I like writing sib-fics, Constant Readers. True, I don't have many, but I do enjoy writing them. That's why I'm surprised that this little idea didn't occur to me earlier. I LOVE Buffy the Vampire Slayer. We're talking hyper fanboy love here. I was bound to do a story for it eventually, and the time has come. I am taking this opportunity to write another sib-fic, with this story starring the OC twin brother of Buffy Summers herself, Brandon Summers.
The primary pairing for this is going to be OC/Willow (though, given how rocky relationships get in this series, there are probably gonna be some problems down the line – this'll be my first time writing actual issues in my OC's relationship, should be fun). While I'm going to start with the Buffy/Angel pairing, as they do in canon, my final goal is to have the pairing for Buffy be Buffy/Spike, because I LOVE that magnificent vampiric bastard. You can also expect to see a few episodes of Angel as chapters down the line, but the circumstances behind that are something I won't spoil.
Welcome to Twins!
(Also, a big thanks to Theboblinator for being my Beta on this. He hasn't actually seen the show, though that's something I want to remedy, but he's making sure I don't slip anything too British in (that isn't said by Giles and, later on, Spike, anyway).)
Let's begin.
Welcome to the Hellmouth
Sleeping had been a real chore the night before Brandon's first day at Sunnydale High. Not because of bad dreams or anything of the like, but simply because he could hear his twin sister, Buffy, tossing and turning in the next room over. Such events had become so common these last few weeks that he had ceased even worrying over them and simply put efforts into trying to ignore them. Still, the walls in this new house clearly weren't built for blocking sounds from the other rooms, that was for damn sure.
"Buffy!" their mother, Joyce, called up the stairs. "Brandon!"
"I'm up, Mom," came Buffy's voice from the next room over.
"Me, too," Brandon called down. He took some comfort in the fact that Buffy sounded more tired than he was.
"Don't wanna be late for your first day," said Joyce.
"No," said Buffy, and Brandon knew she was talking to him from the way she sounded much closer to the wall. "Wouldn't want that, now would we?"
"Crippling anxiety, mass speaking to strange people, possible rumour spreading," Brandon listed off. "Nah. What's not to look forward to?"
The two of them laughed and then went about getting ready for the day.
Brandon was a rather chiselled guy in terms of physique. He wasn't a particularly sporty person, but thanks to the bullying he used to be subjected to due to his interests, he'd felt the need to bulk up and learn to fight. That being said, despite the muscles, he wasn't much of a fighter; they were more for intimidation, really. He had blond hair that he kept short, practically a buzz-cut. His eyes were a lively green. Both his hair and eye colour were traits he shared with his sister. He was naked at the moment, as he'd read somewhere that sleeping naked was healthier than wearing pyjamas. He put a lot of trust in the random scientific facts he read about on occasion, though that worked against him as much as it worked for him.
Brandon's bedroom was, in a word, geeky. There were posters for Star Wars, Star Trek, 007, and multiple Marvel and DC comics all over his walls. On his shelves were VHSs of different science fiction and horror movies/TV shows. Proudly displayed also were all five books in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Hobbit, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and a lot of books by Stephen King. The TARDIS-themed dressing gown hung up outside his wardrobe completed the nerd-fest that was his bedroom.
And is it worth never having a girl look twice at me? he asked himself, as he often did. You bet your sweet ass it is!
He was very unapologetic about his interests.
He went into his wardrobe and pulled out a short-sleeved green shirt with blue stripes and a plain pair of dark grey pants. Not particularly stylish, but he didn't really care about that sort of thing. He was going to make a good first impression on all these new classmates via his behaviour, not his appearance. By his reckoning, it should weed out the shallow ones pretty quickly.
Once he was fully dressed – throwing on a pair of plain socks and black shoes – he exited his room and went downstairs.
"Morning, Mom," he said when he got into the kitchen. "Morning, Dawn."
Joyce Summers was a middle-aged woman with a darker shade of blonde hair and the same green eyes as her children. She was a good mother, if really stressed out because of the move. But that was a sentiment the whole family shared.
Dawn Summers was the youngest of the Summers children. She was ten years old, the only redhead out of the three, and had the same green eyes as her older siblings. Brandon adored her, even if Buffy found her to be annoying. And God knows Dawn was always one to love the affection of her big brother. It wasn't even difficult for her to get; Brandon felt a wave of affection and protectiveness every time he saw her.
"Good morning, Brandon," said Joyce. She was a little frazzled-looking, likely from preparing herself for the day. "There's toast for you on the table."
"Thanks, Mom."
"Morning, big bro," Dawn said affectionately. She held her arms out for a hug, which Brandon happily gave her.
"Hey, everyone," Buffy said as she walked into the kitchen. She had her blonde hair draping past her shoulders. She was wearing a white dress-shirt with a cream-coloured blouse over it and a mid-thigh-length black skirt.
"You're making an effort to turn some heads, aren't you?" Brandon asked, briefly glancing at her chosen attire. "I must say, as your brother, I highly disapprove of going to that much effort."
"Whatever, Mr Short Sleeves That Show Muscles," Buffy shot back. "Trying to catch some female attention before your nerdiness shows? Good strategy, but you do know they'd need my approval, right?"
"Aren't I meant to say stuff like that?"
"Only if you're the older one, little brother."
Buffy was born a total of six minutes before Brandon. As such, she had wholeheartedly taken on the role of the older sibling. She was very protective of him, especially given the crap he had to take from other kids back in LA (though it had kicked up a notch soon after her sudden change of attitude … and personality … come to think of it, everything about her had changed fairly recently). If there was one positive aspect to this whole move, it was that there was a possibility that he wouldn't have to put up with the bullying here in Sunnydale.
"It's pointless arguing with you," said Brandon. Maybe that's why I feel so protective of Dawn, he added in his mind. It's to compensate for not being able to feel protective of my twin without being laughed at.
"Exactly," said Buffy. "So don't."
"Well," Brandon turned his eyes to Dawn, "at least I'm allowed to be protective of one sister."
Dawn giggled.
"All right, eat up, everyone," said Joyce. "I've gotta get you three to school. Dawn, honey, yours is closer, so I'll be dropping you off first."
"Okay, Mom," said Dawn.
The remainder of breakfast was spent shovelling food into mouths as quickly as possible. Coffee and tea (Brandon preferred it to coffee; watching that old show Doctor Who had given him an appreciation for certain parts of British culture) were drunk to aid in the waking process. Then everyone piled into Joyce's car and they were off. Dawn rode shotgun with their mother, and Buffy and Brandon sat together in the back. Dawn was very nervous by the time they got to her school, but a few reassuring words from everyone (slightly begrudgingly in Buffy's case, though there was affection hidden beneath the surface) had her smiling as she got out of the car. Then it was on to Sunnydale High School.
The sun was so bright out that it somewhat hurt the eyes. The grounds of the high school were so bustling with activity that Brandon started to feel a little nervous. He had never been a fan of large groups of people, as it was the bigger groups that he had the most trouble with these days. People ceased to be intimidated by muscle when they had a big enough group to fall back on.
"Okay," Joyce said as the twins unfastened their seatbelts. "Have a good time, you two. I know you're gonna make friends right away. Just think positive."
