Hello again! Sorry for the lack of updating, but school's kept me busy, especially with the PSATs. And yes, I have seen a cow. Thank you OnyxDay for reviewing!

Disclaimer: Don't own 'em, don't sue me

After they told Giles what had happened they went outside to try and pick up the trail. Buffy and Dean come from around the back, looking around. Xander comes up to her, carrying his skateboard.

"You're leaving already?" Xander asks. Dean is ready to ignore him and keep walking, but Buffy stops.

"Xander, have you seen Willow?" She questions him. Xander shakes his head.

"Not tonight." He says. Buffy sighs in defeat.

"We need to find her. She left with a guy."

"We are talking about Willow, right? Scoring at the Bronze. Work it, girlfriend." Xander says, doing a little impressed dance.

"Buffy, we need to catch up to them." Dean reminds her. Buffy nods and looks around.

"Where would they go?" She mutters. Dean turns and opens his mouth to answer, but Xander beats him to it.

"Why, you know something about Mr. Goodbar that she doesn't? Oh! Hey. I hope he's not a vampire. 'Cause then you'd have to slay him." Xander says. She turns back to him, surprised and miffed.

"Was there a school bulletin? Was it in the news? Is there anybody in this town who doesn't know I'm a slayer?" Buffy asks in exasperation.

"I only know that you think you're a slayer, and I only know that 'cause I was in the library today. And I know Dean thinks he's some sort of 'hunter', or whatever." Xander explains. Dean curses under his breath. No one is supposed to know that. His dad's gonna kill him.

"Whatever. Just tell me where Willow would go." Buffy demands from Xander. He looks at her in shock.

"You're serious."

"We don't find her, there's gonna be another dead body in the morning." Buffy tell him. He looks at her and sees she's not joking. Then he looks at Dean and sees the same thing.

"Come on." He says, motioning them to follow him. Dean grabs Buffy's arm as she passes him.

"We've got to keep an eye on him, he doesn't know how to handle himself." Dean reminds her. "I just don't want him to get hurt." Buffy looks up at him with hazel eyes.

"I know. I'll deal with the vamps, you just make sure Xander and Willow make it out." Buffy requests. Dean nods, though he doesn't like Buffy fighting by herself. They head off and follow Xander. He leads them to the graveyard and they hear a scream come form one of the mausoleums. They rush over, but Buffy holds up a hand to stop them from entering.

"Well, this is nice." She comments, stepping into the crypt. Xander and Dean follow her in and everyone freezes.

"A little bare, but a dash of paint, a few throw pillows – call it home." Buffy continues, looking around. A blonde female vamp turns to look at her.

"Who the hell are you?" She growls. Buffy looks at her in mock shock.

"Wow, you mean there's actually somebody around here who doesn't know already? That's a relief. I'm telling you, having a secret identity in this town is a job of work." Buffy converses easily.

Xander and Dean are moving between the two vampires, who loosen their grip on their respective victims. Dean grabs Willow and Xander takes Jesse.

"Buffy, we bail now, right?" Xander asks, nervous.

"Not yet." The male vampire growls. Buffy turns to look at him.

"Okay, first of all, what's with this outfit? Live in the now, okay? You look like DeBarge." She tells him before turning to look at the girl. "Now, we can do this the hard way, or… well, actually, there's just the hard way." Buffy tells her, moving in.

"Fine with me." She smirks.

"You sure? It's not gonna be pretty. We're talking violence, strong language, adult content." As she speaks, the boy vampire rushes her from behind, charging at her with incredible speed and momentum. Dean whips his stake out of his jacket and throws it at the vampire, dusting it just as Buffy is prepared to stake it. "Show off." Buffy gripes. Dean smiles.

"You snooze, you loose." He says, almost flirting. Buffy trains her eyes back on the girl.

"See what happens when you roughhouse?" She sighs. Xander and Willow are speechless, staring at the ground where a body used to be. The girl is wide eyed, exceedingly wary, but not cowed. She moves slowly around, preparing to fight herself. Her eyes flicker between Dean and Buffy, not sure which one is the bigger threat.

"He was young. And stupid." She hisses. Buffy waves off Xander and Dean.

"Xander, Dean, go." Buffy says, crouching into a fighting stance.

