"You must be Tara," she smiles, eerie and unnerving. "I'm Lilith. Your new roommate."
         Tara has been dreading the arrival of her roommate, but she seems fine so far. "Uh, h- hi, Lilith. Nice to meet you."
         "Cute."
         Lilith sits up as she nears herself to the edge of the bed, her knees are splayed apart and her hands rest in between. She gazes at Tara, studying her. She seeks to perfect her act of a normal teenage girl. Her scrutinizing stare makes Tara feel self-conscious as she wraps her arms around herself.
         Neither one is sure who'll be the first to make conversation. To relieve herself of the awkward tension, Lilith reaches into her leather jacket for her cigarette pack.
         "Do you mind if I smoke?"
         Tara stutters. "Y- yes, a little."
         Lilith nods and puts the cigarette back in her stash. Instead of smoking, she fiddles with her lighter, turning it around in her hand.
         Lilith seeks to make friends with her roommate, she's in her path of redemption after all. "Heard there's a party later tonight. Wanna come?" 


☀︎


         Tara doesn't come with her to the party—either she doesn't like Lilith or she's put off by her. Lilith still looks forward to befriending her, by Tara being human Lilith thinks that might make some of her humanity brush off on her. For now she'll go to the party by herself.
         She's picked her costume and done her makeup. Zombie, that's what she's going as. Maybe it's for how dead she feels all of the time. 
         The frat house the party's at has the classic architecture of one. There's loud music coming from it. It lets Lilith know that this is the right spot. 
         When she enters the house, she thinks that they got the ambiance of a haunted house right. There's blood-curdling screams ringing through the walls, and she can smell genuine fear. This is sure the to top the last party she went to.
         She doesn't notice that as soon as she entered, the door disappeared. And as she ambles through the house, the walls shudder. She passes by a mirror that won't reflect her properly. It's like the house doesn't know what to make of her. At one point, a door slams itself shut away from her.
"Cute trick," she mutters to the house. "Do it again and I'll set you on fire."
         Eventually, Lilith finds Buffy's group. They're huddled around a closet door.  "It's alive. It's alive," the voice comes from the door, someone seems to be locked inside. 
         They don't immediately notice Lilith, too focused on listening to the maddened pleas. From what they gather, the house has somehow come to life. 
         Then, they feel Lilith's presence behind them, and suddenly turn around to face her. Buffy and her friends stare at her with bewilderment. 
         Xander is the first to speak as he aggressively points at Lilith. "You!" 
         This is their first confrontation since Lilith tried to gut him—she tries for a weak smile. "...Me."
         Willow tries to make sense of her presence. "What- what are you doing here?"
         As Lilith tries for a response, Oz beats her to speak as he eyes her costume. Lilith has gone all out, it's clear. "Zombie...cool."