"Okay," Brandon said, closing the car door as he got out. "I'm positive I'm gonna be eaten alive by the mob."
"Don't worry, little brother," said Buffy, patting him on the shoulder. "I won't let the scary kids pick on you."
"Bye, Mom," Brandon said as they started walking away. "If the other boys don't kill me for having to be protected by my sister, I'm sure I'll see you tonight."
"And honey?" Joyce called out to Buffy, who turned to face her. "Try not to get kicked out."
Buffy smiled weakly. "I promise."
"Good." Joyce drove the car off.
"Wow, Mom's really coming down hard on you, isn't she?" said Brandon as the two of them walked up the stone steps toward the entrance. "Like, no pressure or anything, y'know?"
"Yeah, well that's what I get for burning down part of the school," said Buffy.
Brandon could have sworn he heard the sounds of a person colliding with metal behind them, but chose to ignore it. Probably just some dickhead fooling around, he reasoned in his mind. He and Buffy walked through the school, asking directions where necessary, until they reached the principal's office. They knocked and were allowed in by the principal himself, a strangely happy man by the name of Mr Flutie.
"Buffy and Brandon Summers," Mr Flutie read from the sheet he'd been given. "Twins. Sophomores. Late of Hemery High in Los Angeles. Interesting records. Quite a career in your case, Buffy." He sat down at his desk, looked Buffy dead in the eyes, and ripped up the sheet.
"There's a tree we're not getting back," Brandon said in an attempt at humour.
"Very witty," said Mr Flutie without much interest. "Welcome to Sunnydale. A clean slate, Buffy. That's what you get here. What's past is past. We're not interested in what it says on a piece of paper. Even if it says …" He looked at the torn-up paper and read what was legible. "Whoa!"
"That was about my reaction, as well," said Brandon.
"Shut up," Buffy hissed at him, lightly slugging him on the arm.
"What? It's true. As I recall, I even gave you a high five." He caught Mr Flutie staring at him. "Not that I approve of her actions in any way, shape, or form. It's just … it had to have taken some ingenuity, don't you think, Mr Flutie?"
"All the students here are free to call me Bob," said Mr Flutie, "… but they don't. Anyway, are you sure 'ingenuity' is the word you're looking for, Brandon? Your sister burned down the gym."
"I did," said Buffy. "I really did, but … you're not seeing the big picture here. I mean, that gym was full of vampi— Asbestos."
"She's been doing that a lot recently," Brandon explained. "Confuses the hell outta me, too."
"Don't worry," said Mr Flutie. "Any other school, they might say, 'Watch your step,' or, 'We'll be watching you.' But that's just not the way here. We want to service your needs and help you to respect our needs."
"I hope these needs of yours are the clean kind," said Brandon.
"Very funny." The way Mr Flutie said that made Brandon unsure of whether he was being serious or just trying to brush him off. "If your needs and our needs don't mesh …" He put the torn-up paper into a folder in order to emphasise something. Brandon wasn't entirely sure what it was, but Buffy looked uncomfortable.
The two of them were out of Mr Flutie's office pretty quickly after that.
"Well, he was … nice," said Brandon uncomfortably.
"Nice and weird," said Buffy. "I guess we could've had worse, but … I dunno."
"At least he was a friendly guy. He could've been one of those pricks who's constantly telling the teachers to keep an eye on you in hopes that he'll find an excuse to expel your ass."
Buffy didn't get a chance to respond before someone bumped into her. She ended up tipping her open bag due to the collision and all her things went all over the floor.
"Oh, sorry!" said Buffy, but the person just kept on walking. "It's … okay."
"What an asshole," said Brandon.
The two of them bent down and started to collect her stuff.
Another student, one with unkempt dark hair and dark eyes, bent down and started to help them clear it up. "Can I have you?" he said to Buffy. The look on his face made it clear he hadn't meant to say that. "Duh! Can I help you?"
Brandon both liked and disliked this guy instantly. Liked because the guy was clearly awkward around people, as was Brandon himself. Disliked because he was clearly checking out Buffy.
Buffy smiled a tad weakly. "Thanks," she said.
"I don't know you, do I?" the guy asked.
"I doubt it," said Brandon. "We only even moved to town a few days ago."
"I'm Buffy," Buffy introduced herself.
"I'm Brandon," Brandon did the same.
"Xander," the now-named Xander said. He looked between them. "You two brother and sister?"
"Yep," said Brandon. "Twins, as a matter of fact."
"No kidding?" said Xander. "Good thing you two aren't the same gender, 'cause then you'd officially be on the creep-o-meter."
"Just because we're twins does not make us creepy," said Buffy.
"It does a little," Brandon admitted. Buffy gave him a hit on the arm for his trouble. "What? Haven't you ever seen The Shining? All that 'Come play with us, Danny' shit gave me nightmares for weeks when I first saw it."
"Me, too," said Xander. "But nothing in that movie is scarier than the blowjob dog man."
"On that we are agreed. Well … actually, I think shower lady traumatised me just that little bit more."
"I actually think I repressed the memory of that until this exact second. Now I feel so … unclean."
"Well, this has been fun," said Buffy, standing up. "But we don't wanna be late to class, now do we, Brandon?"
"You're the boss," said Brandon. He stood up, too. He was slightly disappointed that his and Xander's Shining-based banter had to come to an end, but getting to class was clearly more important.
"Well, maybe I'll see you both around," said Xander. "At school … since we … all … go there …" He trailed off, clearly hearing just what was coming out of his mouth.
"Shakespeare himself would be jealous of the words you strung together this day," said Brandon.
"Thank you," Xander said weakly.
"It was nice to meet you," Buffy said as she and her brother walked off.
A few moments after they'd started walking, Brandon heard Xander say, "'We all go to school.' Very suave." The embarrassment in his voice was unmistakeable. There were a few moments of silence. "Oh! Hey! You forgot your … stake."
Brandon only barely heard him, so he thought he was imagining it.
Things seem to be going well so far, Brandon thought as he and his sister walked to their first class together, which happened to be history. Mr Flutie was a nice enough principal, if a little on the strange side. And that guy Xander had been someone Brandon instantly felt he could relate to on some level, even if the fact that Xander was checking out Buffy irked Brandon to no end. But Buffy had already made it clear that she had the older sibling role, so there was very little he could say without Buffy trying to laugh it off. All in all, it was a pretty good start.
They arrived at the history classroom and sat down in the two empty seats, which were nowhere near each other. This did little to make Brandon feel confident. He felt so very small being surrounded by people he didn't know.
The second the teacher wrote Black Death on the chalkboard, Brandon knew this class was just going to be an absolute bundle of laughs.
"It's estimated that about twenty-five million people died in that one four-year span," said the teacher. "But the fun part of the Black Plague is that it originated in Europe … how?"
Brandon raised his hand.
"Ah, we have one of the new students taking part, how lovely. Can you tell us, Brandon?"
"The Mongol Empire were using it as a form of biological warfare," said Brandon. "They built an army of their most rapidly moving travellers to carry the Plague to people who have never encountered it. They managed to get it to the crews of twelve Genose trading ships, who, by the time they docked in Sicily, had already died. The rats from the ship were the main carriers, but the fleas that infested them spread it to other rats. From there, it rolled over the rest of Europe."
