On the rooftop of Living Legend Academy, overlooking the students’ roads below, sixteen-year-old Rupert Giles sits alone with his thoughts.

“Cross my heart, hope to die,” he whispers to himself.

How did a schoolyard promise between a girl and a boy become a death oath between a monster and a man?*

Speaking of monsters, even vampires need rest, and Roux burns the candle at both ends. It was easy to slip away.

I don’t hate high school. Actually, I quite enjoy it. You’re still practising, still making mistakes, but one can imagine the possibilities. Still, it is a world without end. But all the people in here will eventually meet theirs.

How will Roux and I meet ours?

He looks down at the object in his hand.

Vega’s mirror. I’ve looked into mirrors my whole life, but failed to really see myself. How did I make the visible invisible? And who – or rather, what – must I be now to become who I really am?

Roux… I feel her now, watching me. Sleep, girl, while I ruminate.

Some time later, in the basement of the school, Giles and his old friend, science teacher Lloyd Addison, scour Seed’s last known location. Giles knows the demon is planning something, but any information would help. Addy sighs. He understands what’s happening and offers a technological explanation.

“Brilliant, Addy,” the teenager sighs. “Now, can you say that one more time in English?”

“Weaponised telepathy, Giles. Invisible warfare. Seed has, simply, scrambled our heads.”

“Right, by broadcasting his invisible link/demon craft, he’s disrupted the delicate neural systems, blocking the human ability to think.”

Addy replies with a loud ‘Bingo!’ “Disperse the brain drain’s algorithm into the atmosphere. Where it quickly finds hosts…”

Giles nods. “High school, fertile ground.”

“The younger the better,” Addy finishes.

Giles concludes that with the sponsors from the Webb brothers, the school has capital – which means Seed does. He fears that Seed has found a way to boost the process, creating a continuous path of intelligence-blocking energy. Permanently. “It may be too late to stop him.”

Addy says all they have to do is find someone who can reverse the process and create an antidote. Luckily, he already has one.*

“Seed may have made a prototype in this sinkhole, but to scale up and deliver, he’ll need an unearthly power source. A gate. Truman gave me a warning.”

Addison is sitting now, leaning against a rock. Giles hasn’t noticed the purple glow in his eyes.

“Ruby-red mornings, yes.”

Giles ignores his friend. “The colour of the sky during a total eclipse. And today is that day.”

“K-tow. There’s your gate, mom.”

Giles finally notices Addy and questions him. The teacher stands, telling Giles that after months of priming the pump, the fruit is ripe. “Boom! Everyone’s lost their minds. Permanently. Huzzah! One is very clever.” He smiles at Giles now – a cruel smile, violet eyes glowing deep.

“Yes, One is Addison. Mate. You’ve been compromised.”

Mother? “Giles?” Shut up, Addy. Go bye-bye now. Seed’s driving.

Giles tells Seed to release Addy – he’s bound to him. “We’re connected. I feel it. We’re family. Release him.” He starts to count. Seed tells Giles he can’t, but Giles finishes counting.

“Sorry, Addy. This is going to hurt. A lot.”

He shouts a spell in Latin and a lightning bolt surges through the remains of Seed’s generator, striking the teacher square between the eyes and expelling the creature. Its voice lingers in the air as Giles approaches his unconscious friend.

Remember November. See you in Hell, Mother!

As Addy is loaded into an ambulance, Giles apologises. Addy dismisses it, but tells him Seed’s plan will be in his lab. A direct hit will stop the demon’s heart, but it may also stop Giles’s, due to their connection. Seed must not be allowed to escape again. Giles has to look somewhere high up, somewhere close by. Addy says no more as the paramedics wheel him away.

Giles glances around, then looks up at St Thomas Bridge stretching over the bay. He smiles.

He raises his fist triumphantly and shouts to the sky. “Seed! I’m coming for you, son! I’m coming for you!”

The last word goes on a little too long. People stare.

A dog barks.*

In the science lab, Giles is talking to Willow on the phone.

“When you fought him, you were the last living thing he touched… He used you to resurrect himself. So Seed is bound to you?”

“That’s exactly it, Willow.”

“How will you kill him now?”

“Stop his heart dead. Before he can bind to anything living.”

“You should be able to use the eclipse in the same way that Seed is – and increase your power.” There’s a pause in the witch’s voice. “And… the vampire? Roux?”

“What about her?”

“Roux is unique, but you have to be careful. If you believe she killed the teachers, she might kill again. She might kill you. And what if you need to…”

“Kill her?” he asks.

“I’m sorry, Giles,” Willow says. “This situation can’t be easy for you. But there’s always hope, because we don’t know the future. Unfortunately, we do know what’s in her nature.”

