Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all characters are copyright and

Trademarks of WB, David Greenwalt, Joss Whedon, 20th Century Fox, and

Others. Please do not plagiarize or anything. LOVE YA

I stepped in mud. How? I stood in a forest in West Virginia. West frickin Virginia! Like I belonged in West Virginia. And add a forest onto that and you have a little piece of Hell. Why am I in this tiny wooded area?

"I'm glad you came." Graham smiled, "It's been a while."

And here's the reason.

"It's great to see you." I said quickly.

We just stared for a minute.

"So, uhm, there's this family of demons living in the forest. They've been taking hikers and adventurists."

"And what have they been doing with them?" I asked.

"They've been eating them." Graham said.

"Eww."

"There's also been sightings of large wolves." Graham said, bringing me back into reality, "This family is the thing we're worried about. At first we thought they were deformed humans, but now we know they're demons."

"Why don't you just take them out?" I asked.

"They're demons and we don't know how many are out there. They're expert shots with crossbows and bow and arrows. They have sharp weapons..."

"So basically you want me to put my life on the line and not yours." I asked.

"We need some slayer power." Graham said.

"Don't we all." I said.

"You're the only slayer I can get a hold of." Graham said.

"So, I was after your last resource?" I frowned.

"Army's not exactly pro-slayer these days." Graham said, "You can understand."

"No, I really don't." I sneered.

"Yeah, well..." Graham said, "I'll be there with you."

"You'll just get in the way." I frowned, "I'll go it alone."

-           

"Why do I always volunteer for these types of things?" I asked myself, walking through the forest, "I don't even like the forest! That's my non thing. I don't do kids, windows, and heavily wooded areas." I stopped at a branch cracking. I brought my foot up at eye level with Graham, "Thought I said I work alone."

"I thought you were just being a jerk." Graham smiled.

"Listen, if I say duck, duck. If I say run, run. Got it?" I asked.

"I don't do tricks." Graham said quickly, "I'm not a dog."

"Could have fooled me." I said, walking further.

"Very funny." Graham said, walking with me, "So, you're doing okay?"

"I'm in the woods alone with my ex. Do I seem at all okay?" I asked.

Graham scoffed, "Your life could be worse than hiking with me." He said.

"Vampires are public knowledge and it's not like True Blood, with the sex and yummy vampire blood. This is like Grr Argh and it's really tough." I frowned, "So, you can see why I don't exactly understand why the army is against us. We've been saving your asses since before you really had asses."

"And we thank you."

"Did it ever occur to the army that working with demons was...I don't know, insidious?" I said, "Can't be too surprised."

"Hey, I'm with you. Evil is evil, but the higher ups think that thousands of slayers is the bigger risk." Graham explained.

"Always the dutiful soldier." I said, "Never making any waves, never doing anything that isn't G.I."

"Hey! I'm not going to take too much more of your abuse." Graham said.

Before I could reply, an arrow hit the tree and another flew at my face! I caught it just before it got to my face and split it in two.

"Okay, that's annoying." I joked.

"Get down!" Graham said, tackling me into the mud.

"I'm so going to kill you." I frowned.

He smiled, "You might want to save that for the demons." He said, looking around.

"Oh, right." I groaned, standing. I dodged another arrow. A guy ran up to me with an ax and attempted to kill me...very violently, I might add. I dodged it and grabbed the ax, "You shouldn't play with sharp things."

The deformed man looked at me sideways.

"You know, things that go slice...sticky-sticky stab stab!" I said. I then sighed, "I miss vampires. I'm begging for an Edward Cullen right about now."

"Yuh?" it said, "Yuh!"

I side-kicked him, "Gonna need a little more." I frowned.

"Austin." Graham said, walking over to us, "We can question him."

I looked to Graham, "Didn't you just hear the gurble that slipped from his mouth?" I asked.

"Death." It said.

"You understand that?" Graham smirked.

"A little too well." I said, "Kind of creepy."

The deformity kicked me in the gut, causing me to stagger back. He attacked Graham, taking him down immediately! I grabbed the axe as I watched him run. I tossed the axe through the air and it stuck into its back! I walked over and pulled out the axe.

"Is it alive?" Graham asked, staggering over to us.

"I think so." I said, "Are you sure these guys are demons?"

Graham took out a walkie talkie and began to speak, "We need a squad about two hundred clicks into the Northern sector." He said quickly.

-           

"What'd he say?" I asked as Graham walked out of the tents that were set up. The team had come and took the deformed guy back to camp, where we discovered that he was a she, "I mean, she."

"They're a family." Graham explained. He walked with two other soldiers, one black and the other white. They looked at me oddly, as if they were trying to decide if I was a good person or not, "She's lil sis."

"What do you mean a family?" I asked. Graham kept walking so I grabbed his arm and turned him toward me, "I asked you a question, back at the clicks...remember, I asked you were these things demons! Are they demons?"

"It turns out that they're not demons." Graham sighed.

"Were they ever?" I asked angrily.

