Buffy continued to walk through the woods determined to find and kill the thing that attacked Angel.  And for some reason, she didn't know why she was even doing this.

"I don't know why I'm bothering with this," Buffy said to herself, "Angel and I gave up our attempt at a relationship a long time ago, but still."

She tried to shake those thoughts and feelings aside but to no avail. Of course you know why, She admitted, no matter how much you try to deny it, you're still in love with him.

Buffy hated to admit her weakness for Angel, but what was worse was that it couldn't work out and she would still love him utterly.  She tried to stay focused on her surroundings so as not to be totally off-guard.  Buffy had hoped that this would take her mind off of Angel, but instead it only made her worry more about him.  What could be so strong that it could toss him around like a rag doll? She began to wonder.

A twig snapped from behind her. And when Buffy turned to see what it was she saw a monstrosity. The creature had a human form: two arms, two legs, a head and torso.  But everything else was different: it was hunched over at the shoulders, it had three talons in place of hands.  The head was stretched forward and the face was swept back, it had large fangs on its upper and lower rows of teeth, its skin was an unnatural shade of black, but the glowing red eyes were the freakiest features she had seen on a creature.

The beast took a step towards her and reached out with a claw.

  "...Slayer." Was all that came out of its grotesque face as it tried to grab her.

Buffy immediately fought back; punching away its claw and kicking it square in the face.  That merle made it stagger back.  The creature continued to reach for Buffy but she kept knocking it aside.

  "Not much on brains are ya?" Said Buffy as she continued to push him away.

As if enraged, the creature started to move faster, snarling at Buffy and lounging its claws at her.  This had taken her by surprise; she expected this thing to be slower than hell with its back hunched over like that.  Instead, it began to move blindingly fast until she managed to grab it throw it to the ground.

  "You must be what attacked Angel.  That's reason enough to send you back to Hell." Said Buffy.

 It was easier said than done she soon realized.  The creature became faster than she had anticipated so she had a hard time laying a punch on it.  The monster rammed her into a near by tree, knocking the wind out of her.  She fell to the ground and tried to catch her breath, but soon after, something grabbed her hair and jerked her head back.  She was looking straight at the disfigured monster just as its fist slammed into her face.

She felt the earth slam into her face and it hurt to move.  She heard a slithering noise coming closer, almost like a snake.  Then something long and moist slid and tightened around her throat then lifted her off the ground!  When she was able to see, she realized that the creature had lifted her up with its tongue!

  "...Slayer." Again was the only thing it said before it bared its fangs and started going for her neck.

That was all she needed to figure out how to kill it.  She reached into her pocket and pulled out her trusted stake "Mr. Pointy", then jammed it into the monster's chest.  The creature dropped her and screamed out in pain as it tried to reach for the stake.  It was too late and the creature dropped to the ground: lifeless.

Buffy then dusted herself off and walked over to the creature's body. Man, what the Hell was that thing?  It couldn't have been one Kain's vampires, could it? That thought scared her.  She started to check the body; kicking it, smelling it, then rolled it over on its back to get a good look at it.  She started to get a closer look at its face, when suddenly it snapped at her and then rose up on its feet.  It ripped the stake out from its chest, and she could see the wound seal up instantly.

  "...That hurt." Was all that came out off its wretched mouth just before it started lunging at her again.

Buffy knew where this fight was going: not her way!  She kept getting slammed into the trees and punched in the face.  She was almost too weak to go on.

  "That's not enough, they must be completely impaled!" A voice suddenly screamed at her.

When she looked up everything was blurry.  She saw another figure jump at the creature and overpower it.  Her rescuer slammed the creature into a tree, stunning it.  He then picked up a large branch and rammed it through the abdomen of the creature.  The monster screamed out in more pain than before, then fell to ground again as its body instantly decayed into a skeleton then into dust.

Buffy's injuries finally took its toll on her as she passed out.  The last thing she felt was a pair of strange hands lifting her up and carrying her away.

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    Sunnydale University, Thursday, 6:23 AM.

    Buffy woke up with a headache; one of those killers where it seems like jackhammer is plowing into your skull.

  "Good, you're awake." Willow said as she put a moist towel on Buffy's forehead, "That must have been one bad fight you had last night."

Buffy could only moan in response, she grabbed the wet towel and soaked the sorest part on her head.

  "How... how did I get back?" Buffy struggled to say.

  "Well, after you left to get that creature, Angel was determined to go after you.  He was afraid you would get hurt.  Which you did."  Willow explained.

  "He must have been one who saved me, he must have killed that creature that was looking at us through the window."

Willow gave Buffy a strange look, like she had no idea what she was talking about.  Buffy returned the look.

  "What?  Didn't Angel come back with me?" Asked Buffy.

  "Well. Angel came back. but not with you.  Angel wasn't able to find you, and he didn't kill anything." Willow replied.

  "I could have sworn he carried me back." Buffy asked.

  "You were passed out in front of the doorway after he returned."

Now Buffy gave Willow the same look that she did.

  "No, someone killed that monster, then picked me up and carried me away." Buffy argued.

  "Guess there's a new player in town, huh?" asked Willow.

  "Yeah, I guess so.  Look, I'm too beat to go to class." Said Buffy as she fell back into bed.  The only thing that kept going through her mind was; if it wasn't Angel, than who was it that saved me?

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    Outside Sunnydale University, Thursday, 6:03 PM.

