Publisher's Synopsis
Sunnydale, five years into the future. A bleak, post-apocalyptic future for which Buffy herself is responsible. Her mother is dead. Angel has disappeared. Her friends are different...harder.
But that's not the worst of it. Her enemies are different, too. In this alternate reality, old foes are wreaking havoc in vampire-dominated Southern California. That in itself is no surprise. But when Buffy learns that even the vicious Spike is merely a minion, chief lackey to the bloodsuckers' overlord, she is shaken to the core. For the one Spike serves is none other than Giles - Giles the Vampire King. Buffy must face and conquer the dark spectre of her erstwhile mentor, while her friends back in her own time struggle to bring her disembodied spirit home...
