Disclaimers: Methos, the watchers, and the concepts of immortality are registered trademarks of Gaumont Television, Rysher Entertainment and Davis/Panzer Productions. Buffy, the Vampire Slayer belongs to Joss Whedon, Tombstone Pictures, and Fox Productions. Other characters, including Denise Paul Dawson, Jacob Methos Sizzerelli, Noufreaux etc., and creations like the door, the futuristic views of cities, and the Book of Eternal Power are my own.

Noufreaux, a man with graying hair and brown eyes, stood in front of the desk. He was a watcher, but was no longer recognized by the Watcher Council. He never liked them, anyway. He had been an twelfth generation watcher, and had hated it ever since his mother had told him his destiny. He meddled in the black arts, which was forbidden by the Watchers. Unlike them, he saw nothing wrong in alliances with the forces of darkness.

The only light was providing by the computer-controlled light above the desk. The rest of the room was laced with shadows. The window behind him was covered with metal shielding to keep the daylight sun out. He would have preferred having more light to see by, but some of his companions wouldn't have liked having rays shine on their skin.

A large, old book lay closed on the table. Books were scarce those days. Most of them had been scanned onto computers and sold as electronic novels, which could be viewed on electric pads or displayed as a hologram.

This book had been too valuable to store on an electric pad. With those, one could delete it easily, or changed the text, and everything would be lost.

This wasn't the first copy, but the person who'd written the original had copied it. This was a book of prophecies, originally written by Cassandra, the witch among the race known as Immortals, three thousand years ago, two thousand years before she died in the Game. Another group of Watchers, one that watched and recorded the actions of Immortals, but never interfered with their assignments' lives, had kept it in their vaults for centuries, until rogues stole it.

A bookmark marked a place near the center of the volume. Noufreaux opened the book on the marked page carefully, trying not to tear the yellowed pages.

The page it opened up to was written in Aramaic, but the page next to it had the translated words in English. He read from the latter.

"There is one book written in all the world that contains ultimate power. No man can go up against the owner of this book, and he that uses it shall reign supreme over man for all of time. It is called the Book of Eternal Power."

Noufreaux closed the book with a smile. He knew where that book was, and he would have it very soon.

The electronic door rose with a whoosh, and a lone figure stepped inside. The door closed, and the figure seemed to merge with the shadows.

The vampire did not waste time on pleasantries. "You said you knew where to find the book."

"I have," Noufreaux told him.

"So, when do we get it and destroy the world already?" The vampire asked impatiently.

The door opened again. "I would also like to know the answer to that question," another figure said from the door. "Except we agreed Methos would be included in the deal."

The newcomer was the other Watcher leader, Jason Mann. Noufreaux had aligned his group with Mann and the vampire's group. Noufreaux smiled at them both. "The text is in Egypt," he answered. "It's been uncovered by an archeologically dig under a pyramid. None of the interpreters have translated it yet. They'll call Methos tomorrow, and he will go there. That is why we will attack tomorrow night."

The vampire leader stepped out of the shadows. The light made his bleached hair look whiter. He reached into his dark black trench coat and pulled out a pack of cigarettes.

Two hundred years ago, laws had been passed that made smoking illegal. But that didn't stop the vampire leader from lighting up his cigarette and exhaling the smoke heavily.

Spike pulled the cigarette from his lips and smiled. "That makes me very happy, mate."

The paper was going well. It had become well known in only a matter of months. People already knew about it internationally, but off-planet no one had ever heard of them. Now the entire galaxy recognized the name Earth Edition and the reason why was simple: Methos. Not many people knew about him anymore. But now they were beginning to remember.

Methos reclined in his chair, propping his feet on the desk. The day had been a long one. Millions of people had stopped by, eager for jobs as the employees of the oldest man alive. Most of them just wanted to meet him, or shake his hand, or touch his clothes, or whatever. Methos loved the attention, but it was already getting old. It was seven o'clock at night, and the crowds had thinned for the day. They'd come back tomorrow.

There were the terrorists, too. Nothing serious, as of yet. Methos had gotten a few video e-mail messages threatening to behead him. A few phone calls, too. Universal Securities were helping him. They'd determined that most of the people who'd threatened them were caught or were bluffing. But Methos knew they'd keep coming. All because he was an Immortal. The world had known about Immortals for the last millenium, but most people didn't care. Methos had always gotten terrorist attacks since the Gathering, but once the mobs had found out he wasn't any threat, they'd left him alone. There weren't in witch hunts, or Immortal hunts, because since the Hemerns came in 2097, two decades after World War III, humans and aliens alike had become more open minded about people like him. But when more Immortals started showing up, they couldn't handle it.

He sighed. He could remember what had happened. Only months before, Earth was negotiating peace talks with the Minixians, a race that owned two solar systems where the largest amounts of Laxol were located. Laxol was a type of mineral the United Planetary Alliance needed to run its ships. The Alliance had another mineral which they used, but they needed large quantities of it to keep their space ships in space, where as they'd only need a handful of Laxol, and they wouldn't need any more for a full year. Laxol was very strong as well. It was one of the strongest substances in the Milky Way. The Minixians used it in the ships' hulls. Lasers, invented less than two hundred years ago, was the only weapon powerful enough to break through it.

The Alliance had been negotiating for peace, and of course, Laxol. The Minixians would have known of it. An assassin, an Immortal assassin, had been there. She would have shot the president of the Alliance if Methos hadn't interfered. That only convinced the Minixians that the Alliance had no control over their terrorists, and that they were too dangerous to ally themselves with.

Very soon after that, Methos had found out about New Immortals, the New Game, and the New Prize. Methos may have won the Prize in 2050, but a new race of Immortals had surfaced. This time, the Prize would be even larger, at least that's what Methos had been told. Some New Immortals even had supernatural abilities, such as teleporting, healing a mortal's wound in minutes, and several other powers. Methos hadn't believed it at first, but then he met the assassin again. Her name was Katherine, and she used her mind tricks on him. Or tried to. The Old Prize, the one Methos had won, gave him mind powers that exceeded her own.

