This story is purely fictional. The characters in this story do not correspond to nor are connected to the TV series ‘Buffy’. Any resemblance is coincidental and not intentional.

©Copyright 1999 Honda-Matic, All Rights Reserved. This story may be reproduced only in its full, original, unedited and unmodified posting where: 1) full credit is given to its author and, 2) no commercial gain of any sort is realized as a result of its reproduction. No permission is granted, actual or implied, to reproduce a modified version of this story, in whole or in part, without the express consent of the author.

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The vampire population was dwindling, their numbers was rapidly declining. Fear and hatred towards vampires had let to many organised vampire slaying parties. The small numbers of vampires that had survived was decreasing rapidly and many vampires had gone into hiding, preferring starvation to risking being caught by some of those self-declared slayers. One recent victim had been a female vampire who was caught by a group of self-righteous slayers. They had impaled her on a metal rod piercing her from her ass through to her throat. Then they had crucified her on a cross nailing her hands and feet to a wooden cross and gutted her while also flogging her brutally. When they had finished torturing her they had left her impaled and nailed to the cross. She was burnt to death when the rays of the morning sun hit her.

Dave was very concerned. Something had to be done about that. Vampires cannot be made extinct. If that would happen then the entire human race would be doomed. He knew it would happen. It had happened before. Millions of years ago when mammals were not populating the world yet, it had been the age of the dinosaurs. Among them had been some special vampiric dinosaurs who sucked the blood of other dinosaurs. When the other dinosaurs murdered the vampiric dinosaurs they were punished with total annihilation. Nothing of their great civilization had survived, making the few bones which had been discovered the only remnants of their existence.

Dave shuddered by the thought of that. He couldn’t let this happen to mankind. But what could he do, he had no idea how he could prevent this by himself. He needed help, but who would help him. He was very saddened by the fact that mankind was about to be destroyed by man himself. The irony was that the people who were leading mankind into certain doom were heralded as heroes by the rest of the population.

Dave had lost all hope thinking about the current situation when his eyes suddenly caught an ancient, dusty looking book. It had been in his family’s possession for hundreds of generations but had been misplaced by one of his ancestors. He was surprised to discover it hidden behind a book on cannibal cooking. It had fallen out of the shelf revealing the sacred book hidden behind it. The ancient book was titled ‘The Savior of Mankind’. He had heard it mentioned by his father and how vital it was to find it. His father had dedicated his entire life to finding this book searching all around the world for it but had died without accomplishing his mission in life.

Dave thought about it for a moment and wondered what was so important about this book. He had never had the chance to ask his father who had been too busy all his life trying to find this book. He stared at the book for a while and then opened it. The first paragraph read:

Dave sighed. Was this really the end for mankind? He was bitterly disappointed but continued to flip through the book feeling remorse and despair. He had already lost hope for finding a way to saving mankind, but suddenly his eyes caught a word, or rather a name he had heard his father mention many times: "Buffy". He continued to read with renewed interest and found out that there was a special girl with unnatural powers that would be able to save the world.

This special girl known as Buffy was immortal once she was awakened. Dave studied the book carefully and found out the place and time he would be able to find her. According to the ancient book Buffy was a dormant spirit which lived in a female human body unnoticed by the host. She would stay in a body until the host of the body died. Every time that happened she would seek out a pregnant woman and try to merge with the fetus in her womb. This was how Buffy had survived for centuries, unnoticed by anyone.

Dave had to stop this cycle. He had to awaken Buffy. The book clearly stated that Buffy would be awakened once her host tasted the meat of another girl. It was clear to Dave what he had to do. He had to slaughter a girl and find the girl with the Buffy spirit. Then he had to get her to eat human meat. This would awaken the Buffy spirit and mankind would have a chance of survival. The instructions were clear, but what had surprised him was how detailed and precise the information was. He was able to get very detailed information about Buffy’s current host.

According to the book, the current host body for the Buffy spirit lived in Sydney, Australia. She would be 18 years old in a further month’s time. He would be able to recognize her when he saw her the book had stated. And he was supposed to wait for her every night at the Darling Harbour Monorail station. From there he was supposed to watch the light rail stop which was underneath the monorail station. How he was supposed to recognize her, he had no idea about, but he believed in the contents of the book. He had nothing else to believe in and the book at least gave him hope.

