3rd Person's POV

Buffy makes her way cautiously, looking about her. She senses a lurking presence, but the shadows give up nothing. She reaches the iron door on the other side. Tires it. It's locked. She stops, letting out a long breath.

"I don't suppose you've got a key on you?"

A man steps from the shadows, a smile in his eyes.

"They really don't like me dropping in."

Buffy frowns, "Why not?"

"They really don't like me."

"How could that possibly be?" She says in a sarcastic tone.

"I knew you'd figure out this entryway sooner or later. Actually, I thought it was gonna be a little sooner."

"I'm sorry you had to wait. Look, if you're gonna be popping up with this cryptic wise man act on a regular basis, can you at least tell me your-"

Buffy is cut off by the mausoleum door opening.

"Buffy?"

Laney walks through the door then smiles when she sees Buffy in front of her.

"Oh hey."

"Hey? Laney what are you doing here?" Buffy glares as she crosses her arms across her chest.

"I got bored." Laney says pouting.

She looks over and sees the man Buffy had been talking to and smirks.

"Ohhhh who is this?"

Buffy sighs, "Um I actually don't know."

"Angel." The man says looking at Laney with a hint of interest.

"Angel... that's a pretty name."

"Thanks."

Laney smiles looking at Angel. She thought he was a nice looking guy. Not her type per say but if she wanted a night of fun... he would do.

Buffy frowns as she sees lust in Laney's eyes, "Welp we gotta go. Vampires to kill, friends to save..."

She pulls Laney's arm tightly, dragging her to the gate.

"Don't go down there."

"Deal with our going." Buffy rolls her eyes.

"You shouldn't be putting yourself at risk. Tonight is the Harvest. Unless you can prevent it, the Master walks."

"If this Harvest thing is such a suckfest, why don't you stop it?"

"Because I'm afraid."

Buffy scoffs as Laney frowns at her.

"That's not a bad answer Buffy."

She looks at him a moment then kicks the door open.

"They'll be expecting you."

"I've got a friend down there -- or, a potential friend." She says jokingly, "Do you know what it's like to have a friend?"

He doesn't answer.

"That wasn't supposed to be a stumper."

"Yikes this is getting real awkward, real fast." Laney says as she messes with her ring.

Angel glances between the two girls then sighs, "When you hit the tunnels, head east, toward the school. That's where you're likely to find them."

"You gonna wish us luck?" Laney smiles looking at Angel expecting him to reply, but he doesn't.

"Ugh come on." Buffy groans as she pulls Laney through the gate leaving Angel to himself.

He stands there, not moving. Quiet concern on his face.

"Good luck."

Buffy climbs down a ladder, Laney slowly follows after her. The two walk deeper into the dark tunnel as rats scurry over their feet.

Buffy doesn't flinch but Laney jumps and screeches. Buffy quietly chuckles while watching Laney try to kick a rat away from her. As they turn a corner, Buffy hears something and spins around looking down another tunnel.

Laney turns around and screams as she bumps into a body.

"Did you see anything?"

Buffy runs over and punches the person's arm.

"Xander! What are you doing here?"

"Something stupid. I followed you. I couldn't just sit around not doing anything."

"I understand. Now go away."

"Jesse's my bud, okay? If I can help him, then that's what I gotta do. And how come she gets to come." He points at Laney who sticks her tongue out at him.

"Because I already killed one. My one to your zero loser."

"You know what-"

"Oh make out already. You guys are literally so annoying. The sexual tension is over the roof."

"Sexual tension?" The two say at the same time glancing at each other.

Laney frowns looking at Xander.

Sure she thought he was cute but nah.

"Yeah you argue like an old married couple." Buffy says as she walks away from the two.

Laney looks Xander up and down and he frowns doing the same to her.

"Never in a million years."

"Oh come on I'm not that bad."

"Oh please you're all flab and no ab." Laney pokes his stomach jokingly then frowns as she feels rock hard abs.

She lifts his shirt slightly and raises an eyebrow looking down at his abdomen.

"Wow well for once I was wrong. Nice... hmm maybe."

Laney walks away. Xander feels his cheeks heat up as he quickly follows after her.

"Wait maybe? What do you mean maybe? You mean like I have a chance. Maybe one in a hundred. One in a thousand."

"Mmm more like one in a million."

Xander stops then smiles, "So what you're saying is, I definitely have a chance."

Ding ding.

Buffy glares at Laney as her phone chimes. Laney smiles sheepishly as she pulls it out and gasps.

"What?" Buffy says waiting for her to reveal bad news from Giles or Willow.

"Cordelia just texted me and said the teacher is looking for me. If I don't show up in the next twenty minutes I'm dead. And not by the teacher. By my mom."

"Oh yeah I forgot you're Willow's sister. How does it feel have a genius as a sister?" Xander teases.

Laney glares at him so deadly he flinches away and stands behind Buffy.

"It's awful. She's always getting praised. Mom even made her a deal... if she helps me get an A in algebra she'll get a car. How rude... I want a car."

Laney ignores the faces the two make as she blabbers on and on, "And don't even get me started on-"

"Please... stop talking." Buffy says with wide eyes staring at the girl.

"Fine. Ugh I've gotta go. My mom is seriously gonna freak. You two seem like you can handle it. Bye."

Buffy and Xander watch as Laney disappears from sight; back the way they came in.

"She's a strange creature."

Xander nods and the two carry on down the tunnel. The banter quotient has plummeted-- they're both fairly tense.

Buffy looks around, brow furrowed, "They're close"

"How can you tell?"

Buffy points at the empty ground, "No rats."

Xander doesn't love that information, but he says nothing. Still they progress, until...

"Over there. What's that?"

Xander indicates a small, dark side-chamber. Nothing can be seen past the first few inches. They come up to it. Xander pulls out his flashlight, shines it. A beam of light finds a body, lying face down.

"Jesse..."

"Oh, no..."Buffy starts forward, Xander keeping the light on her.

She goes over to the body, reaches out and Jesse jumps up, brandishing a pipe. He's about to slam her with it when Xander calls out.

"Jesse!"

Jesse stops and looks over amazed, "Xander?"

He drops the pipe and the two friends hug. Xander pulls away, looking him over.

"Jesse, man, are you okay?"

"I'm not okay on an epic scale. We gotta get out
of here!"

He indicates his leg that had been chained to the wall.

"It's cool! Buffy's a superhero!"

As if on cue, Buffy takes the pipe he dropped and smashes the look on his shackles. It's not a quiet operation.

Xander frowns, "You think anybody heard that?"

A few black shapes move in the shadows, hearing it.

"They knew you were gonna come. They said that I-I was the bait..."

Xander looks over at Jesse with a blank stare, "Oh, now you tell us."

"I've seen their leader."

The look in his eyes describes their leader in detail. Buffy leads the two boys back through the tunnel then she stops.

Shadows move at the other end.

"Oops." She smiles sheepishly.

"Oh, no, no..." Jesse paces around panicked.

"Do you know another way out?"

"I don't, uh, maybe?"

They truck out the other way. Eyes gleam in the dark. Whispered laughs drift at them. They turn back and pause at a fork.

"Wait, wait. They brought me through here! There's a way up. I hope."

They run in a subterranean room, vampires approaching slowly behind them. Looking around, horror grows on their faces. There is no door. There is no exit. Buffy and Xander look about them, frantically.

"I don't think this is the way out."

Buffy goes back to the doorway they came in, listens for the approaching vampires.

"We can't fight our way back through those
things... what do we do?"

"I've got an idea..."

Jesse stands right behind Xander. His visage grotesque, his smile icy. He's a vampire.

"You can die."