An Experiment in the Buffyverse...
Title: History Lessons (1/10)
Author: lit_chick08
Rating: overall NC-17 for language, sex, and violence
Spoilers: All of “Buffy” and “Angel”
Pairings: Buffy/Spike, Buffy/Angel, Buffy/OC, Faith/Wood, Willow/Kennedy, Xander/OC, Angel/Nina; it’s a little bit of everything
Summary: Lily Pratt, 16 yr old daughter of a completely boring stay-at-home mom, thinks she’s going nuts when life starts to feature vampires, demons, and other nasties. Of course, that’s what happens when your entire life is a lie.
A/N: This story is completely inspired by Carpe Demon: Adventures of a Demon Hunting Soccer Mom. It is way different from any of the other Buffy stuff I’ve written as it’s totally AU and features a whole lot of OCs. Concrit is appreciated; throwing tomatoes is not.
“I don’t even know what to say to you.”
Lily Pratt, 16-years-old, achingly beautiful, and completely shit faced, smiled wanly before suggesting, “That this is one of those youthful indiscretions that all the books talk about that you’ll forgive because I’m 16 and impressionable?”
“Do you think that this is funny?” her mother exploded, causing her to wince at the volume. “Do you know how scared I was when the police called me to tell me that my daughter, who is supposed to be at her best friend’s house, was actually in a car with two college boys who were driving drunk?! Do you know what that was like, Elisabeth?!”
She swallowed hard, this time out of nervousness rather than the desire to suppress her gag reflex; the only times that she had ever been called Elisabeth had usually lead to such a supreme punishment that Amnesty International had to get involved.
Pushing her thick, honey blonde curls away from her face, Lily finally made eye contact with her mother. Sometimes it surprised her that they were even related; beyond the fact that they both had blonde hair - and her mom’s totally came from Clairol - there was no shared trait between them. Even considering that, she couldn’t deny that, even at 40, her mom was twice as hot as any woman half her age. Of course, that had ultimately worked against them in Lily’s mind; her mom’s beauty is what had attracted Tom, the Stepfather of Lame, who had helped to create Joy, the most irritating half-sister on the face of the planet. In fact, it was all Joy’s fault that she had needed to drink anyway; if the little terror hadn’t destroyed her geometry homework, she wouldn’t have been so upset that she needed to play Flip Cup with those guys from Penn to forget her troubles.
“I asked you a question, Elisabeth!”
Sinking back into the ugly couch that Tom loved, Lily lamely shrugged. “It was a bad choice.”
“A bad choice? It was the worst choice you could possibly make! You didn’t even know those boys, Lily! They could’ve done anything to you if they hadn’t almost killed you by driving into oncoming traffic!” Now pacing the length of the living room, her mother continued, “You are barely sixteen; if you think that I’m going to let you start this kind of behavior -“
“You’ll what, throw me away like Dad?”
The moment that the words slipped out of her mouth Lily wanted to take them back. She saw the sting in her mother’s face and the way that her shoulders slumped. It was one of the unspoken rules of their relationship that her father was never mentioned in order to avoid tears, anger, and recriminations. He had always been the Great Unspeakable, the man that had destroyed her mother’s heart and left Lily to be raised by Bland Tom, but, in spite of all of that, both women wished that he would be able to reappear in their lives, as futile a wish as money raining from the sky since he had died when Lily was eight. It was the ultimate low-blow for Lily to use it against her mom, and she knew it.
“I didn’t mean that,” she whispered.
Jaw set, a film of tears in her green eyes, her mother ordered, “Go upstairs and go to sleep. We’ll talk about this more when you’re sober, including how you’re going to pay back the money I had to use to bail you out.”
“Mom-“
“Go, Lily!”
She wasn’t even on the landing before she heard her mother start to cry.
* * *
The dreams had started four months ago shortly after Lily had turned sixteen. Most of the time they featured monsters but sometimes there were people, strangers that Lily had never met from times when Lily had certainly not been alive. The men were always British, the women were always young, and the monsters always won. It was the stuff of nightmares and more than once she had awoken with fright, gasping painfully, drenched in sweat. This morning was one of those days, a terrible beginning to what she had no doubt was going to be an even worse day.
The early morning sun was just starting to stream through the filmy curtains that covered her eastern facing window, and, wincing with the pain of her hangover, Lily slipped from beneath her pastel colored bedspread to her closet. As she tugged her school uniform off of one of the hangers that her mother insisted it be kept upon, Lily couldn’t help but wonder how this had become their lives.
Lily remembered her early childhood with great fondness because it had been like no one else’s. Her parents were young, fun, and beautiful; her mother would play dress-up with her while her father would be the first to jump into mud puddles alongside of her. They had lived all over - London, Chicago, Seattle, Paris, Houston - before they had finally settled down in Sydney, Australia in a house that overlooked the water. That house had been Lily’s favorite; they had worked as a family to fix it up, her father even making her a little playhouse in the backyard, and she had started school there. Even now she could remember her mother laughing in amusement when Lily had begun to speak with an accent and her father taking her to pet a dolphin. It hadn’t been until Lily was seven that she realized that her parents were having problems related directly to the amount of alcohol her father drank; the night that she had thrown him out, both Lily and her mother had bawled. For six months, her father had visited her religiously every day before going back to his apartment until the night that he hadn’t shown up; he had driven head-on into a truck while drunk and been killed instantly.
Almost immediately, her mother had put the house up for sale and they had flown to England to stay with Grandpa Giles for awhile. Eventually, her mom had gotten a job as a guidance counselor with the Philadelphia School District and they had moved back to the states. Almost immediately she had met Boring Tom and the rest was history.
Sometimes, during the insufferable family dinners, Lily catalogued the ways in which her mother had changed. She didn’t laugh as much or play around; she stopped going to kickboxing classes or even going on runs. The traveling had certainly stopped as well as the late night visits from the never-ending parade of friends that she had once seemed to have. Before her father had died, Lily had lived for the visits from “the aunts and uncles,” as her father had referred to them, her favorites being the man with the eye patch and the quiet man with the guitar. Now, the only person who visited was Aunt Dawn, usually only for one night because she and her sister would get into a fight that would immediately stop if Lily entered the room. But the biggest change had been her mother’s name; everyone had always called her mom Buffy, a ridiculous nickname if Lily had ever heard one, but, since moving to Philly, everyone called her Anne, even Tom. Sometimes, when Lily was feeling particularly angry at her, she would call her by her old name and watch her face turn purple with anger.
Religion had changed too, much to Lily’s dislike. Prior to marrying Tom, the only religious experience that Lily’s family had taken part in was front row tickets to a Rolling Stones concert; but Tom, an avid Catholic, had insisted that her mom convert. It was for that reason that Lily was now forced to wear the world’s ugliest school uniform; Tom believed that they should receive a good Catholic education, which meant St. Katherine’s School for Girls, an ancient establishment that Lily would gladly see burn to the ground. Maroon and gold were definitely not her colors and, as for religion, she would sooner believe that the monsters in her dreams were real than that there was an all-powerful deity floating up in the clouds.
The house was still quiet since Joy wasn’t awake yet but Lily could hear her mother making breakfast in the kitchen. Tom was gone already since he commuted into New Jersey for his job and, now that her mother no longer worked, she made a big breakfast every day for Joy, something that had never happened when Lily was a child.
Anne stood at the stove, bacon sizzling in the pan, and Lily took a long look at her mother. Though her friends always told her how lucky she was to have such a cool mom, Lily couldn’t help but feel that there was a very Stepford-esque vibe to her, like she was faking happy. She’d deny it of course; Lily doubted that her mother would ever state that life wasn’t all rainbows and butterflies.
“We need to talk,” Anne declared before Lily had ever made herself known. Her mother’s sixth sense was insane; sneaking in or out of a room without detection had always been impossible in the Pratt household.
“Look, I’m sorry for what I said-“
“You said what you said for a reason,” she interrupted, scooping the bacon onto a paper towel covered plate. “If this is why you decided to go joy riding with those boys, then we need to discuss it.”
“I didn’t play Flip Cup with some frat boys because I’m mad at you or sad about Dad.”
“Then why did you?”
Sliding onto one of the stools situated next to the island in the center of the kitchen, Lily picked up a grape and popped it into her mouth. After a moment, she thoughtfully replied, “’Cause I wanted to feel something.”
Anne finally turned around to face her daughter, her green eyes troubled. “What did you say?”
“I wanted to feel something,” Lily repeated, reaching to pour a glass of orange juice. “Sometimes I just feel numb and want to do something to feel. Those guys seemed like fun, so I did it. That’s the whole story.”
“Why do you feel numb?”
Realizing that she might have said too much, Lily quickly began to assure her, “I’m not depressed or suicidal or anything, so I don’t need to see a therapist again. I’m not going to start beating kids up again or cut class, so - “
“Why do you feel numb?” Anne asked firmly, cutting off her diatribe.
Lily briefly considered lying or avoiding the question entirely. Before Tom and Joy and this whole suburban nightmare, she and Buffy had been close, best friends even, especially after her father had died; but when her mother had become Anne, perfect wife and mother, Lily had felt as if she couldn’t tell the truth to her anymore.
Taking a chance, she confessed, “I don’t fit here. I’m not Tom’s kid and I hate my school and I’m failing math, and it just seems like nothing I ever do is going to be good enough. So I did a stupid thing so I could just forget all of that and not feel like such a major disappointment to everyone.” When Anne said nothing, Lily rolled her eyes in frustration before snapping, “What am I saying? Like you’d even know what that feels like, being perfect and all!”
