informed me of the way it returned to its normal position as 
recognition set in.
"Dear God&" Giles said, trailing off and moving slowly to his left. I 
spun around quickly and blocked his route to the coffee table, where 
a cross lay.
"Far from it." I declared, and vamped out. I was surprised when I saw 
no fear in the man's eyes when I underwent my transformation. Instead 
all I saw was sadness and grief. And then there was the guilt, 
overwhelming, consuming guilt.
"I'm so very sorry." He said quietly, expecting death any second. I 
felt my eyes well up with tears and I fell backwards onto his sofa.
"So am I," I replied, beginning to cry. I buried my twisted, hideous 
face in my hands and let sobs wrack my body. Giles came over slowly, 
and cautiously sat down next to me. After a few moments he placed a 
comforting hand on my shoulder.
"Tell me what happened." He said softly. I attempted to regain my 
composure, and I morphed my face back to human, Giles looked 
distinctly relieved. I wiped teary eyes with the back of my hand 
before starting. Then I told him. I told him everything that had 
happened between Willow and I, how she'd told me she loved me, how 
I'd told her I loved her, then related all of the events leading up 
to that fateful encounter on the hill, and then how I seemed to be 
unaffected by the demon. All of these events from my point of view. 
He didn't say anything as I told him this, just let me go with my 
intertia. Truthfully? That's all I was running on at the moment. My 
entire world had come crashing down on me in the space of one week. 
One week, and I had lost my best friend, my girlfriend, and my 
humanity. I had forsaken my calling for a purely selfish cause, and 
for the first time in my life I felt truly ashamed.
"If it makes you feel better," Giles said, breaking the uneasy 
silence. "I would have done the same thing." I smiled sadly, then 
rested my head on his shoulder. He stroked the back of my head with 
one hand as I cried again, content to just sit there and be the 
receptacle of my emotions for a while. I cried myself dry, literally. 
I mean, I pretty much cried all the tears out of me. Eventually all 
that came out was muffled sobs, no moisture. I tried to stop then, 
and we both just sat in silence.
"I can feel it," I whispered, almost too quietly for Giles to hear.
"Feel what?" He asked.
"The demon. I can feel it pressing against me. But it's not in 
control." I replied, my eyes still closed.
"Buffy, do you remember when Colin made our nightmares come true a 
few years back."
"Hard to forget."
"Yes, well. After that little fiasco I did some research. No Slayer 
has ever been turned in recorded history." I looked up from my 
position on Giles' shoulder.
"Never? As in, never never?" I asked. Giles nodded. "What does that 
mean?"
"It means that we can't be sure what the effects of Willow siring you 
will be. As a rule Vampires don't turn Slayers. They hunt them. Of 
course, that's mostly because it would be practically impossible to 
turn a Slayer, unless they consented to it."
"Like me&" I said quietly.
"Like you." Giles echoed. "However, one other feature from that, uh, 
adventure prompted some research by me as well."
"I was a vampire." I said, knowing what was to come next.
"Yes, you were. Yet you displayed no signs of the demon having any 
control."
"But that's the thing Giles, I'm barely holding it in!" I exclaimed. 
He jumped slightly, startled by my sudden outburst. "I can feel it 
sitting there, waiting for a chance. And I honestly don't know if I 
can keep it contained." Giles shifted position so he was crouching by 
my knees. He grabbed one of my shoulders in each arm and lightly 
shook me.
"Listen to me Buffy, you have to hold on. I have a plan which will 
buy us some time to hopefully find a solution to&this, but I'll need 
you with me. Can you hold on for me?" He said sternly. I looked into 
his eyes again, looking for any remnants of his previous guilt. It 
was still there, lurking below the surface just like the thing inside 
of me, but I also saw something else. Loyalty. I nodded.
"I-I'll try." I croaked. He closed his eyes and smiled. "Giles?"
"Hmmm?"
"I need you to call someone."

==========================


I may post the second chapter tomorrow :) And there may be 
BuffyWantsWillow potential too...


~Alyson.