“Nature? Did nature make me a man reincarnated in this boy’s body?”

“No. Magic did that. Dark magic. What produced you may be unnatural, but you’re still human.”

“Am I, Willow? And do we know what’s in our nature?”

“The time will come, Giles,” Willow warns. “You have to prepare yourself for the worst.”

Giles says nothing more. He simply ends the call. He’s always wondered. Now he knows.

I am the monster hunter.

And I am the monster.

“Hello, Roux,” he says, without looking back. “I know you’re here.”

Perched in the dark atop a row of cabinets, Roux doesn’t look at him. Her hood is up.

“Dear diary,” she begins, her tone faintly mocking. “I met a cute boy at school today. He knows I’m immortal. Normally, I’d have to kill him. But he’s different. He’s not like the others. He’s unique.”

“You heard Willow?”

“I heard you. Eclipse, kill demon, kill Roux.”

“You think I should?” He finally turns, moving towards her.

“Kill me?” Almost a growl. “I’m dead already. No matter what you do, I can’t come out of this alive. But heads up, Rookie – I’m undefeated in death. Save your strength for the demon carrying your DNA.”

Giles asks her directly if she killed Mister Crowe.

She says she was hungry, and Crowe was a menace to the students – especially Blue. “His end was inevitable.”

Blue had been in detention with Truman. Crowe had called them in. When he asked a question, the brain drain hit Blue and she went blank. He asked again. And again. Then Blue snapped. She picked up a book and struck him across the head. He wasn’t dead, but assault alone would have been enough to ruin her life. No way she could have survived juvie.

“So, yes. I ended him. I was the clean-up crew. I saved her from a living death.”

Truman was the only witness. He threatened to tell. “He had to be contained. But your boy Seed snatched him from me. Made him a zombie. Then sent him back for you. I had to work fast.”

Roux tells Giles that when Truman went to find the Principal, she revealed herself to Blue. She told her everything would be all right. That she was her friend. That she had been watching over her. Keeping her safe.

“You are not alone,” she told her. “And you are stronger than you know. You always have been. You will survive. You will thrive. You matter.” Then she bared her fangs and told Blue to run.

Giles turns his attention to a missing poster of Ms Wong. Roux says she was depressed. She committed suicide, and Roux did nothing to stop it. She wasn’t happy here.*

“I’m not happy here,” Giles says quietly. “Will you ‘end it’ for me too?”

Roux tells the Watcher that he is safe. She asks him a favour – if she has to go, can he watch Blue? Giles tells her he can’t stay. If he can’t stay, she’ll do what Baldwin did for her.

Giles is appalled. “Turn her into a vampire? You can’t!”

“Like Hell I can’t. I deserve Blue, just like I deserve pretty frocks, candy dolls, and a life in Sunnydale. I’m not like you, Giles. The loneliest boy in the crowd. I want to be happy.”

Giles insists he can’t allow this. Fangs emerge. She tells him to leave, but he rushes her, begging her to stop. A stake is in his hand. She leaps across the room, landing on a table. Vega’s mirror, beakers of chemicals, and a burner scatter. Flames lick the spilled chemicals and the explosion blasts them apart.

The fire alarm screams. Blue runs.

Most students, affected by the brain drain, wander aimlessly through the corridors. Roux slips through them easily. Giles spots Blue out of the corner of his eye and moves towards her.*

Roux races back and dives through his legs. He can’t look at her. He only says that he can’t do this. He throws the stake. Roux grins.

But Blue is behind Giles.

She picks up a book. The same heavy book. She raises it toward his skull – but Roux tackles her aside.*

Giles raises his hands. Blue light flares from them, projecting energy to shield Blue. It traps Roux in place long enough for her to call security.

The Sheffield thugs. Bound to her for centuries.

They seize Giles as Roux drags Blue from the school grounds as fast as she can. By the time Giles breaks free, Roux is gone.

Before he can decide which way to run, the Sheffields catch him again. Under Roux’s instructions, they throw him into a storage cupboard on the school grounds.

Roux leans against the door, speaking softly.

“Sorry, Giles. I liked holding your hand. I liked you. A whole lot.”

“Don’t do it,” Giles pleads. “Don’t hurt Blue.”*

He hears Roux instruct the Sheffields to keep him inside. To watch Blue.

Giles looks up.

A doll is pinned to the wall. He recognises it from the visions of Roux’s life.

Ebba’s doll.

She made Roux happy. Roux would never hurt Blue. She lured me into this trap to protect me. She even gave me her heart. Who am I?

Beneath the doll are words scratched into the wall.

“Remember me.”