“Hey!” Quickly crossing the kitchen, Anne grasped Lily’s chin firmly in her right hand and forced her to look at her. “You are not a disappointment, not to Tom and certainly not to me. There is no reason for you to feel that way, and did you ever think that maybe, just maybe, I was 16 once and felt like that?” Releasing her face, Anne firmly stated, “I don’t expect perfection from you, Lily, but I do expect you to behave intelligently, and what you did last night was not that.”
“You totally expect perfection! That’s all you and Tom ever talk about when you’re not singing Joy’s praises about what a freaking prodigy she is! Face it: if you could get rid of me, you guys could go live your happy, shiny lives without the big downer along for the ride!”
“Elisabeth Grace-“
Grabbing her backpack, Lily pushed away from the island, headed for the front door. She knew that her mother was at her back following her, but she didn’t care. Flinging open the door, she broke out into a run, leaving her mother to cry her name behind her before giving up in frustration. It wasn’t until she stopped to catch her breath that she realized that it was still an hour and a half before first bell and it was going to be one hell of a long walk to school.
* * *
Lily’s decision to cut school had been made the second she saw the wrought iron gate that surrounded the building, dozens of girls in the same outfit that she wore entering the grounds laughing and gossiping with friends. Even though she knew that her own friends were probably waiting for her in homeroom, Lily was certain that she couldn’t handle another morning of inane conversation and red-faced confessions about letting one of the guys from St. Michael’s feel around under their sweaters; as quickly as she could, she slipped away from the campus and hopped a bus towards Penn’s campus.
The whole college boy game had started with a dare from her best friend Carrie. They had been having dinner at Chili’s after a day of shopping when a table full of guys in Penn paraphernalia had sat down beside them. As they had quietly debated which one was the hottest, Carrie had suggested that they try to talk to them. Their other friends had shot the idea down because the guys were older and they were only sophomores; Carrie, who wanted to talk to the guys, had dared Lily, who could easily pass for older than 16, to flirt with the one that they decided was the coolest. Accepting the challenge, Lily had flirted, the guys had joined them, and the hot one had asked for her number, the same hot one that had been driving the car the night before when the cops had pulled them over.
Lily had no desire to really date a college guy; dating wasn’t really a priority for her the way that it was for other girls, but she couldn’t deny that it felt good to have someone who was considered unattainable for a girl like her to want to be around her. After that first night, Lily had started spending her weekends hanging around the buildings, browsing in the Penn bookstore, and generally trying to gain the attention of cute guys. Nine times out of ten she left with a number; ten times out of ten Lily didn’t use it.
This morning she had decided to spend what little money she had on her at Cereality, the cereal restaurant that was located across the street from several of the academic buildings. Due to her fight with her mother, she hadn’t been able to actually have breakfast and, unlike most teenage girls, Lily ate frequently and in large amounts, something that defied logic given that she possessed the type of body that most women paid doctors to acquire: ample chest, small waist, and long legs with cheekbones that were usually only found on runway models. In Lily’s mind, these attributes tended to make people think she was far prettier than she actually was; people rarely looked at her face once they had seen her shape and, if they had, they would’ve noticed her nose, which had the same bump as her mother, and the generous amount of freckles that decorated the bridge of her nose and the skin beneath her hazel eyes.
As Lily waited patiently in line, she removed the sweater vest with the St. Katherine’s crest and stuffed it into her backpack, the golden monstrosity now hidden from the world. Without the vest, her maroon skirt and white button down shirt didn’t make her stick out quite as much, though the knee socks undoubtedly gave her away. She didn’t particularly care; most of the guys seemed to get off on the whole “school girl” fantasy.
After ordering her chocolate and peanut butter cereal concoction, Lily began to dig in her backpack for her wallet. It wasn’t until she opened it that she realized that she was several dollars short of the cost of the cereal. Just as she was about to apologize and slink away in shame, she heard someone behind her offer, “It’s on me.”
He was the most beautiful man that she had ever seen: incredibly tall and well-muscled with dark hair, light blue eyes, and a perfect smile that revealed dimples in his cheeks. When coupled with the pair of store ripped jeans and blue polo shirt, a messenger bag across his chest, he was the very definition of Ivy League preppy, something that Lily was completely willing to forgive if it meant that she could eat the heaping bowl of calories awaiting her.
“Thank you. I thought I had more cash than I do.”
“It happens. I did the same thing the other day.” Smiling at the person behind the counter, he asked, “Could I get the same as…”
“Lily,” she supplied, “Lily Pratt.”
“Nice to meet you, Lily Pratt. I’m Jake Ash.”
Spotting an open table near the window, Lily politely excused herself while Jake paid for his food, certain that their interaction was over as he hadn’t even given her a once over. It was for that reason that she was surprised when, a moment later, Jake stood beside the table and asked, “Could I sit with you?”
With a shrug of feigned indifference, Lily agreed, taking a large bite out of her sugary breakfast. As she chewed, she realized that Jake was still not checking her out, a fact that was slowly starting to irritate her. Let girls talk all they wanted about not wanting to feel like a piece of meat; when a guy as hot as this one didn’t check you out, you always took it personally.
After another moment of silence, Jake finally spoke. “So do you go to Penn?”
“No, I…I’m just checking it out.”
“High school then?” When she nodded, he chuckled wryly. “You don’t look like you’re in high school.”
“Guess I should’ve worn my jailbait t-shirt then.”
“Well, you’re only jailbait if we have sex.” Catching himself, he quickly assured her, “Not that I’m thinking about having sex with you because I’m not like that and I’m sure that you’re not like that and I would never - “
She laughed at his ramble before gently patting his hand as if he was a flustered child. “It’s okay; I know what you meant.”
“You probably think I’m a total creeper now.”
“A little,” she joked, “but that’s cool. You go here?”
“Yeah, I’m a sophomore history major.”
“History?” Lily wrinkled her nose in distaste. “What, were all the other boring majors taken?”
“I’ll have you know that history is very important.”
“Oh, I’m sure. I mean, how would the world keep spinning if we didn’t know Marie Antoinette’s favorite ball gown or what Hitler liked on his toast.”
With a mock glare, Jake challenged, “Well, what do you plan to major in that’s so life and death important?”
Lily shrugged, stirring up the flavored milk in her bowl. “I don’t know. I mean, I’m not real big on school but…I like poetry.”
“Poetry?” he snorted. “You’re mocking my major when you want to be a poet?”
“I don’t want to be a poet; I just like it,” she corrected, straightening her back in slight offense. “It’s not as if I could major in anything that’s actually cool, so I might as well do something that’s, at least, semi-interesting.” Pushing her hair away from her face, she added, “Besides, I don’t even want to go to college anyway.”
“What do you want to do?”
“Travel, live anywhere and everywhere. My dad was from England and my grandpa still lives there; my aunt lives in Jamaica right now, and, when I was little, we lived in Australia. There’s, like, a million places in the world I’ve never been and all of which I’m sure are way cooler than Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.”
“Why’d you move around so much?”
Lily paused. It was a question that she had never really asked before; she had just assumed that her parents were free-spirits and liked the change. They hadn’t moved because of either of her parents’ jobs - her mother had taught kickboxing and her father had worked for Grandpa Giles - and they never had family where they moved. Why had she never asked her mother why they had lived like gypsies for the first half of her life?
“Lily?” Jake prompted.
Shaking out of her reverie, she lied, “My dad was in charge of a big company and we got transferred a lot. What about you? Where do you call home?”
“I was born in Mexico but I spent the first ten years of my life with my mom in San Diego. After she died, I went and stayed with my older brother in Palo Alto for a few months until my dad got back from a business trip to China, and I’ve lived with him in Cleveland ever since.”
“I’m sorry about your mom. My dad…he died when I was little too.”
Jake smiled sadly before admitting, “I miss her a lot, but my dad’s pretty cool. He wasn’t around a lot when I was little ‘cause things ended pretty terribly with him and my mom, but he’s a good guy. Crazily overprotective though; it’s like I get punished for everything that Connor ever did when he was my age.”
“My mom’s the same way! It’s like she thinks I’m going to burn down my school or something, so the leash that she and the stepdad keeps me on is way short. And my little sister is a total nightmare; be grateful that you’re the youngest.”
“I was lucky; I had a lot of cousins growing up, so I had the whole ‘big family’ experience.” Glancing down at his watch, he swore. “I’m gonna be late for class. Could I…could I get your number? Maybe we could do this again sometime?”
Lily had never freely given her phone number; these trips were for ego stroking only. However, as she looked at Jake with his wide smile and easygoing demeanor, she couldn’t help but want to spend more time with him, which was why she scribbled down her cell number before watching him disappear out into the bustle of the city.
It had been awhile but Lily certainly remembered what a crush felt like.
* * *
When Lily got home at 3:00, she knew that she was in serious trouble because Tom’s car was parked outside; usually he didn’t return home until 6 at the very earliest, which meant that her mother must’ve called him when St. Katherine’s told her that she wasn’t in school. Between last night and today, there was a very good chance that she was never going to see the light of day ever again. It was for that reason that she decided a few more minutes before she went inside wouldn’t hurt and she ducked down beside the garage to call Aunt Dawn.
Aunt Dawn was everything that Lily wanted to be: confident, beautiful, a world traveler, and completely independent. Every time she stopped in for a visit, she brought gifts from exotic locales and stories that irritated Anne to no end, usually featuring cabana boys or illegal activities. She always ended up in a fight with Anne and, before she would leave, always took Lily out to get ice cream before telling her a story about her father, whom Aunt Dawn had adored. Because their family was so small - and Lily didn’t count Tom’s family as they rarely interacted with her anyway - Dawn was the only ally Lily ever felt like she had.