Thirty-five years later, he and Katherine met again when Katherine had been attacking Minixians vessels in a retired Alliance ship. The Minixians, of course, thought the Alliance was behind this. Thus, Methos revealed the existence of live Immortals other than him to the Galaxy, including the Minixians, and he had faced Katherine in a big show down on a planet on the border of Alliance/ Minixian space.

The Minixians had finally been convinced that the Alliance hadn't attacked their ships, and had called off their war vessels. But the struggle for peace was far from over.

Now, months later, Methos was back in business as one of the largest holonews and webnews casters in the Alliance. He was enjoying the silence very much. Too many people bugged him. Sometimes he missed the old days, when he had been known only as mild-mannered Adam Pierson, researcher for the Methos Chronicles, and not the oldest Immortal alive who should be respected and awed.

But, ever since his identity had been revealed to the world, he never got any peace. Just when he started to relax, something else happened. Like now.

His computer booted up, the holographic screen projecting through the top. "You have mail," a cheery female voice said.

Methos sighed. He hoped it wasn't another reporter. He straightened in his chair and said, "Open it." The computer complied with a chirp, and a minute later, it was displaying his mail. Only, it was a video mail message. A projected image of a dark-skinned man was projected through the computer's top. The holographic recording spoke.

"Ambassador Methos, hi. I'm Dr. Harm Marcus. I'm here in Egypt, near the ____ pyramids. A few weeks ago, we discovered a cave hidden beneath Pharaoh ____'s tomb. It contained several documents, which we believe are less than four thousand years old. Both are written in Ancient Egyptian, but we haven't been able to translate a lot of the text. We managed to translate only a few places, but not enough to understand what the text is about. Because you lived through this time period, we were hoping you could help us out. You can contact me at hmarcus@egyptmuseum.com. If you're willing to help us, we're situated near the pyramids in the Ancient Egyptian Museum and Archeological Dig building. Thank you. I'm Dr. Harm Marcus, signing off.

Methos sighed. 'If you're willing to help us'? That meant he didn't have a choice. "Computer, shut down." He glanced at his wall clock. Eight o'clock. Mostly everyone was going home by now. Methos got up, grabbed his red trenchcoat, and left the building, heading for his hover car. If he wasn't back by the next morning, he'd call his editor and say he wouldn't be in that day.

Methos flew over the Egyptian City in his hover car, searching for the building the doctor had told him about. It wasn't hard to spot. The Ancient Egyptian Museum and Archeological Dig was well known for several of its discoveries, and its insignia, the same one on its buildings, had been shown in news programs several times. Methos spotted the insignia on a building not far away, and flew towards it.

There were several types of buildings in the city. Not just mud and clay buildings, either. Ever since it became possible to travel around the globe in a hover car in under two hours, there really hadn't been a problem getting materials. Some parts of the city had even been converted to parks, protected by force fields that kept out the immense heat. He could see the Algorian embassy, a tall orange, yellow, and white building with several pointed towers, and the Hemern embassy, a large, blue and green building with a dome. Inside the dome, were plants from Hemra, the Hemern homeworld, and artificial gravity made the gravity inside heavier than the Earth's.

Methos flew by these two embassies, and several other buildings of various designs, before he reached the Museum's roof. He landed in the visitor's parking area, then walked over to the elevator and started down it.

When he got to the floor Dr. Marcus had told him to get off of, a secretary ushered him into a room where several ancient tablets were laid carefully in several places around the room. Several people were studying them, some even translating the pieces into their data pads, or trying to. He spotted the doctor from the holomessage in the back of the room. He was leaning in front of one of the texts with a woman. Methos walked over to him. "Dr. Marcus?" he asked.

The doctor looked up. "Ambassador Methos," he said, extending his hand. Methos shook it. "I'm glad you could come."

"So, what do you need my help with?"

Dr. Marcus gestured to the text the woman was studying. "This one. We can't understand it. It uses hieroglyphs we've never seen before. Perhaps you can be of service?"

Methos nodded, and bent in front of the text. The woman moved out of his way. Methos studied the text. He'd been recalling the written and spoken tongues of Ancient Egypt on the fifty-minute trip to Egypt, so it didn't take him as long as it would have an hour ago. But it still took awhile. After ten minutes, Methos looked up, and said, "I think I know why you can't understand it. It's some sort of religious scripture, not Egyptian. It's coded."

"Coded?"

"Yes. I do understand it, in a way. Give me a few minutes."

"What does it say?" Dr. Marcus asked.

Methos began to translate it in English, while Dr. Marcus' associate typed it into her pad.

"After several milleniums have come and gone,

and the Old ones are all dead except for one,

A new race, from hiding, will arise.

And the devil will appear, in his ghastly guise.

His children feed during the night,

But they are wary of the light,

They wait until The Night has come,

when Borrach will come,

and show his evil might!

Beware, weak mortals, for your death is near,

When Borrach shall appear,

Your world will crumble

Unless you have the spear

You must mix the blood of Death himself

With a creature of the night, both young and old

Only a witch and slayer of the old may perform this

If you are to stop the Apocalypse

That will come to this Earth of old and new.

Be aware, if you

Do not do it before the full moon,

All will be lost at the setting of the sun.

For Borrach will be here,

And soar high into the air!

And with him, will come death and despair!

I call upon the king of demons, unleash Borrach to do his will

For it is time for him to dwell here until

He may be stopped forevermore

But that must come after, not before

Arise, Borrach, and let the world remember you once more!"

Half way around the globe, there was a place once known as Sunnydale, California. It was still called Sunnydale, but Earth usually went after it. Unlike most nights here, this night was peaceful. Sunnydale had several skyscrapers in the middle of the city. There were at least ten bars located near these. On the outskirts of the town were the neighborhoods. The Sunnydale Cemetery, however, took the entire east side of the city. The Sunnydale High School and College were between the neighborhoods and the skyscrapers..

