Submitted for Feedback -- "Samantha's Fools"
East Lansing, Michigan. November 11, 2004.

Perfect by nature …

Time was, Jason DiSantos was the picture of perfection to Samantha. Handsome, sexy, funny, confident without being cocky, caring, and somehow always knowing just what to say.

But over the past five months, that man left, and all Sam could see was … she wasn’t sure what it was she saw when she looked at Jason these days, but the care? The tender shoulder she could lean on when things got too rough? It just wasn’t there anymore … and all because Samantha was pregnant.

“What did you say?” the Slayer asked with furrowed brow, arms crossed over her chest.

“I’m done,” Jason said, taking off his glasses and shooting Samantha a level gaze. “I can’t be in this … relationship anymore.”

Samantha blinked. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Jason was breaking up with her? And all over … what? The fact that she wouldn’t kill her own child? That seemed rather selfish, now didn’t it?

“Why?” she bit off. “Cause I’m determined to have this baby? You can’t stand the fact that I’m not willing to kill the human life growing inside of me? A life you helped put there, might I add.”

Jason shook his head, putting his glasses back on. He stared at Samantha, and she noticed something in his eyes she’d never seen before. Where once the Slayer saw love and understanding, she now saw mistrust and loathing. The same man who once spent a Christmas vacation keeping the lonely Samantha company was now backtracking out of her life and leaving her to potentially raise their son on her own.

The young man was scared. This wasn’t what Jason bargained for. How was he to know this would happen? Samantha said she’d been on The Pill; he used protection every time they were together. How the fuck was this happening?

Jason couldn’t be a father. He just … he just couldn’t.

“I just can’t!” Jason practically screamed, his hands shaking as he dove to his knees and got in his lover’s face. His breath flared through his nostrils and for the fleetest of moments, he considered slapping Samantha across the face.

But he remembered … Slayer. His girlfriend was a goddamn Slayer. Smacking her would be like showing a retarded terrorist how to activate a bomb.

“I’ve already got a freak for a girlfriend,” he said as he stood again. “I will not have a freak for a child, too.”

Samantha’s eyes widened as she stood and met her boyfriend face-to-face. She tried her damnedest to control her breathing as she looked into Jason’s eyes, still amazed at the remarkable lack of feeling in them. One hand grabbed Jason by the throat, tightening to the point of discomfort while still allowing the boy to breath.

“First of all,” the Slayer hissed. “This Slayer thing’s not genetic. Second of all, this child growing inside of me is a boy. Third of all?” Samantha paused, grinning to herself. “Call me a freak again, and I’ll make sure this is the only child you ever have.”

Jason snarled and grabbed Samantha’s wrist, pushing her hand away. “I have no child,” he said, turning and heading toward the door. He turned the knob, stopping briefly to look over his shoulder.

“Have the damn kid if you want; choice is yours. But kid or no kid, I’m out.

“I’m done.”



East Lansing, Michigan. January 17, 2005.

Just what we all need … more lies about a world that never was and never will be … Have you no shame? Don’t you see me?

Russell Witherton sighed as he shut the door behind him. Setting his briefcase on the floor beside the front door of the apartment, the Watcher took a cursory look about, noticing all the lights were out.

Asleep, Russell figured. She must be asleep. Seven months pregnant now, can’t blame her. Just glad there’s more than one Slayer in town to pick up the slack.

Russell disapproved of Samantha going through with the pregnancy, mostly because of the impact it had on her work as a Slayer, but he realized things often happened with young people, and she demonstrated tremendous resolve in deciding to go forth with the pregnancy.

But more impressive than her resolve in that decision was the resolve she showed the day before in making a tougher, more important decision.

The Watcher walked into the kitchen, opening the fridge and grabbing a bottle of water. Twisting the cap and taking a sip, Russell thought he heard a faint voice in the other side of the apartment. He stopped mid-sip, honing his ears more to the source of the noise.

Silence for several seconds, and then he heard it again. Samantha wasn’t asleep after all.