Dawn answered on the second ring with as normal a greeting as she ever gave. “Dawn Summers, badass extraordinaire.”
“Lily Pratt, doomed niece.”
“Oh, no, what happened now?”
The immediate sympathy made Lily smile; she could kill an entire farm of puppies and Aunt Dawn would still believe that it wasn’t her fault. “I cut school…and I might’ve gotten arrested last night for underage drinking.”
Dawn released a low whistle before declaring, “It was nice knowing you, kid.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“Well, we can agree that Buffy’s gonna kill you; the question is, how do you want your funeral? I personally think cremation is a good idea.”
Aunt Dawn never called her mother Anne; it was another plus when Lily was feeling particularly hateful towards her mother. “Could you please just tell me something really cool before I face execution?”
“Well…I’m gonna be in Philly next week on a layover to England. I thought we could have a fabulous girls’ night out without your mom or Joy.”
“That is cool. You’re awesome.” With a sigh, she declared, “Okay, I better go face the firing squad.”
“Be brave, don’t show fear, and tell me how it goes.” With a kissing sound, she added, “Love you bunches!”
As Lily slid her cell phone back into her backpack, she wondered how Anne and Dawn could possibly be sisters. Dawn was so much fun; she lived in the moment and made no apologies for it. Anne, on the other hand, had become so much about structure and order that she sucked any spontaneity out of the moment, making her a perfect match for Dull-as-Toast Tom. Even Grandpa Giles was more fun than her mother anymore, and his idea of fun involved alphabetizing.
The very second that the door clicked open, Anne was in the entryway, fury so apparent on her face that Lily briefly thought that she might actually strike her.
“Where the hell have you been?!”
“Out.”
“Out?! Out?! What is wrong with you, Lily?! Now you’re skipping school! Are you on drugs?!”
“What?! Yeah, Mom, I’m a giant crackhead. I skipped school to go peddle my ass on the street. Want to know my rates?”
“Don’t you dare speak to me like that!”
“Anne,” Tom gently said as he appeared behind her, “why don’t we let Lily sit down and we’ll calmly discuss this?”
Lily had never understood how her mother could have been attracted to Tom after being married to her father for so long. Her father had been gorgeous and fit; all of the other mothers used to swoon whenever he had come to pick her up from school. But Tom was balding and soft around the middle with a pair of tiny, wire rimmed glasses upon his long, angular nose; the only thing sexy about him was the fact that he made six figures a year and traveled a lot.
Her mother stomped into the living room and Lily followed though she knew that any attempts at being calm were not going to work. She had seen her mother angry like this before and, if she managed not to throw anything, Lily would make her cookies.
The second Lily’s butt hit the couch, Anne exploded. “You were not raised to be like this! What is going on with you? You’ve never cut school before! You were on the honor roll all of last year, and now I’m getting calls from teachers about incomplete assignments and bad behavior! You quit the swim team, you’re getting drunk with older boys…What is the problem, Elisabeth?”
Crossing her arms over her chest, Lily mumbled, “There’s no problem.”
“Well, clearly something is wrong!”
“Nothing is wrong! I didn’t want to swim anymore and I don’t want to go to some stupid Catholic school with a bunch of girls that I hate! I got drunk because I wanted to have fun and I didn’t complete my assignments because they’re lame! I’m not on drugs, I’m not in with the wrong crowd, I wasn’t abducted by aliens; I just don’t want to.”
“You’re sixteen; you don’t get the luxury of only doing what you want. Now, Sister Agnes said that you’re in danger of not passing the tenth grade because of your grades, especially in math and history. If your grades aren’t up by the end of this marking period, you will fail. Now, she’s given us the numbers of some tutors - “
“I don’t need a tutor!”
“The two Fs you have say otherwise! As for this behavior…if you cut school again, if you get arrested again, we’ve decided that you’ll be sent to a more structured school.”
Glancing back and forth between her guardians, her gaze landed on Tom before she spat, “Oh, I get it. Boarding school for the brat, get rid of the little reminder of the first husband.”
“Lily, that’s not -“ Tom began.
Jumping to her feet, she held up her hands. “No, I understand. You know, if you want me gone so bad, why don’t you send me to live with Aunt Dawn?”
Anne snorted in derision. “The blind leading the blind? No way.”
“Then why I can’t I live with Grandpa Giles? He’d like me around.”
“You’re not living with Giles!”
“Why not?! He might actually want me around unlike you!”
Lily moved to run up the stairs but Anne grabbed her wrist so that she couldn’t flee. Now even more agitated, Lily began to twist in an attempt to break the hold, which was iron tight. Finally, desperate to be away from the situation and her mother, she pushed with her free hand and watched in horrified shock as her mother sailed across the room, colliding heavily with the couch.
Tom immediately rushed to her mother but Lily just stared in stunned silence before murmuring, “I didn’t mean to. I didn’t mean to push so hard.”
Through her tears, she never noticed the look of dread and worry on her mother’s face.
* * *
Lily knew that this was a dream the moment she realized where she was. She had been here many times before in many different incarnations. Sometimes she was Faith, the girl that was scantily clad but kicked major ass. Other times she was Kendra, the teen with the Jamaican accent and cold demeanor. She had been Kennedy and Rona, Vi and Amanda; she had been a woman with an afro and a petite Chinese girl and, once, she had been Dana, wild and unhinged. It didn’t matter who she was or what era she seemed to be from; she always ended up here.
The sign on the door said it was The Bronze, and it was a dance club.
In the dreams, it was always packed with strangers that she had never met. Usually she was ignored but sometimes the people talked to her. Wesley, the British man with a scar across his throat, always spoke to her and asked her if she had accepted her destiny yet; Tara, the voluptuous woman with the kind smile, always cupped her face and pressed a kiss to her forehead for protection. Fred and Gunn always played pool near the door with the woman called Anya, who Lily didn’t care much for, while the dark haired woman named Cordelia sat on the edge of the stage observing everyone. The people laughed and mingled while Lily waded through the crowd.
Tonight she was Lily, which had never happened before, and, when she took a seat at one of the tables, a teenager with long, red hair and an unfortunate outfit sat down beside her.
“I’ve been waiting for you forever, Lily. What took you so long?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
“Ignorance is no excuse, not when it’s inside of you.” She extended her closed fist towards Lily before twisting her hand so that her open palm would face upwards. There, in the center of her hand, sat a large, silver cross on a thin chain.
“What’s this for?”
“Protection; you’re gonna need it.” Leaning across the table as if whispering a secret, the teenager explained, “Bad things are coming, Lily, and you need to be prepared. The Hellmouth didn’t disappear when Sunnydale was swallowed; the First can’t ever really be beaten.”
“I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”
“Take the cross.”
Lily complied, fastening the piece of jewelry around her neck. “Who are you?”
“Think of me as your fairy godmother.” Glancing around as if someone was coming for, she began to speak very quickly. “I don’t have much time so you have to listen to me and listen closely. You need to talk to Jake; tell him that Willow sent you and that you need to know everything. Tell Jake that you’re Spike’s daughter and show him the necklace. He’ll show you what you need to see.” Grasping Lily’s hand tightly in hers, she declared, “I’ll come to you again.”
With a start, Lily gasped awake, her lungs desperately trying to fill. When she reached up to brush away the hair that was sticky to her sweaty face, she was shocked to discover that the silver cross she had put on in her dream was resting against her collarbone.
* * *
The grounding that she had received for her actions had lasted for a month, a long, miserable month of forced isolation that had nearly led to the death of Joy. On the fourth day of April, when her punishment was officially over, Lily did the only thing she could think of: she cut school and headed towards Penn’s campus to find Jake Ash.
Lily had spent the last month considering what the dream had meant. After spending two weeks firmly of the belief that she had lost her mind and needed medical attention, she began to remember the stories that her father had told her, stories about a brave, strong woman who had killed monsters and the group of friends that had helped her. She had almost dismissed those memories as a nice way for her father to comfort her when she had nightmares as a child when she remembered a phone conversation that she had overheard between her mother and someone else the year before. Lily had been outside watching Joy when Joy had needed a band-aid. She had come inside to hear her mother speaking loudly and angrily to whoever was on the end, a person she had told to never call again.
A person she had called Willow.
It was for that very reason that Lily didn’t feel like a complete and total nutcase as she sat outside the building where most of the history classes were taught in the hopes that Jake would eventually appear. And, after two hours of waiting, he finally did, looking surprised to see her. Saying goodbye to two of his friends, he sidled up to her.
“Hey. You’re the last person I thought I’d see today.”
Lily got to her feet, wiping her sweaty palms against the jeans that she had stuffed inside of her backpack before she had left the house. “Yeah, I’m sure it’s kind of surprising.”
“I tried calling you but-“
“My mom took my phone while I was grounded,” she quickly explained. “I wasn’t blowing you off.”
“Good to know. Do you wanna grab-“
“Willow sent me,” she blurted out, cutting off his invitation. “I’m Spike’s daughter, and she said that you’d show me what I need to see.”
If her slightly insane declaration startled him, he gave no outward sign of it. Instead, he suggested, “Why don’t we go back to my apartment? It’s probably better if we don’t do this here.”
Lily climbed onto the trolley with him, quiet as they took the fifteen minute ride to his apartment building. When they walked up to the door, Lily couldn’t help but asked, “You don’t think I’m crazy?”
“Why would I think you’re crazy?”
“Because a woman in a dream told me to come see you.”