"I really didn't know." Graham said.

"But the higher ups, they did, didn't they?" I asked, "Do they even know I'm here?"

Graham sighed again, "They knew." He said.

"And you just let them..."

"I can't let them do anything. They're my superiors." Graham said, "The important piece of information that we have now is that she's just the little sister."

"I'm outta here." I said, turning.

"I asked for your help." Graham said, disappointed.

"And I said okay," I said, "But that was before you lied."

"I didn't...I didn't lie." Graham said.

I sucked my teeth, "They're going to come for her." I said, "They're probably going to be pissed." I conceded.

"It's going to be dark soon. An hour or so, you should come with me, I'll show you where you'll be sleeping." Graham insisted.

There was a distant howl.

"Are there wolves out here?" I asked.

"No."

-           

I sat in my tent, cursing Graham and the Jonas Brothers. You know they're that type of cute that's cute, but mildly annoying. I mean, you just know one or more of them is gay, but you can't prove it. How annoying is that! And then there was my soldier ex, who needed to be less of a soldier and more of a human. I mean, I was all for the army before they started trying to kill all Slayers, but this is...it's...a lie. They were humans, mutated or not. The only thing that makes this right is that they are cannibals. And I suspected that these `wolves' weren't real wolves, not the animal variety. Just another lie, I guess. Suddenly, I heard the rush of yells and war noises. The zipper on my tent unzipped and Graham's face came into view, as did his hand.

"Come on, we've got to go!" Graham asked, tugging me out.

I looked around as the soldiers scrambled to fight the werewolves! There were like two or three! It was chaos. Graham had a hold of my hand and he wasn't letting go. He pulled me along behind some shrubs.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"The mutants have pets."

"When I asked you before about the wolves..." I asked.

"I didn't know." Graham said.

"You never seem to know." I frowned.

"We need to get to little sis." Graham said, "The family'll go for her."

"Let's go." I said. As we made our way to the big tent, I couldn't shake the feeling that we were being watched.

"So, are you seeing anybody?" Graham asked.

I looked at him, "Not the time." I said.

"If we're going to get mauled by werewolves, I think it might just be the best time." Graham said.

"Speak for yourself." I frowned, "I'm pretty much going to kick some furry ass."

We stopped just a few steps away from the tent when a werewolf pounced down in front it.

"What are we going to do?" I asked.

"I thought you were going to kick furry ass." Graham smiled, pointing his gun at them.

"No!" I said, pushing his gun away, "They're still people."

"No, they're not." Graham said, "They..."

"Oz." I said quickly.

"Fine." He said, holstering his gun, "So, how do we get past Fido?"

"We go through him." I said quickly.

We stopped at the tent. A nearby branch snapped. Graham turned to me, about to speak when an arrow flew through the air and right through Graham's shoulder! He fell to the ground, panting wildly as I quickly made my way to him. Without speaking, I dragged him into the tent where there were two guards laying on the ground. I looked around to where lil sis should have been and paused when my eyes landed on the now untied lil sis, who stood with two huge figures. Upon closer gaze, they were two huge, mutated people. Lil sis began panting wildly as she pointed to me.

"Oh fu..." I said, dodging arrows while still dragging Graham. The figures flanked me while the other their sister readied her crossbow. I easily dodged their lumbering attacks and appeared in between them. As the sister shot her crossbow, I pulled on of the figures in my path and the arrow slid right into him! I threw him to the ground, elbow the other brother in the jaw! A crossbow clicked and I stopped. I looked at her as she aimed. Before she could pull the trigger, a shot was heard and her blood splattered everywhere as she fell to the ground! Her brother began screaming wildly as I slid a knife from my sleeve and plunged it in his neck!

"You work...alone." Graham smiled.

"Thanks." I smiled.

-           

I stood, watching them stitch up all the wounded. The werewolves had been neutralized and the rest of the family was rounded up. This little skirmish is over and I lived through it. I watched Graham get stitched up and smiled as he gingerly made his way over to me. He smiled weakly. Everyone was moving fast and there was shouting. I had noticed someone briefing him before so I figured that he had another mission right away.

"Good work." Graham said, "Because of you, we neutralized this family's activities."

I nodded, "You helped." I chuckled, "So, you're on the move again."

Graham nodded grimly, "Sunnydale." He said.

"What? Sunnydale is..."

"Under attack. Something called the Seed of Wonder is there and every magical creature wants it, which means that we need it." Graham said, "You should come with us."

"I'm not seeing anyone." I said quickly.

"What?" Graham asked.

"You asked me in the woods. I'm not. I haven't seen anyone, including friends, in months." I said, "I need to make sure they're okay first. And if there's going to be a battle at Sunnydale, I need to be there."

Graham nodded, "It was good fighting with you again. I wish..."

"I know." I said sadly, "You'd better go soldier boy."

Graham smiled and nodded walking into the distance to one of the helicopters. He waved again before boarding and I watched as the copter took off into the air, heading to California.

- - - - - - - - - -

Thank you for reading.