by Mace

The following day, Giles was examining the Codex for the Slayer's horoscope. He took his glasses off and rubbed the bridge of his nose. As he examined the next page, he jumped from his chair and ran to the phone.

"Hello, Willow, this is Giles . . ."

Oz, Cordelia, Willow, and Xander ran through the doors. Giles approached them.

"What's wrong?" Willow asked.

"It would, would seem that . . ." Giles hesitated.

"Spill it!" Xander hissed.

"It's time for the uh . . . execution of a rather powerful being. This person . . . Oxeryxious . . . holds the Slayers' powers. Buffy may lose her Slayer powers if Omeryxious dies," Giles said. "There is no way around the execution of her."

"If Buffy tries to slay and she doesn't know . . ." Cordelia began.

"Are we sure Buffy will lose her powers?" Oz asked sensibly.

"Xander, go get Buffy," Willow commanded.

"I'm gone," Xander said as he ran out the library.

Buffy looked over to Angel's desk and noticed the black, leather-bound book. She opened it and began reading.

"Shape shifting: used to both impersonate mystical creatures and simulate their life signatures and powers. Also used to change the outer appearance of the physical body to another form. Spell of Impersonation: I ask that my body be changed from that of mortality to . . .

"I wouldn't finish that spell unless you know how to control shape-shifting. You could spend the rest of your life as a rock or a pig," Whistler said.

Buffy whirled around when she heard Whistler's voice. She slammed the book shut and set it back on the desk. Whistler surveyed the room.

"Angel had no sense of color. Too dark and brooding," the flashy-clad demon said.

"What do you want?" Buffy asked impatiently.

"I was looking for you. You're a hard chick to find. Have you been practicing with invisibility or something?" Whistler asked sarcastically.

"Is that a spell book? I didn't think Angel knew anything about magic. He didn't say anything about it," Buffy said.

"It's not exactly his, nor was that exactly magic. I'm really becoming quite fond of you. [Gets a look from Buffy] Don't get me wrong. It's just I've never seen a Slayer accomplish so much in just a few years," Whistler commented.

"I'm sure the other Slayers didn't live on the Hellmouth," Buffy replied.

"You Slayers are nearly always the same. Either down on yourself or overly impressed with your accomplishments," Whistler observed.

"Sorry if I don't feel like celebrating after what happened. My mom told me not to come back, my ex-boyfriend was torturing my Watcher, and the cops are still after me because they think I killed Kendra," Buffy said.

Whistler turned around and Bex walked in the door. He looked at her for a moment and turns back to Buffy.

"Buffy, may I introduce you to Bex," Whistler said.

"We've met. So, your name is Bex? Unusual," Buffy said.

"Excuse me, *Buffy* the vampire Slayer," Bex retorted.

Xander barged through the door. He bumped right into Bex and pushed her into Whistler. Whistler and Bex fell to the floor. Bex stood quickly and vamped out. Xander jumped back.

"Xander, what's going on?" Buffy asked.

Xander noticed that the shade was up and sunlight was streaming on Bex's face. Bex glared at him for a second and turned to Buffy.

"You are a vampire," she pauses, "aren't you?!" Buffy acused.

"According to vampires as you know them, no. But Angel wasn't the only vampire in the world with a soul," Bex replied cryptically.

Bex returned to normal. Xander looked at Bex, Whistler, and Buffy.

"Giles said something about the execution of someone called 'Omeryxious' and the possibility that you could lose your Slayer powers," Xander said to Buffy.

"I don't know why people are always assuming a Slayer is going to lose her power. That's so . . . cliché. And you're too late anyway, Omeryxious has already been executed. Take me to your Watcher," Bex said to Buffy.

Giles saw Buffy almost immediately when she walked in. Bex and Whistler followed her. Willow glared again at Xander, and he cut his eyes in shame.

"Giles, this is Bex and Whistler. Whistler is a demon, a good demon. Don't ask me *what* Bex is," Buffy said.

Whistler snickered.

"Hello, Mr. Giles. I brought you a Slayer. I wanted to put you at ease about your Slayer, to fulfill a prophesy, and to congratulate you on the most creative hideout for Slayer Central. A library over a Hellmouth is rather creative," Bex said nonchalantly.

"I'm gonna have to remember that. This *is* a library," Cordelia said to herself.

Bex turned around suddenly just before the doors closed. Snyder stood in the doorway.

"Summers!? I'm calling the police. Don't you move," Snyder commanded.

<> "Um . . . Excuse me," Bex said.

Snyder turned abruptly.

"Wh- what are you doing here?" Snyder stuttered.