Unlocking the outside door to let them into the building, he assured her, “Not the craziest thing I’ve ever heard.”
Jake lived on the third floor in the apartment at the far end of the hall. When he opened the door, Lily was immediately assailed with the smell of baked goods and then with the sight of one of the most beautiful women she had ever seen standing in front of the oven in nothing but a pair of jeans and a bra. At the sound of the door, she turned around and, as if nothing was out of the ordinary, asked, “You guys want some cookies? They’re almost done.”
Certain that her shock was written all over her face, Lily turned to Jake, who explained, “This is my roommate Zoe Wood. Zo, this is Lily Pratt.” Meaningfully he added, “Willow sent her.”
Zoe’s entire countenance changed at the mention of Lily’s dream visitor. “No shit. You’re the girl? Damn. I’ll get dressed.”
“What did she mean, I’m the girl?”
Taking a seat on the futon that served as their couch, Jake gestured for her to sit. When she did, he said, “A lot of what I’m going to tell you is going to sound completely insane. You’re going to think that we’re nuts and that you should get the hell away from us, and that’s fine. But you also have to know that we’re not lying and that we really need your help.”
“My help with what?”
“To save the world.”
“What?”
Taking a deep breath, he said, “I should start at the beginning. In every generation, there was a Chosen One…”
* * *
Three hours, a dozen cookies, and one very large glass of wine later, Lily sat in total silence while Jake and Zoe stared at her. To say that she was completely overwhelmed by the story that Jake had told her and Zoe had augmented would have been an understatement. The sheer amount of knowledge that she had just acquired was enough to make her wonder if anything in her life had ever been true.
Her mother was a Vampire Slayer, the best in history who had used her power to make every girl in the world who could be a Slayer into one. Her father had been a vampire who had become human after the End of Days in Los Angeles that had almost made Jake’s father human. Her Grandpa Giles wasn’t actually her father’s father but her mother’s old Watcher. Zoe’s mother was a Slayer and her father the son of a Slayer, making her a third generation Slayer child. Willow was not a figment of her imagination but actually the most powerful Wicca on the face of the planet who just happened to be the former best friend of Lily’s mother. The man with the eye patch that Lily remembered from her childhood was actually Xander Harris, another old friend of her mother’s days in Sunnydale, which was where a club named The Bronze had once stood, a town that had been swallowed not by an earthquake but rather collapsed after Spike - the name that Lily’s father had gone by as a vampire - had died while using an amulet that would save the world. Aunt Dawn wasn’t actually her aunt but a mystical ball of energy that had been made corporeal by monks in order to protect her from a hell goddess, and Philadelphia was set to become the epicenter for the apocalypse according to the information that the newly assembled Watchers’ Council had come across. All of the located Slayers across the globe that wanted to be trained were taught to fight and trained for situations just like this; all available Slayers and allies were to be deployed to the Philadelphia area in order to fight whatever was about to happen. Lily had been shown up on Willow’s radar as a Slayer last year when she had started having her nightmares but Buffy - the woman that Lily’s mother had been before she had become a Stepford Wife who was trying to deny her past - had told her that Lily would never know and never fight. Jake and Zoe had been dispatched to Philly undercover in order to keep the vampire numbers down until the rest of the group could mobilize.
Of course, that was completely ignoring about another million details that had been imparted upon her that had caused the current brain meltdown that she was experiencing.
Finally, after nearly an hour of complete silence, Lily finally looked at them and asked, “Could you show me a vampire?”
* * *
Lily had thought that, because she was a Slayer, she wouldn’t be terrified when she saw the snarling vampire crawl out of the fresh grave.
She had been wrong.
Jake and Zoe were busy with three other vampires that had appeared and Lily, who was clutching a stake with little idea of what to do with it, began to panic when she realized that the vampire had its sights set on her.
Zoe, who caught the movement out of the corner of her eye, shouted, “Aim for the heart! You’ve got this!”
The closest that Lily had ever gotten to actually being in a physical fight was when a boy had stolen her lunchbox back in Sydney and she had pushed him into a puddle. She had never hit or been hit, and, when the vamp’s fist connected with her jaw, sending her stumbling back against a headstone, she felt as if her entire face had exploded with pain. Before she could recover, the thing was on top of her, its breath smelling like death, and, using all of her strength, she pushed up, sending him hurtling backwards to slam against a marble angel, which cracked under impact. Hurrying over to it, Lily thrust downward with the stake, both hands wrapped around it, embedding the piece of wood into the creature’s chest, making it explode into dust.
As the adrenaline left her body and the blood rushing in her ears drowned out, she realized that Zoe and Jake had dispatched their opponents and were looking at her. Finally, Zoe walked over to her and clapped her on the back.
“Not bad, girl. You might just be a Slayer yet.”
Lily smiled before looking at Jake, who was wiping the vampire dust off of his shirt. When his gaze met hers, he said, “C’mon. I’ll drive you home.”
* * *
The car ride was relatively quiet until they were a few blocks from her house. It was then that Lily couldn’t help but wonder aloud, “Did you know who I was that day in Cereality?”
Looking slightly guilty, he admitted, “I’d seen your picture before; Giles showed it to me.”
Disappointment filling her heart, she continued, “So you weren’t really interested in me; you just wanted to see if I was who you thought I was.”
“No! I mean…I was supposed to find you and talk to you, yes, but I was…I mean, I am…I like talking to you when we’re not…”
“Tearing apart every truth that shaped my existence?”
Jake chuckled. “Yeah. So I guess, to answer your question, I wasn’t interested in you before I talked to you, but after I talked to you, I kind of hoped that you weren’t Buffy’s daughter.”
“Funny, ‘cause I hope the same thing a lot.”
Turning onto her block, he informed her, “We were almost brother and sister.”
“What?”
“My dad used to date your mom.”
“No way!”
He nodded. “It’s this whole soap opera story. Dad doesn’t talk about it much, but everyone knows the story around headquarters. The whole star-crossed lovers, soulmate deal that made it impossible for Buffy and Angel ever to find true happiness. It was a huge scandal when she married your dad.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. See, your dad was made a vampire by this crazy bitch named Drusilla, who was made by my dad, so they were family in this really twisted way. Dad and Spike hated each other and, when your parents got together, it drove him nuts. When they became human, your mom was in Rome and they both went to her as humans. She said she didn’t want to choose right away. Dad went and found my mom, making me, and your dad waited patiently until your mom was ready. Rumor has it that when he found out that your parents eloped, he and Spike got into a huge fist fight in headquarters and your mom had to pull them apart.”
“That just…that’s so strange. I mean, my dad was, like, the most peaceful guy there was. He was Will Pratt, liked by everyone. It’s like they became such different people.”
“I think that they had to. Your dad had to anyway because he was human again.”
“Okay, sure, but then why did my mom go from being Buffy Pratt to Anne Lane, the single most boring person ever to walk the earth? How could she possibly go from badass vampire Slayer to freaking housewife?”
Pulling into the driveway, Jake suggested, “You could ask her.”
Lily snorted. “Yeah, right.” Taking a deep breath, she sincerely said, “Thank you for everything.”
“It was my pleasure. It’s always nice to have someone else at your back in a fight.” Giving her a smile that she was certain had caused many girls to drop their panties in the past, he added, “Maybe we could do something sometime that doesn’t involve demon dismemberment.”
She nodded. “I’d like that.”
Getting out of the car, she quickly hurried to the front door, knowing that the fight she was about to get into was only going to get worse the longer she put if off. When she stepped inside the house this time, only her mother was waiting. From the silence in the house, Lily knew that Tom must’ve taken Joy somewhere so that her murder could be committed in peace.
Anne looked up and the anger on her face dissipated when she saw the blossoming bruise on her jaw and dirty clothing. “What happened?!”
Lily shrugged. “Nothing.”
“Elisabeth, who hit you?!”
“Stop it.”
“No, I won’t stop it! You skipped school and then you show up here, hours later, dirty and bruised? Who hit you?”
Frustration, rage, betrayal, and sorrow battling inside her, Lily screamed, “A vampire! A vampire hit me! A vampire that crawled out of its grave the same way that Dad crawled out of his once upon a time! A vampire that I slayed because that’s who I am, Lily the Vampire Slayer! That’s my job!”
The blood had completely drained from Anne’s face and her voice trembled as she queried, “How do you know that?”
“Does it matter?! How could hide this from me?! How could you let me think that I’m this huge freak because I felt like I didn’t belong when you knew that I wasn’t like everyone else?! How could you not tell me what you are and what Dad was?! How could you spend every second of my life lying to me?!”
“Lily, please, you have to understand - “
“No! I’m done understanding! You lied to me about everything and you had everyone else lie too! Look at you! Your life is one, giant lie! What did you think, that you could call yourself Anne and move into the suburbs and no one would ever know what you were, what I am? Did you think that the monsters would just go away and leave us alone?”
“This isn’t my job anymore, and it doesn’t have to be yours! It isn’t one girl anymore!”
“So, what, I’m just supposed to pretend like I don’t know what I am and who I come from and just go back to school and be a cheerleader? It doesn’t work like that! I felt more alive tonight than I have in months!”
“I don’t want this for you! Don’t you see?! Will and I wanted more for you than hanging out in cemeteries and having to worry whether or not you’d die that night! We wanted you to be safe!”
“Don’t you mean Spike, Buffy?” Venom in her voice, she declared, “I’m done listening to you. Everything you’ve ever said to me has been a lie. Maybe you can turn your back on what you were born to do but I won’t.” Squarely meeting her gaze, she announced, “I’m gonna save the world. Are you going to help me or get out of my way?”
