A daughter's dilemma

Buffy watched in horror as her vampiric mother slowly approached her with bared fangs.

"Mom!" she cried. "You can't do this. Please, Mom. You have a soul. You shouldn't be able to do this. Please, Mom. Please."

"Oh, Buffy," Joyce replied. "Don't worry. It will all be over be soon. And then the two of us can be together for the rest of eternity."

"No, Mom," said Buffy. "This is wrong. You can't do this. It isn't right. I don't want this. Please stop. I don't want to have to kill you."

Joyce smiled. "And I don't want to have to kill you. But I'm not killing you. I'm giving you eternal life. What mother in her right mind would not want that for her beloved daughter?"

Stop arguing with her, said a voice inside Buffy's head. Joyce isn't going to listen to anything you say. The only way she's going to stop is if you stake her.

But she's my Mom! Buffy thought.

Kill her, Buffy, or she'll kill you, replied the voice.

But she's my Mom! Buffy answered.

Stop arguing, said the voice. If this were Spike or Drusilla, you would have head-butted him or her by now.

But she's my Mom, replied Buffy. I don't want to hurt my Mom.

You're not being rational, Buffy, said the voice. She obviously wants to hurt you. At least reach for your stake. Do that much. Then maybe the rest will come easier.

At that moment, Buffy felt a cold breeze blow across her naked body, a breeze that emphasized how **** she was at this very moment. However, the breeze did not seem to be affecting Joyce. She didn't even bother to shiver like Buffy did. She just kept moving forward.

"I don't want to embarrass you, Buffy," said her mother, "but it looks like your nipples are hard. Normally that would bother me too but right now it just means that part of you wants this. Part of you wants this very bad."

"No, I don't, Mom," said Buffy. "It's just the cold wind that's doing it. That's all."

"Oh, Buffy," said Joyce with a sad expression on her face. "You don't have to lie to me. Something tells me that you're going to enjoy life as a vamp. And it's not like any of your friends care enough to keep you from getting turned, anyway. So it's almost like this is your destiny. Just like being a Slayer used to be."

"Please, Mom!" cried Buffy as she frantically **** herself to reach for a stake.

But, alas, the stake she was reaching for did not appear to be there.

Oh, God, she thought. I know I don't deserve this but if you're going to work a miracle, please do it now. Please!

Then in one final gesture of defiance, Buffy hit her Mom in the head with a head-butt -- only to watch her recover almost immediately and keep advancing toward her.

I really must be destined to be a vamp, she thought. But I could have sworn that Vamp Buffy said she was converted by a he, not a she. So I guess she really did come from a different future than mine. Not that it matters. I always feared this type of ending and now I finally got it.

And with that, Joyce grabbed Buffy by the shoulders and opened her mouth even wider than before. But before she could bite down upon Buffy's neck, she exploded into dust.

And as the dust cleared, Buffy saw Drusilla standing with a pointed stake just behind the area where Joyce had been standing.

"There!" exclaimed Drusilla. "I saved you! Don't you ever say that I never did it anything nice for you, Buffy."