"Since when did they start letting you guys out of the slime? Shouldn't you be someplace else?" Whistler asked, not bothering to contain his extreme loathing.

"I'm the principal here!" Snyder declared indignantly.

"You're fixing to be a headless principal," Bex hissed.

"I had a feeling Summers and her pals were mixed up with your kind . . ." Snyder said.

"I beg your pardon?" Giles asked.

"You owe her a lot, Snyder. She just saved the world a few weeks ago, and believe me when I say you've got no idea who you've been hassling," Whistler said.

"So, you made them one of you, huh, Bex?" Snyder asked.

"Actually, she's the Slayer. I don't make more of my own. I'd have to have people using my power to control them," Bex responded.

"Slayer, as in demon Slayer?" Snyder asked. <>

"Slayer as in vampire Slayer. However, I'm sure that extends out to trolls," Bex said almost evilly.

"*Trolls*? I was right?" Buffy asked.

"It's time, Buffy. I really, really need to get home," Bex said.

"You said you didn't have anything else to lose. You were dead wrong. You have you're life. You lose your life, and we all go to Hell anyway," Whistler said mysteriously. He turned to Bex. "Are you sure here, now? What if she isn't ready?"

"Isn't ready for what?" Giles asked.

"It's her? All this time it's been her? It can't be her! I thought it was Angelus's job!" Snyder said.

"Yeah, Snyder, it's her. Angelus is in Hell right now, so the chore get's passed onto the vampire Slayer. I know that Buffy will do it," Bex said. "It's time."

Joyce came running through the door. Bex turned around quickly and shivered. ((DON'T YOU WONDER WHY??? HINT! HINT!!!)) Joyce looked right at Bex. Bex picked Kendra's duffel bag up that had the sword blessed by the knight in it and tossed it to Buffy. Buffy wasn't quite sure what to do with it. Bex snapped her fingers and a sword similar to Buffy's appeared in her hands. Bex drew it on Buffy. Whistler stood back.

"What are you doing?" Buffy asked.

Bex didn't answer. She struck and Buffy, and Buffy parried it off. Buffy made a long arc, and Bex parried it. Bex vamped out. Buffy jumped out of the way. Bex struck twice, but Buffy was still on the defense. Bex was growing tired of the way it was going. She grabbed Joyce by the throat.

"Buffy . . . ! What is going on here?" Joyce asked.

"Do you want me to kill her?" Bex asked.

"No! Why are you doing this?" Buffy asked.

Bex didn't respond. She raked her finger nails over Joyce's throat. Joyce gasped and pulled her hands to her throat. Whistler was taken aback by Bex's action, but didn't make any move to stop her. Bex tossed Joyce aside and put the sword in Buffy's face, playing on the memories of her fight with Angelus.

Buffy jumped back away and onto a table. Bex pushed the table acroos the floor and into Xander. Xander jumped over the table and rolled to the ground. Buffy raised the sword to Bex's throat. Bex tried(?) To push the sword away, but Buffy pushed it deep into her chest. Bex looked down in *pleased* surprised. Buffy looked totally lost and bewildered.

"I'm sorry! Why did you do that?" Buffy asked in a whisper.

"I had to die. It was a long time ago that several demons cursed me to remain on this earth a vampire. I have to go do my job now. Unfortunately for your principal, he's on the top of my list," Bex said.

Bex pulled the sword out of her chest and beheaded Snyder. Whistler grabbed her by the arm. They smiled at each other. Bex looked over at Buffy and began to fade out of synch with the world.

"I owe you, vampire Slayer. And that's not something to take lightly." She slipped the purple-balled, silver ring off her left, middle finger and tossed it to Buffy. "Learn to use it."

Finally Bex disappeared. One single drop of blood fell to the floor. Buffy looked down at her mother. Joyce sat up and pulled her hand from her throat. There was blood on her hand, but her throat bore not a mark. Snyder's body had also disappeared.

Buffy looked at Whistler.

"You seem to know what is going on. Why just happened?" Buffy asked confusedly.

"A couple of centuries ago, Bex trained the knight that slew Acathla. That displeased several rather powerful demons and Omeryxious. Omeryxious and the demons decided to make it Angel's job to kill Bex several centuries later in front of mortal witnesses. When Angel got sent to Hell, it automatically got passed on to the vampire Slayers, whichever Bex wanted to kill her," Whistler answered.

"Okay, so I was supposed to kill Bex in place of Angel. That doesn't explain why Angel had to kill her in the first place," Buffy said.

"Angel and Bex were friends. Omeryxious knew that Angel would have a difficult time killing his friend, and Bex wouldn't have been able to tell him why he had to kill her," Whistler responded.

