The Fallen Slayer {1}

A Whole New World

Silence erupted between Buffy and Stefan as they stared at each other.

Both of them reflected two drastically different emotions.

Stefan was distraught as he stared at the girl who currently had a crossbow aimed at his heart.

Buffy, on the other hand, was filled with rage. Angry at herself, angry at Stefan, and angry at the world.

How the hell had she let herself get involved with another vampire? It had to be some sort of karmic retribution for falling for one the first time around.

Forcing herself not to wallow in the hurt in her heart as she stared into his eyes, Buffy forced a harsh laugh from her lips "So...vampire huh. That was a fun realization for me. I thought I was going crazy, you're not supposed to be able to walk in the sun. Nice trick."

Stefan felt his heart lurch as he spotted the pure hatred in her eyes as she glared down at him. Her grip not once loosening on the crossbow still aimed at him. He hated this whole situation. This was not the way she was supposed to find out.

How did she find out?

"You know."

Buffy rolled her eyes "I'll admit your breed is a lot harder to spot. You really had me going. Thinking you cared about me."

Her statement left him feeling ready to drown. Not only did her words confirm that she had known about demonic vampires before they had met, which was something he had suspected for a while but...she thought he was using her.

"Buffy..." He tried to stand only for her to reload the crossbow, her finger hovering over the trigger.

"You even flinch and I shoot you again. Your shoulder was a warning."

The vervain-soaked arrow was still embedded in his shoulder, right above his collarbone.

Blood dripped heavily from the wound and the vervain had left the skin charred and burned around the hole in his flesh.

Despite how much it hurt whenever he moved, he raised his hands in surrender "Buffy, I swear I wanted to tell you. I care about you. None of that is a lie. You wouldn't be here if you-"

She didn't let him finish his sentence "I get it, I get it your trying to defend yourself. Do we have to chat about it all day?"

Groaning in annoyance, Buffy clicked her jaw slightly before finally lowering the crossbow and stepping back. Keeping as much distance from him as possible. Her hand purposely hovering over the blade rested on her hip, ready to throw it if he made any move to attack.

He watched her intently, following her lead. Sighing in annoyance she nodded sharply, gesturing for him to get back to his feet. He stumbled up, clutching onto the wall for balance before he turned back toward her only to freeze as he spotted the look on her face.

Utter heartbreak and hurt that was covered every inch of her face. The water that had begun to pool in her eyes caused his breath to hitch as he stared at her, guilt flooding his entire system.

 "What was I? Just a game? Get close to me? Make me care about you then kill me?" She had been in this story before and she hated it. She had literally been in this exact spot when she found out about Angel all those years ago "Does that get you bragging rights in your kind?"

Stefan's heart broke at the betrayed expression on her face.

He had broken her.

Pulling the bolt out of his arm, the vervain burning the flesh around his palm, he exhaled in slight relief before he focused back on her. He could truly see it now, she thought she was nothing more than a game to him.

He had hurt her and that was something he never wanted.

However, one thing about what she had said did make him frown in confusion. What was so different about her that would make her think that he was hunting her for bragging rights?

There was something he was missing about her.

"Buffy...please...I can explain. There are things you don't know...about the supernatural, things that were hidden."

Her knowing about him could get her killed. It was too dangerous for her to be involved in this.

Buffy just rolled her eyes, he was a vampire and had known she lived in Sunnydale! Did he think that she was so stupid that she would never figure it out "I am aware of that. Do you know how much effort it took to get the demon I questioned to turn into a chatty Cathy? I had blue demon blood on my favorite pink blouse for two days!"

That effectively left him speechless. All Stefan could do was stare at her with wide horrified eyes. Buffy had willingly gone into a demon den to get information?

Why would she ever risk doing that?

How the hell did she know about the demon bar just outside of town?

"A demon." He sputtered staring at her in disbelief, a mixture of anger and concern forming in his gut "You went to question a demon? Buffy, why would you risk that, he would have killed you!"

Despite not wanting to, Buffy flinched as Stefan raised his voice and took two steps closer to her.

The action caused him to automatically freeze.

Buffy gulped nervously trying to force the memories of the physical and verbal blows being thrown at her by her last vampire boyfriend.

Okay, she might be a bit more traumatized about that whole situation than she was willing to admit.

"Yeah, big woop." She replied dryly refusing to let herself appear weak in front of the vampire in front of her "I've both been there and done that."

Before Stefan even had a second to process what her slip-up meant, Buffy, inhaled tightly as she watched him. She needed to know what he wanted.

She had let him in and now here she was. Right back where she started.

Yaya big woop. I've both been there and done that.

She needed time to think and process. She had not stopped since the second she left the car wash. She had gone straight home, gathered her weapons tracked down some vervain from a flower store outside of town then came straight here.

Clearly, she was not as ready for this confrontation as she thought she was.

Slowly a way to buy herself some time to think without those haunting green eyes of him watching her with some much guilt and what almost seemed like love popped into her mind.

She tilted her head at him curiously before slowly starting to approach him "If I snap your neck will you die permanently?"

Stefan frowned in confusion "No, what are you-"

A snap of a bone.

Darkness.

Buffy sighed as she glared down at Stefan's body, completely conflicted "Now what am I supposed to do?"