However, Dave still wondered how the author of that book had known all these details beforehand, but he did not doubt the information. It was incredible fascinating and so far everything was correct. Australia was a young country which originally had only been inhabited by Aborigines. The white population had only arrived recently in the past few hundred years, but the book was several millennia old. He checked the map and there was indeed a Monorail station at Darling Harbour, but no mentioning of the light train service. Disappointed he put the map away and he started to doubt the book.

Then he remembered that his map was a few years old and he logged on to the internet to double check. This quickly gave him confidence in the book again and erased any further doubts he previously had. He found out that there really was a newly build light rail stop at that exact spot the book had mentioned. Dave didn’t loose any further time. He booked the next available flight to Sydney and started packing. His flight was on that same day that afternoon.

When he arrived in Australia, he could not find a hotel or any lodgment in the close vicinity of the city. Apparently, everything had been booked out for a vampire slaying convention. He searched for a whole day after his arrival and eventually found a quiet place in the northern part of Sydney. It was on a small peninsula and he had to cross the Sydney Harbour Bridge to get to Darling Harbour, but the place was conveniently located near a supermarket and a hardware store. He would be able to get his supplies easily.

The trip to Darling Harbour from his new place of lodgment in Spit Junction took him about 20 minutes. First he had to catch a bus from Spit Junction square which took him to Wynyard station. This was one of the train stations located around the city circle of Sydney. From there he had several options to get to Darling Harbour, but he found out that the best way was to walk to the monorail station located closely between Center Point Tower and Wynyard station. The monorail then would take him directly to the Entertainment Center located at Darling Harbour. The light rail station he was supposed to watch was just beneath that train stop.

The first thing he did the second day was to prepare for his important task. He went to the supermarket and the hardware store located closely to him for supplies. From the supermarket he bought all sorts of cooking utensils, like a big pan, a set of knives and cooking oil. He went there several times that day since every time he returned he realized that he had forgotten something. Cooking wasn’t one of his best skills. In fact, he hardly knew how to cook. Back home he had always eaten microwave food, ordered take away food or eaten out. He never had had to worry about cooking before. Somehow he even managed to buy a cooking book on roasting pork.

With the hardware shop he was more familiar with and was able to obtain all he needed in two visits to the store. He considered masking tape, a coil of thick ropes and an axe as the most important items that he needed.

Once he had done all the purchasing, he had some cleaning up to do, or rather a lot of re-arrangements with the furniture. He had chosen a small room facing the backyard to be his holding cell. The room was completely emptied except for a bed, and the windows were barricaded so that nothing could get in or out of it except through using the door to which he had added several new padlocks making it impossible to escape from that room once locked inside there.

Next he cleaned up the kitchen and made sure he had not forgotten anything he needed and that everything there was working properly. He decided that the fridge there wasn’t sufficient and ordered a big freezer to complement his already big fridge. A lot of space was required to store a whole long pig and he wanted to make sure that he was able to keep all the meat cool.

His next task was to find some suitable meat. He went out to the bars and pubs at night to scout for something usable. It was going to be Buffy’s first taste of human meat so it had to be good. A first impression is very important, and the book said that if the Buffy spirit liked his service which Dave interpreted as the food he provided, that he would be granted permanent watcher status which meant that he would become immortal as well. What he didn’t know was that he would be able to morph into a dragon as well.

Thus he gave his best at judging and evaluating all the potential meat he met at the pubs. He k new that the facial look wasn’t important since the head would be chopped off and discarded anyway, but the rest of the body was very important. The body had to be in perfect shape and health, and it needed to be relative young as well. Dave thought that some girl in her early twenties would be the only choice. He wanted to make a perfect first meal for Buffy.

Shortly after that, on his second night out scouting, he found a girl with the matching criteria. She was well build, neither too fat nor too skinny. He could tell from her nicely shaped athletic figure that she worked out. She definitely wasn’t one of those lazy sluts who lay around on their lazy asses. He had to admit that she had a nice body but that was it. He did not care about her personality since it wasn’t important. Meat did not need any personality. It just had to taste good. Dave was convinced that she would be perfect and started to think about a plan on how to transform her into meat.

Her name was Alice. She was a second year law student. Like most of the law students she spend most her time studying with her head buried in a law book. She did not have many friends but got along pretty well with the other law students. A social life was something she and the other law students did not have much time for. Alice was no exception. She had just finished her night lecture and was on her way home when she felt depressed. Without a destination in her mind, she had wandered the streets and finally ended up in a pub in North Sydney, the same one Dave had been at.