    Raziel had been watching the Slayer since dawn and it was well near sun down now, his mind was busy with two things during the day: first, he was amazed at how the sun did not cause him harm for he remembered its burning touch.  It must have to do with this transformation I seem to have undergone. He thought.  And second was what had happened last night with his encounter with the Slayer's attacker. Its scent was vampiric, but it was far too deformed and its intelligence was too low.  But dispatching the demon that possessed it and feeding on the soul inside it... its brief memories on earth... the blood that had created it smelled ancient, almost familiar.  I'm not quite what that voice was that told me how to kill it, but luckily I was able to before the Slayer...Buffy... perished. He thought.

Raziel continued to watch her.  She stayed in her chamber for most of the day, obviously because she had to recover from her injuries last night.  Raziel remained perched in his tree for most of the day, never tiring from muscle strain or boredom.  This Slayer fascinated him; he remembered having to track down and kill the Slayers during his empire's reign.  He had to do so to preserve the greater "bloodlines" as his brethren called it.  These memories reminded him of what his loyalty to Kain had granted him.

He will pay for what he did to me! He thought with rage.  He clutched at the trunk of the tree and he could feel the wood beginning to break under the stress.  Raziel calmed himself before he would shatter the tree and turned to observe Buffy once again, only she wasn't there anymore.

He panicked and quickly tried to find her.  When he peered back into the woods, he spotted her with her redheaded friend and--to his surprise--the first vampire he fought just in this area last night.  They walked to the south, through the woods, so  Raziel obviously decided to follow.  Doing his best to stay unnoticed, he traced them to another building complex; one not as large as Buffy's but with several more chambers.  He quickly stepped outside one of the windows of the chamber they entered, slipped into the nearby dark corners, and listened to the conversation.

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    An apartment complex south of Sunnydale Park, Thursday, 6:47 PM.

    "I'm telling you, somebody helped me last night against that thing." Buffy argued.

  "But Buffy, you came back to the dorm by yourself and Angel never found you in the woods." Explained Willow.

Buffy began to rub her temples; she had been trying to convince the others that someone was there that night.  Xander and Giles had been skeptic about the idea.  Angel was being quiet while trying to focus on the Kain matter and not on Buffy.  Willow had already given her opinion, and Oz was being his usual contemplative self.  Since they didn't seem to buying it she decided to drop that subject and move on to the more important one.

  "All right, fine.  How about we move on to the ugly guy that attacked then?" She asked.

  "Very well, I'll see what I can find about demons of that description, Xander would you help please?" Said Giles.

  "And here I thought I wouldn't have read any dusty old books after high school." He replied.

Buffy didn't have time to listen to Xander's remarks at the time; she began to stare at Angel as he helped to find whatever demon it was that attacked her.  She always admired his ability to be quiet and calm in stressful situations.  However, as she was admiring that, she thought she saw movement in the shadows behind him.  She was about to dismiss that fact until she saw that Angel noticed it too.

  "I think we have a visitor here guys." Buffy warned the others.

Giles and Xander put away their books as Buffy and Angel walked towards the shadows.  As Buffy got closer she noticed a pair of glowing red eyes in the darkness.

  "It's another one!" She screamed as she rushed at the figure.

But once Buffy reached her target, she was thrown back across the room and landed on the coffee table.  Angel ran over to her to see if she was all right.

  "That's like the thing that attacked me in the woods last night." Buffy said as she got back on her feet.

Upon hearing that, Angel engaged the creature in combat.  When the fight was brought into more light, she could see that this one was slightly different; it was much larger than the other was and its right arm was immensely longer and bulkier.

Angel was managing to hold the beast off just long enough for Buffy to join in.  Angel was immediately knocked through a window by the creature's larger arm.  Before Buffy could use her stake on it, it ran after Angel to finish the job.  The monster jumped through the window and brought its massive arm down to crush Angel in one swift motion.  Luckily, Angel was able to move out of the way in the nick of time; the creature's fist cracked the cement floor next to the nearby water fountain.

  "Angel!" Buffy screamed as she ran outside and kicked the creature square in the face; at least forcing it away from she and her vampire friend.  She helped Angel back up to his feet just as the monster made an attack at them.  They both dodged to either side of the monster and Buffy kicked it in the direction of the fountain: which the creature immediately backed away from it in fear.

Upon noticing this, Buffy came over to the fountain and taunted the creature,

  "You don't like the water, do you 'Mr. Handsome'?"

With that, she reached into the fountain, cupped her hands, and threw a handful of water towards the monster.  The creature tried to block it off but to no avail, the water struck its larger arm, it then sizzled and burned like acid.  The creature howled in pain as its arm fell off at the shoulder and disintegrated into dust, then the creature fled from the complex and into the darkness of the night.

Buffy began to run after it but was stopped by Angel; who convinced her to come back inside so they could try to get some answers.  Angel followed Buffy but stopped before entering the door.

  "What is it?" Buffy asked.  Somewhat concerned for him.

  "Nothing, I just feel like we're being watched."

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    An apartment complex south of Sunnydale, Thursday, 7:03 PM.
 

I must admit, she is a great warrior, Raziel thought to himself as he watched the fight from the roof above.  He had followed Buffy through the woods and towards a small structure that looked similar to the Slayer's dwellings.  He stood outside the premises, watching and listening to their conversation.  He was actually the first to notice the monstrous vampire (he came to the conclusion that it was one Kain's) but was too late to act upon it before the fight broke out.  He climbed to the roof of the building and proceeded to watch the battle between the Slayer, the human-like vampire, and the monstrosity.  Once the Slayer had used the water on the beast, it caused the painful memory of his own execution to resurface.  Raziel considered pursuing the creature to its lair, but then thought against it, I need the Slayer's assistance first.  I should appear to them soon, for the vampire with the Slayer is possibly aware of my presence here.

And so, Raziel climbed down the roof, crept into the nearby window, hid in the shadows and waited to make his appearance.