Closing the water bottle and returning it to the fridge, Russell slowly crept through the apartment, listening with each step he took. The closer he got to the closed door to Samantha’s room, the louder the whispers and sniffling became.

Ah … no wonder the Slayer couldn’t sleep. She was up crying. A common occurrence in recent months, what with Jason’s abrupt departure and the like. Russell was sorry Jason had left town the way he did; he was rather cross with the boy and had the intense desire to show him so.

But the Watcher couldn’t, so he got the much more difficult task of comforting his Slayer.

Slowly rapping his knuckle against the door, Russell spoke in a calm, hushed tone. “Samantha?” he nearly whispered. “Are you alright?”

Almost as soon as the question left Russell’s lips, he silently cursed himself for asking it. Of course Samantha wasn’t okay; she was over seven months pregnant, the child’s father abandoned her, and she was struggling with a decision that would affect both her life and that of her unborn son.

As intelligent as Russell was, he was prone to moments of idiocy. This was one of those moments.

The Watcher slowly turned the door knob, cautiously stepping into the Slayer’s bedroom and searching the darkness for her. It was hard with the lights out, but the moonlight coming in through the window helped somewhat. The quiet sobs were disheartening to a man who over the years learned to ignore his heart. It was a bone of contention between Russell and Samantha over the years, but this time, he couldn’t hide the emotions he felt upon seeing his Slayer in this situation.

And see her he did, finding Samantha on the floor in the corner beside her bed. She was too busy crying to really notice Russell was there, so he merely stood in the doorway and frowned at the sight of his charge bathed in moonlight, her body jerking with each tear she shed.

Russell felt inadequate, unable to think of anything to say or do. He was just about to turn around and retreat away to his room when he saw Samantha look up at him, a tear rolling down her cheek and her eyes eerily dark in the room’s darkness.

“Get out,” she growled.

Russell stood motionless, his brain not completely registering what he just heard. He stared at his Slayer, removing his glasses and squinting in her general direction.

“I said,” Sam whispered, wiping her thumb under her left eye, “get OUT!!!”

Russell recoiled, backing into the wall as his hand frantically searched for the door knob. The look in Samantha’s eyes was one he’d never seen before, and the chill it sent down his aged spine was a feeling the Watcher was keen on never feeling again.

So the sooner he left the room, the better.

“You cold, unfeeling prick!” she continued, slowly rising to her feet, her hands balled into fists. “For months now I’ve had to deal with all this … shit! Granted, a lot of it was my doing, what with getting knocked up and all, but still … would it have killed you to show a little compassion?!

“Is that what they teach you at the Council? Were you pulled out of your home as a child so the Mother Country could teach you how to be such a bastard?! If it’s not morning sickness, it’s the realization I can’t slay until after I’ve had Cory. If it’s not the lack of slayage, it’s the fact that my boyfriend – Cory’s goddamn father -- up and walked out on me. And then -- AND THEN -- I’m faced with the possibility of handing my son over to some other family the very moment he plops out of my belly!

“So here I am, a scared college-aged girl, unsure of what to do or where to go, and where’s the one person in the world responsible for helping me figure all these things out? Huh? Where is he?

“If you know, by all means tell me, because I have no fucking clue! I don’t even know who you are anymore, Russell. You’re my goddamn Watcher … is it really that hard for you to just be there for me? Put down the books for a few minutes and look at me for what I am. Okay, I’m a Slayer, sure … but I’m a person, too.

“A scared person. So until you figure out how to do your fucking job, get out of my apartment. You’re no good to me right now.”



East Lansing, Michigan. May 9, 2005.

You don’t know how you betrayed me … and somehow you’ve got everybody fooled.

“Oh my God, Samantha! How are you?!”

To be entirely truthful, Samantha was uncomfortable with the way Regina Higgins hugged her. Sure, they’d had one class together their freshman year and they hung out a bit the following semester, but the Slayer never really figured them to be close friends – as evidenced by how they fell out of touch that following summer and how they really didn’t seek each other out again once the fall started back up.

