(Edited 03.28.2023)

"I think she's waking up." I heard a distant voice as I grumbled into consciousness, the sound of which felt nearby and yet out of reach at the same time. The pounding in my head felt consistent with a concussion, which definitely wouldn't help my hunt.

"My head." I groaned out, reaching up and running a hand through my hair, against my aching scalp. My back felt bruised and twisted up, and memories of the brick wall came flashing into my mind. What a bitch. But how was I still alive?

"Are you okay?" I heard as my eyes finally fluttered open and I locked eyes with a familiar redhead.

"Club girl?" I questioned, realizing this was one of the possible victims from The Bronze. Her eyebrows knit together at the question.

"What?"

"Where am I?" I asked, completely discombobulated as I looked around the spinning room. I realized very quickly I was on somebody's couch... In somebody's house. There were others surrounding me than just the red-haired girl, most of which were the rest of the group I'd observed at the club. There was a brown-haired boy sitting together with a pretty girl in a chair across from me, a blonde girl standing behind the redhead, and a middle-aged man with glasses sitting in a seat behind my head to the other side of the couch; he definitely hadn't been at the club. "Who are you people?" I continued, attempting to sit up on the couch.

"I'd be careful if I were you. You seem to, er, have a minor concussion and some serious rib bruising." The middle-aged man spoke, the accent reminding me of the man from the club.

"I'll be fine." I grumbled, continuing to sit myself up. I had been known to heal "inhumanly fast", so some bruising shouldn't be a problem, it was the concussion I was concerned about. "Where did you find me? And why did you bring me here?" There was a short silence before the blonde woman spoke.

"We found you behind The Bronze all super beat up. You didn't have any real I.D. On you so we weren't sure if you had any family to call, or if you were in some illegal cult, so we brought you here." She explained and I nodded, amusement playing on my lips. The vamps wouldn't have just left me. They would've killed me. There was something she wasn't saying.

"And, uh, the vampires that were two seconds from eating me?" I asked. A ballsy move if none of them was my savior, and they actually had just found me. But based on the shocked expressions on all their faces, I figured I was right in my assumptions.

"You know?" The redhead asked in almost a whisper as if it were a secret we were keeping from the rest of the world that I knew of the existence of vampires.

"Yeah, what I'm trying to figure out is how you all know." I spoke, and everyone turned to the blonde woman who had yet to take a seat. She took a deep breath, clearly about to drop some crazy amount of information on me that I would need to prepare myself for, but the words that came out of her mouth next did nothing to add up to my expectations.

"I'm the Slayer." She said and I nodded along as if I understood.

"And I'm the pope. What the hell is a slayer?"

"I'm sorry, how do you know about vampires, but you don't know what a Slayer is?" The boy in the chair with the pretty girl asked, making all sorts of overwhelming hand gestures.

"Well, that's rather easy to explain, I find and I kill them." I explained, moving to stand from the couch. Fortunately, my time unconscious had simmered down my need to change for now, but I still needed to get back to the hotel sooner rather than later. "I need to make a phone call." I said, my legs wobbling slightly under my weight.

"Yes, yes, of course. I'll show you to the phone." The man with glasses spoke, attempting to help me walk. I pulled away from him and looked up at him.

"Thanks, but I think I can manage." I shot him an uncomfortable smile, and after a moment, he nodded in understanding, proceeding to show me to the phone that hung on his wall right inside the kitchen. As soon as he headed back to the living room, I dialed Dad's number.

"Hello?" I heard after a few long rings and released a soft sigh of relief.

"Hey, Dad. It's me." I replied.

"Alex? Are you all right? How's the hunt going? Are you coming home?" The questions felt never-ending.

"The hunt's okay. I ran into a small hiccup so I may be gone longer than intended, but it's nothing to worry about." I explained to him, but I could still feel the concern radiating through the line.

"That's it. I'm coming to get you. Stay right where you are." He said, to which I released a small laugh, which sent a shooting pain through my ribs.

"Dad, seriously, I'm fine. Everything's fine. Don't come for me. I'll be home by the end of the week." I continued. After a short silence, I heard his sigh of defeat.

"Just... Be careful. Please." As much shit as I gave him, I really loved my Dad, and I knew he worried about me just as much as I worried about him every time I left on a hunt. I was sure he could defend himself against normal people, but I was afraid he wouldn't stand a chance against a vampire.

"I will. I'll see you soon." I spoke, pressing the handset onto the phone base to hang up the call with a sigh. It had been a while since Dad and I actually said I love you to each other. The words felt foreign. Like they were in my throat, yet unable to escape.

I hobbled my way back into the living room, looking at the group who had clearly listened in on my conversation and were not attempting to pretend like they heard nothing.

"So..." they're heads turned to look at me.

"Ah, you! Didn't see you there!" The brown-haired boy exclaimed. I nodded with a thin smile.

"So," I went to continue my initial sentence, "Who are you guys?" I asked. The blonde stepped up, leaving me to believe she was the leader of the group. Interesting. I could see us butting heads if we ever met again in the future, and she'd barely spoken a word.

"I'm Buffy. These are my friends." She gestured to the group, "Willow," the redhead, "Xander and Anya," the couple, "And Giles." The man with glasses. I nodded at them.

"What's your name?" Willow asked, seemingly truly interested in knowing about me. Perhaps due to this being the first time they'd met a hunter.

"Alex." I replied simply, just before a pain shot through my eyes and I couldn't help but bend over, grabbing at my face in agony with a groan. "Ah, shit." I muttered, knowing I needed to leave. My body was beginning to hate me.

"Hey, you okay there, buddy?" Xander asked as I straightened back up, rubbing my eyes gently with a nod.

"Yeah. If you'll excuse me, I have to leave now." I responded, turning to the door that was directly behind the couch just about ten feet away. I assumed that was the door to leave through. I could tell they thought leaving was a bad idea as they bumbled about me staying, but I had no choice. I'd already put off changing too long, and I was going to pay the consequences for it any second now.

I'd never known what I truly was, and neither had Dad. All I could think is that whatever my species was had descended from Mom's side, and she'd never had the opportunity to tell me about it. I could never find anything that matched my description in my research, and after a certain point, I stopped looking and just learned to cope.

Back in the hotel, I removed my contacts that had begun to fold, tossing them out as I glared into my own purple irises in the mirror, gold flecks dancing around the edges. The pain eased as small fangs, not unlike but not exactly similar to vampire fangs, emerged from my canines, and the tips of my ears outstretched past my shoulder-length raven hair. I looked down at my fingertips which were slowly turning a deep pale purple, though the rest of my body never would, as the black talons escaped the nails.

The moment I began to develop this new part of myself was the moment I learned of my abilities. Speed and jumping were never easier, though lifting weights still felt as human as ever. Still, I never struggled in gym class.

It'd been a long time since a civilian saw my true self, Dad and I had made many precautions to make sure it was never released and would never happen again. Strict curfews, "alone times", hell, even meal plans just in case I ate something that would bring about the changes. This form controlled my life and I had no idea what it was. At least my luck hadn't run out.

Not yet.

☥

"I'm a bitch, I'm a lover
I'm a child, I'm a mother
I'm a sinner, I'm a saint
I do not feel ashamed
I'm your hell, I'm your dream
I'm nothing in between
You know you wouldn't want it any other way"

-Meredith Brooks