She sat by herself drinking a glass of red wine and was thinking about her life. She had always been good at school and topped her class every year but never had any real friends. Most people had avoided her. She wasn’t exactly the best looking girl, but was a healthy and fit girl. She didn’t wear any glasses so it was easy to spot the freckles on her face. The only social event she participated in was sports. She loved sports and had met many guys at the gyms and on the tennis courts. But apart from the occasional chit chat, none of them had talked to her much. She wasn’t a great looker nor a good entertainer. The guys just considered her to be a great tennis partner since she played pretty well. She had never been asked out by any of the guys either. Every other girl she knew had had a boyfriend at some stage. She never had one. Alice sighed. She was already 20 years old and still a virgin. This depressed her.

Dave knew nothing about her when he first saw her, but he had looked her up and down and decided that she was perfect for what he had in mind. He joined her and offered to buy her a drink. She accepted his offer since she was already a bit tipsy from her previous drink.

After a few more drinks she had loosened up and was telling Dave everything about her boring life and paraphrasing several chapters from her law books. Dave was bored but tried to look interested. He let her continue to talk and tell him everything about herself. He wasn’t interested in it at all, but he was interested in taking her home. He had to be patient.

Then he went in for the kill. He placed his hand on her knee and slowly moved it towards her privates. Alice felt like she was dreaming. Everything was blurry and flashed by her. She didn’t attempt to refuse Dave’s advances when he kissed her on her lips. She returned his kiss wondering whether it was really happening or whether it was just another dream again.

When Alice awoke the next day she found herself gagged and bound to a bed in a dark and windowless room. She also had a terrible headache. Alice didn’t know where she was nor what had happened to her, but she knew one thing, she didn’t like her current predicament. She was very thirsty and her throat was so dry that it was actually aching. At the same time she needed to visit the toilet, but there was nobody else there to help her. She was alone and was unable to move nor make any noises.

Meanwhile, Dave was at the nearby supermarket and stocking up on various spices. He was also getting all the things he previously forgot to buy.

"Hello, busy doing your weekly shopping?", he heard someone behind him say. Dave turned around and was surprised by a pretty brunette staring right back at him. He had heard that Australians were very friendly and outgoing people but had never actually met anyone who he had chit chat with.

"Oh, hi. Yeah, I’m just getting some supplies.", he responded. Dave didn’t know what else to say. He was out of words. This had never happened to him before. He didn’t know how to react, but thought that he should try to be nice and stay out of troubles.

"You must be shopping for a lot of people. Are you planning a party? Looks like you are going to have a big roast.", the young woman remarked.

"Yes, that’s what I am doing", replied Dave. He felt uneasy having this pretty girl chatting to him while he was preparing to slaughter another girl. He had to control himself and not let her or anybody else get suspicious about his activities.

"Where about do you live? Somewhere close by?", she inquired.

Dave didn’t want to be impolite but was getting annoyed with her curiosity. "I live somewhere around here", he told her.

"I live around here as well. How come I’ve never met you before?", she continued with her bombardment of questions.

Dave looked at her. She was about his own height, slender, and quite pretty. She had her long blond hair tied into a pony tail. He starred at her for a while. When he realised what he was doing he quickly looked away and tried to escape.

"I’m new around her and if you don’t mind, I’ve got more shopping to do.", he told her and attempted to dash away to another shelf section.

She followed him like a leech and continued to ask questions. "When are you going to have your party?"

"I don’t know yet. I am just trying to get started.", he told her.

"I’m Monique. If you need any help, just ask me.", she told him smiling.

Dave wondered why she was being so nice, what her motives were. He even considered taking her home and doing her as well. That would stop her from annoying him, but he quickly dismissed that thought. He didn’t have enough space for that anyway.

"I’m Dave. Pleased to meet you", Dave said and offered his hand for a handshake.

She took his hands and they shook hands. Dave felt a tingling feeling inside himself when he touched her hand.

"Well, I need to do my own little shopping now. It was a pleasure to meet you. See ya around sometime", she said and left.

Dave was relieved. She was finally leaving him alone. He continued his shopping, paid for the stuff at the cashiers and went home. When he arrived at the corner of his street he heard someone calling him.