“Hey, Reg!” she responded with a hug, deciding to go along with things. She wasn’t upset to see Regina … just a little taken aback at the sudden thrust of arms around her neck.

“So,” Regina said as she took her arms back, sitting on the bench next to Samantha and brushing back a strand of her black hair. “How’ve you been?”

Ooh … way to start out with a tough one, Reg. Just had to bat Pujols leadoff, didn’t you?

The Slayer heaved a sigh before forcing a smile Regina’s way, scratching her shoulder. “I’m … good,” Sam lied, silently hoping her friend wouldn’t notice the telltale signs that all was not well.

Of course, Regina was studying for a government job, possibly in intelligence, so the chances of her knowing Sam was lying? Pretty damn good.

“Sam,” the young black woman said in a serious tone. “Come on. You know better than to lie to me. Future CIA girl, remember? You’re looking at the next Sydney Bristow – ya know, minus the whole my mother was a KGB badass and I spend every day not knowing who or what my father is – anyway, the point is, I just took an entire class on detecting lies, so I know right now you’re knee-deep in one.

“So spill.”

Samantha sighed and gave Regina a cringe, shaking her head and curling up within herself. Wrapping her arms around her knees, the Slayer rest her chin on her knees, a listless look in her eyes.

Regina watched this display, her brows furrowing as she inched closer to Sam on the bench. Students walked past on their way to class or the student center, Michigan State its usual busy self on the week before spring finals. But right now, Regina was oblivious to the whole campus scene, because she could tell Samantha was in a rough place.

“Sam,” she said. “What’s wrong?”

Samantha gave Regina a sad look, a sudden tightness in her chest. She took a ragged breath, feeling that burn in her eyes again as tears threatened to fall. Her Watcher aside, Samantha told nobody about what happened. Not the pregnancy, not Jason leaving, nothing.

But Regina asked, and she’d know if Sam was lying, so …

“Jason left,” she said in as even a voice as she could muster.

“What?” Regina asked, her eyes widening. “Oh, honey … why?”

Samantha shrugged her shoulders, looking down at the ground beneath the bench. She so didn’t want to go through the whys and wherefores of her boyfriend leaving. But again, she knew Regina wouldn’t let her lie or drop the issue, so …

“I was pregnant,” the Slayer explained, “he wanted me to get rid of the child, I refused to. He wanted nothing to do with fatherhood, so when I put my foot down and said once and for all I wasn’t getting an abortion … “ Sam paused, taking a ragged breath and wiping away a tear that managed to stray down her cheek, “ … he just walked.”

Regina blinked, grabbing Samantha’s hand into her own, squeezing it. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “That asshole.”

Regina shook her head, her mind racing with all the things she wanted to do to Jason for just up and walking out on Samantha like that. But when she heard Samantha say she’d been pregnant, her eyebrows raised again, her head cocking to the side.

“So,” she began after a lengthy silence, “you had the kid.”

Samantha nodded quietly, her eyes filling with tears again. She sniffled, wiping at her nose before looking at Regina again, silently worried about her mascara running. It was one thing for Regina to see her nearly at rock-bottom, but for her to see the Slayer as some hideous, raccoon-eyed freak? That was just unacceptable.

“Yeah, I had him,” she said in a near-whisper, wiping away another tear. Over two months since she gave birth to Cory, two months since she held him in her arms and then gave him away to the nicest family in the world. Now her son was in Pennsylvania and would get to grow up happy and normal and all those other things that were now nothing but a memory for the Slayer.

“Gave him up for adoption, but … I had him.”

“You gave him up?!” Regina asked in shock. “For God’s sake, Sam, why?”

Samantha sighed again, glaring at Regina and shaking her head. “Because,” she began, pausing to gather her thoughts and choose her words. “Because I can’t be the kind of mother he needs. The kind of mother I want to be. Between school and my work and how much Russ pushes me, I couldn’t devote myself to my son the way I want.

“Getting pregnant was something I did; by having Cory, I was taking responsibility for what I did. But I know if I were to try raising that boy, it wouldn’t go well, and I want that life I brought into the world to have the best chance at a good life he could.