The Vampires population of Sunnydale had been pretty quiet tonight. Jasmine and Frances, the slayers, were patrolling the cemetery and downtown near the bars, where most of the attacks took place almost hourly. So far, neither of them had seen many vampires. It was as if the Vampires were staying in the sewer or wherever it was they went instead of feeding. Jasmine, who was patrolling the bars, thought they were up to something. It was just too quiet, and while that could be counted as a blessing at times, it usually ending up being the calm before the storm. So far, she'd fought and staked two vampires who were about to make a young couple lunch, but that had been all.

She finished her patrol earlier than usual, and decided to stop at the Sunnydale Public Library. She went there very often, not because she like to read, which she did, but because her watcher, Nathan Montreal, worked there. The Library, a ten-story building with a very large section of books on the supernatural and demons of various kinds, was between the Sunnydale College and the High School. Frances was a senior in the high school and Jasmine was a junior in the college. They often went to the library after school or during free periods to talk to Nathan.

Nathan was a man who loved action, but wouldn't put his life in danger just to experience the thrill. He loved to read, and he could do a spin-kick just as well as he could research on the latest demon or prophecy. He didn't have slayer strength or speed, but he was a big asset to the team. Jeremy and Nancy completed this team. Jeremy went to College with Jasmine, while Nancy was out of college. She was a great hover car mechanic, and had fixed the team's hover cars several times in the past. It was a big help, because they didn't have to come with a lie to cover up what really happened to the cars, because it was usually something supernatural related. In their spare time they usually hung out with Nathan or they all went to one of the local nightclubs.

Nathan worked in the supernatural and fantasy section on the third floor so he could be close to that type of book whenever needed. Jasmine found Nathan in his office, sitting in his chair. Next to him on his desk was a tall stack of books on the supernatural. Some of them were ancient volumes of hand-written pages, while others typed restorations of books too old to be in use. A large collection of dust was on the table below them. But he wasn't reading them. He was checking his e-mail on his projected computer screen.

Jasmine cleared her throat. Nathan swiveled in his chair to face her. "Oh, hi, Jas," he said.

"Hey, Nate." She gestured to the screen and walked over. "Is that about some ancient prophecy that's about to take place? Or is it about another mad vampire we should know about? Oh, I know-it's a report on jewelry with mystical powers."

"Actually, no," Nate answered. "It's a letter from my brother and his wife and kids. They went on a trip to Mars this month, and are telling me about it. He says there isn't any cameras there, so he can only send me a typed message," he put as much sarcasm as he could in his next words. "He also wants to know how my job as librarian is going."

"Doesn't he know about the whole Watcher thing?" Jasmine asked. "I mean, it is passed down from generation to generation, right?"

"That's right, Jas, except you're forgetting one thing."

"What's that?"

"I'm the first generation in my family. I'm the only Montreal who knows the existence of vampires and other demons and monsters. A friend of my father's was a sixth generation Watcher, and he thought I'd be a good watcher myself, so he told me about it."

"Oh." Jasmine felt kind of embarrassed. Nathan ended the moment when he stood up and walked over to a closet set in the wall. He inserted the number code into a keyboard set in the wall and the door opened. He grabbed a few things and came back out. "Now, let's practice. I could use just as much practice as you do."

Jasmine grabbed a quarterstaff and got into a defense position. Nate did the same. As they practiced, Jasmine told Nate about how quiet it had been that night. After Nate had been knocked to the ground a few times, he decided to end the practice. "I guess I should research that." He moved to the computer. Unlike most of his fellow watchers, Nate preferred keeping research simple. If that meant spending hours putting it into a computer interface that he could access anywhere, then so be it. He did that a few years back, and it had been easier producing information since then. "Perhaps Jeremy or Nancy could help-"

He was cut off when the Earth began to shake. Earthquakes were pretty common in thirty-first century California, although much more controlled with the help of modern technology. This was nothing like a controlled earthquake. Those seemed calm compared to this.

Jasmine dove for the office doorway, and Nate dove for the weapon's closet doorway. The Earth shook harder with every passing minute. The high stack of books on the table were knocked to the ground and scattered around the room. Nate's chair and table followed it.

A few minutes later, the quake stopped. Jasmine and Nate got up off the ground and tried to walk around the mess in the room.

"What was that?" Jasmine asked.

Nate answered, "I don't know. Perhaps we should go see."

Jasmine agreed. They made their way carefully down the hall. It was a mess, having suffered from the quake. Several bookcases had been knocked down and books littered the floor. They finally reached the door that led to the third story parking lot. Both of them got into their cars.

They powered up their hover cars. Nate was the one to take off first. He had a newer model than she did, so it didn't take as long as hers needed to get ready for flight.

The car was about three fourths of the way through powering up when the ground began to shake again. This time, it was much more violent.

All of the buildings and skyscrapers surrounding her began to crack. Several pieces fell to the ground below, and one or two turned completely into rubble. Jasmine heard more rocks tumbling from above and behind her. She looked up through the skylight.

Part of the library wall was falling toward the parking lot.

It landed with a crash on to the hovering parking lot on three empty cars. However, that was two much for the hovering parking lot, and it began to break apart. The library wall and the cars fell through the widening crack in the parking lot floor.

The lot kept crumbling. The section she was parked in was still hovering, but it wouldn't be for long. Her car was almost finished powering up, but it wouldn't finish in time.

The floor beneath her car gave way, and she and the car fell through. They began rapidly descend fifty feet to the ground. "Forty five feet," her computer said in its drowning male voice.

Her car finished powering up. Jasmine took it out of park and put it in drive. She pulled the steering controls back and waited for the car to start ascending. She just hoped she wasn't too late.