"Hey Dave, we meet again."

He turned around and was surprised to see Monique again. He cursed inwardly.

"Where about do you live? I live right in that house over there". She pointed at a house right next to his.

She was Dave’s neighbour. He was going to be in big trouble if she snooped around too much. His activities were bound to be discovered with a curious neighbour like her. So far everything had worked out quite smoothly for him but it seemed like his luck had finally run out. He didn’t like that at all but after thinking about it for a short time, he had decided to bite the bullet.

"I live right next to you.", he told her.

"That’s great! So you are my new neighbour.", she smiled. She would have more opportunities to see him and could even make up excuses to visit him. Monique was filled with joy about this thought. She had hoped that he would live close to her so it would be easier to get to know him, but this was even better than she dared to dream about.

"Yes, it seems like it", Dave replied. He wondered why she was so happy about it. It didn’t occur to him that she had a crush on him.

"If you want, you can come on in to my place.", she invited him. "We are neighbours after all", she quickly added.

"Ok, I’ll come over a bit later", Dave told her. He was relieved that she had invited him to her place and was not insisting on visiting him yet. There was some time for him to clean up and prepare for her visit.

Monique waved him goodbye and went into her house. Dave went into his and after placing his shopping goods into the kitchen, went straight to his little private room. When he unlocked and opened the door, he was satisfied to see that Alice was still in the state that he had left her. She was still gagged and bound to the bed, but he noticed that the bed was wet and there was a dark patch on Alice’s dress. He smiled to himself and left the room again, closing the door behind him.

Alice felt ashamed and humiliated. She had lost control and peed herself like a little child. When Dave opened the door she thought she was being rescued, but she lost all hopes when she saw Dave enter and leave. She wondered what he wanted from her. He had seemed so nice the night before. Suddenly he had turned into an ice-cold abductor. It could not have been money since Alice wasn’t rich nor were her parents.

Then Dave returned with a glass of water. He ungagged her and gave her the glass of water which she quickly gulped down spilling half of it. She had been so thirsty she didn’t even taste the slightly salty taste of the water which had been mixed with a sedative.

"You can go to the bathroom and clean yourself up now.", Dave told her. "But don’t even think that you could escape. I’ve put some sedatives into your water", he warned her.

Obediently and scared like shit, Alice let him guide her to the bathroom.

"Place your clothes into that bin over there.", he commanded. "You won’t be needing them anymore."

Unsure about what the last comment meant, she obeyed the orders and stripped. Tears were forming around her eyes from her despair and humiliation.

"Don’t cry", Dave said sharply. "It won’t do you any good."

Alice tried to be brave and wiped the tears from her face. She still didn’t understand what she had been captured for. She wanted to know why she had been abducted but was too scared to ask. Alice secretly prayed that someone would come to her aid, but unfortunately for her, she didn’t know anyone who would do that for her.

Suddenly Dave asked her a question she would have never expected. "Do you like vampires?"

Confused, but too scared not to answer she immediately gave her answer, telling him the truth. "Yes, I knew a vampire once. He was very nice, but some slayer murdered him."

Alice suddenly realised what might have been the reason for her capture. She believed that Dave was one of those self-centered slayers who had killed her only friend and was about to abuse her for having befriended a vampire. She was so enraged that she didn’t care about her current predicament anymore.

"You bastard! What do you want with me? You people already murdered Freddie. He was a very kind vampire and you cold blooded murderers killed him. He had never harmed anyone. You sick murderers!", she screamed at him showing him all her anger.

"Calm down.", Dave told her. "I am not a slayer. In fact, I hate them as well."

"Bullshit. You are one of those bastard. Why else would you have abducted me for. You want to torture me because I liked a vampire. You cowards always do that. That’s the only thing you cowards can do. You torture defenseless women and murder innocent vampires. You bunch of savages.", she continued to scream at him.

Dave hadn’t considered this reaction from her. It was obvious to him that she liked vampires. It was a pity to kill her. She could had helped him in his fight against the slayers and saving vampires.

"I am sorry about this, but believe me, I am an enemy of those slayers."

Dave felt sorry for her and wished that he had picked some other girl. She was definitely a special girl.

"I’ll release you. Sorry, I made a mistake.", Dave said apologetically.

This surprised Alice. "Why did you abduct me?", she wanted to know.