“And it wasn’t with me.”

Regina shook her head. This was certainly unexpected. She knew breakups were a part of college, but never in her wildest dreams did Regina think Jason would ever be the kind to up and leave Samantha without good reason. For so long, Regina thought she knew Jason. Now she wasn’t so sure.

And Russell … he was awful pushy for a grandfather. She supposed it was his growing up in England, but it amazed her how short a leash he had Samantha on. Regina hadn’t heard much about Samantha’s family, but what little she knew she didn’t like.

So maybe giving her son up for adoption was a smart move on Samantha’s part. But … where was the child?

“I’m so sorry,” Regina said again, resting a hand on Samantha’s back.

Samantha just nodded, sniffling and glancing at her watch. “Shit,” she sighed in annoyance. “I’m really sorry, Reg, but I need to go. Reviewing for my Serial Killers final today.”

The Slayer gave Regina a tight hug, rubbing her back and sniffling again before pulling back and standing. Tossing her bag over her shoulder, Samantha gave her friend a sad smile. “It was really nice seeing you … let’s do this again sometime. Preferably before the end of the next semester.”

Regina nodded and gave a friendly wave. “Of course,” she said as Samantha walked away. Her smile faded as she watched the blonde disappear into the distance, glancing over her shoulder to watch a gaggle of students exiting one of the campus buildings. Classes must be getting out, she though she reached for her cell phone, dialing a number and putting it to her ear.

“Regina Higgins. Patch me through to the Chicago office.”

A slight pause, Regina sitting on the bench on her cell phone as she waved to another student who walked by.

“Mr. Gregor. Yes. … Yes, I did. There … there’s news. … Yes, sir. She had a child. A son. … Cory, sir. Cory Blanchard.”



Portland, Maine. July 4, 2006.

Without the mask, where will you hide? Can’t find yourself, lost in your lie.

“So how’s the lobster?”

“You’re late,” the dark figure snarled, flicking a half-smoked cigarette into the ocean. The moon shone bright off the ocean, but the black hooded cloak kept the figure hidden from Jason’s view.

“Yeah, well,” Jason shrugged, “I can’t help it if you needed to meet in some middle-of-nowhere little pisshole like Maine. Awful lot of trouble for a simple rendezvous, don’t you think?”

The figure took one step forward, Jason taking a step backward in reaction. The figure weirded Jason out, not just because he had no idea who it was, but the whole black robe hiding the face thing was a tad unsettling too.

Not to mention meeting in the middle of the night on some pier on the ocean.

“We must take care to not be found,” the figure explained in disguised voice. “If anyone finds out what we’re doing, it’s all over.”

Jason furrowed his brow, leaning back against the railing on the edge of the pier. “So … let me get this straight,” he mused. “We’re here to discuss Wolfram & Hart business, but we don’t want Wolfram & Hart to find out what we’re doing.

“You’ll forgive me if I don’t see the sense in that.”

“Things have changed,” the figure said. “I’m of the opinion the firm’s timetable is much too slow.”

“Timetable,” Jason repeated.

“Yes … the firm still thinks nothing should be done until the child has reached high school age.”

Jason frowned. “Why?”

The figure shrugged, lowering the black hood and revealing its face to Jason. It was Regina; well, it looked and sounded like Regina, but … it’s face was different somehow. Jason gasped and took a tighter grip on the railing when he saw the ridges on Regina’s face, the way her brows resembled those of a fucking Klingon and how her eyes were now yellow and feral.

“What the hell is this?” he wondered aloud.

“Wolfram & Hart is many things,” Regina said. “But first and foremost, they’re a corporation, constantly concerned about the bottom line. Aside from a small minority of the higher ups, nobody understands the importance of this.”

“But you do,” Jason said, suddenly feeling dread in his gut.

“Have from day one,” Regina said with a smile, showing off a shiny pair of fangs. “Think about it, Jason … you are the father of a child with immense potential. The offspring of a Vampire Slayer – do you have any idea the future someone like that could possess?”

