Losses

"Wow, badass entrance."

Buffy looked at the vampire. She had just staked the one who led Willow away, but the other was strangely unconcerned. She saw that Jesse had been bitten and Willow was a nervous wreck. Xander, get Jesse and Willow out of here.

"What about you?" Xander asked worried.

"She'll be fine," the other vampire said.

"Yeah, I will be," Buffy said confidently as her friends left the mausoleum.

"So, do we banter?" the vampire asked as he studied her. "I get the feeling you are banterer...is that a word? Hmmm."

"I really would just prefer if we fought," Buffy said as she advanced on him.

He slid across a coffin, keeping it between her and him. "I'm sure we'll get to that. Slayer, right? Yeah, it's been a while since I've seen one. You ever been to China?"

"Are we just talking food here or travel?" Buffy asked as she looked for a way to get to him, but he was very good at keeping his distance.

"Wow, so young. It's a pity that you are going to die tonight."

"Are you trying to bore me to ****? Because I'd really like to get to the fighting."

"Oh, isn't it obvious. I've just been keeping you distracted. Hi, Luke."

Buffy felt a heavy **** hit the side of her head and she went flying across the mausoleum.

"Angelus! Where are the offerings? Why do I smell blood?"

"I got hungry," Angelus replied, unconcerned with the other vampire's intimidating voice. "They can't have made it far. I'll go get them."

"Fine, I'll deal with this one," Luke said as he advanced on Buffy.

-

*Buffy escapes Luke because of the cross, she helps rescues Xander and Willow, but Jessie is captured.

The group then meets up Lilah, who fills them in on vampires.

Willow finds out about their likely hideout, Buffy goes to investigate, Xander (despite being told not to) follows her.

However, by the time they rescue Jessie he has already been turned. Buffy and Xander are trapped in a small room trying to get a heavy door closed against an approaching group of vampires.

"Jesse, man, I'm sorry," Xander said as he looked at his friend who had been turned into a vampire.

"Why? I'm so much stronger now. I can hear the worms in the earth."

"That sounds like a plus," Xander said sarcastically. "Your face though bud."

Jessie reached up and touched his vampiric visage. "It doesn't matter. Cordelia will be mine. And you'll still be a loser virgin who has never touched a girl."

Xander reached behind and without realizing it began to grope Buffy's ass as she pushed against the door. "Huh," he murmured. "Something seems off."

"Xander! The vampires!" Buffy shouted as she grabbed Jessie and threw him into the hall to block.

Xander shook off what ever had been bothering him and grabbed onto the door and helped slam it close.

-

"The Master has risen," Lilah said with worry as she looked over her book. "It has put the whole world in peril."

"I don't suppose he is going to come out for a fight?" Buffy asked. "Because we just learned going down there doesn't is not the best plan."

"But Jessie is..." Xander began to say.

"A vampire," Lilah finished for him. "I'm sorry, Xander, but Jessie is gone. Vampires aren't just a person being changed. The soul is taken. He is gone, his body is now possessed by a demon."

She could tell how deeply it affected him. She waited for a moment when Buffy and Willow weren't looking to flash him her breasts. He'd been very brave after all.

"What happens next?" Willow inquired.

"That's the problem," Lilah said as she looked over the text again. "It's unclear. The Harvest, the Anointed One, the Rise, all our events that have been foretold, but the order is unclear*. On top of that, we sit on the center of mystical convergence. In many aspects, we are the first, and perhaps only, line of defense that earth has against the monsters, demons, vampires, and forces of hell."

There was a moment of pause before Buffy spoke, "Well, I gotta look on the bright side. Maybe I can still get kicked out of school!"

"Oh, yeah, that's a plan. 'Cause lots of schools aren't on Hellmouths," Xander joked.

"Maybe you could blow something up. They're really strict about that," Willow added.

The group got up and headed out of the library as Buffy spoke, "I was thinking of a more subtle approach, y'know, like excessive not studying."

Lilah shook her head as they left, "The Earth is doomed."

*As I've done with other stories, I randomized a list of Buffy episodes (52 were chosen from the first three seasons). Some had to be moved around to specific, or at least rough, points, but events for the most part will not happen in the same order they did during the series.