For Want of a Nail

For Want of a Nail


“I know that we’re together even though we’re far apart, and I wear our lucky penny round my neck, pressed to my heart. And – oof!”

Buffy Summers looked up at the cloudless sky. She closed her eyes and sniffed the air. Her eyes snapped open and she grabbed onto the tombstone she had tripped over. She sprang up into the air and dusted the vampire behind her.

She blew the dust off her stake and skipped along the cemetery. She didn’t know why but her entire body was singing. There was just something in the air.

She was so busy hopping from tombstone to tombstone that she didn’t even notice the hand that shot out of the ground and pulled her down. She managed to stifle her scream as her forehead smashed painfully against the tombstone. And that’s when she noticed her stake was gone. She looked up at the dark figure looming above her. The vampire smiled a sinister smile as he twirled her stake in his fingers. His foot came down on her ribs. She grabbed his ankle and managed to throw him down on the ground. She jumped to her feet. She looked at him for a second and looked at the other vampires coming at her. She spit blood and followed her naturally honed Slayer instinct. She ran. Even with a rib crushed painfully in her gut she was still faster than any of them. She scaled a tree and practically flew to the roof of a crypt. She took a deep breath, wincing at the pain when she inhaled. She knew it would take them a minute to find her. Besides, her backup should be there soon. Faith would know if something happened to her. She looked at the sky again. There were clouds now. She wrinkled her nose thinking. That couldn’t be good. That many clouds in that short of a time period? She didn’t have time to think of a logical reason. The roof of the crypt collapsed under her. She screamed and landed with a painful ‘thunk’. She groaned and rolled over on the grass. That’s when it clicked in her head.

“What the--?” She sat up, clutching her gut. There shouldn’t be grass in a crypt. She looked around. She wasn’t in a crypt. She felt like screaming again. All desire to burst out in song disappeared.

“Oh god” She collapsed onto her back.

It’s not even sunny here. She thought to herself. She smiled. She was rapidly losing blood from her head, at least two of her ribs were crushed, her knee was throbbing from a cut she got from scaling the tree, and all she could think about was the weather.

She groaned. Smiling hurt. But she had no choice. She rose to her feet slowly. She had no idea where she was or what was going on, but she was sure of one thing. There was a house in front of her and it was definitely giving off a magical glow. She could tell it was a happy magical glow though, it was glowing bright green. Magical things that glowed bright green had a special place in Buffy’s heart. She staggered toward the house and decided that she should crawl instead.

She was distinctly aware of the fact that it was raining but it didn’t seem to faze her. She felt as if the raindrops were falling everywhere but on her. She felt like she was in her own protective bubble.