Author: lit_chick08
Rating: overall NC-17 for language, sex, and violence
Spoilers: All of “Buffy” and “Angel”
Pairings: Buffy/Spike, Buffy/Angel, Buffy/OC, Faith/Wood, Willow/Kennedy, Xander/OC, Angel/Nina; it’s a little bit of everything
Summary: Lily Pratt, 16 yr old daughter of a completely boring stay-at-home mom, thinks she’s going nuts when life starts to feature vampires, demons, and other nasties. Of course, that’s what happens when your entire life is a lie.
A/N: This story is completely inspired by Carpe Demon: Adventures of a Demon Hunting Soccer Mom. It is way different from any of the other Buffy stuff I’ve written as it’s totally AU and features a whole lot of OCs. Concrit is appreciated; throwing tomatoes is not.
“I don’t even know what to say to you.”
Lily Pratt, 16-years-old, achingly beautiful, and completely shit faced, smiled wanly before suggesting, “That this is one of those youthful indiscretions that all the books talk about that you’ll forgive because I’m 16 and impressionable?”
“Do you think that this is funny?” her mother exploded, causing her to wince at the volume. “Do you know how scared I was when the police called me to tell me that my daughter, who is supposed to be at her best friend’s house, was actually in a car with two college boys who were driving drunk?! Do you know what that was like, Elisabeth?!”
She swallowed hard, this time out of nervousness rather than the desire to suppress her gag reflex; the only times that she had ever been called Elisabeth had usually lead to such a supreme punishment that Amnesty International had to get involved.
Pushing her thick, honey blonde curls away from her face, Lily finally made eye contact with her mother. Sometimes it surprised her that they were even related; beyond the fact that they both had blonde hair - and her mom’s totally came from Clairol - there was no shared trait between them. Even considering that, she couldn’t deny that, even at 40, her mom was twice as hot as any woman half her age. Of course, that had ultimately worked against them in Lily’s mind; her mom’s beauty is what had attracted Tom, the Stepfather of Lame, who had helped to create Joy, the most irritating half-sister on the face of the planet. In fact, it was all Joy’s fault that she had needed to drink anyway; if the little terror hadn’t destroyed her geometry homework, she wouldn’t have been so upset that she needed to play Flip Cup with those guys from Penn to forget her troubles.
“I asked you a question, Elisabeth!”
Sinking back into the ugly couch that Tom loved, Lily lamely shrugged. “It was a bad choice.”
“A bad choice? It was the worst choice you could possibly make! You didn’t even know those boys, Lily! They could’ve done anything to you if they hadn’t almost killed you by driving into oncoming traffic!” Now pacing the length of the living room, her mother continued, “You are barely sixteen; if you think that I’m going to let you start this kind of behavior -“
“You’ll what, throw me away like Dad?”
The moment that the words slipped out of her mouth Lily wanted to take them back. She saw the sting in her mother’s face and the way that her shoulders slumped. It was one of the unspoken rules of their relationship that her father was never mentioned in order to avoid tears, anger, and recriminations. He had always been the Great Unspeakable, the man that had destroyed her mother’s heart and left Lily to be raised by Bland Tom, but, in spite of all of that, both women wished that he would be able to reappear in their lives, as futile a wish as money raining from the sky since he had died when Lily was eight. It was the ultimate low-blow for Lily to use it against her mom, and she knew it.
“I didn’t mean that,” she whispered.
Jaw set, a film of tears in her green eyes, her mother ordered, “Go upstairs and go to sleep. We’ll talk about this more when you’re sober, including how you’re going to pay back the money I had to use to bail you out.”
“Mom-“
“Go, Lily!”
She wasn’t even on the landing before she heard her mother start to cry.
* * *
The dreams had started four months ago shortly after Lily had turned sixteen. Most of the time they featured monsters but sometimes there were people, strangers that Lily had never met from times when Lily had certainly not been alive. The men were always British, the women were always young, and the monsters always won. It was the stuff of nightmares and more than once she had awoken with fright, gasping painfully, drenched in sweat. This morning was one of those days, a terrible beginning to what she had no doubt was going to be an even worse day.
The early morning sun was just starting to stream through the filmy curtains that covered her eastern facing window, and, wincing with the pain of her hangover, Lily slipped from beneath her pastel colored bedspread to her closet. As she tugged her school uniform off of one of the hangers that her mother insisted it be kept upon, Lily couldn’t help but wonder how this had become their lives.
Lily remembered her early childhood with great fondness because it had been like no one else’s. Her parents were young, fun, and beautiful; her mother would play dress-up with her while her father would be the first to jump into mud puddles alongside of her. They had lived all over - London, Chicago, Seattle, Paris, Houston - before they had finally settled down in Sydney, Australia in a house that overlooked the water. That house had been Lily’s favorite; they had worked as a family to fix it up, her father even making her a little playhouse in the backyard, and she had started school there. Even now she could remember her mother laughing in amusement when Lily had begun to speak with an accent and her father taking her to pet a dolphin. It hadn’t been until Lily was seven that she realized that her parents were having problems related directly to the amount of alcohol her father drank; the night that she had thrown him out, both Lily and her mother had bawled. For six months, her father had visited her religiously every day before going back to his apartment until the night that he hadn’t shown up; he had driven head-on into a truck while drunk and been killed instantly.
Almost immediately, her mother had put the house up for sale and they had flown to England to stay with Grandpa Giles for awhile. Eventually, her mom had gotten a job as a guidance counselor with the Philadelphia School District and they had moved back to the states. Almost immediately she had met Boring Tom and the rest was history.
Sometimes, during the insufferable family dinners, Lily catalogued the ways in which her mother had changed. She didn’t laugh as much or play around; she stopped going to kickboxing classes or even going on runs. The traveling had certainly stopped as well as the late night visits from the never-ending parade of friends that she had once seemed to have. Before her father had died, Lily had lived for the visits from “the aunts and uncles,” as her father had referred to them, her favorites being the man with the eye patch and the quiet man with the guitar. Now, the only person who visited was Aunt Dawn, usually only for one night because she and her sister would get into a fight that would immediately stop if Lily entered the room. But the biggest change had been her mother’s name; everyone had always called her mom Buffy, a ridiculous nickname if Lily had ever heard one, but, since moving to Philly, everyone called her Anne, even Tom. Sometimes, when Lily was feeling particularly angry at her, she would call her by her old name and watch her face turn purple with anger.
Religion had changed too, much to Lily’s dislike. Prior to marrying Tom, the only religious experience that Lily’s family had taken part in was front row tickets to a Rolling Stones concert; but Tom, an avid Catholic, had insisted that her mom convert. It was for that reason that Lily was now forced to wear the world’s ugliest school uniform; Tom believed that they should receive a good Catholic education, which meant St. Katherine’s School for Girls, an ancient establishment that Lily would gladly see burn to the ground. Maroon and gold were definitely not her colors and, as for religion, she would sooner believe that the monsters in her dreams were real than that there was an all-powerful deity floating up in the clouds.
The house was still quiet since Joy wasn’t awake yet but Lily could hear her mother making breakfast in the kitchen. Tom was gone already since he commuted into New Jersey for his job and, now that her mother no longer worked, she made a big breakfast every day for Joy, something that had never happened when Lily was a child.
Anne stood at the stove, bacon sizzling in the pan, and Lily took a long look at her mother. Though her friends always told her how lucky she was to have such a cool mom, Lily couldn’t help but feel that there was a very Stepford-esque vibe to her, like she was faking happy. She’d deny it of course; Lily doubted that her mother would ever state that life wasn’t all rainbows and butterflies.
“We need to talk,” Anne declared before Lily had ever made herself known. Her mother’s sixth sense was insane; sneaking in or out of a room without detection had always been impossible in the Pratt household.
“Look, I’m sorry for what I said-“
“You said what you said for a reason,” she interrupted, scooping the bacon onto a paper towel covered plate. “If this is why you decided to go joy riding with those boys, then we need to discuss it.”
“I didn’t play Flip Cup with some frat boys because I’m mad at you or sad about Dad.”
“Then why did you?”
Sliding onto one of the stools situated next to the island in the center of the kitchen, Lily picked up a grape and popped it into her mouth. After a moment, she thoughtfully replied, “’Cause I wanted to feel something.”
Anne finally turned around to face her daughter, her green eyes troubled. “What did you say?”
“I wanted to feel something,” Lily repeated, reaching to pour a glass of orange juice. “Sometimes I just feel numb and want to do something to feel. Those guys seemed like fun, so I did it. That’s the whole story.”
“Why do you feel numb?”
Realizing that she might have said too much, Lily quickly began to assure her, “I’m not depressed or suicidal or anything, so I don’t need to see a therapist again. I’m not going to start beating kids up again or cut class, so - “
“Why do you feel numb?” Anne asked firmly, cutting off her diatribe.
Lily briefly considered lying or avoiding the question entirely. Before Tom and Joy and this whole suburban nightmare, she and Buffy had been close, best friends even, especially after her father had died; but when her mother had become Anne, perfect wife and mother, Lily had felt as if she couldn’t tell the truth to her anymore.
Taking a chance, she confessed, “I don’t fit here. I’m not Tom’s kid and I hate my school and I’m failing math, and it just seems like nothing I ever do is going to be good enough. So I did a stupid thing so I could just forget all of that and not feel like such a major disappointment to everyone.” When Anne said nothing, Lily rolled her eyes in frustration before snapping, “What am I saying? Like you’d even know what that feels like, being perfect and all!”
