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Buffy was quick to fill Angel in on the nature of Xander's call, then the two of them, expecting a potential vampire raid, grabbed a few weapons (stakes, holy water, crosses) from the closet on their way out, stuffing them in her duffel bag.
They rushed to Sunnydale High as fast as possible. Or rather, Angel ran ten times faster than his girlfriend, getting there way ahead of her. Buffy once in a while envied him for the fact that his powers, whether it be telepathy, agility, or strength, far exceeded her own. All vampires had these traits, which had always made killing them a challenge. And the older they were, the more powerful they got.
By the time she arrived on the scene, Buffy was expecting to find remnants of vampire dust (what was usually left when they were killed) in and around the library, but there wasn't a single trace. Confused, Buffy made her way through the swinging double doors, swearing that nothing could have prepared her for what she found.
Her friends, including Angel, were crowded around the table in the center of the room, appearing anything but frightened. Buffy took a step forward, prepared to start asking questions, when someone entered behind her.
With wide eyes, Buffy turned to see Stefanie, staring at her new friend a moment. Then, taking an inaccurate guess as to what the problem had been, she turned back to Xander, raging inside.
"Are you that afraid of vampires that you can't trust even the good ones?" Buffy asked him angrily. "I understand that you of all people have every reason to hate them after what happened to your friend, Jesse... But this is too much, Xander! Do you have any idea how scared you got me?!?"
During her intense speech, none of the other four could get a word in edgewise, so they all had to wait until she finished. When she had, Stefanie was the first to speak.
"Buffy, you've got the wrong idea," Stefanie said. "Xander and Willow were simply minding their own business when some man named Principal Snyder found them. Xander barricaded himself in the back room and made the quick call to you because this guy was threatening to have them arrested for trespassing. Then, I intervened. He'll wake up in his office tomorrow morning with no memory of tonight.
Buffy calmed down upon hearing this, biting her lip. Next to vampires, Principal Snyder was her least favorite person in the world, as he had made her slaying life difficult in her few years at this school. "I'm sorry," she said to Xander. "I guess I overreacted." To Stefanie, she added, "How did you happen to come here?"
Stefanie glanced around the library with a perplexed look. "Something about this place, this room in particular, drew me," she said, choosing her words carefully. "There's some kind of force at work here, a very powerful one."
Angel looked up from where he was sitting, exchanging looks with Buffy and prompting her to explain to Stefanie what she felt. "Well, sounds like you stumbled onto our local Hellmouth," Buffy started. "It's supposed to be like a center of mystical convergence, which means supernatural creatures are highly attracted to it... But imagine our surprise when we found it was located in one of our favorite hangouts."
Seeing Stefanie's confusion, Willow chose to add her own details. "Basically, this Hellmouth is a portal which has demons trapped beneath its surface. It was opened briefly one night, and this demonic plant tried to eat us," Willow stated as cheerfully as she could.
Buffy was surprised by how positive her friend sounded, considering what they had gone through back then. "It took Giles two months before he would even set foot in here again," she reminisced, then went on to tell Stefanie who Giles was.
"Well, who wants to go hunting?" Buffy then asked. "We can do our usual scoping out at the Bronze, maybe get in a little dancing. What do you guys say?"
Her friends all readily agreed to this suggestion, while Stefanie took a little persuading, not used to Buffy's style. The two of them may be slayers, but that was where the similaraties ended. Stefanie had taken her "work" far more seriously.
At the Bronze, they settled around their usual table, keeping an eye out for anyone who appeared out of place. They hadn't even been there two minutes when Cordelia stumbled by, laughing hysterically. But she quickly sobered when she saw who she had bumped into.
"Well, if it isn't the 'Monster Squad'," Cordelia said in that haughty voice of hers. "Hope it's just going to be your usual routine, because I am not getting dragged into this tonight."
Xander smirked. "I think we can fight the undead for one night without your help, Cordelia," he retorted. "Although, if you'd like to join us for partying afterwards..."
Buffy cut in. "No... No part," she protested, looking at Angel. "I think I'd like to have the time to myself tonight."
As usual, Xander was going through countless objections in his mind, but voiced none of them. He watched as Buffy told Cordelia to rent a hotel, then as she and Angel shared a passionate kiss.
When it was over, Buffy smiled up at Angel. "Thanks for not vamping out on me this time," she said, recounting what had happened during their first kiss. It had become sort of a running joke between them, and he couldn't help but laugh.
"You're too much," he replied, kissing her forehead and going off in search of something to drink (for her, not him).
The few vampires that showed up were no problem. Stefanie and Angel alternated between those that did in the alley outside the club, while Buffy just spent time enjoying herself, although her sixth sense was going off big-time. But her refusal to do anything didn't go unnoticed.
Willow first broached the subject when the five of them left the Bronze and were walking Xander home. "I realized after a while that you weren't lifting a finger to help dust any vamps tonight . What's the deal?" she asked quietly.
Buffy looked from Willow to Angel and back again, debating over whether or not this was a good time to tell her. She heard Angel give his consent telepathically and was about to do so when Stefanie suddenly screamed behind them.
Turning, Buffy was frightened to see the other slayer held in the grip of another vampire, wooden stake poised over her heart. "She can die the same way as the rest of us, so back off," this new vampire said, while Buffy wondered how he had managed to sneak in under their radar.
Her boyfriend had no such concerns. Enraged, Angel let his demon face show, surprising the new arrival. "Let her go," Angel growled, but to no avail.
"You amaze me, Stefanie," the stranger said to the girl in his arms. "That you let this one slip through your fingers, But that doesn't matter. I'll deal with him later. As well as your new slayer friend."
Stefanie felt a few tears escape her eyes. "What do you want, Arnie?" she asked, a note of sadness in her voice.
Arnie looked down at her. "I want my sister back," he said simply. "The way it always should have been, The two of us, killing side by side."
"I'm not you," Stefanie said. "I'll never be like you! So you might as well just kill me now and end this!"
Arnie merely kissed the side of her face, then looked up at Buffy and company. "Bye now," he said. An instant later, he and Stefanie were gone, leaving only their blurred images as they took off and an echo of her screaming on the dark street...