"Fifteen feet," the computer droned.

Then, the car stopped descending to the ground. It stopped in the air, then turned its bumper upwards and began to fly upwards. "Twenty feet and climbing," the computer droned.

Jasmine let out the breath she'd been holding. She came very close to dying just now.

"Jasmine!" Nate's frantic voice came through the car's speaker system.

Jasmine said, "Computer, activate a link between Nate's car and mine."

"Link activated."

Jasmine took a deep breath to calm herself. "Nathan, are you alright?" Coming close to death was very scary and a big shock, but she was concerned for her watcher's safety.

"Jasmine, thank god! Are you alright?"

"A bit shaken, but that's all. What about you?"

"I'm fine. Are you sure you're alright? You may be in shock."

Jasmine changed the subject. "What do you think caused those quakes?"

"I don't know," Nate replied. There was a pause. "Look out the window, Jasmine. The quakes are getting worse."

Jasmine peered out the port window. Most of the buildings were rubble now. The bridge at the intersection was breaking apart, causing cars to fall through and land on top of cars passing beneath the bridge. Somehow, a fire had started in the park next to the cemetery. People were running around in the streets. Every few minutes, stronger quakes made the ground shake even more.

She glanced out the starboard window. "Where are you, Nate? I can't see your car anywhere."

"I'm hovering about fifty feet above you," he answered. "I can see a strange light emanating from behind the high school. It seems to be a large beam coming from the ground. Can you see it?"

Jasmine peered out the starboard window at the high school. She could see the light Nate was referring to. It was on the side wall nearest to the main entrance. It was powerful, and she couldn't see anything on the other side, even at the height she was at. "Do you think its causing this?" she asked.

"There's only one way to find out," Nate answered. "I can't find anything on this in the Watcher Diaries stored in the car's computer's memory, so we'll have to investigate it ourselves."

"Okay. Let's start flying over there and contact Nancy, Frances, Jeremy and Angel."

"Agreed."

The two hovered toward the light.

On the outskirts of Sunnydale in an apartment building, a vampire with a soul had been eating his 'breakfast' of warm pig's blood, when the Earth beneath him also began to shake, knocking him to the floor. Angel stood up, and looked around at his shattering possessions. "What the h***?" he cursed. The blackened windows shattered, then the quake stopped. Angel walked over to one of the windows and peered out. He could see people fleeing through the streets and flying high into the night sky in their hover cars. Angel thought they had the right idea, and took off up the stairs to the roof, where his own hover car was parked. He got in it and flew off the building only seconds before another quake started and an entire wall of the apartment building collapsed and fell twelve stories to the ground.

Angel grimaced and tried not to think of the people who were trapped under the fallen wall. What is going on here? he thought. He climbed higher into the atmosphere until he could see the entire city. The Earthquake seemed to be centered on the middle of the city, where the high school was. Angel flew in that direction, just as a large beam of light shot out of the ground in front of the school. "Computer, open a channel with Jasmine or Frances. The computer found Jasmine first, and Angel opened the link with her. "Jasmine?" he called.

"Angel?" Jasmine's voice came through the radio wave. "Where are you?"

"I just left my apartment, and am flying overhead in my hover car right now. There seems to be some sort of light coming from the center of town, and I don't think it's natural."

"Yeah, Nate and I are flying over there now. Why don't you meet us on the north side of the school?"

"Agreed. Angel out."

Angel flew around the strange light until he spotted Jasmine's and Nate's cars hovering in the air. He flew over to them then turned the hover car around to face the light.

"What do you think it is, Jaz?" Angel asked.

"I don't know. Have you ever seen anything like it?"

Both Jasmine and Nate knew he was a vampire, and an old one at that. "No. This is new to me. What about you, Nate?"

Nate answered, "No, I haven't found anything yet."

"Keep looking." Angel advised. "Hey, look. The light's dimming."

The three watched from their hover cars as the beam of light disappeared. "The tremors have stopped as well," Nate remarked.

"I guess it's safe to land, and find out what this is and what the vampires did during all of this panic." Jasmine said.

Nate said, "Yes. We'll try to find out what caused that Earthquake. I've already contacted Frances. She, Jeremy, and Nancy are on the outskirts of town, and only experienced minor tremors. They'll deal with the vampires."

"Okay," Jasmine replied. "Where do you want to land and park?"

A few minutes later, the three had parked in an old lot not covered in rubble. Cautiously, they walked over to the place the light had originated from.

A large crater was left in its place. It was too dark to peer into it. They stood near the edge, ready for an attack.

On the other side of the crater, long, dark green bony fingers appeared. A figure lifted itself from the pit. A long khaki trench coat hid its features. A long, sickly green tail emerged from underneath, slithering through the air. Long, dark, sickly green legs and feet appeared after it. When the creature was on the ground, it rose to its feet and turned around. Horns stuck through the top of its human-shaped head, and when the creature opened its mouth, it hissed, a long snake-like tongue appearing. Its eyes glowed when it spotted them. The creature took off, running in the opposite direction.

The pit was too wide to jump across. "Come on, this way!" Jasmine said, leading them around one side. Angel ran ahead of them while Jasmine and Nate tried to catch up. Before they lost sight of it, the creature disappeared in a flash of light. One minute it had been running, and the next it was gone.

Jasmine and Nate stopped next to Angel. Both of them were breathing heavily. "Where'd he go?" Jasmine asked.

Before anyone could answer, a scream came from one of the remaining alleys of Sunnydale. The three ran in that direction, ready to fight vampires, the green creature momentarily forgotten.

On the other side of the globe, Methos had stopped reading. Dr. Marcus and his associate were staring at him. "Are you sure that's what it says?" Dr. Marcus asked.

Methos nodded. "Positive. It's probably nothing. The Egyptians, and a lot of people, were very superstitious in those days," he assured them. "There's more."

Dr. Marcus replied, "Then please continue."