“Hey!” Quickly crossing the kitchen, Anne grasped Lily’s chin firmly in her right hand and forced her to look at her. “You are not a disappointment, not to Tom and certainly not to me. There is no reason for you to feel that way, and did you ever think that maybe, just maybe, I was 16 once and felt like that?” Releasing her face, Anne firmly stated, “I don’t expect perfection from you, Lily, but I do expect you to behave intelligently, and what you did last night was not that.”
“You totally expect perfection! That’s all you and Tom ever talk about when you’re not singing Joy’s praises about what a freaking prodigy she is! Face it: if you could get rid of me, you guys could go live your happy, shiny lives without the big downer along for the ride!”
“Elisabeth Grace-“
Grabbing her backpack, Lily pushed away from the island, headed for the front door. She knew that her mother was at her back following her, but she didn’t care. Flinging open the door, she broke out into a run, leaving her mother to cry her name behind her before giving up in frustration. It wasn’t until she stopped to catch her breath that she realized that it was still an hour and a half before first bell and it was going to be one hell of a long walk to school.
* * *
Lily’s decision to cut school had been made the second she saw the wrought iron gate that surrounded the building, dozens of girls in the same outfit that she wore entering the grounds laughing and gossiping with friends. Even though she knew that her own friends were probably waiting for her in homeroom, Lily was certain that she couldn’t handle another morning of inane conversation and red-faced confessions about letting one of the guys from St. Michael’s feel around under their sweaters; as quickly as she could, she slipped away from the campus and hopped a bus towards Penn’s campus.
The whole college boy game had started with a dare from her best friend Carrie. They had been having dinner at Chili’s after a day of shopping when a table full of guys in Penn paraphernalia had sat down beside them. As they had quietly debated which one was the hottest, Carrie had suggested that they try to talk to them. Their other friends had shot the idea down because the guys were older and they were only sophomores; Carrie, who wanted to talk to the guys, had dared Lily, who could easily pass for older than 16, to flirt with the one that they decided was the coolest. Accepting the challenge, Lily had flirted, the guys had joined them, and the hot one had asked for her number, the same hot one that had been driving the car the night before when the cops had pulled them over.
Lily had no desire to really date a college guy; dating wasn’t really a priority for her the way that it was for other girls, but she couldn’t deny that it felt good to have someone who was considered unattainable for a girl like her to want to be around her. After that first night, Lily had started spending her weekends hanging around the buildings, browsing in the Penn bookstore, and generally trying to gain the attention of cute guys. Nine times out of ten she left with a number; ten times out of ten Lily didn’t use it.
This morning she had decided to spend what little money she had on her at Cereality, the cereal restaurant that was located across the street from several of the academic buildings. Due to her fight with her mother, she hadn’t been able to actually have breakfast and, unlike most teenage girls, Lily ate frequently and in large amounts, something that defied logic given that she possessed the type of body that most women paid doctors to acquire: ample chest, small waist, and long legs with cheekbones that were usually only found on runway models. In Lily’s mind, these attributes tended to make people think she was far prettier than she actually was; people rarely looked at her face once they had seen her shape and, if they had, they would’ve noticed her nose, which had the same bump as her mother, and the generous amount of freckles that decorated the bridge of her nose and the skin beneath her hazel eyes.
As Lily waited patiently in line, she removed the sweater vest with the St. Katherine’s crest and stuffed it into her backpack, the golden monstrosity now hidden from the world. Without the vest, her maroon skirt and white button down shirt didn’t make her stick out quite as much, though the knee socks undoubtedly gave her away. She didn’t particularly care; most of the guys seemed to get off on the whole “school girl” fantasy.
After ordering her chocolate and peanut butter cereal concoction, Lily began to dig in her backpack for her wallet. It wasn’t until she opened it that she realized that she was several dollars short of the cost of the cereal. Just as she was about to apologize and slink away in shame, she heard someone behind her offer, “It’s on me.”
He was the most beautiful man that she had ever seen: incredibly tall and well-muscled with dark hair, light blue eyes, and a perfect smile that revealed dimples in his cheeks. When coupled with the pair of store ripped jeans and blue polo shirt, a messenger bag across his chest, he was the very definition of Ivy League preppy, something that Lily was completely willing to forgive if it meant that she could eat the heaping bowl of calories awaiting her.
“Thank you. I thought I had more cash than I do.”
“It happens. I did the same thing the other day.” Smiling at the person behind the counter, he asked, “Could I get the same as…”
“Lily,” she supplied, “Lily Pratt.”
“Nice to meet you, Lily Pratt. I’m Jake Ash.”
Spotting an open table near the window, Lily politely excused herself while Jake paid for his food, certain that their interaction was over as he hadn’t even given her a once over. It was for that reason that she was surprised when, a moment later, Jake stood beside the table and asked, “Could I sit with you?”
With a shrug of feigned indifference, Lily agreed, taking a large bite out of her sugary breakfast. As she chewed, she realized that Jake was still not checking her out, a fact that was slowly starting to irritate her. Let girls talk all they wanted about not wanting to feel like a piece of meat; when a guy as hot as this one didn’t check you out, you always took it personally.
After another moment of silence, Jake finally spoke. “So do you go to Penn?”
“No, I…I’m just checking it out.”
“High school then?” When she nodded, he chuckled wryly. “You don’t look like you’re in high school.”
“Guess I should’ve worn my jailbait t-shirt then.”
“Well, you’re only jailbait if we have sex.” Catching himself, he quickly assured her, “Not that I’m thinking about having sex with you because I’m not like that and I’m sure that you’re not like that and I would never - “
She laughed at his ramble before gently patting his hand as if he was a flustered child. “It’s okay; I know what you meant.”
“You probably think I’m a total creeper now.”
“A little,” she joked, “but that’s cool. You go here?”
“Yeah, I’m a sophomore history major.”
“History?” Lily wrinkled her nose in distaste. “What, were all the other boring majors taken?”
“I’ll have you know that history is very important.”
“Oh, I’m sure. I mean, how would the world keep spinning if we didn’t know Marie Antoinette’s favorite ball gown or what Hitler liked on his toast.”
With a mock glare, Jake challenged, “Well, what do you plan to major in that’s so life and death important?”
Lily shrugged, stirring up the flavored milk in her bowl. “I don’t know. I mean, I’m not real big on school but…I like poetry.”
“Poetry?” he snorted. “You’re mocking my major when you want to be a poet?”
“I don’t want to be a poet; I just like it,” she corrected, straightening her back in slight offense. “It’s not as if I could major in anything that’s actually cool, so I might as well do something that’s, at least, semi-interesting.” Pushing her hair away from her face, she added, “Besides, I don’t even want to go to college anyway.”
“What do you want to do?”
“Travel, live anywhere and everywhere. My dad was from England and my grandpa still lives there; my aunt lives in Jamaica right now, and, when I was little, we lived in Australia. There’s, like, a million places in the world I’ve never been and all of which I’m sure are way cooler than Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.”
“Why’d you move around so much?”
Lily paused. It was a question that she had never really asked before; she had just assumed that her parents were free-spirits and liked the change. They hadn’t moved because of either of her parents’ jobs - her mother had taught kickboxing and her father had worked for Grandpa Giles - and they never had family where they moved. Why had she never asked her mother why they had lived like gypsies for the first half of her life?
“Lily?” Jake prompted.
Shaking out of her reverie, she lied, “My dad was in charge of a big company and we got transferred a lot. What about you? Where do you call home?”
“I was born in Mexico but I spent the first ten years of my life with my mom in San Diego. After she died, I went and stayed with my older brother in Palo Alto for a few months until my dad got back from a business trip to China, and I’ve lived with him in Cleveland ever since.”
“I’m sorry about your mom. My dad…he died when I was little too.”
Jake smiled sadly before admitting, “I miss her a lot, but my dad’s pretty cool. He wasn’t around a lot when I was little ‘cause things ended pretty terribly with him and my mom, but he’s a good guy. Crazily overprotective though; it’s like I get punished for everything that Connor ever did when he was my age.”
“My mom’s the same way! It’s like she thinks I’m going to burn down my school or something, so the leash that she and the stepdad keeps me on is way short. And my little sister is a total nightmare; be grateful that you’re the youngest.”
“I was lucky; I had a lot of cousins growing up, so I had the whole ‘big family’ experience.” Glancing down at his watch, he swore. “I’m gonna be late for class. Could I…could I get your number? Maybe we could do this again sometime?”
Lily had never freely given her phone number; these trips were for ego stroking only. However, as she looked at Jake with his wide smile and easygoing demeanor, she couldn’t help but want to spend more time with him, which was why she scribbled down her cell number before watching him disappear out into the bustle of the city.
It had been awhile but Lily certainly remembered what a crush felt like.
* * *
When Lily got home at 3:00, she knew that she was in serious trouble because Tom’s car was parked outside; usually he didn’t return home until 6 at the very earliest, which meant that her mother must’ve called him when St. Katherine’s told her that she wasn’t in school. Between last night and today, there was a very good chance that she was never going to see the light of day ever again. It was for that reason that she decided a few more minutes before she went inside wouldn’t hurt and she ducked down beside the garage to call Aunt Dawn.
Aunt Dawn was everything that Lily wanted to be: confident, beautiful, a world traveler, and completely independent. Every time she stopped in for a visit, she brought gifts from exotic locales and stories that irritated Anne to no end, usually featuring cabana boys or illegal activities. She always ended up in a fight with Anne and, before she would leave, always took Lily out to get ice cream before telling her a story about her father, whom Aunt Dawn had adored. Because their family was so small - and Lily didn’t count Tom’s family as they rarely interacted with her anyway - Dawn was the only ally Lily ever felt like she had.