Jason nodded, but said nothing. He still hated how Cory was able to be born and given away to a normal family halfway across the country. Sure, he was with a family away from Samantha and all that, but did she really think no one would ever find out about her son?

For a Slayer, Samantha was awful naïve.

“The firm never placed much of a priority on Slayers,” Regina continued with a hint of disgust in her voice. “So it doesn’t surprise me that they’re sitting on their collective hands in regards to this kid. But you and I … we can change all of that. We can bring into motion things they’re too chickenshit to start.”

Jason furrowed his brow. “You and me?”

Regina smiled again, a dark flare in her eyes. “Yessssss,” she hissed. “Who better to bring into the fold than the father of the Chosen Child?”

Jason blinked. He so could not believe this. Chosen Child? What the fuck?

“Whoa whoa whoa,” Jason said, letting go of the rail and starting to head back to his car. “I don’t know what you and your freak brigade have planned, Ms. Higgins, but I’m not a part of it.”

“Your part in this cannot be denied,” Regina said, following Jason step-for-step. “You are the father of the Chosen Child. You are foretold to play a pivotal role.”

Jason spun around, angry and jabbing his finger into Regina’s chest. “You know what, fuck you!!!” he yelled. “You know, it’s freaks like you why I didn’t want Sam having that damn kid in the first place! You can chase the boy around all you want, but he’s nothing special! He’s just a boy!”

Regina frowned. “You don’t believe.”

“No,” Jason bit off, “I don’t.”

Regina’s frown grew, her lithe finger trailing Jason’s jawline. He flinched at her touch, but the look in her eyes froze him somehow. The dread in Jason’s gut grew and his hands began to shake.

He had no idea where this was going, but he had a bad feeling about it.

“Poor boy,” Regina lamented. “Poor, unenlightened boy. Someone needs to open your eyes.”

Before Jason could react or respond, Regina pushed his head to the side and lunged for him, her fangs digging into the side of his neck. Jason grunted in pain when her fangs broke flesh, puncturing his jugular and causing his blood to fill her mouth. Regina drank from Jason, relishing in the warmth of his blood; she hadn’t fed in nearly three nights, preparing for the possibility of having to do this, and the taste was much better than she thought it would be.

Jason’s body began to slump, consciousness leaving his body as the blood did. His eyes fell shut before Regina lifted her fangs, licking her lips and brushing her fingernail along her chest. Blood speed from her skin just above her cleavage before Regina took the back of Jason’s head and led his lips to the blood.

Almost instinctively, Jason’s lips suckled on the blood, grunting and swallowing whatever vitae he could. After several moments of feeding, Regina let Jason’s body drop of the ground, placing the hood back over her head.

With a sigh, Regina lit a cigarette, clacking her lighter shut and taking a long first drag.



Baltimore, Maryland. August 1, 2009.

I know the truth now. I know who you are, and I don’t love you anymore!

“I thought you were working with us on this, Regina.”

“I was, sir,” the vampiress said with her arms folded across her chest, her expression showing she wasn’t the least bit impressed by David Gregor’s lavish office. “But your firm works far too slowly.”

Gregor smirked, putting out his cigar and rising from his chair, turning his back to Regina and staring out into the night sky. Regina might not’ve appreciated his office, but the view of the Baltimore skyline – not to mention the Inner Harbor – was one of the reasons Gregor preferred to keep his operations local. Oh, he’d move to Chicago or Las Vegas whenever the situation allowed, but he always found himself back in Baltimore.

“Our firm, Ms. Higgins,” Gregor began, his back still turned, “has other concerns. Concerns far more pressing than that of some child who may or may not have a destiny before him.”

“That is the child of a Slayer,” Regina fought back, her fangs glaring under the light of the office. “Have you any idea what that means?”

Gregor turned to look at Regina again, a smug grin on his face when he saw her fangs. Tough little bitch, thinking she can waltz right into Wolfram & Hart and order David Gregor around. Never mind the vampire sensors trained to alert security, who themselves were all trained to stake now, ask questions never.