Methos took a deep breath and continued to translate.

"In a time in a past world

a portal will open at long last

and from the mouth of hell, will come a girl

who is the Slayer of the past

She will bring friends, all of which know of demons whose skin are cold

Her friends include an angel resouled

And they, with the help of the Old One

And the creature of the night

Will help set things right.

I call upon the great gods, hear our plea!

If you do not, Borrach can not be stopped, and forever will he be

Here on this earth, where he has never belonged

Call upon the one that can stop him, the one who dwells in a past light,

The slayer of the creatures of the night from the past

Bring her here, so our world may last!"

Buffy and Angel walked down the road, hand in hand. It was late on a Friday night, and they were going to meet Xander and Willow at the Bronze. Oz and the band were playing there tonight, and when their set finished, he was going to join them. But for now, the night was theirs. Of course, one could never get too relaxed in Sunnydale, especially at night, so they were cautious while they walked down the sidewalk. Buffy searched every shadow for a possible threat, while Angel used his unique hearing to search for anything that would indicate a vampire hidden near the road; a breaking twig, the rustle of leaves, footsteps on the ground. He also listened for the extremely low heartbeat a vampire had, but the only one he heard was his own.

"I don't think anyone's here," Angel said. He spotted the Bronze down the street. "We're almost there. We may make it in time to hear Oz."

"That would be great. No slaying, only partying. With Spike and Drusilla and everything, I'm surprised Giles actually let me come tonight."

"Yeah, well, I'm glad he did." Angel said. "Because I get to be with you more."

Buffy smiled at Angel. Both of them stopped and turned to each other, then kissed passionately. Both gasped when they pulled away. Reluctantly, they broke apart and continued walking toward the Bronze.

So distracted were they that they didn't notice a set of glowing eyes in the dark. The pair was joined by several others before they emerged from the shadows, their game faces on. Two growled. Buffy and Angel turned, immediately getting into defensive positions. The Vampires attacked, and they fought them.

It wasn't long before all the vampires, except for Angel, were dust piles on the ground. Both looked around for more. "I guess that's all of them." Angel said.

"Yeah." Buffy agreed. They continued their walk to the Bronze.

When they got inside, they spotted Willow and Xander sitting with Cordelia at one of the tables. They walked over to them. "Hi," Buffy said.

"Hey, Buffy." Willow said. "Look at Oz. Don't you think he's great?"

Buffy looked at Oz. The werewolf was standing on the stage with the band, playing his guitar. His hair was red this evening. Buffy looked back at Willow. The young witch and hacker seemed very star struck at the moment, while Xander showed a ting of jealousy. Buffy smiled.

"Either you've taken up dust as clothing, or you met some vampires tonight." Cordelia remarked.

Buffy nodded. "Yeah. They were all pretty young, though. Angel and I dusted all of them."

The band finished its set, and Oz walked over. "Hey, guys." Oz said.

"Hi, Oz." Willow answered. Oz sat down next to her. Xander still looked jealous.

"Oz, isn't tomorrow night a full moon?" Angel asked.

Oz nodded. "Yeah. Don't worry. I'll get home and lock myself up in time."

"I can help you, if you want me to." Willow offered.

"Sure."

Later, they were all walking out of the Bronze, toward the sidewalk or their cars. "Bye, guys." Buffy began to call as she and Angel headed to her house, but a noise stopped her. "Guys, did you hear that?"

Angel nodded. "I did."

"I don't see anyone," Xander said.

"Are there going to be vampires?" Cordelia asked. "Because if there are, I do not want to get this dress ruined."

"Shh," Angel said. They listened and looked around for the source of the noise, but saw nothing.

"Perhaps you imagined it," Willow suggested. She and Oz had pulled out crosses, and were holding them in front of them.

"Wait," Angel said. "There it is again. It sounds sort of like-" Angel paused, searching for the right word. "Bubbling?"

"I can hear it, too." Oz said. "It sounds more like paper shredding to me."

Then all of them could hear it. But it wasn't bubbling. It was the sound of time and space themselves being misplaced, of a portal to another place in time being ripped apart. The Scooby Gang were frozen in place, unable to move in any way, not even to breathe. Before the Scooby Gang could comprehend that they'd been frozen, they were sucked through the portal, and they all disappeared in a flash of light.

Giles was sitting in his living room, reading a book, when he heard something. He looked up and around the room. The overhead lamp lighted it, and no one was in there and him. Giles knew a vampire couldn't come in unless it was invited, but other monsters could. He took out a cross and a stake, and cautiously walked over to a window and peered out.

He couldn't see much in the darkness, including vampires. Giles was about to check another window when he heard it again, coming from the window he just looked through. He turned back to it, but nothing was there. He was about to turn away when he saw it.

The air itself seemed to be misplaced, right in front of the window. Intrigued, Giles reached out to touch it, checking to make sure he wasn't imagined it. But he wasn't. Before he could even react, the distorted field surrounded him, and he disappeared in a flash of light.

Methos sat at a table, translating tablet into English on paper. He and Dr. Marcus agreed it would go much faster if Methos wrote it down himself. They didn't want to use a computer because those could be accessed and read much more easily. Methos, being a computer hacker himself, knew this was true.

The room was very big. Several artifacts in crates and on other tables were spread around the room. Florescent lights attached to the walls lit the room. A few scientists were towards the back of the room near an door that led to the parking lot for that floor. They were examining other artifacts and chatting.

The book he was translating was filled with what he thought were spells and prophecies. He hadn't dealt with the supernatural in five hundred years, and he'd hoped that the past would stay in the past. But that was rarely the case for him. He certainly hoped none of these were really prophecies and spells, but he doubted that he was that lucky. He just hoped the part he'd translated earlier didn't have any effect somewhere in the world.

There was a time when he didn't believe in all that stuff. But that was before Ahriman. Then, his whole world was open to demons, vampires, and other monsters from h***. He couldn't ignore it after that, no matter how much he wanted to at first.