Dave handed her his towel to over up. "If I told you and let you go, would you promise not to tell anybody?", he asked her in return.

Alice thought about it. She realised that Dave was actually being nice to her again and there was the possibility that he would release her just like that. She believed if she played along and was nice to him in return e might actually release her.

"Yes, if you tell me the whole truth", she finally said.

"Ok, I will tell you everything, but you must promise not to tell anybody first. Nobody can know about this."

Alice thought Dave was referring to her abduction wanting her to keep silent about it in return for her release. She was at first enraged about it and wanted to see him behind bars for what he had done, but somehow she felt that she shouldn’t do that.

"Ok, I promise", she told him.

"Well, I am what you call a watcher. Actually I am not a full watcher yet, but I am planning to becoming one. My job is to ensure the survival of the vampires.", he started.

Alice raised her eyebrows. "You mean you actually wanted to feed me to a vampire?", she interrupted him.

"Not exactly. Feeding you to a vampire would only save one and only for a short period of time. I was planning to do something more important with you.", he told her.

That had sparkled her interest and she felt moist between her legs. Alice didn’t know why, but she felt the urge of wanting to help.

"What would that be? Please let me help. What can I do to help?", she wanted to know. Something deep inside her was telling her that she wanted to help, that she had to do anything in her power to persuade him to let her help. Those words left her lips even before she could process and register them in her brain The words came out of her mouth, but it wasn’t really her who said them. It was like there was someone else controlling her mind. It was her own subconscious which had reacted to this outrageous and adventurous opportunity to do something different and put some excitement into her dull life. Maybe this was her destiny and some greater force was ensuring it.

"I am planning to insurrect the Buffy spirit. Buffy is an immortal spirit which currently is dormant. Once she is awoken, she will fight against the slayers and save the vampires. You might not know, but if all vampires died, mankind will perish as well, just like the dinosaurs.", he told her.

"What do the dinosaurs have to do with this?", Alice wanted to know. This was getting weirder and more interesting by the minute. Alice wanted to know it all. She was fully aware of what she was saying now. Her conscious mind had absorbed all the hidden desires in her subconscious mind and she wanted to find out as much as possible as to why she was so aroused about hearing all that. Her urge to help out had increased even more.

"Please tell me about the dinosaurs. I want do anything to help, but I also want to know the story behind it all", she pleaded.

"There is a prophecy which states that mankind will be wiped off the earth’s surface if all vampires were killed. There is also a reference about the dinosaurs. They had lived on earth millions of years before us humans and they too once had a great civilization. But they had killed all their vampires and were punished by the Dark Lord. That’s why they all died and nothing of their great civilization had remained. The Dark Lord had completely wiped their civilization and any remnants of their buildings and technologies off the earth’s face", he told her.

"How do you know all this?", Alice was curious to know. She was fascinated with everything Dave had told her so far. She wanted to know more. Somehow she knew that it was important and that she wanted to be part of the resurrection. She didn’t doubt anything that he told her. She just knew that what he told her was the truth.

"There’s a book which has been in my family’s possession for centuries. It had been handed down from generation to generation and it has a detailed description of what exactly had happened and what will happen if we don’t prevent the distinction of the vampires."

"Oh, how interesting. Tell me more about this Buffy spirit.", Alice begged.

"The Buffy spirit is said to be the savior of the world. She has the power to save the vampires, but she is currently sleeping in a girls body. I need to awaken her with your help.", Dave told her.

"Really? I am to be part of that? You did not have to abduct me for this. I would have done it on my own free will if you had told me about this earlier", she told him.

"I didn’t know that anyone felt that strongly about helping vampires.", Dave confessed. "I thought I was the only one left still trying to save them. And how was I supposed to know that you were willing to sacrifice yourselves for the sake of the vampires and mankind. It’s not written on your face or something like that. Most people nowadays are just plain selfish and do not concern themselves for others anymore.", he told her.

"I agree. You couldn’t had known about what I would have down. But I am just glad that you have chosen me.", she smiled happily.

"Are you absolutely sure you want to do it?", Dave inquired. "You know that it requires your greatest sacrifice?. You will lose your life. You won’t survive it.", he reminded her.

"Yes. If that’s what it takes, then that’s what I will do. I am honored and willing to give myself to the great Buffy spirit in order to save the world.", she told him with determination. "That’s what I wanted to do all my life. I always wanted to do something very important."