Dawn answered on the second ring with as normal a greeting as she ever gave. “Dawn Summers, badass extraordinaire.”
“Lily Pratt, doomed niece.”
“Oh, no, what happened now?”
The immediate sympathy made Lily smile; she could kill an entire farm of puppies and Aunt Dawn would still believe that it wasn’t her fault. “I cut school…and I might’ve gotten arrested last night for underage drinking.”
Dawn released a low whistle before declaring, “It was nice knowing you, kid.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“Well, we can agree that Buffy’s gonna kill you; the question is, how do you want your funeral? I personally think cremation is a good idea.”
Aunt Dawn never called her mother Anne; it was another plus when Lily was feeling particularly hateful towards her mother. “Could you please just tell me something really cool before I face execution?”
“Well…I’m gonna be in Philly next week on a layover to England. I thought we could have a fabulous girls’ night out without your mom or Joy.”
“That is cool. You’re awesome.” With a sigh, she declared, “Okay, I better go face the firing squad.”
“Be brave, don’t show fear, and tell me how it goes.” With a kissing sound, she added, “Love you bunches!”
As Lily slid her cell phone back into her backpack, she wondered how Anne and Dawn could possibly be sisters. Dawn was so much fun; she lived in the moment and made no apologies for it. Anne, on the other hand, had become so much about structure and order that she sucked any spontaneity out of the moment, making her a perfect match for Dull-as-Toast Tom. Even Grandpa Giles was more fun than her mother anymore, and his idea of fun involved alphabetizing.
The very second that the door clicked open, Anne was in the entryway, fury so apparent on her face that Lily briefly thought that she might actually strike her.
“Where the hell have you been?!”
“Out.”
“Out?! Out?! What is wrong with you, Lily?! Now you’re skipping school! Are you on drugs?!”
“What?! Yeah, Mom, I’m a giant crackhead. I skipped school to go peddle my ass on the street. Want to know my rates?”
“Don’t you dare speak to me like that!”
“Anne,” Tom gently said as he appeared behind her, “why don’t we let Lily sit down and we’ll calmly discuss this?”
Lily had never understood how her mother could have been attracted to Tom after being married to her father for so long. Her father had been gorgeous and fit; all of the other mothers used to swoon whenever he had come to pick her up from school. But Tom was balding and soft around the middle with a pair of tiny, wire rimmed glasses upon his long, angular nose; the only thing sexy about him was the fact that he made six figures a year and traveled a lot.
Her mother stomped into the living room and Lily followed though she knew that any attempts at being calm were not going to work. She had seen her mother angry like this before and, if she managed not to throw anything, Lily would make her cookies.
The second Lily’s butt hit the couch, Anne exploded. “You were not raised to be like this! What is going on with you? You’ve never cut school before! You were on the honor roll all of last year, and now I’m getting calls from teachers about incomplete assignments and bad behavior! You quit the swim team, you’re getting drunk with older boys…What is the problem, Elisabeth?”
Crossing her arms over her chest, Lily mumbled, “There’s no problem.”
“Well, clearly something is wrong!”
“Nothing is wrong! I didn’t want to swim anymore and I don’t want to go to some stupid Catholic school with a bunch of girls that I hate! I got drunk because I wanted to have fun and I didn’t complete my assignments because they’re lame! I’m not on drugs, I’m not in with the wrong crowd, I wasn’t abducted by aliens; I just don’t want to.”
“You’re sixteen; you don’t get the luxury of only doing what you want. Now, Sister Agnes said that you’re in danger of not passing the tenth grade because of your grades, especially in math and history. If your grades aren’t up by the end of this marking period, you will fail. Now, she’s given us the numbers of some tutors - “
“I don’t need a tutor!”
“The two Fs you have say otherwise! As for this behavior…if you cut school again, if you get arrested again, we’ve decided that you’ll be sent to a more structured school.”
Glancing back and forth between her guardians, her gaze landed on Tom before she spat, “Oh, I get it. Boarding school for the brat, get rid of the little reminder of the first husband.”
“Lily, that’s not -“ Tom began.
Jumping to her feet, she held up her hands. “No, I understand. You know, if you want me gone so bad, why don’t you send me to live with Aunt Dawn?”
Anne snorted in derision. “The blind leading the blind? No way.”
“Then why I can’t I live with Grandpa Giles? He’d like me around.”
“You’re not living with Giles!”
“Why not?! He might actually want me around unlike you!”
Lily moved to run up the stairs but Anne grabbed her wrist so that she couldn’t flee. Now even more agitated, Lily began to twist in an attempt to break the hold, which was iron tight. Finally, desperate to be away from the situation and her mother, she pushed with her free hand and watched in horrified shock as her mother sailed across the room, colliding heavily with the couch.
Tom immediately rushed to her mother but Lily just stared in stunned silence before murmuring, “I didn’t mean to. I didn’t mean to push so hard.”
Through her tears, she never noticed the look of dread and worry on her mother’s face.
* * *
Lily knew that this was a dream the moment she realized where she was. She had been here many times before in many different incarnations. Sometimes she was Faith, the girl that was scantily clad but kicked major ass. Other times she was Kendra, the teen with the Jamaican accent and cold demeanor. She had been Kennedy and Rona, Vi and Amanda; she had been a woman with an afro and a petite Chinese girl and, once, she had been Dana, wild and unhinged. It didn’t matter who she was or what era she seemed to be from; she always ended up here.
The sign on the door said it was The Bronze, and it was a dance club.
In the dreams, it was always packed with strangers that she had never met. Usually she was ignored but sometimes the people talked to her. Wesley, the British man with a scar across his throat, always spoke to her and asked her if she had accepted her destiny yet; Tara, the voluptuous woman with the kind smile, always cupped her face and pressed a kiss to her forehead for protection. Fred and Gunn always played pool near the door with the woman called Anya, who Lily didn’t care much for, while the dark haired woman named Cordelia sat on the edge of the stage observing everyone. The people laughed and mingled while Lily waded through the crowd.
Tonight she was Lily, which had never happened before, and, when she took a seat at one of the tables, a teenager with long, red hair and an unfortunate outfit sat down beside her.
“I’ve been waiting for you forever, Lily. What took you so long?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
“Ignorance is no excuse, not when it’s inside of you.” She extended her closed fist towards Lily before twisting her hand so that her open palm would face upwards. There, in the center of her hand, sat a large, silver cross on a thin chain.
“What’s this for?”
“Protection; you’re gonna need it.” Leaning across the table as if whispering a secret, the teenager explained, “Bad things are coming, Lily, and you need to be prepared. The Hellmouth didn’t disappear when Sunnydale was swallowed; the First can’t ever really be beaten.”
“I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”
“Take the cross.”
Lily complied, fastening the piece of jewelry around her neck. “Who are you?”
“Think of me as your fairy godmother.” Glancing around as if someone was coming for, she began to speak very quickly. “I don’t have much time so you have to listen to me and listen closely. You need to talk to Jake; tell him that Willow sent you and that you need to know everything. Tell Jake that you’re Spike’s daughter and show him the necklace. He’ll show you what you need to see.” Grasping Lily’s hand tightly in hers, she declared, “I’ll come to you again.”
With a start, Lily gasped awake, her lungs desperately trying to fill. When she reached up to brush away the hair that was sticky to her sweaty face, she was shocked to discover that the silver cross she had put on in her dream was resting against her collarbone.
* * *
The grounding that she had received for her actions had lasted for a month, a long, miserable month of forced isolation that had nearly led to the death of Joy. On the fourth day of April, when her punishment was officially over, Lily did the only thing she could think of: she cut school and headed towards Penn’s campus to find Jake Ash.
Lily had spent the last month considering what the dream had meant. After spending two weeks firmly of the belief that she had lost her mind and needed medical attention, she began to remember the stories that her father had told her, stories about a brave, strong woman who had killed monsters and the group of friends that had helped her. She had almost dismissed those memories as a nice way for her father to comfort her when she had nightmares as a child when she remembered a phone conversation that she had overheard between her mother and someone else the year before. Lily had been outside watching Joy when Joy had needed a band-aid. She had come inside to hear her mother speaking loudly and angrily to whoever was on the end, a person she had told to never call again.
A person she had called Willow.
It was for that very reason that Lily didn’t feel like a complete and total nutcase as she sat outside the building where most of the history classes were taught in the hopes that Jake would eventually appear. And, after two hours of waiting, he finally did, looking surprised to see her. Saying goodbye to two of his friends, he sidled up to her.
“Hey. You’re the last person I thought I’d see today.”
Lily got to her feet, wiping her sweaty palms against the jeans that she had stuffed inside of her backpack before she had left the house. “Yeah, I’m sure it’s kind of surprising.”
“I tried calling you but-“
“My mom took my phone while I was grounded,” she quickly explained. “I wasn’t blowing you off.”
“Good to know. Do you wanna grab-“
“Willow sent me,” she blurted out, cutting off his invitation. “I’m Spike’s daughter, and she said that you’d show me what I need to see.”
If her slightly insane declaration startled him, he gave no outward sign of it. Instead, he suggested, “Why don’t we go back to my apartment? It’s probably better if we don’t do this here.”
Lily climbed onto the trolley with him, quiet as they took the fifteen minute ride to his apartment building. When they walked up to the door, Lily couldn’t help but asked, “You don’t think I’m crazy?”
“Why would I think you’re crazy?”
“Because a woman in a dream told me to come see you.”