Suddenly, the florescent lights turned red and began to flash. A siren broke the silence. Methos looked up from the tablet. The archeologists on the far side of the room were heading for the exit. If something was going on, he needed to get out of here, too. He stood up.

The door the others were heading for burst inwards, and a lazer beam hit one of them in the chest. He fell back, screaming. Some of the others ran in the opposite direction to the door leading into the hall, while one of two others bent over the dead archeologist and checked for life signs.

Men in women, dressed in dark and out-of-date clothes, came through the door. Two of them ran to the archeologists bent over the dead man, while others ran out into the hall, and the others headed in his direction.

When they got closer, Methos could see their faces. This was another thing he'd hoped would stay in the past. The attackers of the museum had ugly visages. They had several ridges on their foreheads, and skin half-covered their eyes. Their skin was deathly pale, and their eyes glowed yellow. In their mouths were long, sharp fangs.

These were vampires.

The two that had decided to attack the archeologists now held them by their throats. They sank their teeth into their necks.

One of the attackers fired his lazer gun, and Methos ducked behind the table, overturning his chair. He broke a leg off the chair and crouched, waiting.

Four sets of footprints approached him. The other two had gone out into the hall. He could hear screams and laser blasts echo through the door. He barely had time to wonder whey vampires were using guns before one of his opponents walked around the right side of the desk. The others were still a few yards away. Methos leaped up and landed on top of the vampire. Both of them went down. Methos staked the vampire and got up quickly.

The other two approached him from the other side of the desk in single file. Methos kicked the first one in the face. He fell back. The other vampire moved out of his way, and Methos kneed him in the stomach. The vampire bent over in pain. Methos plunged his stake into the vampire's chest, then quickly pulled it out. The vampire he'd kicked was charging him. Methos brought his leg out in front of him, grabbed the vampire's shirt, and flung him behind him. He could hear the vampire crash into the wall, or something else.

The fourth vampire jumped from his desk and landed behind him. He grabbed Methos' arms. Methos bent forward and flung the vampire over his back onto the floor in front of him. Methos plunged his stake into his chest.

Three down, one to go, he thought as he spun around to face the last vampire. The vampire through a punch at him. Methos blocked. The vampire brought his leg up to kick Methos in the face. Methos grabbed his leg, and the vampire fell to the ground. Methos let go of the leg and straddled the vampire. He staked him in the heart. He got up and watched the vampire explode into dust.

Methos surveyed the room. It was empty except for him, the dead archeologists and the large collection of dust.

Suddenly, more vampires came through the door leading into the hall. But all of them were vampires. The ones who held the guns were human. The vampires charged him, while the humans hung back. Methos fought the vampires as best he could. There were too many of them, however, and more were coming in from the hall. Methos thought, I really could use some help right about now.

One minute, she was with her friends outside the Bronze, but the next, she was falling face forward to what looked like a very hard marble floor.

Buffy tucked, rolled, and quickly got back up. She glanced around at her surroundings. She was in a hall with off-white marble walls and a green-and-white marble floor. Windows and cased filled with artifacts were set at intervals on the walls. The cases didn't seem to be covered with anything, such as glass. Where was she? She glanced down the hall. Dead bodies lay in an intersection with small puncture wounds in their necks or large wounds in the backs and chests. She could hear screams coming from around the corner.

She ran down the hall in that direction. When she ran around the corner, she could see more bodies littered everywhere. Vampires were attacking men and women in long, white lab coats. Some of the had guns and were firing at the humans. She realized the ones with the guns weren't vampires, but humans. Why would vampires work with humans? Buffy thought.

She didn't have time to think about that either if she was going to save those people. "Hey," she called. The ones with the guns turned in her direction and fired. Buffy jumped behind the other hall's wall.

She could hear one of the vampires say, "We'll take care of her." The gun fire ceased. Buffy could hear several pairs of footsteps echo down the hall toward her. She pulled out a stake and waited for the first vampire to appear around the corner.

The first one appeared, and got a solid kick to the jaw. He fell backwards, landing on one of his companions. Both of them fell to the ground. Two more vampires appeared. Buffy punched the first one, sending him in the direction of his fallen comrades, then staked the second one. The vampire she'd punched rushed her. Buffy punched him again, then kicked him in the side of the face. He fell to the floor.

The first vampire she'd kicked appeared behind him, and swiped at her with his fist. Buffy ducked and staked him. He fell backwards before he turned to dust.

The last two, the second one to come around the corner and the fourth one, were back up. Fourth grabbed her wrists and held her arms tightly behind her back. The other vampire approached her, bearing his fangs. Buffy struggled, but she couldn't break the other vampire's hold. (Buffy quip)

When second got close enough, Buffy kneed him just where it counted. The vampire took a few steps back and bent over. Buffy bent down and through the other vampire over her back. He landed on the hurt vampire. Buffy staked him. When the vampire turned to dust, the other vampire got up. She staked him before he could react.

Buffy ran around the corner into the other hall. The lab-coated men and women who weren't dead had fled, and so had the ones with the guns.

She heard more fighting coming from a door down the hall. She ran over to it. Inside was a large group of vampires terrorizing more people in lab coats and a man who was fighting back. She joined the fray.

Noufreaux, a watcher renegade, stood on the rooftop, next to his hovering car, which was manned by one of the men in his group. Some time ago, he had been a Watcher, men and women who are supposed to either train the slayer to fight the forces of darkness or sit around and wait for that chance. But now, he was leading the attack on the museum with the vampire leader. They were fighting the security guards on the rooftop with other renegades and vampire minions. Several more of their numbers were attacking other levels of the tall building. His men used the lazer guns, while the vampires used their fangs.

One of the men manning his craft called him. Noufreaux turned around. "Yes?" he asked the mortal.

