They had been watching TV for over an hour now and still, there had been no sudden revelations or even any ideas as to what to do. Riley flicked through the channels aimlessly now as the blonde man – who still refused to be named – and Joan stood at the door. The blonde man was taking the opportunity to smoke and Joan was looking out at the area around them.

“This might sound strange, but I think we’re in a cemetery,” she called out, glancing back at him and then to the man at her side as he looked out.

“Looks like,” he confirmed.

“This is just getting creepier and creepier,” Joan sighed and leant against the frame of the door.

The blonde man said something to her, although Riley couldn’t hear what, and his hand just grazed her elbow reassuringly. She looked up at the man and nodded, giving him a tiny smile.

Turning away from the interaction, he shook his head slightly as he continued to flick through the channels: he would never understand this obsession girls had with bad boys. Especially this particular specimen of bad boy, who had shown only rare glimpses of something over than rudeness in the last hour or so. Why any girl would be interested was beyond him, but it seemed Joan was already being drawn in.

He glanced over, saw that they were still holding a whispered conversation, and turned his attention back to the television, unable to stop himself from rolling his eyes.



Some time later, they joined him once more, although by now everyone seemed bored with watching the television. To occupy herself, Joan was still busy trying to name the blonde man.

“Well, you’re British, so I bet you’ve got one of those really posh names. Like… William. Or, oh, Herbert!”

“Herbert?” he echoed, with a look of distaste.

“Just an idea,” she replied with a shrug and a smile, “Okay, okay… What about… Geoffrey?”

“You’re taking the piss now.”

“I’m not sure what that means,” she commented with a frown, “But I’ll take that as a ‘no’.”

“Why can’t you just leave it?” the man asked, but with none of his former hostility.

“Because I can’t just keep calling you ‘hey you’ or ‘guy’… or ‘Brad’,” she finished with a teasing smile.

The blonde man narrowed his eyes at her again, but as she smiled and thought to herself, he seemed to soften once more.

“Okay… what about James?”

“We’ll just go with sodding James, shall we? If it’ll get you off my back.”

She smiled triumphantly and he rolled his eyes, letting out a playful sigh.

“Now that’s sorted, what the hell are we going to do about this bloody situation?”



No-one had had an answer for ‘James’ and they had fallen into a depressed silence soon after, no-one knowing the solution to their dilemma. Joan had quickly grown antsy and had now taken to pacing, her high heels clicking against the floor. After a few minutes, she came to a halt and strode over to them.

“I have to get out of here, or I’m going to go mad,” she announced.

He shared a worried look with James and then the blonde man got to his feet.

“You said it was probably safer here, didn’t you?” he said softly, his hand hovering over her arm.

“I know,” she murmured, “But I can’t just sit here anymore. It’s been hours!”

“What do you think we’ll find out there?” James continued quietly, “We don’t know ourselves, let alone anyone we meet on the street.”

“You’re right,” she conceded, “I know you are. I just can’t sit around doing nothing any longer.”

“Why don’t you go and get some air?” James suggested, “Just stay close and shout if you need anything, yeah?”

Riley wasn’t sure it was a good idea but she nodded and moved away towards the door before he could say anything. She hesitated at the door, but then opened it and stepped out into the darkness.

After a short pause, he spoke up.

“Do you think that was a good idea?”

“She’s just outside. Girl needed some space before she went crazy on us.”

“What if anything happens to her?”

“You kidding? She’s just outside. Nothing’s going to happen-”

James’ next words were cut off by a scream from outside and they both jumped to their feet instantly, James just ahead of him as they ran outside.



They both came to a startled stop as they spotted Joan just a few metres away, struggling with a large man who had her pinned against a tree. She spotted them and screamed again and James dashed forward, grabbing the man and hauling him away. Joan took the opportunity provided and fled, but as the man got to his feet, both males’ attention was on him. Or rather, it.

Riley had never seen anything like this before: the man’s features were distorted, his eyes yellow, and he had long, sharp teeth. He was a monster, like something out of a horror film.

“Spike,” the monster scoffed, “Should have known. Heard you’d been helping the Slayer.”

Nothing the man – monster – said made any sense to him, but it was obvious he was talking to James – who looked similarly confused.

“Don’t know what you want, mate, but you’d better get out of here.”

The monster raised his chin in defiance, but to Riley’s surprise, he started to move backwards.

“This isn’t over, Spike.”

The monster then turned and ran, disappearing among the trees and leaving them alone. James turned to him with a startled look, and then quickly looked towards where Buffy had been.

“Where did she go?” he shouted.

Before he had a chance to answer, James was taking off in the direction she had run – seemingly by luck. He too broke into a run, but came to a breathless halt after only a few metres when, just as if someone had flicked a switch, the fog lifted and his memories returned.



Everything came back to him with a sudden jolt and he had to take several deep breaths to calm himself down. He had no idea what had happened, but he knew the first thing he needed to do was find Buffy and Spike, and see if they too had their memories back. He broke into a run once more and dashed through the trees, hoping he would be able to find them.

He came out into a clearing and stopped, looking around desperately for them. He turned left on a whim, rounded a crypt – and froze. Just up ahead of him, sheltered behind a nearby crypt, were Buffy and Spike. And they were kissing.

He pressed his back against the crypt to prevent himself from being spotted, but could not move from his spot. He could not look away either, from this sight that caused a pain to rip through his chest. Buffy clung to the vampire so desperately as she kissed him, her hands digging into the arms of his coat – as if relying on him to hold her up. There was so much desperation, passion, in their kiss and he wondered that he had let himself become so blind to the truth: Buffy had fallen for another vampire. It was the end to all his hopes and dreams