"Very good, Brandon! For the record, I would have accepted simply 'As an early form of germ warfare,' but I'm impressed with your knowledge of the subject."
Brandon couldn't help but feel slightly smug. He felt that his brain was his best quality and he always delighted in showing it off.
"If you'll look at the map on page sixty-three, you can trace the spread of the disease …"
And then the smug feeling was gone.
I don't even have a fucking textbook!
Brandon lingered a little when the bell sounded the end of class. That had gone from great to humiliating and panicking in no time flat. Yes, all right, he knew the material because he generally has way too much time on his hands, but that didn't automatically mean he'd be able to follow along when they had to use the textbook. So that was his first order of business: getting a textbook.
Where the hell am I just gonna grab a textbook? he thought. Maybe the library … but I don't know where that is.
"Brandon, is there something you need?" the teacher asked when she saw that he was still in the room.
"N-No, ma'am," he said. He stood up, put on his backpack, and immediately walked out of the room. It was only after that that he realised he could have asked her for directions. "Damn my stupid awkward tendencies …" he muttered.
Not wanting to return to the classroom and seem even more awkward, Brandon decided to ask a fellow student.
The first person he was able to focus his eyes on was a girl, and a rather cute one in Brandon's opinion. She had neat red hair that drooped past her shoulders and dull green eyes. She was wearing a sleeveless dress that was chequered in multiple shades of grey over a white dress-shirt. The backpack she wore so neatly completed the "nerd girl" look she had. This raised Brandon's hopes quite a bit, as there might have been a girl he could speak to without them being put off by his inherent nerdiness. This in mind, Brandon approached her.
"Excuse me," he said when he reached her.
"Huh?" she said. She seemed surprised that he was talking to her. Her face went red when they made eye contact. "Uh … y-yes?"
Brandon rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "I'm, er, new," he said. He felt his face flush in embarrassment, but he put his pride on hold for the moment. "I feel kinda stupid, but I don't have any of the textbooks I need. Do you think you could, um, direct me to the library, please?"
"O-Oh, sure." She seemed to perk up a little. "I'll, uh, I'll take you there, actually. F-Follow me."
The two of them walked together in silence for a little while. Well, as silent as things could get, given the hustle and bustle going on in the corridors. It was a little uncomfortable.
"So, uh, I'm Brandon," Brandon said in an attempt to lift the awkward air. He also felt a slight sense of familiarity with this girl due to her nerdy appearance and wanted to get to know her a little to see if his initial impression was wrong.
"I … I'm Willow," said the girl.
Things devolved into silence again. As much as Brandon wanted to talk to her more, he couldn't summon up the confidence to do so. If someone he was comfortable around had been with them, then maybe …
When they reached the library, Brandon was both relieved and disappointed. He had wanted to get to know someone, but his confidence had failed him, and now they had to separate. It was still an upgrade from the awkward air that had been between them, though. He could have done without that.
"W-Well, this is it," said Willow.
"Thanks very much," said Brandon. He was silent for a moment. "So … see you around?"
"Yeah … totally," said Willow. She tried to smile but just looked nervous. "Bye!" She walked away very quickly.
Brandon turned around to enter the library, but saw Buffy coming out in a bit of a hurry. "Hey, sis, what's—" She didn't even seem to notice him as she walked past at a fast pace. "Okay, then … I guess I'll just sort this weirdness out later." He went into the library.
The librarian was an older man – Brandon guessed he was in his forties or fifties – in a rather nice-looking suit. His hair was dark and greying. His eyes were green (Brandon was noticing something of a theme here). "Can I help you?" he asked in the most British voice Brandon had ever heard. He looked rather discomforted by something.
"I hope so," said Brandon. "I'm Brandon Summers, I'm new here. But I don't have any of the textbooks for the material we'll be covering. Could you please help me out?"
"Oh, certainly," said the librarian. "Please, just wait a moment …" He wandered off somewhere in the library.
Brandon looked around the place in fascination. It was a bookworm's paradise. There were shelves upon shelves of books which looked pretty old if the binding was anything to go by. The whole room had that smell that only came from being surrounded by sheets of paper bound in leather. Being in this room was the most at home and comfortable Brandon had felt since arriving at school that morning.
He briefly took notice of a book that had been left on the counter. Vampyr, it said on the cover.
Someone can't spell properly, he thought idly as he waited.
"Here you are," said the librarian when he had re-emerged from wherever in the room he'd gone to. He handed Brandon a stack of books that looked slightly bigger than it needed to be. "There are two of each there. Your, um, sister left before I could get them for her."
"Yeah, I saw her on my way in," said Brandon. "She looked a little wigged out, to tell you the truth. Well, whatever, I'll ask about it when I next see her. Thank you, Mr …?"
"Giles."
"Thank you, Mr Giles. You can expect me back sometime in future. It's quite the impressive collection you've got here."
"Thank you. I hope you can encourage the same attitude in Buffy."
Brandon snorted. "I'll try, but the day I can convince her to do anything is the day I grow wings. Thanks again."
Brandon left even more confused about why Buffy had looked so freaked out when she'd left. Mr Giles seemed like a perfectly normal, even pleasant, guy to him. He would definitely be revisiting the library in future.
"Come on, sis, why don't you just let me do it?" Brandon asked Buffy as the two of them walked through the school at lunch time. His voice had a slightly whiny tone to it that he tried to control but failed. "You know I'm a complete fucking brainiac. If you wanna do some catch-up, I'm your guy."
"Look, Brandon … how do I put this politely?" Buffy wondered aloud. "You have this … this … habit, I guess, where you'll explain something in words no one but you can understand, then when they ask you about it, you look at them like you're a genius scientist trying to explain things to a Neanderthal. In short: you make me feel stupid."
"… Well you're just rude, aren't you?" said Brandon when he couldn't come up with anything to counter her statement.
"Don't take it so personally, little brother," said Buffy. "No matter who I get to work with me, you're still the smartest person I know."
"Thank you. And remember: if you forget it, I'll kill you."
The two of them walked out into the quad amidst the bustling students. Brandon spotted Willow, who was the one Buffy was looking for, almost immediately, sitting on a bench just by a wall and taking her lunch out of a brown paper bag. Brandon felt a small amount of joy at seeing her again, but was also nervous that this conversation wouldn't be much of a conversation. The consequence of meeting somebody just as nerdy as he is was that she was also likely just as awkward when it came to interacting with people she doesn't know. Especially members of the opposite sex … if she was that way inclined, at least.
Buffy somehow seemed to know she was who she was looking for, too, and started making her way over. Brandon walked behind her a little awkwardly.
"Uh, hi," said Buffy when they got to her. "Willow, right?"
"Why?" Willow asked with just a little hostility, then seemed to catch herself. "I … I mean, hi. Did you want me to move?"
"No need for that," said Brandon. He smiled weakly. "Hi again. And thanks for the help earlier."
"Why don't we start with, 'Hi, I'm Buffy?'" Buffy suggested. "And then let's segue directly into me asking you for a favour. It doesn't involve moving, but it does involve hanging out with me for awhile."