"Are you sure?" Dean questions, not wanting to leave her to fight the vampire by herself.

"I'll be fine. Now go!" Buffy insists. Dean nods and helps Willow out of the crypt, Xander and Jesse following closely.

"Don't go far." The vampire sings. She lunges at Buffy, who parries her blows with martial arts precision. the girl vampire hit the ground with a painful thud. Buffy stands over her. She's a bit out of breath, and the humor is gone from her visage.

"You know, I just wanted to start over. Be like everybody else. Have some friends, maybe a dog… But no. You had to come here. You couldn't go suck on some other town." Buffy vents angrily.

"Who are you?" the girl vampire asks, mystified. Buffy looks almost surprised that the vampire honestly doesn't know her 'secret identity'.

"Don't you know?" Hands suddenly grab Buffy by the throat and lift her bodily from the ground.

"I don't care." A deep voice growls from behind her. He steps out of the shadows from behind her, his bulk dwarfing her small frame, and throws her a good fifteen feet. She hits the wall face first, landing badly. The vampire turns on the girl, who is getting up.

"You were supposed to be bringing an offering for the Master. We're almost at Harvest and you dally with this child?" He asks her angrily.

"We had someone. But she came and she killed Thomas. Luke, she's strong." The girl vampire whimpers.

"You go. I'll see if I can handle the little girl." Luke says, contemptuously. Buffy lifts herself off the floor just as Luke suddenly closes on her and grabs her. She's ready this time, though, and she knocks his arms away and kicks him in the face. It sends him back a bit but he recovers in a second, landing a solid punch to her jaw.

"You are strong." Luke comments, surprised. He slams her back to the ground. "I'm stronger." He taunts.

Outside the four kids are making pretty good time, despite Xander and Dean having to support Jesse.

"We'll get the police, it's just a few blocks up." Willow suggests, running beside them.

"Do you really think that's an option right now?" Dean asks, nodding ahead of them. They all stop and stare, despair creeping onto their faces. Three vampires are waiting for them. "Son of a bitch." Dean murmurs. He gives Willow his side of Jesse and pulls out another stake.

"You boys ready to party?" He teases with a shit-eating grin. The vampires growl and move forward, Dean meeting them halfway. Willow and Xander back up with Jesse, trying to get away from the fighting. The edge back, only to stop when they hit something solid. They turn and see that they've run into the girl vampire.

"Dean!" Willow screams. Dean turns back and sees the vampire in front of his friends. One of the vampires he's facing hits him and he turns back around, plunging his stake into the vampire's chest. Before the dust can settle, Dean's staked the other two vampires and turns to fight the girl.

Buffy circles around the tomb, keeping it between her and Luke.

"You're wasting my time." Luke growls at her.

"Hey, I had other plans, too, okay?" Buffy tells him. He shoves the top of the tomb with all his might, sends it flying at her. She leaps over it, jumps up onto the tomb, leaps off it, flipping, and plants both feet solidly in Luke's chest. He falls back, as does she. She gets up first and pulls out her stake, drives it toward his chest, but he grabs just before it reaches.

"You think you can stop me? Stop us?" He squeezes and the stake splinters in his powerful grip. He punches Buffy and knocks her back. "You have no idea what you're dealing with." He stands, triumphant, over her. "And like a plague of boils, the race of Man covered the earth. But on the third day of the newest light will come over the Harvest when the blood of men will flow as wine when the Master will walk among them once more the world will belong to the Old Ones and Hell itself will come to town." While Luke intones, Buffy gets up, keeping her eyes on Luke the entire time. She tries to move to the side, to get away but he backhands Buffy with all the force he has.

She flies back and lands in the tomb. Buffy falls and lands hard on her back, the wind knocked out of her. She looks beside her and sees the withered corpse of the tomb's owner. She cringes in disgust at it. She's hurt pretty bad. She looks up but no Luke. Only the walls of the tomb. He could be anywhere. Slowly, achingly slowly, she lifts her head. Truly scared. Looks over one side of the tomb. Nothing. Looks over the other. Luke fills the frame, roaring, jumping into the crypt on top of her. She tries to fight him off but she's well pinned. He contemplates her a moment with gleeful animal hunger.

"Amen." He bears down on her, going for her neck. She closes her eyes, preparing for the sting as he bites her.