“And I almost killed…”

But I didn’t. Because I am not a monster.

“I’m sorry, Roux. I failed you. But I won’t let you face Seed alone.”

I am Rupert Giles.

“Seed, I’m bound to you, devil. I can use our blood bond to find your exact location. And then it’s just a matter of a quick phone call…”

And I am a Watcher.

He dials his mobile. A familiar voice answers.

“Giles? Is everything all right?”

“Dawn,” he says quickly. “I need a portal.”

A portal opens behind him. In the distance, he hears the familiar sound of dogs barking.

“Hello, son. Mother’s here.”

And he steps through the portal.*

He finds himself on St Thomas Bridge in San Pedro. The eclipse is in full effect. He looks around. He can’t see Roux. He can, however, hear Seed, standing above him on the bridge’s tower, cackling away.

Seed welcomes Giles as he starts to move towards the demon.

There. That’s better. Now admit it, it felt good to be part of me. It’ll feel better to stay. We’re family. Think of all the things we’ll do together!

Giles tells him to save it.

Okay, Ma. Have it your way. It’s a shame to destroy our blood kinship over a blood rat. Here’s something for you.

A lightning bolt blasts from his three-fingered hand, knocking Giles from the section of the bridge he was climbing.

He’s saved only by Roux, reaching out and catching him, her blue hair shining in the eclipse’s light. She tells him to stay put, but Giles insists that Seed is too strong for her to defeat alone. Roux deposits Giles safely, then continues climbing towards Seed. Giles looks around, unable to find a way to follow at first. He shouts up to her, insisting he’s coming to help.

Seed continues cackling, shouting at Roux.

Time to shine. Their brains are mine!

Seed turns and activates his globe – the magnetic generator. He calls himself a genius, shouting at the sky, until suddenly something coils around his ankle. He hears the snap of metal and looks down. Roux has torn a length of metal wire from the bridge’s structure and is using it like a whip to snare him.

She swings the wire, knocking Seed sideways from his perch. Lightning streaks across the sky and strikes the globe, shattering its outer shell.

Giles reaches the generator and calls out to Roux. She’s dangling from the bridge, the wire stretched tight in her grip. She can’t hold on forever.

“It’s okay,” she looks up at Giles. “I’ve got this figured out. There’s no life in me to resurrect Seed, and he can’t kill me – because I’m already dead.” She meets his eyes. “For our next date, dinner and a movie will do. I love you, Giles.”

Another strike of lightning. The globe explodes. The wire snaps.

Both Seed and Roux fall, plunging into the ocean below.*

Giles doesn’t hesitate. He jumps.

His mind races.

Living life is Heaven’s Hell. And chasing demons is chasing one’s own tail. I can’t breathe. Hold on. Don’t die without me.

He finds Roux in the dark water and casts a spell, creating a pocket where he can breathe and speak. He holds her close. “I’m creating a space for us, so I can get you out.”

Roux tells him the demon is dead.

Giles smiles. “You did it. But you’re hurt. Burnt. Can you recover?”

She shakes her head. “I don’t want to.”

Giles shakes his head too. “I want you to. Bite me. Take my blood.”

She whispers now, surrendering to the dark. “Giles, the only permanent thing for me is death. And I am so tired.”

“I won’t let you go. I’ll cast a spell and bring you back.”

“Death is not worth living. We made a great team, Rookie.”

Giles looks at her. Her eyes are closed. “Indeed,” he whispers. “Like hot coffee and ice… I love you.”*

He says her name.

She’s gone.

He buries her body at the bottom of the ocean. A small outcrop of coral marks her grave.

Giles watches as the Academy returns to normal. But as regular school education resumes, all he can think of is Roux.

Dear diary. I met a vampire at school today.

Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust. Here lies a girl named Roux. She lived. She died. She loved. She lives.

Oh, she lives.

She’s the colour of tar, so black she glows blue, and when I squint I can see tattoos – words etched beneath her skin, waiting to surface. And her hair, a halo of ice-blue spun sugar, capped around her face.

In the aftermath, with Seed gone, his machine destroyed and Principal Boake disappeared, the school was able to recover, and eventually bad turned to better.

Addy, no longer connected to Seed, even lost a stone or two. The mystery of the missing Crowe, Wong and Truman that brought me to Legend was closed. The truth behind their disappearances remained unknown to most.

Roux said I have options. Unlike some others. She also called me the loneliest boy in the crowd. I’m working on that.

There is proof you were here. Living proof. Rest easy, Roux. I’ll keep an eye on Blue. She’s going to be just fine. As will I.

She is timeless.

She is innocent.

Yet she is not.

She is lethal… for she has stolen my heart.*