Willow looked incredulous. "But aren't you hanging out with Cordelia?" she asked.
"I can't do both?"
"Not legally."
Buffy laughed with a little discomfort. "Look, I really wanna get by here. New school and … Cordelia's been really nice … to me, anyway. But, um … I kind of have this burning desire not to flunk all my classes and I heard a rumour that you were the person to talk to if I wanted to get caught up."
"I offered to help her myself, but apparently I talk to people like they're stupid," said Brandon, shrugging. "Goes to show how much respect you can get from siblings, doesn't it?"
Willow laughed, a lot more comfortable now. "Oh, I could totally help you out," she said to Buffy. "If you have sixth period free, we could meet in the library."
"Or not," said Buffy. Willow looked crestfallen, and Brandon started to give her judgemental eyes, so Buffy quickly moved to correct herself. "We could meet some place quieter. Louder. That place just kinda gives me the wiggins."
"Oh, it has that effect on most kids," said Willow, looking cheered up again. "I love it, though. It's a great collection and the new librarian is really cool."
"I'll have to agree," said Brandon. "Mr Giles seemed nice enough when I went in to get my textbooks earlier. Oh, that reminds me." He pulled the stack of books out of his bag, sorted through them, taking out the extra copies, and handed them to Buffy. "He gave me two of each because you left without collecting them. What was with that, by the way? You walked past me on your way out, but you looked all freaked." The concern in his voice wasn't hidden at all. He just didn't say he was worried, because that would immediately trigger Buffy's "big sister" routine.
"Thanks," Buffy said as she put the books in her bag. "Don't worry about it, Bran, I'm fine. That place just creeps me out, is all." She looked back at Willow. "He's new?"
"Yeah, he just started," said Willow. "He was a curator at some British Museum. Or The British Museum. I'm not sure. But he knows everything and he brought all these historical volumes and biographies, and am I the single dullest person alive?"
"Absolutely not," said Brandon. He had a large grin on his face that looked like it should have split his face in half. "I could read my way into a knowledge coma in there – the best kind of coma. Might head in after school, see what's what. See how much it's physically possible to absorb before my mind explodes." He noticed the look Buffy was giving him. "Too far?"
"Not at all," Willow said before Buffy had a chance to speak. Willow was smiling widely, too. "I like spending a lot of after school time in there, myself. It's got some really fascinating stuff."
Oh good God, there's two of them, Buffy thought, though not without an underlying hint of fondness.
Brandon saw his opportunity and was just about to ask Willow if she'd like to spend time in the library together with him when a familiar face showed up with someone they hadn't met yet.
"Hey, you guys busy?" asked Xander as he put his bag down and sat on the wall. "Are we interrupting? We're interrupting."
"Hey," Buffy said to him. "Hey." The second time she was addressing the guy he was with, a lanky guy with brown hair.
"Hey, there," said the lanky guy.
"Buffy, Brandon, this is Jesse and that's Xander," said Willow.
"Oh, the three of us go way back," Xander said, indicating Buffy and Brandon. "Old friends. Very close. Then there was that period of estrangement where I think we were all growing as people, but now here we are, like old times. I'm quite moved."
Brandon could appreciate a sense of humour as much as the next guy, but there was such a thing as dragging it out.
Apparently Jesse thought so, too. "Is it me, or are you turning into a bibbling idiot?" he asked Xander.
Xander shuffled uncomfortably. "No, it's, uh, it's not you," he said.
"Good to know we're all self-aware," said Brandon.
"It's nice to meet you guys," said Buffy. "I think."
"Well, you know, we wanted to welcome you and your brother, make you feel at home," said Jesse. "Unless you have a scary home."
"Don't worry, I was terrified of crowds in LA, too," said Brandon. "So, all things considered, you're doing a bang-up job so far."
"And I would like to return this," said Xander. He pulled a wooden stake out of his bag and held it out in front of Buffy. "The only thing I could think is that you're building a really little fence."
"Uh, no, um …" said Buffy, taking the stake from him and slipping it into her own bag. "Actually, it was for self-defence. Everyone has them in LA."
"Bullshit," Brandon said, stretching his arms out and yawning a little. He was acting nonchalant about it, but he wanted to know what the hell the stake was for, too.
"Shut up," Buffy snapped at him. She turned back to the others with a smile. "Pepper spray is just so passé."
"Yet is ultimately safer because you don't have to be close to a guy to use it," said Brandon.
"So what do you two do for fun?" asked Xander, though he was clearly focused on Buffy. "What do you look for in a man? Or woman?" He glanced at Brandon and smiled nervously. "Let's hear it."
"If you have any dark, painful secrets you'd like us to publish," Jesse added sarcastically.
"Gee, everyone wants to know about me," said Buffy unenthusiastically. "How keen."
"Yeah, I'm starting to feel kind of obsolete here," said Brandon.
"Well, not much goes on in a one-Starbuck's town like Sunnydale," said Xander. "You two are pretty big news."
"Apparently my sister more-so than me," said Brandon. "What's up with that? Is it because she's a girl? Are you guys all just weirdly sexist? I'm a person, there's things to know about me."
"So what do you do for fun?" Willow asked him.
"I read, I watch science fiction shows, I try to figure out if what I see in those shows is scientifically possible. Star Trek is the best for that. They don't really go deep into the science in the show itself, but the writers clearly wanted to make the science as believable as possible. Some of that stuff could actually be done with enough scientific advancement."
"Okay, so we have another nerd," said Jesse. "Always fun, not like people had enough reasons to pick on us already."
"Ignore him," said Willow. "He's just messing with you."
"Yeah, we geeks have gotta stick together," said Xander.
"Are these guys bothering you?" asked a girl who had just walked up to them. Brandon took notice of her and knew what kind of person she probably was immediately. She was hot, for starters, but she clearly put a lot of effort into her appearance. She had long, deep brown hair which was tied up in a bit of a ponytail and brown eyes. Her clothes looked like the expensive kind. Brandon immediately pegged her as that one girl at every school who pretties herself up, dates about every boy with muscles, and constantly demeans anyone who wasn't "popular." In short, Brandon had known her for less than five seconds and already didn't like her.
"Uh, no!" said Buffy.
"They're not hanging out with us," Willow said in an attempt to help.
"I am," said Brandon without a care in the world.
"Great, we have a new loser," said the girl. She looked at Brandon's exposed muscles and licked her lips, then shook her head. "What a waste …"
"Hey, Cordelia," said Jesse, attempting to turn on the charm.
Cordelia held up a hand to stop him. "Oh, please." She turned to address Buffy. "I don't mean to interrupt your downward mobility, but I just wanted to tell you that you won't be meeting Coach Foster – the woman with the chest hair – because gym was cancelled due to the extreme dead guy in the locker."
Of all the things that could have exited Cordelia's mouth, that certainly wasn't one that they were expecting.
"What?" asked Buffy.
"What are you talking about?" asked Willow.
"Some guy was stuffed in Aura's locker," said Cordelia.
"Dead?" asked Buffy.
"Totally dead," said Cordelia. "Way dead."