"Of course, her name isn't Bex, B-E-X! She was B-Y-X-E. The demons gave her the body of a vampire and tried to take her soul. She was supposed to be more evil than any vampire before her," Giles said, not fully understanding the plot.

"She was *supposed* to be. Bex had enough power to keep her soul, walk in the daylight, and wear a cross. She just had to drink blood and couldn't leave the Outer Realm until she was slain. Bex changed her name from 'Byxe' to Bex because Omeryxious had ruined her name before she ever even visited the Outer Realm. [Everyone shot Whistler a confused look.] You know, here. Inner Realms are Hell, the Realm of Darkness, Infinity, Eternity, and Immortality," Whistler said.

"So Buffy had to fight her with a sword! You people are insane! She just killed the principal!" Joyce declared.

"Now that she's dead, she can go back to the Realm of Darkness where the demons dwell. She can do her job," Whistler replied.

"What would that be?" Giles asked.

"She's a demon Slayer," Whistler replied.

"But wasn't Omeryxious Byxe's father?" Giles asked.

"What?!" Buffy asked.

"Mother actually. Omeryxious was insanely jealous of Bex. Bex was a demon Slayer, but her father was one-half vampire. Bex was the ultimate embarrassment, so Omeryxious made Bex *all* vampire," Whistler said.

"That's . . . harsh," Oz commented.

"Yeah, sorry about the mess," Whistler said as he looked around the room.

Buffy was dressed smartly. She was wearing Bex's ring. She looked at it, and it began to glow purple.

"We the jury, find the defendant, Buffy Summers," (Buffy looked up) "not guilty," the foreman said, smiling at the Slayer.

Buffy's eyes went wide. She looked at the jury and smiled. Happy-tears flowed from her eyes. She turned around and hugged her mother. Buffy's friends, some people from school, and even a few teachers cheered. The judge banged his gavel.

"Court is dismissed," the judge said.

Whistler went over to Buffy and looked at her. Buffy hugged him, and he hugged her back awkwardly. He smiled at his favorite Slayer.

Several people congratulated Buffy with their eyes. Even more were whispering. It didn't even faze her. She walked to the new principal's office.

"Hello, Miss Summers, what can I do for you?" Principal Crenshaw asked.

"I wanted to thank you for allowing me to finish my exams so I could pass. It really means a lot to me," Buffy said.

"No problem. I think you're a good kid, you've just had some problems in the past. Everyone deserves a chance. I did go over the ex-principal's computer. It would seem he didn't like you very much. I think you'll have a much better time this year," he said.

"Thank you," Buffy said as she turned to leave.

"By the way, [Buffy stops] Bex says to stay out of trouble," Crenshaw said.

Buffy didn't respond. She walked out the door with a smile on her face.

Buffy set her books on the table.

"Hello, Buffy, you will be here for training this afternoon?" Giles asked in his no-nonsense way.

"I wanted to ask you a question about something," Buffy said, her mind on other things.

"I'll see what I can do to answer you."

"What would it take for someone to get into limbo?" Buffy asked, figuring she might as well spell it out.

"The game?" Giles asked, making a feeble attempt at humor.

"No, the place between Heaven and Hell," Buffy said, grinning.

"Well, unfinished business, perhaps. Conflicting events in which one neither deserves to spend eternity in purgatory nor cause to stay in paradise. It's not really been defined. Why?" Giles asked, wondering at her un-Buffy-like question.

"Is there anyway to pull someone out of limbo?" Buffy asked.

"Uhhh. . . well . . . blaspheming against God would probably be cause to get sent to Hell," Giles answered.

"I mean like back to Earth."

"I don't really know. Why the sudden interest?" Giles asked.

"No reason. Just had a spasm of curiosity. It's gone now. I gotta go to class. See ya, Giles," Buffy said.

Angel looked into the pool of water and saw Buffy walking out of the library. He touched the reflection of her shoulder.

"I love you," Angel whispers.

Buffy turned around, but no one was behind her. She felt her shoulder for a second and continued walking. Her expression had changed from that of strain and confusion to ill-concealed happiness. Buffy turned in the hall again.

"I love you, Angel," Buffy whispered to the empty hall.

A tear fell from Angel's face into the pool. Buffy spotted her class and walked in. A small pool of water lied on the floor.

Do you want to read more of this series? Go here.

I WOULD REALLY LIKE SOME FEED BACK. THE SEQUEL HAS ALREADY BEEN WRITTEN, SO IT'S COMING SOON.

E-MAIL ME AT mace@digitechs.com .

Go here for more of Mace's stories.