A World of Their Own

Part 11

Trisha rolled her eyes as the car passed the 'Welcome to Sunnydale' sign. She was not looking forward to living in this town. From what she had been told, the witches who worked for the previous slayer were still in control of the town. She would have to rectify that immediately; she was the slayer and the town was now hers.

As her watcher drove her through town, he pointed out the highlights. The school - where the hellmouth itself sat waiting to be opened, the Magic Box - where reportedly the witches both worked, Willy's bar - the best place to get information if you had the balls to go in there, and the numerous cemeteries. There were a lot of cemeteries for such a small town.

"This place feels evil, it's almost like it's in the air itself." Trisha shuddered and rolled up her window. John - her watcher, silently agreed. He wasn't any happier with this assignment than she was. He hated leaving London, and to end up here, in the States... well, it wasn't pleasant. The only thing that made this situation tolerable was Trisha herself. She had proven the theory that slayers had certain... appetites that needed to be fulfilled.

John remembered the events of the last few days; he was surprised he could stand, he was so worn out. He wondered if all slayers were as rough during sex as his Trisha was. If so, he could see why the previous one had taken a vampire for a lover - strength and stamina. He still found the thought disgusting, but at least now he could see the why of it.

"Trisha, this is the hellmouth, of course it feels evil. Why do you think the demons are drawn to this place? They can feel the power, the evil, the same way you can." John pulled the car into the driveway of the house that they would share. The council had made all the arrangements ahead of time, purchasing a home in Sunnydale and leasing an old karate school for the slayer to train in.

Inside the house they found the boxes that contained their personal belongings, as well as the books and other items that the council had sent. John sighed and began the tedious job of unpacking. After the energy he had expended the past few days he really just wanted to lay down and rest. He knew, however, that that wasn't in the cards. They needed to get the house set up and then start Trisha on a training and patrol schedule.

~!~

Willow stood at the front door of the apartment. After packing up Buffy's house, the girls had moved into Xander's apartment and taken over the lease. It was either that or move all his stuff into storage and let the apartment go. Seeing as they needed a place to live, and with the shop doing as well as it was, they could afford to live off-campus, so it made sense.

"Tara, hurry up. We need to get going if we're going to make the movie after patrol." Willow checked her watch again and wondered what was keeping her girlfriend.

"Hang on sweetie, I'm almost done." Tara finished pulling on her boot and stood up. She smoothed out her skirt and grabbed her bag. She wanted to look nice for Willow tonight; it was the first date they had been on in a long time. Sure they were going on patrol first but at least they were doing something couply afterward. Tara missed having fun with her lover; Willow had been so down since Xander disappeared.

Tara met Willow at the door and they headed out together. The nights in Sunnydale were never safe, but at least no one had noticed yet that the slayer was gone. If it weren’t for the Buffybot, things would be a lot worse.

The girls stopped by the shop to get the bot before they headed out to patrol the closest cemetery. Willow still had a hard time looking at the bot; it reminded her all too well of what she had lost. At least Dawn didn't have to see this; it would have been beyond cruel.

The bot toyed with the stake in her hand. "That's Spike's crypt, he's hot and I love him." She nodded her head and then smiled at her companions. Willow frowned and Tara smiled at her lover.

"I thought I had gotten rid of all the Spike worship." Tara put her arm around her girlfriend. "Don't worry, you'll get it eventually." Willow kissed Tara and smiled at her. "Thanks."

The bot continued to walk on ahead. She stopped and turned back to the two girls. "Where is my Spikey anyway? I mean, I know you don't really like him, but you should see him naked. I mean, really."

Willow groaned and Tara knew that there would be hours of Willow tinkering around with the bot's programs in the future. Well, at least it would keep her mind off Xander. "Come on sweetie, let’s just get this over with and go to the movie, okay?"

Willow nodded and they continued further into the graveyard. They heard a noise up ahead and rushed over to check it out. What they saw stopped them all in their tracks; even the bot looked confused.

"Willow, is that..." Tara motioned toward the girl who was fighting a vampire. Willow nodded and continued to watch. "I think so, I mean that man sure looks like Giles did back in high school. What with the tweed and the notebook and all."

The bot watched the fight and then commented. "She's a good fighter; maybe she would help us fight the demons." She started toward the fight and Willow pulled her back. "Not yet. Let her finish first then we'll introduce ourselves."

~!~

Willow was furious. She couldn't believe the way the new slayer had treated them. After everything they had done for this town. "Grrrr, how dare she! That snot-nosed little brat!" Willow slammed the apartment door behind her and Tara sighed. She wasn't happy about it either, but she was even more disappointed that their night out had been ruined. They never even made it to the movie.

"She's young; give her time to settle in here, I'm sure she'll come around." Tara wasn't so sure about that, but she wanted to get Willow relaxed and in a better mood. "After all, she has spent the last three months with the council listening to their side of things. It's no wonder she's acting that way."

Willow knew that Tara had a point but she was still angry. The fact that she had accused her of trying to control the hellmouth and become the new master of Sunnydale by using a replica of the dead slayer to keep the demons in line really pissed her off.

"She had no right to say that to me! I would never use Buffy that way. I wouldn't, I miss her so much." Tara was across the room and pulling her lover into her arms as fast as she could.

"Shh, I know love. I miss her too. I miss all of them. But you can't let her bring you to this. We have to be strong if we're going to save Xander and Spike." Tara continued to hold Willow as she led her to the sofa to sit down. "We'll give her a few weeks to get used to things here and then we'll try again, okay? In the meantime it gives us a break from the slaying, and we can search harder for a spell."

Willow snuggled into Tara's embrace and then lifted her face up for a kiss. Tara was happy to oblige her. "Thank you. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have you here. I've lost so much, my friends, my family. I love you, Tara."

"I love you too, come on let's go to bed." The young ladies made their way across the apartment to the bedroom.

~!~

True to their word, the two witches left the new slayer alone for the next three weeks to get used to the town. It hadn't helped her disposition any. Trisha was still rude, aggressive and unwilling to believe anything that didn't come from her watcher’s mouth.

John, who had the same training as Giles did, was a self-righteous prig. He knew that magic users were not all bad, that wiccans were peaceful and in no way a threat to the hellmouth. He knew a lot of other things about vampires and demons as well. Things that he wasn't sharing with his slayer, like the fact that Angel had a soul and works a s a champion for the Powers That Be.

Every time Willow tried to talk to Trisha about how she had helped Buffy, the other girl would start in on how Buffy was corrupted, sleeping with demons and cavorting with witches. How everyone she touched was tainted by her, sucked into her darkness. That even toy -oy - Xander - Willow assumed, had fallen prey and begun dating a vengeance demon. That he was likely sacrificed to Glorificus by his demon mate and the vampire.

Willow had had enough. She knew that wasn't true, that Anya had been devastated when Xander had gone. That it was all just an accident, that Spike had nothing to do with it. She told the girl that as well. That Spike had loved Buffy, and Dawn as well. That he would have sacrificed himself for either of them. That Xander felt the same way.

Trisha wasn't having any of it. As far as she was concerned, her watcher was right. Buffy had been corrupted by these witches; Mr. Giles as well. That they had likely bespelled her to act against her nature, bedding vampires and turning control of the town over to witches and demons.

Willow had finally snapped. She turned around and walked away from the smirking young girl and her watcher. Tara shook her head sadly and went to follow, but not before telling them that if they didn't open their eyes and take a good look at the shades of grey in between all the black and white they wouldn't survive this town, not for long. Then she hurried to catch up to her lover.