Amusing, if not pathetic.

“It means nothing,” Gregor said with a dismissive sigh. “This is not the X-Men, Ms. Higgins. A Slayer does not necessarily beget another Slayer. This isn’t genetics, it’s destiny. And seeing as how the child in question is also male, his already slim chance at Slayerhood is diminished to zero.”

Regina sighed and let out a low snarl, sitting back in the chair and crossing her arms again. Such a simple, stupid man … how in the world did he ever climb the corporate ladder? What could the Senior Partners possibly have seen in this simpleton?

“You know nothing,” she said in a low growl. “The prophecies have told true. The child of the Slayer will play a pivotal role in the battles to come.”

Gregor sighed, growing weary of this entire charade. He walked across the front of his desk, leaning back against it and scratching his dark goatee, normally brown but with the slightest hint of gray beginning to show through.

“Ms. Higgins,” he said in a weary, exhausted tone, “you do remember there’s more than one Slayer in the world now, yes? You recall the spell that activated every Potential on the planet?”

Regina nodded in silence.

“So what makes you so sure this boy is the one?”

Regina blinked, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. “Be … because he is the child of the Slayer.”

Gregor smiled knowingly. “And what makes you think Ms. Blanchard is the only Slayer in the world with a little brat?”

Gregor’s eyes lifted as he spoke, noticing the thin man with glasses entering his office. He sighed again and shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest. “Mr. DiSantos,” he greeted with no feeling. “I was merely … ending a discussion here with Ms. Higgins.”

“So I heard,” Jason said, his feral eyes amplified by the glasses he no longer needed yet still wore. He smiled at Regina, giving her a soft kiss and a squeeze on her shoulder. “It seems you have no interest in my child.”

Gregor nodded. “Is that going to be a problem, Mr. DiSantos?”

Jason smiled at Regina, and then at Gregor. “Oh, no,” he said as his smile grew. “It’s no problem at all.”



Chicago, Illinois. September 17, 2009.

It never was and never will be … you’re not real and you can’t save me. Somehow now, you’re everybody’s fool.

The Navy Pier was pretty this time of night. Always had been.

But as much as Samantha loved the rare opportunity to come out to the pier and enjoy authentic Chicago-style deep dish, she found herself staring out into Lake Michigan with tears in her eyes. It seemed with every passing year, things kept getting worse and worse for her. If she wasn’t dealing with the love of her life being a complete dick, she was dealing with giving up her son. If she wasn’t dealing with her issues with Russell, she was dealing with Wolfram & Hart offering her $2.5 million to kill Russell.

Then there was the whole issue of Russell actually being dead and his current Slayer Shannon being the one who killed him. It was just too much.

Samantha sniffled, wiping at her nose before a high-pitched scream in the distance distracted her. The Slayer stared in the direction of the scream, looking back inland. Without another moment’s hesitation, Samantha sprinted off the boardwalk on the pier, reaching into her black leather coat for her stake.

The Slayer bobbed and weaved her way around the people parading about the pier, grunting when she ran into the back of a hot dog vendor with her shoulder. She never lost stride, however, and she turned the corner into a dark alley only to see …

… a young man fall dead, a female figure standing over him. The victim sported the telltale holes in the left side of his neck, the distinct smell of blood in the night air. Samantha gripped her stake tighter, gnashing her teeth.

“I’d tell you to freeze and put your hands up in the air,” Samantha told the black-haired figure, “but I don’t have a badge yet, so what’s say I just stake you instead?”

“Slayer,” the figure said with a grin, putting its hands in the air before turning to reveal itself to Samantha. The Slayer nearly dropped her stake when the vampire turned to face her and she saw that it was, in fact, her old friend from Michigan State.

“Regina?” she said with a disbelieving blink. “Oh … oh my God. I’m … I’m so sorry.”

Regina shrugged and smiled, licking her fingers. “I’m not,” she replied nonchalantly. “Life’s more fun this way. I’m way cooler, way stronger … can stay out as late as I want and have anything I desire. Pretty cool gig, if you can get it.”