Dave smiled. He liked the turn of events. "Ok, I’ll accept your offer. Do you know how to cook?", he asked her.

"Yes, I took cooking classes at school and I also cook for myself", she told him. She was a bit surprised about the question and was wondering what relevance it had.

"That’s very good. You can help me prepare the meal for Buffy.", he said.

"What? I am to cook a meal? You abducted me so that I can cook a meal for you? Is that all?", she exploded..

"Calm down. Cooking the meal is only part of it. That’s really my job, but I am not a good cook myself and was just wondering whether you could help me out a little bit.", he told her. "In order to wake the Buffy spirit, I need to find the girl where she is sleeping in and give her something special to eat. Once she has eaten it, Buffy will awaken. I haven’t found that girl yet. That will be later, but I need to make that special meal first."

"Oh, I see. What’s so special about that meal and what about my sacrifice?", Alice asked.

"You will be the meal. Yes, the Buffy spirit needs to taste human meat in order to wake up. I want to use your meat for this purpose. I believe that your meat is the best. So I will need to butcher you for that later on.", he told her as a matter of fact and watched her facial expression carefully.

"Ulp, you’re gonna butcher me? And you want me to help preparing myself and then let you cook and serve me to that Buffy spirit?", she stammered. Alice had turned pretty pale.

"Yes, that’s exactly what I had in mind.", he told her. "You said that you were willing to do anything to help", he reminded her.

"Yes, I will help you with this", she managed to reply. Alice had a strange feeling. She was scared like hell but also very aroused. The thought of being butchered turned her on incredibly, but the idea of having to die did not.

"How are you going to do it?", Alice asked hesitantly.

"You want to know how I am going to kill you?", Dave clarified.

"Yes", she confirmed.

"I believe you want it done quickly and painlessly, right?", he inquired.

"Yes, if that’s possible.", she requested.

"Well, I haven’t decided on the method yet, so you can choose if you want to. I could behead you. One chop with an axe and your head is off and you are dead. Or I can cut your throat and you will die quickly as well.", he said. "I could also shoot you in the head. That is quick too. On the other hand, I could also strangle you or hang you to death. That’s slower but no blood before you die"

Alice thought about the possibilities for a while. It really was a hard decision for her. She didn’t know which way she wanted to be offed. Actually she didn’t really wanted to be killed, but it was required. She felt very strongly about sacrificing herself to save the world, but she didn’t like the idea about having to die. But she had to. That was the only way.

Alice didn’t want to die in pain, so strangulation was out of the question. A long drop would be quick, but it required a gallow which needed to be build first. There probably wasn’t enough time for it. Alice did not want to wait for too long. She wanted it done as quick as possible, to get over with it. The would relieve her of having to think about it for too long. Having her brains blown out wasn’t the way she wanted to leave the world either, but having her head chopped off or throat cut wasn’t much better either. All of it was so gory. The mere thought about it frightened her. She couldn’t decide. It was much too painful a thought for her.

Finally she turned to Dave and said to him: "Can you choose for me please. I can’t do it myself".

"I understand. I’ll choose something appropriate for you. In the meantime, can you please go to the kitchen and prepare the veggies. There are some potatoes, carrots, onions and cabbage.", he told her.

Alice went to the kitchen, happy that she did not have to make the hard decision herself, and made herself useful by peeling the tomatoes, chopping the onions and many other vegetables which Dave had bought but couldn’t name.

While Alice was busy doing the vegetables, Dave too was busy preparing for the slaughter. He had decided to behead her. This was in his opinion, the most merciful way of slaughter. It would be quick and generally painless for her. He didn’t want to build a gallows. Strangling would be too slow and painful for Alice. A gun shot would be heard. So he had two choices left, cutting her throat or beheading her. He chose beheading because it would be a quicker death and involve less pain. He wanted to give her as little pain as possible. She was not to suffer unnecessary pain if preventable even if it meant that there would be much more cleaning up for him to do afterwards.