Unlocking the outside door to let them into the building, he assured her, “Not the craziest thing I’ve ever heard.”
Jake lived on the third floor in the apartment at the far end of the hall. When he opened the door, Lily was immediately assailed with the smell of baked goods and then with the sight of one of the most beautiful women she had ever seen standing in front of the oven in nothing but a pair of jeans and a bra. At the sound of the door, she turned around and, as if nothing was out of the ordinary, asked, “You guys want some cookies? They’re almost done.”
Certain that her shock was written all over her face, Lily turned to Jake, who explained, “This is my roommate Zoe Wood. Zo, this is Lily Pratt.” Meaningfully he added, “Willow sent her.”
Zoe’s entire countenance changed at the mention of Lily’s dream visitor. “No shit. You’re the girl? Damn. I’ll get dressed.”
“What did she mean, I’m the girl?”
Taking a seat on the futon that served as their couch, Jake gestured for her to sit. When she did, he said, “A lot of what I’m going to tell you is going to sound completely insane. You’re going to think that we’re nuts and that you should get the hell away from us, and that’s fine. But you also have to know that we’re not lying and that we really need your help.”
“My help with what?”
“To save the world.”
“What?”
Taking a deep breath, he said, “I should start at the beginning. In every generation, there was a Chosen One…”
* * *
Three hours, a dozen cookies, and one very large glass of wine later, Lily sat in total silence while Jake and Zoe stared at her. To say that she was completely overwhelmed by the story that Jake had told her and Zoe had augmented would have been an understatement. The sheer amount of knowledge that she had just acquired was enough to make her wonder if anything in her life had ever been true.
Her mother was a Vampire Slayer, the best in history who had used her power to make every girl in the world who could be a Slayer into one. Her father had been a vampire who had become human after the End of Days in Los Angeles that had almost made Jake’s father human. Her Grandpa Giles wasn’t actually her father’s father but her mother’s old Watcher. Zoe’s mother was a Slayer and her father the son of a Slayer, making her a third generation Slayer child. Willow was not a figment of her imagination but actually the most powerful Wicca on the face of the planet who just happened to be the former best friend of Lily’s mother. The man with the eye patch that Lily remembered from her childhood was actually Xander Harris, another old friend of her mother’s days in Sunnydale, which was where a club named The Bronze had once stood, a town that had been swallowed not by an earthquake but rather collapsed after Spike - the name that Lily’s father had gone by as a vampire - had died while using an amulet that would save the world. Aunt Dawn wasn’t actually her aunt but a mystical ball of energy that had been made corporeal by monks in order to protect her from a hell goddess, and Philadelphia was set to become the epicenter for the apocalypse according to the information that the newly assembled Watchers’ Council had come across. All of the located Slayers across the globe that wanted to be trained were taught to fight and trained for situations just like this; all available Slayers and allies were to be deployed to the Philadelphia area in order to fight whatever was about to happen. Lily had been shown up on Willow’s radar as a Slayer last year when she had started having her nightmares but Buffy - the woman that Lily’s mother had been before she had become a Stepford Wife who was trying to deny her past - had told her that Lily would never know and never fight. Jake and Zoe had been dispatched to Philly undercover in order to keep the vampire numbers down until the rest of the group could mobilize.
Of course, that was completely ignoring about another million details that had been imparted upon her that had caused the current brain meltdown that she was experiencing.
Finally, after nearly an hour of complete silence, Lily finally looked at them and asked, “Could you show me a vampire?”
* * *
Lily had thought that, because she was a Slayer, she wouldn’t be terrified when she saw the snarling vampire crawl out of the fresh grave.
She had been wrong.
Jake and Zoe were busy with three other vampires that had appeared and Lily, who was clutching a stake with little idea of what to do with it, began to panic when she realized that the vampire had its sights set on her.
Zoe, who caught the movement out of the corner of her eye, shouted, “Aim for the heart! You’ve got this!”
The closest that Lily had ever gotten to actually being in a physical fight was when a boy had stolen her lunchbox back in Sydney and she had pushed him into a puddle. She had never hit or been hit, and, when the vamp’s fist connected with her jaw, sending her stumbling back against a headstone, she felt as if her entire face had exploded with pain. Before she could recover, the thing was on top of her, its breath smelling like death, and, using all of her strength, she pushed up, sending him hurtling backwards to slam against a marble angel, which cracked under impact. Hurrying over to it, Lily thrust downward with the stake, both hands wrapped around it, embedding the piece of wood into the creature’s chest, making it explode into dust.
As the adrenaline left her body and the blood rushing in her ears drowned out, she realized that Zoe and Jake had dispatched their opponents and were looking at her. Finally, Zoe walked over to her and clapped her on the back.
“Not bad, girl. You might just be a Slayer yet.”
Lily smiled before looking at Jake, who was wiping the vampire dust off of his shirt. When his gaze met hers, he said, “C’mon. I’ll drive you home.”
* * *
The car ride was relatively quiet until they were a few blocks from her house. It was then that Lily couldn’t help but wonder aloud, “Did you know who I was that day in Cereality?”
Looking slightly guilty, he admitted, “I’d seen your picture before; Giles showed it to me.”
Disappointment filling her heart, she continued, “So you weren’t really interested in me; you just wanted to see if I was who you thought I was.”
“No! I mean…I was supposed to find you and talk to you, yes, but I was…I mean, I am…I like talking to you when we’re not…”
“Tearing apart every truth that shaped my existence?”
Jake chuckled. “Yeah. So I guess, to answer your question, I wasn’t interested in you before I talked to you, but after I talked to you, I kind of hoped that you weren’t Buffy’s daughter.”
“Funny, ‘cause I hope the same thing a lot.”
Turning onto her block, he informed her, “We were almost brother and sister.”
“What?”
“My dad used to date your mom.”
“No way!”
He nodded. “It’s this whole soap opera story. Dad doesn’t talk about it much, but everyone knows the story around headquarters. The whole star-crossed lovers, soulmate deal that made it impossible for Buffy and Angel ever to find true happiness. It was a huge scandal when she married your dad.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. See, your dad was made a vampire by this crazy bitch named Drusilla, who was made by my dad, so they were family in this really twisted way. Dad and Spike hated each other and, when your parents got together, it drove him nuts. When they became human, your mom was in Rome and they both went to her as humans. She said she didn’t want to choose right away. Dad went and found my mom, making me, and your dad waited patiently until your mom was ready. Rumor has it that when he found out that your parents eloped, he and Spike got into a huge fist fight in headquarters and your mom had to pull them apart.”
“That just…that’s so strange. I mean, my dad was, like, the most peaceful guy there was. He was Will Pratt, liked by everyone. It’s like they became such different people.”
“I think that they had to. Your dad had to anyway because he was human again.”
“Okay, sure, but then why did my mom go from being Buffy Pratt to Anne Lane, the single most boring person ever to walk the earth? How could she possibly go from badass vampire Slayer to freaking housewife?”
Pulling into the driveway, Jake suggested, “You could ask her.”
Lily snorted. “Yeah, right.” Taking a deep breath, she sincerely said, “Thank you for everything.”
“It was my pleasure. It’s always nice to have someone else at your back in a fight.” Giving her a smile that she was certain had caused many girls to drop their panties in the past, he added, “Maybe we could do something sometime that doesn’t involve demon dismemberment.”
She nodded. “I’d like that.”
Getting out of the car, she quickly hurried to the front door, knowing that the fight she was about to get into was only going to get worse the longer she put if off. When she stepped inside the house this time, only her mother was waiting. From the silence in the house, Lily knew that Tom must’ve taken Joy somewhere so that her murder could be committed in peace.
Anne looked up and the anger on her face dissipated when she saw the blossoming bruise on her jaw and dirty clothing. “What happened?!”
Lily shrugged. “Nothing.”
“Elisabeth, who hit you?!”
“Stop it.”
“No, I won’t stop it! You skipped school and then you show up here, hours later, dirty and bruised? Who hit you?”
Frustration, rage, betrayal, and sorrow battling inside her, Lily screamed, “A vampire! A vampire hit me! A vampire that crawled out of its grave the same way that Dad crawled out of his once upon a time! A vampire that I slayed because that’s who I am, Lily the Vampire Slayer! That’s my job!”
The blood had completely drained from Anne’s face and her voice trembled as she queried, “How do you know that?”
“Does it matter?! How could hide this from me?! How could you let me think that I’m this huge freak because I felt like I didn’t belong when you knew that I wasn’t like everyone else?! How could you not tell me what you are and what Dad was?! How could you spend every second of my life lying to me?!”
“Lily, please, you have to understand - “
“No! I’m done understanding! You lied to me about everything and you had everyone else lie too! Look at you! Your life is one, giant lie! What did you think, that you could call yourself Anne and move into the suburbs and no one would ever know what you were, what I am? Did you think that the monsters would just go away and leave us alone?”
“This isn’t my job anymore, and it doesn’t have to be yours! It isn’t one girl anymore!”
“So, what, I’m just supposed to pretend like I don’t know what I am and who I come from and just go back to school and be a cheerleader? It doesn’t work like that! I felt more alive tonight than I have in months!”
“I don’t want this for you! Don’t you see?! Will and I wanted more for you than hanging out in cemeteries and having to worry whether or not you’d die that night! We wanted you to be safe!”
“Don’t you mean Spike, Buffy?” Venom in her voice, she declared, “I’m done listening to you. Everything you’ve ever said to me has been a lie. Maybe you can turn your back on what you were born to do but I won’t.” Squarely meeting her gaze, she announced, “I’m gonna save the world. Are you going to help me or get out of my way?”