"So not just a little dead, then?" said Xander.
"Don't you have an elsewhere to be?" asked Cordelia.
"Yeah, finding a better hiding spot for people who are way dead," said Brandon. Xander laughed and high-fived him.
"You know," Jesse said to Cordelia, "if you need a shoulder to cry on, or just to nibble on …"
Cordelia scoffed.
"How did he die?" asked Buffy.
"I don't know," said Cordelia. She sounded thoroughly disgusted with the line of questioning.
"Well, were there any marks?"
"Morbid much!" said Cordelia. "I didn't ask!"
Buffy was quiet for a few moments. "Um, I gotta book," she said, gathering her stuff together. "I'll … I'll see you guys later."
Brandon tried to speak up. "Sis, wait a sec—" But she had already walked away.
"I would ask what her deal is, but the fact that you're her brother kind of explains everything," Cordelia said to him.
"You wound me so," Brandon said in a complete deadpan. "You planning on sticking around, princess? Or do you have a castle to rule somewhere?"
"Like I would wanna spend time with you people anyway," Cordelia muttered as she walked off.
"It was nice to meet the local queen bitch early on," said Brandon. "At least now I don't have to sit in suspense."
"Aren't you worried that your sister seemed so interested in a corpse?" asked Xander.
Brandon shrugged. "Not really. She started acting a little weird a couple months back, so these days I just kinda run with it. When it started I thought she was just going through some hormone shit. Then she burned the school gym down and it all just seemed dull in comparison."
"She burned down the gym?" Jesse asked.
"Oh yeah. That's why we moved here. She wasn't particularly welcome in school after that. I don't mind too much, though; never really liked the other kids in LA, anyway." He neglected to mention that he'd spent awhile not really liking his sister all that much. Back in LA, before the changes happened, Buffy had been like … well, she'd been just like Cordelia: pretty, but obsessed with popularity to the point where she came across as kind of a shitty person. She'd even been a cheerleader! If one was to ask Brandon, he would likely say that these changes seemed to be for the better.
Now if only they hadn't coincided with a bunch of mysterious disappearances and murders … Seriously, how was it that he was the only one who noticed the correlation? He would have asked about it, but that was the sort of thing that just had to be a coincidence.
"So, is Buffy, like, available …?" asked Xander.
Brandon took brief note of how downtrodden Willow seemed by Xander's line of questioning then answered honestly. "No. Quite surprisingly, she is completely unattached after only a few days in the new town and not even a full day of school." A little sarcasm never hurt anyone.
"Good," said Xander.
"Yeah, I bet you think it is," said Jesse.
"I won't stop you if you wanna try and ask her out," said Brandon. "But let me make it clear: that's only because Buffy is six minutes older than me and doesn't take me seriously as a protective brother. If you do go out with my sister, I will be watching you." He pointed at his own eyes, then at Xander's. "We clear on that?"
"Yes, sir," Xander said weakly.
"Then we're cool!"
"… Really?"
"Yep. I'm not blind, I know Buffy is gonna attract some attention from the guys around – and maybe some girls, I'm not judging – so unless you start acting like a colossal douchebag, I'm not gonna be fussy about it."
"Huh."
"You should totally come down to The Bronze later," said Jesse.
"I don't know what that is," said Brandon.
"It's a club," said Willow. "They let anybody in, so it's not just for the people old enough to drink. It's pretty fun, we hang out in there a lot."
"All right, then, I'll see if I can drop in tonight," said Brandon. "Now, best start eating before the bell goes. I don't want to handle afternoon classes on an empty stomach." He pulled his bacon and egg sandwich from his bag and started eating.
Brandon enjoyed chatting with the three of them as they ate – at least until Willow sent Xander off to the library to get a math book, something about her helping him catch up. He could honestly call them all friends by the end of lunch. And, considering it was the first day, he couldn't have been happier with his progress.
Buffy cautiously looked both ways as she went around the corner. First that creepy librarian tries to give her a book about vampires, now someone had turned up dead in the locker room … she hoped it was just a coincidence, she really did. A new town, a new school, this was a chance at a new life for her, away from all the vampire slaying, and she didn't want anything to fuck that up for her.
She walked quickly toward the double doors that led to the locker room when she was sure there was nobody around. Just in case, she looked around again, then twisted the doorknob. It was locked. So she used the extra physical strength being the Slayer gave her and ripped the door open. The remains of a perfectly good locking mechanism fell to the floor as the door swung outwards. Buffy walked into the locker room, closing the door behind her and hoping that nobody noticed the broken lock until she was safely out of there. She didn't want to get into trouble over this.
She walked a little way into the locker room and found what she was looking for instantly. The body was covered over with a dark sheet, but there was no mistaking the human shape. She put her backpack down on the floor and knelt down. She removed the sheet from the dead boy's upper half. He looked like he was a good-looking guy in life, but the pasty paleness of death had set in badly. But that wasn't what upset Buffy so much.
What upset her were the two holes – fang-marks – on the side of the boy's neck. The lack of any blood made it clear he had been drained dry.
"Oh, great!" Buffy said in exasperation. This was just what she needed.
After she'd left the locker room, Buffy made her way directly to the library at a brisk pace. She wanted to have a word with that creepy English guy and she wanted to get some God damn answers out of him. Of all the things she had hoped wouldn't happen on her first day at Sunnydale High, this was at the very top of the list.
She walked to the library and pushed the doors open with more force than was probably necessary. "Okay, what's the sitch?" she asked the librarian, who she couldn't currently see.
"Sorry?" asked Giles, coming out from behind one of the bookcases.
"You heard about the dead guy, right?" Buffy asked aggressively. "The dead guy in the locker?"
"Yes," said Giles.
"'Cause it's the weirdest thing." Buffy walked up the small staircase to meet him halfway. "He's got two little holes in his neck and all his blood's been drained. Isn't that bizarre? Aren't you just going 'Ooooh'?"
Giles was silent for a moment. "I was afraid of this."
"Well I wasn't. It's my first day. I was afraid that I was gonna be behind in all my classes, that I wouldn't make any friends, that I would have last month's hair. I didn't think there'd be vampires on campus. And I don't care."
"Then why are you here?"
"To … tell you that I don't care." Her voice wavered. She suddenly found herself wondering why Brandon seemed to have taken a shine to this man. "Which I don't, and have now told you … so … bye." She turned around with every intention of just walking away.
"Is he … Will he rise again?" Giles asked, concerned.
Buffy turned back around. "Who?"
"The boy."
"No. He's just dead."
"Can you be sure?"
"To make you a vampire, they have to suck your blood, and you have to suck their blood. It's like a whole big sucking thing. Mostly, they're just gonna kill you. Why am I still talking to you?" She moved to walk away again.
"You really have no idea what's going on, do you?" Giles asked, moving to follow her. "You think it's coincidence, your being here? That boy was just the beginning."
Buffy turned back toward him, feeling quite upset. "Why can't you people just leave me alone?"
"Because you are the Slayer. 'Into each generation, a Slayer is born. One girl in all the world, a chosen one, one born with the strength and—'"
"'—strength and skill to hunt the vampires, to stop the spread of their evil,'" Buffy finished for him. "Blah, blah, blah, I've heard it, okay?"