Dave retrieved his sword from its box which he had smuggled through customs. He had not used it for many years, but the steel blade was still sharp and unaffected by corrosion. It had been wrapped in a dry cloth and a plastic bag which had protected the sword from any moisture. Dave took the sword and practiced a few swings. He still was able to swing it with great precision even though he hadn’t practiced it for a few years already. When he was satisfied with his swings, he went on to sharpen the sword. It was still very sharp but Dave wanted to make sure it was sharp enough to slice off Alice’s head with one swing. There was nothing worst than cutting through the neck halfway and having to swing a second time to finish the job. It would be hell for the victim. Dave did not want that to happen at all and sharpened the sword with diligence.

When he thought that it was sharp enough, he tested it by letting a piece of paper drop onto the sharp side of the blade. The paper easily split into two halves where it touched the sharp edge of the sword when it fell onto it. Satisfied he put it away and went into the kitchen to see how Alice was doing with the vegetables.

She had already finished peeling the potatoes and was chopping onions. He was surprised to see that there were no tears in her eyes. Whenever he had to chop onions, his eyes were filled with tears. He had always thought that tears had to go with chopping onions. When he came closer, he observed that the onions were under water in the sink. He wondered what other tricks he could learn from Alice before he had to slaughter her.

When Alice noticed him enter the kitchen, she cheerfully asked him whether he wanted to help with the vegetables. He grabbed a small knife and the carrots, but just when he was about to start peeling them, the door bell rang. He jumped up at the unexpected visit and nearly cut himself. Cautiously he went to answer the door while Alice continued her work in the kitchen.

Dave opened the door and relieved to find Monique at his door smiling cheerfully at him. He had feared that he could had been in trouble and that it might have been the police. Relieved he greeted her.

"I’ve made lunch. Do you want to come over for a meal?", she asked him.

Dave looked at her and thought about what he should say while she stared back at him with expectations. Dave tried to imagine possible outcomes depending on what he replied to her. During that time she just silently stared at him and blinked her eyes.

After some considerations of the possible consequences that he could face, he decided to accept her lunch invitation.

"Ok, just give me a sec and wait here.", he told her and dashed back into the kitchen. He told Alice to finish off the vegetables and wait for his return. Then he ran back to the front door where Monique was still waiting for him. He closed the door behind him and went next doors with her.

First she gave him a little tour of her house. Dave thought that it would become useful to know about the layout of her house and let her show it to him. It was very similar to his own. A living room and a bed room at the front facing the street and the kitchen and an additional bedroom at the back. The tour didn’t take very long since the house wasn’t really very big, so lunch was next.

There was a table set out for two. It was rather plain, two sets of plates with cutlery consisting of a fork and a knife each. Monique asked Dave to have a seat while she served lunch. She went into the kitchen and pulled out a roasted chicken out of her oven. The skin was crispy golden brown. She brought it out on a silver platter and placed it in the center of the lunch table.

Dave gazed at the chicken with fascination. He was lost in thoughts and was imagining that the chicken in front of him was Alice. Roasting Alice like that would be a great idea and properly very delicious as well, he considered, but he didn’t have an oven big enough for that.

"Is there anything wrong with my chicken?", Monique asked him.

"Oh no, it’s perfect. You are a very good cook. May I ask you how long it took you to do it?", Dave asked.

"About 2 hours. It really is nothing. I can make you some real nice food next time", she replied.

"I’ll have to take you up on that offer sometime", Dave replied jokingly.

"Please try it". Monique handed him a piece of succulent chicken breast.

They started to eat their lunch. It was delicious and Dave wished that he could cook that good. He needed to prepare a perfect meal for the Buffy spirit. In his mind, he formulated a plan to get Monique to cook that crucial meal for him. Then he quickly discarded that line of thought. It was way too dangerous and a expert cook like her would notice the unusual shape of his special meat. It wasn’t feasible. He had to do it himself.

Monique was a big eater. While Dave only ate a piece of the breast and a drumstick, she devoured the rest of the chicken. There were no leftovers besides the bones. After lunch Monique attempted to engage him into some smalltalk and chit chat. She inquired about his marital status and was relieved to hear that he was single. Dave found out that she would be 18 in one more week. She was quite a charming young woman. Dave started to like her a bit and mistrusted her less. He had to mistrust everyone. His mission was too important to be compromised by anyone, and he wasn’t foolish to let that happen.

They continued to chat a little more and Dave told her that he was a freelancer which was partially true. Ha had to earn some money after all. She told him more about herself as well. She had just finished high school and was on holidays until university started. Her dream was to become a computer programmer and she had already been accepted by the University of Technology in Sydney. Dave had considered becoming a programmer himself, but his work to save the world had overshadowed that career path and he ended up with being just a good hacker. He knew all the system secrets and was able to tap into any restricted database to get the information he needed.