"Sir, we've received word that several troops are coming to relieve the museum's workers. We're running out of men and arms. I suggest we clear out, sir."

Noufreaux looked around the roof. Most of the guards were dead. He could hear gunshots coming from behind the door of the elevator shaft. He knew it must be the relief force. He looked around at his men. The vampire leader and his minions were already escaping in their own cars and vans. "Retreat!" he called to his men.

His men came running and jumped into their hover cars. Noufreaux got into his, and they flew off.

Buffy ran over to the room that most of the fighting was taking place in. At least twenty guys in lab coats were fighting the vampires and the guys with the weird-looking guns. Buffy lifted her stake and joined the fray, slamming the stake into the back of a male vampire that was about to bite into the neck of a young woman. After the vampire turned to dust, Buffy ran on, killing everyone she ran into.

At one end of the room, a man was fighting several vampires with a sword. He stepped forward and swung the long blade, decapitating two vampires to his left. At the same time, another vampire lunged at him at his right. The sword guy sliced his chest, then cut off his head. Another vampire rushed him from his left. Buffy was about to warn him when the guy took a stake out of his coat pocket and threw it. The stake lodged into the vampire's heart, and she turned to dust.

A vampire tried to grab him from behind. Buffy kicked him into the wall. The vampire got back up, but not steadily. Buffy slammed a stake into his heart.

More vampires approached. Buffy backed away, putting some very space between them, and backed into the sword guy. They stayed back-to-back, watching their opponents, lunging and attacking every few minutes.

After all five vampires were dust, Buffy turned around to get a good look at the sword guy. He was doing the same thing when a vampire lunged at him. "Duck!" Buffy told him. The sword guy did, and Buffy staked the vampire. When the vampire was dust, the guy got back up and went after a woman holding one of those weird guns.

Several uniformed people appeared in the doorway to the hall. They, too, carried guns. They shouted 'Freeze!".

Several of the attackers looked around. Realizing they were outnumbered, they fled through a door with an Exit sign. Most of the policemen ran after them, while some stayed behind to make sure no one was hurt.

The sword guy sheathed his sword somewhere in his coat. His back was still turned to Buffy. "You're pretty good with that sword," she told him.

Methos, the sword guy, whirled around. He recognized that voice. He gazed at the young woman near him, brow wrinkled. Then, his expression turned to astonishment. "Buffy?"

Jake dropped to his knees on the concrete bridge. The last lightning bolts from the Quickening had ceased long ago, and his enemy's head had fallen off the side of he bridge, dropping down several thousand feet.

His senses returned, and Jake became aware of his surroundings. Hover car horns beeped. Sky scrapers thousands, perhaps millions, of miles tall stopped not that far above his head. The air was thin here, near the top of the city, and although it was still daylight, he could make out the silhouette of a night sky with stars through thin clouds.

Jake stood up and picked up his sword. His adopted father, Methos, had given him it several years ago, when he had been mortal. That had been the second immortal to challenge him in the past three weeks. Not many people knew his father was the world's largest man. His father was registered as Ian Sizzerelli. But they had known that it was Jake who killed Katherine Longstone, a terrorist and the oldest immortal alive besides Methos. Several immortals wanted his head for Katherine's Quickening. They also wanted his telepathic powers. He had been challenged several times in the past few months. His oldest opponent, other than Katherine, had been a three hundred years old man from a mining colony in the asteroid belt.

Jake started walking to his car. It was parked at the end of the bridge, on the rooftop of "The Mall of New York City". Jake walked close to the rail and peered over it. Hovering traffic lights decreased the flow of traffic every few hundred feet in all directions, including north, south, east, and west. Thick clouds hid most of the city life from view. Up here, the air smelled fresh. Even if he had been fifty feet from the ground, the smell wouldn't have been that intolerable. Ever since consumers and manufacturers found better ways to do things, the stench had left most of the suburban areas.

This was New York City, 3035.

Jake, a retired captain in the Starcore, had set up shop in the large metropolis. He sold all kinds of weapons, from guns to broadswords. He had kept a low profile. He couldn't escape the media, however, and it wasn't long before his whereabouts were given publicly across the galacticnet and holovisions. That was when the challenges started.

Jake was about to step into his hover car when he heard an odd noise behind him. It sounded like the displacement of air, although how he knew that, he wasn't entirely certain.

He heard a large plop of bodies against the ground, followed by "oofs".

Jake spun around, reaching into his coat to grip the hilt of his sword. He did not, however, take it out. He didn't sense an Immortal presence, and if they were just harmless mortal civilians, he didn't want to scare them.

Three figures were lying face down on the concrete. They got up, brushed themselves off and looked around. Two appeared to be in their early twenties or late teens, but the other man looked older. He appeared to be only a few years older than the others, but his eyes seemed older. He'd seen those eyes in older Immortals before, but this wasn't an Immortal.

The one on the left was shorter than his companions, and had bright orange hair and a beard. The guy in the middle, the older man, had spiked brown hair, and the one on the left had short dark brown hair and traces of a beard.

They wore strange clothes he'd seen in his father's video collection of movies from the twentieth century. Their clothes were very unlike his own. Jake wore a red trenchcoat over red jeans and a red long-sleeved shirt. White stripes ran down the seems of the jeans and the shirt. The red-haired man wore blue jeans and a T-shirt with an ironed-on drawing on the front, and the dark brown-haired main wore khaki pants and a long-sleeved shirt with a pattern over a white T-shirt. But the other man, whose eyes betrayed age and sadness, had black jeans, a black leather jacket, and a white T-shirt.

"Where are we?" Xander, the guy dressed in khaki pants, asked his companions.

Oz shrugged and kept looking around.

Angel noticed Jake. "Who are you?"

This man hadn't been watching the news lately. "Jacob Methos Sizzerelli," he answered. "Who are you?"

"What a minute, where are we?" Xander asked again.