"I really don't understand this attitude," said Giles. "You've accepted your duty, you've slain vampires before."
"Yeah. And I've both been there and done that, and I'm moving on."
Giles was silent for a moment, then he held one finger up in that well-known gesture: wait. "What do you know about this town?" he asked as he went into the small office in the library.
"It's two hours on the freeway from Neiman Marcus?"
"Dig a bit in the history of this place and you'll find a … a … a steady stream of very odd occurrences. I believe this whole area is a centre of mystical energy." He emerged from the office with a stack of old-looking books. "Things gravitate towards it that you might not find elsewhere."
"Like vampires."
Giles handed her a book. "Like zombies." He handed her another. "Werewolves." Another. "Incubi." Another. "Succubi. Everything you've ever dreaded was under your bed but you told yourself couldn't be by the light of day. They're all real."
Buffy looked down at all the books she'd been handed. "What? You, like, sent away for the Time-Life series?"
Giles looked embarrassed. "Um … yes."
"Did you get the free phone?"
"Um … the calendar."
"Cool! But … okay, first of all, I'm a Vampire Slayer. And secondly," she handed the books back to Giles, "I'm retired. Hey, I know! Why don't you kill 'em?"
"I'm a Watcher. I haven't the skill."
"Oh, come on! A stake through the heart, a little sunlight. It's like falling off a log."
"A Slayer slays. A Watcher …"
"Watches?"
"Yes. No! He … he trains her. He … he … he prepares her."
"Prepares me for what? For getting kicked out of school? For losing all of my friends? For having to spend all of my time fighting for my life and never telling anyone because I might endanger them?" She glared heatedly at Giles. "Go ahead. Prepare me. About the only good thing that's come from any of this Slayer stuff is that I've started treating my brother like a brother, and not someone to be embarrassed by. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go act like an older sister for the first time in my life." She started walking away. Giles didn't stop her this time.
Even to Dawn, Buffy added in her head. Though she can be a huge pain in my ass.
"Damn," Giles muttered to himself once she'd left, and made to chase after her.
Xander emerged from behind one of the bookcases with a math book tucked under his arm and a look of confused amazement on his face. "What?" he asked no one in particular.
Outside, in the halls, Giles caught up to Buffy. "It's getting worse," he said to her.
Buffy stopped, a look of pure annoyance crossing her face. "What's getting worse?" she asked.
Giles grabbed Buffy's arm lightly and pulled her to the side of the corridor so that they could speak more privately. "The influx of the undead," he said. "Supernatural occurrences. It's been building for years. There's a reason why you're here and a reason why it's now."
"Because now is the time my mom moved here." She moved to walk away.
Giles followed. "Something is coming. Something … something …" He put his arm on the wall in front of her to stop her from moving away. "Something is, is going to happen here. Soon."
"Gee, can you vague that up for me?" Buffy asked sarcastically.
"The signs, as far as I can tell, point to a crucial mystical upheaval very soon." The bell rang and all the students in the corridor started to head for their classrooms. "Days. Possibly less."
"Oh, come on! This is Sunnydale. How bad an evil can there be here?"
"Hey, sis," said Brandon as he walked by. He stopped near the two of them. "Hey, Mr Giles. Thanks again for hooking me up with the textbooks."
"Not a problem," said Giles. He was quick to get off the subject of evil now that someone else was near. "Did you give Buffy the extras?"
"Yeah, a few minutes before she ran off after hearing about the dead guy. Some messed up shit. Er, sorry, Mr Giles, please pardon my French."
"I've heard worse under less appropriate circumstances, don't worry."
"Cool. Well, anyway, I'm not sure if we've got the same class or not, Buffy, so I'll just get going now. See you later!" Then he left.
"Bran's right, it's time for class. Bye!" Then Buffy left in a hurry.
Giles stood alone in the corridor and sighed.
Brandon stood looking at his reflection in the mirror on the inside of his wardrobe. He didn't think he looked half bad. He was wearing a white, short-sleeved shirt, a pair of plain black pants, and a black trilby. He was getting ready to go to The Bronze, as was Buffy in her own room. Brandon wasn't normally one to care about his appearance, but he had been invited out by some new friends, so he thought he might as well put some effort into it. He was very excited by the prospect of finally gaining a functional social life.
"Hi! I'm an enormous slut!" Buffy said in her room. There was some shuffling. "Hello. Would you like a copy of 'The Watchtower'?"
"Stop labelling your outfit choices in full sentences," Brandon called to her. "It makes you sound schizophrenic."
"Shut up!" She sighed. "I used to be so good at this."
"You also used to be a bit of a dumb bitch. Frankly, I'd say it was a fair trade-off."
"Brandon, language!" Joyce called from in the hallway.
"Sorry, Mom."
The door to Buffy's room opened. "Hi, hon," said Joyce.
"Hey!" said Buffy.
"Are you two going out tonight?" asked Joyce.
"Yeah, we're going to a club."
"Oh. Will there be boys there?"
"No, Mom," Brandon called through the wall, amused. "I'm going to be borrowing some of Buffy's clothes and sneaking in."
"Sarcasm is unbecoming of you," said Joyce.
"I beg to differ."
"Well, you two just be careful."
"We will," said Buffy.
"… You know, I think we can make it work here," said Joyce. "I've got my positive energy flowing. I'm gonna get the gallery on its feet. We may have found a space today."
"That's great," said Buffy.
"Yeah, congratulations," said Brandon.
"That school is a very nurturing environment, which is just what you need," Joyce said. Brandon knew she was talking to Buffy more than him, though he knew it applied to him at least a little due to his lack of social life back in LA.
"Well, actually …" said Buffy.
"Oh, not too nurturing," said Joyce. "I know. You're both sixteen. I've read all about the dangers of over-nurturing. It's hard. New town and everything. It is for me, too. I'm trying to make it work. I'm going to make it work."
"We trust you, Mom!" Brandon called.
"You two are good kids. Buffy, you just fell in with the wrong crowd. And Brandon … well, you didn't fall in with any crowd. But all of that is behind us now. You'll both find the right people to make friends with."
"Oh, don't worry," said Buffy. "From now on, I'm only gonna hang out with the living. I mean lively … people."
"And there you go again, saying all that weird shi— stuff," Brandon said, saving himself from another scolding at the last moment. "Buffy, I love you, and I'm glad that you're no longer acting like a walking clothes-store mannequin, but you're gonna have to start explaining some of these phrases at some point."
When they both emerged from their rooms, Brandon saw that Buffy was wearing the same shirt from earlier, but had added a bright blue jacket and had opted for a pair of black pants rather than the skirt she had been wearing earlier. The fact that she was showing less skin pleased him a little. As much as Buffy took on the older sibling role, Brandon sometimes couldn't help feeling protective of her.
"So, you ready to go?" Brandon asked her.
"Yep," she said. "Let's go."
The two of them left the house together and walked silently through the streets on their way to The Bronze. It was incredibly dark out, which gave the town a very ominous feeling, but neither of them was too nervous. Though Brandon had his doubts about Buffy's state of mind when he saw that she kept glancing behind them every now and then. This kept on happening until they were walking through an alleyway near to where they were told The Bronze was.