Samantha shook her head, tears building in her eyes. “You’re a monster.”

Regina gave Samantha a well, duh look. “Uhh … yeah,” she said. “What gave that away? Was it the pointy teeth? It was the bumpy forehead, wasn’t it? I bet it was the bumpy forehead.”

Samantha lunged forward, grabbing Regina by the collar of her red dress and slamming her against the wall. “How about the dead body at your feet?” she growled, her emotions for the moment giving way to the natural call of the Slayer. She held the tip of the stake at Regina’s chest, her teeth gritted as a tear rolled down her cheek.

“That,” Regina said, seemingly unphased by the attack of hunk of wood inches away from dusting her, “was just to get your attention.

“By the way, how’s ol’ Grandpa doing? Always did find it kind of odd you had a British relative. Then again, he wasn’t really your grandfather, was he?”

Samantha blinked, taken aback as she let go of her grip on Regina’s dress. She shook her head, pointing the stake at the vampire. “You,” she stuttered out, “you knew?

“How?”

“Jason told me,” Regina said as she straightened out her dress, pushing her breasts together to show more cleavage in the top. Appearances had always been important to Regina, especially now that she was in the business of seducing her meals. “You know, before I sired him.”

Regina noticed the stumped look on the Slayer’s face, her smile growing. “Oh, babe, didn’t I tell you? He and I are together now. He’s told me everything about you. Seriously, girl … everything. All the way down to how you spent your nights killing the undead and crashing away with some elderly British man who’s probably never seen a pair of tits before in his life.

“Well, until yours … if you can call those tits.”

Samantha slammed Regina against the wall again, growling as she punched the vampire in the face. Blood sprayed against the brick wall, Regina doubled over as the Slayer’s fist buried itself in her stomach. Regina didn’t even have time to gasp when she felt Samantha’ knee between her legs.

It didn’t matter what gender one was, a knee to the crotch always hurt.

“Get up,” Samantha said, tightening the grip on her stake again. “Get up!”

Regina did so, slowly, blood trickling from her nostril to her upper lip. She chuckled as she did, taking great pleasure in the pissed-off look on Samantha’s face. “Oh, honey,” she said with another giggle, “you should see yourself right now. So uptight, so wound up. Maybe you need to take that stake, turn it around and use it for something else.

“You’ll feel better, trust me.”

The sight sickened Samantha. The thing looked like Regina, even sounded like her, but that was not the friend she once pulled all-nighters and had weekend-long Gilmore Girls marathons with.

No, Regina was gone. And all that was left was this foul creature who not only killed the friend Samantha had, but corrupted the father of her child as well. Not that Jason was a prize-winner of a human anymore, but still … vampirism was a curse the Slayer wished on no one.

“Aww, what’s the matter?” Regina pouted at Samantha’s expression. “Strike a nerve?”

With nothing more than a grunt, Samantha drove her elbow into Regina’s chin. Blood again splattered against the wall, but this time as the vampire stumbled back against the wall, the Slayer took her chance. With a quick jab of her arm, wood punctured skin and pierced an unbeating heart.

Regina’s eyes went wide, the realization finally sinking in. She could feel her body starting to deteriorate, flesh ripping into tiny particles. “You,” she spat out, “you bitch … oh, Jason’s not gonna like … “

Before Regina could finish, she was dust. Gone, blowing in the Lake Michigan breeze. Samantha dropped her stake, standing in complete disbelief over what just happened. Regina a vampire, having sired Jason. What else had happened since Samantha left Michigan? What else was there?

Samantha stared at the man Regina killed, sighing and running her hands through her hair. She felt dust in her blonde locks, shaking her head. But before she turned to walk away, something caught the Slayer’s eye. Kneeling before the dead man, Samantha noticed a small white card lying on the ground face-down.

Grabbing the card and flipping it over, the Slayer gasped as she read the words printed on it.

David Gregor, President, Division of Special Projects Corporate Offices, Wolfram & Hart.