"Of course I know who he is. He's William the Bloody, duh." Buffy wondered if Angelus was an idiot. "Slayer of Slayers, actually, and a damned fine kisser."

"Do you kiss him often?" Lydia screeched. This wasn't going the way she had envisioned in her mind. They had expected a pretty scared Slayer to arrive in Sunnydale, afraid of all the unknown things that had happened to her over the last few years.

"As much as possible," Buffy answered cheekily.

"Why don't you introduce your friends?" Willow asked in a desperate tone. She groped for anything to divert everyone's attention away from the smoochie conversation going on.

"Sure thing," Buffy chirped. "You met Spike, Lawson, and Wesley last night." She indicated the men in the group. Then, she pointed to the women. "This is my mother Joyce, and the other woman is Dot Hill."

Oz stared at the pretty young woman that had just been introduced. His wolf clamored in recognition. Dot was a werewolf just like him. Oz took in the long black hair, the crystal clear blue eyes, and the petite figure. The male werewolf fell instantly in lust.

Willow felt a flash of jealousy when she saw the look of interest on Oz's face for the newcomer. She glanced at her girlfriend, and she hoped that Tara hadn't noticed the jolt of emotion she had so readily felt for her ex-boyfriend. Willow looked back at the other group of Slayer helpers. She had a sudden flash of irritation when she realized that these people were going to mess up their lives.

"Is Drusilla lurking around somewhere?" Angel sneered. He knew that Spike rarely strayed from the dark vampiress' side. He was tired of being the odd man out. He wanted to break up whatever there was between Spike and the other Slayer in a hurry.

"If you were any kind of Sire, Peaches," Spike snarled, "You'd know that Dru was dust almost a decade ago. She died in Prague of garlic poisoning."

Buffy laid a sympathetic hand on Spike's arm. She knew all about her mate's past, and how much he missed his Sire. She wasn't jealous though, because she was confident in Spike's love in her.

"Let's get down to business," Wesley commented. The get together was not going well, and he wanted to get away from this group as soon as possible. The reactions they'd already received warned him that relations with the old Slayer's group were not going to be good.

"My business is only with the Slayer," Angel said.

"As is mine," Lydia agreed. "I am your Watcher, Miss Summers, and I demand that you do as I tell you." She'd always been taught to be authoritative with Slayers. Slayers were supposed to take all orders from their Watchers as absolute. She needed to get control of the current situation and soon.

Spike chuckled. "You'll find that Buffy rarely does what she is told."

"She's always been that way," Joyce piped up. "Even before she was a Slayer."

After Lydia's litttle order, Buffy decided she'd wasted enough time with the old group. She turned to Spike, and she said, "You and Lawson go find the most powerful demon in Sunnydale. Kill it if it's evil. Negotiate with it if it's neutral or not entirely evil. Spread the word that there is a new Slayer in town. You know the routine."

"You can't do that," Lydia spluttered. "That's not how a Slayer works. Demons are to be killed, not spared."

"Why not?" Buffy turned to look at the older woman. "It's quite effective. We've used it before."

"We didn't do things that way before in Sunnydale," Giles commented diplomatically. "That's not to say that it's not a perfectly good way to operate." He quickly backpedaled when the new group gave him a stony glare.

"Thank you, Mr. Giles." Buffy smiled at the older Englishman. She hoped that the old Slayer's Watcher would be willing to help them. He would know more about the Hellmouth and be able to keep them from running into as much trouble. "Wesley and I will check out the hot spots that Oz showed us last night."

"I saw an art gallery with a 'For Sale' sign in the window a couple of streets over," Joyce said. "Dot can come with me to check it out."

"I'd be happy to go with you," Oz said. He smiled shyly at Dot. "Since you are new to town and all. I wouldn't want you to run into problems."

"Excellent," Joyce replied. She had seen how the young man had looked at her young charge. She kissed her daughter on the cheek. "I'll see you later, sweetie."

"Bye, Mom." Buffy smiled at her mother.

"I'll expect you and William over for breakfast," Joyce called over her shoulder as she herded the werewolves out the door.

"I'll meet up with you later, Slayer." Spike kissed Buffy on the lips. He motioned for Lawson to follow him, and together the two male vamps left the Magic Box.

"Come on, Wes. Let's go patrol. It was good meeting you all." Buffy nodded to the Scoobies. "We've got everything covered. You all can go back to a normal routine now. I'm sure you can use the break. Bye." The blond Slayer and her self-appointed Watcher left the store.

"She's not what we were expecting, was she?" Jesse said. He had been watching the whole proceedings in silence. He glanced over at Hope. "She's different than Faith."

"I don't like her," Angel growled.

"That's just because she isn't gonna fall for your shit any more than Faith did." Jesse gave the broody vampire a cool stare. "That's always good in my book."

"She dismissed us like we were normal everyday people," Willow said with a tinge of a whine in her voice.

"Maybe she was just being nice," Tara spoke softly. "She has her own group, and she took the burden off our shoulders for us."

"I need to call Mr. Travers about this." Lydia went to her purse, pulled out a cell phone, and disappeared into the back room.

"I think we should do as Buffy says." Hope looked at the others. "Maybe it's time for us to be normal for a change."

"I agree with Hope." Jesse nodded. "We can take time to grieve for our loss without worrying about keeping up with patrols." He rose to his feet. "Let's go home, Hope."