"Hey, you go on ahead, Bran," Buffy said suddenly, looking behind them. "I need to check something."
"You sure?" Brandon asked. "I could wait …"
"No, no, no," Buffy said, a little more forcefully. "You go on in and find those new friends of yours. I'll be there in a minute."
Brandon was hesitant. "… You're sure?"
"Yeah, totally. Don't worry about it."
"Okay … see you in there."
Brandon, against his better judgement, carried on forward, finding that he trusted Buffy to take care of herself for reasons he didn't quite understand. She was his sister, yes, but he had hardly been given good reason to trust her judgement as of late. Maybe it was simply the fact that she was finally treating him like a brother and not a nerd she was forced to live with that made him want to give her her way … Maybe he was afraid that, if he didn't do as she said, things would revert back to the way they were before.
Brandon reached the entrance to The Bronze and did his best to push all that from his mind. The bouncer out front let him in without a fuss.
The dance floor was jam-packed with mostly teenagers dancing to the music the band was playing. There were a few people scattered about at the tables or in the booths, even a few playing on the pool table. It was a pretty lively club. The atmosphere and the amount of people immediately made Brandon nervous, but he pushed on. He darted his eyes around the room rapidly to see if any of his new friends were here, and he spotted Willow sitting on her own at one of the tables. He was slightly hesitant, remembering how it had gone the last time they were alone, but he swallowed his nervousness and walked over to her, trying to get through the crowd by doing as little pushing as possible.
"Hey," he said, sitting down across from Willow at the table. He could feel the sweat caking his face already. "Is it just you here at the moment?"
"Yeah," said Willow. She looked like she was trying to keep a positive attitude despite being down about something. "I was hoping Xander would turn up, but you're the first one I've seen here."
"Huh," said Brandon. "Are you and Xander a thing, then?"
"No, we're just friends. We used to go out, but we broke up."
"You're kidding! Why's that?"
"He stole my Barbie."
Brandon blanched. "He gave you up … over a Barbie? What an idiot …"
Willow blushed like that was the biggest compliment she'd ever received. "We were only five," she added.
"Oh. That makes more sense." Brandon didn't know why, but this conversation was providing him with a great sense of relief.
"I don't actually date a whole lot … lately."
"Really?"
"Yeah." She went red again. "When I'm with a boy I like … it's hard for me to say anything cool, or … or witty, or at all. I can usually make a few vowel sounds and then I have to go away."
"Hey, you're not as bad as me with girls. I can't even make the vowel sounds."
Willow laughed a little. "But I think boys are more interested in a girl who can talk."
"They should be if it's you." Brandon felt his face heat up after he said that. "W-What I mean is, I've certainly been enjoying this conversation."
"What conversation?" asked Buffy as she sat down near them. "Okay, Bran, I got that little thing over and done with. What did I miss?"
"Willow has trouble talking to boys," said Brandon.
"I bet it's easy for you," Willow said to Buffy.
"Yeah." Buffy didn't sound too confident. "Real easy."
"What I mean is, you don't seem too shy."
"If there's one thing she's never been, it's shy," said Brandon. "Unlike me. I know I'm talking fine, but you can see the sweat dripping off me, right? I feel like I'm dying here."
"Don't be so dramatic," said Buffy, lightly hitting him on the shoulder. "My philosophy … Do you two wanna hear it?"
"Yeah, I do," said Willow.
"Go for it," said Brandon.
"Life is short."
They both just looked at her for a moment.
"'Life is short,'" repeated Willow.
"Has your little bag of clichés got anything else?" Brandon asked his sister.
"It's not original, I'll grant you, but it's true," said Buffy. "You know, why waste time being shy and worrying about talking to some guy – or girl – and if they're gonna laugh at you? Seize the moment, 'cause tomorrow you might be dead."
"A cheery thought," muttered Brandon.
"Actually, I think it's nice," said Willow.
Buffy looked around until her eyes caught sight of something. "Um, you two keep each other company, I'll be back in a minute." Then she left.
"It's a nice sentiment, but I don't think I'm anywhere near confident enough to 'seize the moment,'" said Brandon. "Maybe when I'm twenty-one and have a few drinks in me I'll gain some confidence, but for now, I'm a high school boy who gets cripplingly shy when it comes to talking to girls I've just met."
"You're talking to me just fine," Willow pointed out.
"We met twice earlier, and I don't think I need to remind you how awkwardly silent that first meeting was." Brandon sighed. "I mean, maybe if nice girls did the approaching, I'd be fine, but the only girls I've ever seen approaching the guy are the kind who are always after something. I don't know what it is, but nice girls always wait to be approached, and then guys like me end up alone because we're too nervous to approach." He sat up straight. "Sorry if I'm rambling. I don't wanna think I'm boring you …"
"No, don't worry, it's all cool," said Willow. "I think I'd be more confident if a boy approached me, too, but … I'm not the kind of girl guys come over to talk to."
"Hey, don't say that. You're a nice girl, any guy would be lucky to have you."
Willow went red. "Th-Thanks." She moved her eyes down and looked at his arms. "N-No offence or anything, but you look a little … b-big to have confidence issues when it comes to girls."
"What, you mean the muscles? Nah, I did that to intimidate the bullies off me. And the exercise is good for alleviating boredom. Occasionally I'll get a girl giving me the … well, the 'fuck me' eyes, for lack of a better term, but then they talk to me and find out how much of a nerd I am, and that's if I can find it in me to speak up to begin with."
"What do you mean by 'fuck me' eyes?"
Brandon paused. "Um … it's just a phrase, you know? Some women just have 'fuck me' eyes."
"Do I have 'fuck me' eyes?"
"N-No!" Brandon stuttered out. This conversation had gotten weird quickly. He noticed how her eyes seemed to be wider than most people's and said the first thing that popped into his head. "You have 'give me the ring, my precious' eyes." Then he thought about punching himself for comparing her to Gollum.
"Hey, babe," said a guy Brandon hadn't seen before and was pretty sure Willow didn't know, either. He looked like he was stuck in the 80s. "You wanna dance?"
As much as he was glad for the distraction from the awkwardness, Brandon didn't quite like the look of this guy. "Actually, we're in the middle of a conversa—"
"I'd love to!" Willow said, cutting off Brandon. She looked nervous but excited. As the 80s Guy took her to over to the dance floor, she looked back and mouthed "Seize the moment" at Brandon in what she probably thought was an encouraging manner.
I think that guy's looking to seize more than the moment, Brandon thought with narrowed eyes. He saw the way 80s Guy was eyeing Willow up like a predatory animal. He didn't like it. I'm gonna keep my eye on this fucker, make sure he doesn't try anything funny.
For the next few minutes, Brandon never let the two of them out of his sight. He moved when he lost sight of them and made sure he could see them at all times. And when 80s Guy started to pull Willow out of the building with him, Brandon thought, Yeah, if you think I'm gonna let you out of my sight when you leave, you're out of your fucking mind, and followed them at a safe distance. He followed them through the darkened streets of Sunnydale, feeling awfully ominous for some reason, and even more worried for Willow for reasons he couldn't quite place (though he also found himself thinking of Buffy for some reason). His worries only increased when he saw 80s Guy forcefully lead Willow into …
"A graveyard?" he asked no one. "What the actual fuck?"