"New York City," Jake answered, confused. He'd already done a mind sweep, and hadn't come up with anything unusual. None of them suffered from memory loss, and they weren't insane, so he couldn't understand how they couldn't know where they were. He hadn't looked too deep, just checked their current thoughts, which told him the New York they knew looked nothing like this.

A hover car flew up from behind the wall of the skyscraper and flew low overhead, disappearing through the clouds. Jake and the two young men ducked. Careless punk, Jake thought. The others, however, appeared stunned.

"I don't think we're in Kansas anymore," Xander remarked.

In 3035, the portal was closing, and the seven figures came out. Unfortunately, most had lost their balance, and they were falling over each other.

"Hey, get off me!"

"Xander, let go of my dress! Do you know how much it cost?"

"Buffy, mind letting go? I may not need to breathe, but I'd appreciate it if I could move."

"Willow, is that you touching my leg?"

"Um, actually, no, Oz. That's me. I'll remove me hand immediately."

"I'd really appreciate it, Giles."

Eventually, somehow, they all managed to get untangled and stand up. Cordelia checked her nails, and found that known of them were broken. They looked around at the rubble and half-crumpled buildings left over from the Earthquake. "Where are we?" Xander asked.

"I don't know," Buffy answered. "What happened?"

"The last thing I remember is hearing that strange noise, and then not being able to move, then ending up out here." Angel said.

"Wait-Giles, how'd you get here?" Xander asked.

"Well, I believe the same thing happened to me, just as Angel described them. I think we should move to Xander's first question: Where are we?"

No one got the chance to answer because of what happened next. There was a skyscraper towering above the Scooby Gang, which, up until that point, had done it's job as a wall. But that all ending when a hover car zoomed by, barely gracing the wall before continued on its way. That was too much for the concrete wall. It crumbled and started to fall. All of the Scooby Gang looked up to see a large portion of it over them. They immediately got out of its way, or tried to; Buffy and Angel had to push some of the others to get them out in time. The wall fell on the ground, creating another smaller crater next to the larger one the green creature had come from.

No one spoke as they tried to catch the breaths, all except for Angel, of course. Finally, Xander broke the silence by stating, "I don't think we're in Kansas anymore."

Everyone was inclined to agree with him.

"Well, well, well, look what we have here," a voice said. The Scooby Gang looked in the direction of a darkened alley, where they could see several pairs of glowing eyes in the shadows. The vampires stepped forward, revealing their ugly demonic features. Angel put his own out, and Buffy got into a defensive position, taking out a stake. The others pulled out assorted weapons, such as crosses, holy water, and stakes. The leader paused when he realized his food source were ready for them. Then he smiled and remarked to his female companion, "Look, prey that'll fight back. This may be…fun."

The vampires charged, and the gang fought them.

The next day after work, Methos hovered back over to Cairo. Today, he would be taking the documents home with him. He parked at the government building and walked inside, where the Admiral was waiting.

Methos stepped out of his hover car and walked up the steps to his house. When he reached the door, he held his finger up to the panel, lightly tapping against it. The computer inside the panel picked up his fingerprint, and with a whoosh opened the door for him. He stepped inside the living room.

Methos paused. Someone, a mortal, was here. He walked over to where his sword hung on the wall, then stepped out into the hall, looking in the rooms he passed for the source of the noise. He quietly made his way to the back of the house. Another noise, coming from the bedroom, sent him over there. The room was empty. A movement from the closet caught in the corner of his eye; he crept across the room to it. Leaning against the wall, he opened it. A man in his mid-twenties stood there, eyes wide with fear. Seeing he was unarmed, Methos pulled him out and held his sword at the man's throat.

"Who are you?" Methos inquired.

"Please-please. I don’t mean anything. Please."

Methos studied him for a moment, then lowered his sword from his neck. "Who are you?" he repeated.

"Denise. Denise Paul Dawson."

The older immortal stared at him. "What did you say?"

The younger man looked at him, a calm expression on his face. "My name's Denise Paul Dawson."

"Dawson…" Methos whispered, memories surfacing with the name. He looked back at the other man, who seemed confused. He had brown hair and eyes, and a tall complexion. But Methos hardly even noticed these things, for staring right at him were the very eyes of his dead mortal friend, Joe, a friend who died so long ago. Methos blinked, realizing he'd been found out. He forced his thoughts back to the present. Whoever this man was, whether he was a descendent of Joe or not, he still broke into his house. "What are you doing here?"

Denise said nothing, not sure if he should tell Methos the truth. "I was a little drunk, and I thought this was my own house, so I snuck in here, not wanting to disturb my wife. I think I passed out on your bed, and when I woke up, I could hear footsteps. When I realized this wasn't my house, I decided to hide."

Methos knew Denise was lying. His eyes gave nothing away, but the nervous playing with the fingers gave him away. Exactly like Joe. "Show me your sleeve."

Denise started. He hadn't expected that. "What?"

"Your sleeve."

Denise pulled up his right sleeve.

Methos shook his head. "No. Your other one."

He paused before complying. He pulled the left sleeve up slowly. There, right below his wrist, was the watcher symbol emblazoned on his skin.

Methos smiled when he saw it. "So you're a watcher." Just like his ancestor.

Denise nodded. The immortal's reaction did not surprise him. He'd read in the chronicles Methos had known about the watchers from milleniums. He'd even disguised himself as one.

As if to confirm this, Methos absently pulled down his own left sleeve. The tattoo he'd used so long ago was still there, faintly. He compared the too. Denise's was newer and brighter, but they were the same. Realizing what he'd done, he quickly tried to cover it up, but Denise stopped him. "It's all right. We know you were once a watcher yourself." A smile crossed his mouth. "Your own, in fact."

Denise was so much like Joe. Younger, but still the same. "I didn't know the organization was still intact. You don't really need it, do you? I am the only immortal you can watch."

So he doesn’t know, Denise thought.

(unfinished)

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