After lunch, he went back to his own place and he had promised her to invite her over for lunch or dinner one day. He wanted to keep a friendly relationship with his young neighbour. When he went back, he was greeted by Alice who had completed preparing all the vegetables and had even cleaned the kitchen. During his absence Alice had been busy in the kitchen. She had dutifully finished everything she had been given to do. She had had plenty of time. She even had time to think about what should do next. If she stayed, she would be butchered. She had the opportunity to run away and call the police or at least disappear and live. But she didn’t. Deep inside she felt that it was right, that it was what she was in this world for. That this was the purpose for her existence. In her reasoning every existence had a purpose, like the annoying flies which provided food for spiders. Hers was to provide meat for Buffy. The thought of being a walking piece of meat excited her. She felt that being food was part of the natural eco-system, that there had to be predators and prey.

She had decided to clean the kitchen to kill time and even sharpened all the knives she found. During her cleaning she had come across a very big butchering knife. She swallowed hard at the sight of it. That would be the knife used to butcher her. She was certain of it. The sharp edges of the knife looked intimidating and she imagined it slicing through her. A shiver ran through her spine. She was scared. She immediately placed the knife back into the drawer and started sobbing. Fear had taken over her mind and she didn’t want to die. She wanted to be meat but she did not want to die. This was a terrible dilemma for which she had no answer.

Then she heard Dave enter the house and she went to greet him. She tried to hide the fact from him that she had cried. She wanted to appear strong and brave to him. Dave padded her on her ass and told her that he would be starting to search for Buffy the next day. That meant that he would be preparing her that afternoon. Her end was very close at hand. Dave looked at the big freezer in the kitchen that he had just bought. He opened it to check whether it was operating satisfactorily yet. It had to be cold enough to store a lot of meat and keep it fresh. Then he looked back at Alice. She swallowed hard. Alice knew that he was judging her size for the freezer. He would need to cut her up in order to fit her inside.

Alice was trembling with fear. The time had finally come. She was even more scared than she thought she would be. Her stare was fixed at Dave’s hands. She watched his every movement, how he slowly walked over to the kitchen drawer and opened the second drawer to retrieve that big mean looking knife. She lost control and a stream of yellow fluid shot out from between her legs and formed a small yellow poodle below her. Immediately, she blushed bright red in embarrassment. At that moment she felt like running away and burying herself in the darkest corner that could be found to hide her shame. Instead, she couldn’t move and looked down with embarrassment, her eyes trying to avoid his. Dave approached her holding the knife in his hand. Alice stood there trembling.

"Don’t worry, I won’t be killing you with this.", he told her.

Alice was relieved, but at the same time she knew that it only meant that she would be killed by another way. She was curious, but dared not to ask.

"Just wait here. I’ll be back in a second", Dave told her and left the kitchen.

Dave went into his room and retrieved his sword. It was a magnificent sword. When he returned, he saw Alice kneeling over her previous mess trying to clean it up. He smiled inwardly and placed the knife onto the butchering table. Then he unsheathed his sword and held it with both hands.

‘Don’t worry about it. I’ll clean it up later. Please come over here and kneel down.", he told her.

Alice obediently stopped mopping her mess and went over to Dave where she went down on her knees.

"That’s my girl. You are doing this perfectly. I really appreciate your cooperation with this", Dave told her.

Alice welcomed his comment, but sighed anyway. She was about to die. Compliments, no matter how nice they were, couldn’t save her from her faith. But it was nice to go, knowing that her death had a good purpose and that her life had been worth living.

Dave brushed her hair aside to expose her bare neck while Alice lowered her head. She was in position. Dave moved behind her and held his sword with both hands.

"Thank you, Alice. You are a very brave woman. Your sacrifice today will be remembered forever.", he told her. Then he raised the sword above his head and aimed at her neck. Alice closed her eyes and awaited his blow with the sword which would end her life.

Dave took aim and then cleanly sliced of Alice’s head with one accurate blow with his sword. Blood shot out of the stump of her neck like a geyser. The head rolled around on the kitchen floor. Dave carefully picked it up and placed it into a box. Then he cleaned his sword and put it back into his room.