But he still followed them in. He felt that getting Willow out of there was an urgent matter now, but again, he couldn't place why. 80s Guy should be easy enough to deal with should things get unsavoury. At least that's what Brandon thought. As Brandon had more cover to use here, he was able to get close enough to hear their conversation.
"O-Okay, this … this is nice … and scary," Willow was saying. "Are you sure this is faster?"
80s Guy was silent for a few moments. "Hey," he said, gesturing ahead of them, "you ever been in one of these?"
It was a crypt. A fucking crypt.
"No … thank you …" said Willow.
"Come on," said 80s Guy. He came up behind her and started stroking her hair out of the way of her neck. "What are you afraid of?"
When she didn't answer for a few moments, 80s Guy shoved Willow inside incredibly roughly. Brandon stayed still for just long enough to note that this guy was way stronger than he looked. Then he came out from behind the tree he had been hiding behind and ran over. Due to the grass, his footsteps weren't really heard, so he managed to deliver a punch to the back of 80s Guy's head with no trouble.
80s Guy's head snapped forward from the punch and he growled. He turned around and Brandon gasped when he saw the twisted visage that was once a human face. His skin was now pasty, like that of a corpse, and his nose and ears were pointed; his nose now seemed to connect directly with his forehead. His eyes were narrow and dangerous, like a predatory animal. What really freaked Brandon out, though, were what lay in 80s Guy's mouth: a set of pointed fangs, ready to tear into flesh at a moment's notice.
"What the fu—"
Brandon was cut off and started choking when 80s Guy grabbed him by the throat. Brandon noted that 80s Guy's fingernails were now claws that he could feel lightly digging into his neck. 80s Guy growled at him again, turned around, and threw him into the crypt after Willow. Brandon caught a brief glimpse of her as he flew past, then he saw nothing but stars for a few moments as he felt his head connect with the stone wall of the crypt.
"Brandon!" Willow said in shock.
"Ow …" Brandon groaned, rubbing the back of his head as he sat up. "What kinda fucking steroids is that guy on …?" Then he remembered the demonic visage of 80s Guy's face. "Actually, you know what? I don't think it's steroids."
80s Guy stalked his way into the crypt, looking very much human again. For a moment Brandon thought he might have imagined the whole transformation, but thinking about just how far and hard he had been thrown made the idea quite ridiculous. Brandon stood up, grabbed Willow, and put himself between her and 80s Guy.
"Ooh, you brought two!" said a new, feminine voice. A pretty blonde woman walked down the steps of the crypt with a swagger, like she was very pleased about something. "I guess the one I brought could just be spare blood, then."
"Hey, wait up!" said a familiar voice. Jesse staggered into the crypt after the woman, a hand to his neck.
"Oh my God!" said Willow. "Jesse!"
Jesse made it down the steps before he collapsed rather unceremoniously. Brandon caught him and sat him down as best he could.
Jesse looked at the woman he had walked in with. "You know, you gave me a hickey," he said.
80s Guy looked at the the blonde woman, amused.
"I got hungry on the way," the woman said, shrugging.
"Let's get out of here," Willow said, moving to help Jesse stand.
"Oh, you're not going anywhere," said the blonde woman.
"You gonna stop us?" Brandon challenged.
The blonde woman smirked. "You're not going anywhere until we've fed!" Her face changed into one just like 80s Guy's had before throwing Brandon. 80s Guy transformed again, too.
Willow screamed.
Brandon got ready to fight these monsters.
"Well, this is nice."
And then Buffy came in, followed closely by Xander. Both of the monsters turned to look at Buffy in shock.
"I mean, it's a little bare," said Buffy, walking down the stairs and into the crypt proper. "But a dash of paint, a few throw pillows … call it home!"
"Who the hell are you?" the blonde monster asked.
"You mean there's actually someone in this town who doesn't know already?" Buffy asked. "Phew, that's a relief. I'm telling you, having a secret identity in this town is a job of work."
"Buffy, we bail now, right?" asked Xander.
"Not yet," said 80s Guy, grinning.
Buffy looked at 80s Guy in disgust. "Okay, first of all, what's with the outfit? Live in the now, okay? You look like DeBarge." The blonde monster was closing in on Buffy from behind, so Buffy turned to face her. "Now, we can do this the hard way, or … well, actually, there's just the hard way."
"That's fine with me," said the blonde monster.
"Are you sure?" asked Buffy. "I'm telling you, this is not gonna be pretty. We're talking violence, strong language, adult content …"
80s Guy lunged at her from behind. Brandon was about to shout, but the words died in his throat when he saw Buffy pull a wooden stake out of her pocket and stab it into 80s Guy's heart without so much as glancing behind her. 80s Guy made a few choking sounds, fell backwards, and then exploded into dust before he could even hit the ground.
There was silence.
… Holy shit! Brandon thought, wide-eyed. Did my sister really just kill a fucking vampire!?
"See what happens when you roughhouse?" Buffy asked the stunned blonde vampire.
"He was young and stupid," the blonde vampire snarled.
"Xander, go!" said Buffy.
"Don't go far!" said the blonde vampire before growling and turning to fight Buffy.
At first Brandon was so stunned by the fact that his twin sister was having a fist fight with a vampire that he didn't notice that Willow and Xander were helping Jesse to walk out of there. He felt a hand on his shoulder shaking him. "Brandon, come on!" Willow urged, getting him to come to his senses. He stood up, put one of Jesse's arms around his shoulder, and booked it out of there with his three friends. After seeing the fate of 80s Guy, he thought Buffy could handle herself against the blonde vampire. At least, he hoped so …
"We'll get the police!" said Willow as they ran. "It's just a few blocks up!"
"And tell 'em what!?" Brandon asked, huffing. "'Excuse me, but we were just attacked by a couple of people. One of them turned to dust when my sister stabbed him with a piece of wood.' Yeah, I'm sure that conversation would go down well!"
Any response any of them may have had was cut off when a lot of growling sounded out in front of them. There were a lot of vampires, all of whom had their demonic faces out. They eyed up the four teenagers like pieces of meat as they approached, growling softly.
"Well … shit …" said Brandon.
There's a bit of a cliffhanger for you at the end of the first chapter, Constant Readers. Of course, there was a cliffhanger there in canon, too, but oh well. I'll try to get to work on the second chapter as soon as I can, seeing as the second episode carries on directly from the first, but I won't promise any miracles. I do have plans for Brandon in the future, big plans, but his big, character-changing arc will probably really kick off around season three. There'll be drama and such before then, but that's the big one.
There's a reference to Ted 2 in there, see if you can find it. Also, yeah, Dawn's here early, but don't think I'm trying to do something spectacular with her presence. I'm going to be a hundred percent honest and say she's not really there and that her scenes are just part of the fake memories everyone has of her presence. Much like in canon, she won't actually be there until the events of season five. Sorry to disappoint anyone.
I hope you've all enjoyed. See you next time!