Jesse Young, Faith's longtime boyfriend, and Hope Lehane, Faith's little sister left the Magic Box together. They walked through Sunnydale hand in hand. Jesse looked down at his late girlfriend's sister with new eyes.

Hope was only eighteen months younger than Faith, making her just over eighteen. She had the same black hair as her sister, but her skin was lighter toned though, and her eyes were gold instead of brown. Where Faith was a sexy tomboy wearing tight pants and showing off skin, Hope wore soft, pretty clothes. Hope even acted more feminine than her sister.

"I'm glad you're here, Hope." Jesse bent down to brush his lips against the young woman's.

"I won't be a substitute for Faith." Hope pulled away from Jesse.

"You're not, sweetie." Jesse smiled sadly. "I love you for you. I love you because you're Hope."

Hope smiled a bright, sad smile. "Okay, then. Let's go home."

Passion flared between Jesse and Hope on the way home. They both missed Faith, and they both needed to be reassured that they would survive this tragedy. Little did they know something was brewing that would change everything.

Meanwhile back at Giles' place of business the rest of Faith's Scoobies were still chatting about the newest developments.

"I miss Faith," Willow said. "It took a long time, but she's my best friend."

Tara nodded in agreement, but she was then surprised by the red-headed witch's next vehement statement.

"Did you see how Oz was looking at that little slut?" Willow snarled. "If Faith was here he would have never strayed from us."

"Willow, what are you saying?" Tara's eyes filled with tears. She had always felt bad that she had been the cause for Willow's break up with Oz, but she had hoped that someday they could all move on from the incident. Maybe Willow wasn't as over the werewolf as she let on.

"I'm saying that I wish Faith would come back from the dead," the red-head snarled again. "Things were so much better before she died."

The Scoobies hadn't noticed the pretty dark-haired woman casually looking at merchandise until she turned around and spoke.

"Wish granted." Her pretty face turned ugly and veiny.

"My God, Willow! What have you done?" Giles exclaimed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Miles apart, Spike and Buffy stopped. As one they appeared to scent the air.

Their companions looked at each one with curiosity. "What?" Lawson and Wesley asked at the same time.

"I sensed something happenin'," Spike told Lawson. "Someone foolin' with the universe."

"Spike felt something funky happen," Buffy said to Wesley.

"Any ideas what it was?" Wesley inquired.

Buffy shook her head. "No. So, we'll have to nose around a bit."

"Of course." Wesley nodded. He looked up at the sign above the bar door. "Willy's Alibi Room."

"It's a demon bar according to Oz," Buffy said as she opened the door. She entered the building as if she owned the place. She strode over to the bar which she hopped up on. "May I have your attention please!"

"Get off my bar," Willy spluttered.

"When I'm done." Buffy turned to the crowd of demons. "I'm the new Slayer, and I own this Hellmouth from here on out."

"You and what army?" An ugly demon in the back asked in a loud voice.

"My own army!" Buffy put her fists on her waist. "To cross me is to cross William the Bloody, my mate."

"What's one little Slayer and one traitorous vampire against the legions of hell?" the ugly demon in the back shouted out again.

"Ones under the protection of The Immortal Being."

"The Immortal?" The crowd of demons whispered amongst themselves. Everyone in the demonic world had heard of The Immortal.

"The Hellmouth is mine!" Buffy restated her ownership.

"Ours!" Spike and Lawson entered the bar.

Buffy smiled happily at her mate. "Yes, ours."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At Restfield cemetery, under a gravestone marked 'Faith Lehane' a Slayer awakened in the dark tight confines of her coffin.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oz and Dot strolled around the art gallery looking at the exhibits while Joyce negotiated her purchase with the owner.

"Does Mrs. Summers buy a lot of art?" Oz asked.

Dot laughed softly. "She's buying the whole gallery, not just the art. One of the wealthy demons that Buffy was a bodyguard for in the past was quite enamored with Joyce. He bought her her first gallery she owned as a present."

"How many does she have?" Oz stared in awe at the pretty young woman by his side.

"Hmm let's see." Dot counted on her fingers. "The first one was in Rome. Then she bought one in London, Hong Kong, Rio and now Sunnydale. That makes five now."

"Sunnydale's a step down from those other places," Oz observed. "Maybe even at the bottom of the heap." He wondered why the Slayer's group would leave such exotic or worldly cities to come to Sunnydale.

"Not so," Joyce said as she joined the young couple "Those four galleries are managed by some very loyal friends." She waved her hand towards the wall. "Here, I can do the managing myself."

"We should try to find some local artists, both human and demonic to show." Dot nibbled her lip. "Have a double gallery, so to speak."

"Excellent idea, Dot." Joyce patted the young woman on the shoulder. "You've always had pretty good business instincts."

Oz glanced around for any eavesdroppers before he asked Dot, "Full moon's in a week. You wanna spend it together?"

Joyce suddenly found one of the pictures very interesting. She had learned with Buffy not to interfere with anyone else's love life.

Dot grinned brightly. "That'd be awesome, Oz. I wasn't quite sure where I'd be going once we moved here. I'm glad I won't be alone. Thanks."

Oz smiled shyly in return.

"Now that that's settled, let's find an all night diner. Negotiating makes me hungry." Joyce grinned at the werewolves.