Couldn t They Just Elope?

Number 3 in my Buffy s New World Order series. Vampires Xander and Anya are about to have a deadly demonic wedding; when the New Slayer arrives in Sunnydale.

Couldn t They Just Elope?

By MrBillyD

1

An hour after sunset, Dawn Summers stood waiting in the cool, breezeless evening. She stood hiding herself in a shadow, just inside the open main gate of Sunnydale Cemetery. She watched her Sunnydale High classmate Amanda quietly approaching, carrying a sharpened, foot long, wooden stake.

The tall, thin, awkward Amanda stepped lightly. She moved along the deserted street, trying to be silent, while looking around and seeing nobody. She looked past the ten foot high wrought iron rods of the Cemetery fence, gazing at the headstones that were dimly illuminated by the moon, and by the distant street lamps. She saw no one moving among the graves.

She did not see Dawn who remained unmoving in the shadow, where the moonlight and streetlamp lights didn t reach.

Both girls were dressed in full length slacks, comfortable shoes and zipped open jackets.

I don t want Amanda hurt. Dawn thought, Just keep walking Amanda. Don t step through the Cemetery gate. I don t want to have to do anything that'll get you killed.

The brown haired Amanda came up to the gate, and turned toward the darkness of the Cemetery. In her slightly trembling hand, she raised the stake to her shoulder level, and stepped quietly through the entrance. Not seeing Dawn who remained hidden and unmoving in the shadows to her left.

"Amanda." Dawn spoke softly.

The girl with the stake gasped. She quickly turned to her left, gripping the stake tighter, pointing it at the figure in the shadow. "It's Dawn Summers, Amanda."

Amanda's voice trembled. "Are you a vampire now?"

"No." Dawn told her. "Not yet, but I will be soon."

Amanda reached into her jacket's left pocket with her left hand, and took out a cross, holding it out in Dawn's direction.

Now Dawn emerged from the shadow. The full figured, dark haired, Sunnydale High junior reached out and touched the extended cross with her right index and middle fingers. She was not harmed.

Amanda lowered the cross, but held it ready in her left hand.

"I'm not a vampire yet." Dawn explained, "My vamping's scheduled for Friday after next."

"'Scheduled'? They're scheduling times for people to get killed?"

"No. Just a few of us, this ll be a special occasion."

"What makes it special? 'Cause your sister's the Vampire Slayer who got killed and she's now a vampire herself?"

"No." Dawn explained, "It's 'cause my sister Buffy and I are friends with Xander Harris, who is now a vampire, and his fiancee Anyanka the Vengeance Demon, who is also a new vampire. They're planning to get married, Friday after next."

"I see. Friday the 13th?"

"It's appropriate. They're going to have a demonic wedding, and I'm going to be one of the bridesmaids."

"Oh that's very nice." Amanda told her. "I bet you re gonna look beautiful."

Dawn shrugged. "That s what I ve been told. Everyone says I'll make a beautiful corpse."

The other girl trembled. "Corpse?"

"That s right. You see, at a demonic wedding, they always eat the bridesmaids. That one thing that demons all agree about. Nothing tastes better than a bridesmaid."

"Oh...They're gonna eat you?"

"Well I m not gonna be carved up, cooked and eaten. I m going to stay intact. As part of the wedding ceremony, my vampire escort will bite me with his fangs, then suck out my blood 'til I die.

"Then on Monday the 16th, I'll transfer to the night classes at Sunnydale High, where I'll join the increasing number of our classmates, who've become vampires."

"Monday after next?"

"That's right. I'm not a vampire yet, but what about you Amanda?"

"I'm not a vampire either Dawn, and I'm not taking part in any of their ceremonies; no matter how good anybody thinks I'll taste."

"Amanda" Dawn told her, "You're already scheduled."

"I am? But I've been away from Sunnydale for..."

Dawn asked calmly, "You're the new Slayer, aren't you?"

Amanda gasped softly. Then she nodded.

Dawn asked, "Have you slayed any vampires yet?"

"Not yet." The girl looked around and said, "Tonight'll be my first time. I guess you can call it my..." she giggled nervously "'virgin slaying'."

"Amanda," Dawn warned "stop now. Turn around and leave before you start, or the virgin who's slayed tonight'll be you." She chuckled. "You might be the very first virgin who ever got vamped in Sunnydale."

"No I won't Dawn!" Her classmate's voice was firm. "I'm now the Slayer. I'm a lot stronger and faster than I used to be, so don't you get in my way, or even if you're not a vampire, you'll still be dead tonight, regardless of whether you're a virgin or not!"

Dawn spread her open hands wide apart.

"It's okay Amanda. I know just how strong and just how fast a Slayer can be."

Now another woman spoke from inside the shadow where Dawn had waited.

"The thing is." The woman told her, "I'm also a Slayer, with seven more years of experience than you've got, 'virgee'."

She stepped out of the shadow. Amanda recognized her as Dawn's 22 year old blonde sister Buffy, who now stood in the dim light. Buffy's opened mouth displayed a very large pair of fangs.

Amanda gasped again.

"And," Buffy told her "I'm a lot stronger and faster than you can possibly imagine."

The newer Slayer raised her stake again. Her hand trembled.

"Okay." Amanda s voice shook. "Let s see..."

Buffy took a step forward with her fangs extended. She reached out to grab the girl with both hands. Amanda raised the cross in her trembling left hand, causing Buffy to hold back and turn her head away for a moment.

The new Slayer cried out and began to rush forward.

She'd taken two steps, when two hands came from behind her, firmly gripping Amanda s upper arms, pulling her back.

Now Dawn leapt forward, gripping her classmate's left wrist, and pulling the cross out of her hand. Then another woman with fangs, around Buffy's age, came out of the dark from the right. She grabbed the girl s right arm, and knocked the stake out of her hand.

Now Amanda stopped struggling. She stood still, tightly gripped by the person behind her.

Buffy spoke to the other fanged woman. "Thank you Anya." She looked at the person who was holding Amanda, "And thank you too Xander."

Amanda heard a male voice speak, just behind the top of her head. "You re welcome Buff."

"You see Amanda." Buffy told her, "There s a lot more to being a Slayer than strength and speed. It also helps to have friends."

Amanda spoke bravely, but her voice still trembled. "Are you gonna kill me now?"

"No." Buffy the Slayer-Vampire shook her head. "I m not. I m giving the honor of killing the newest Vampire Slayer, to Xander."

The guy gripping her upper arms spun Amanda around. Before she could cry out, his cold open mouth was against her neck, with his fangs plunged deep inside, while he held her entire body tight in his arms.

She began to squeal, struggle and squirm, but his grip was too tight.

She cried out "Fuck you!"

Now Dawn stood beside them.

"It's okay Amanda." She told the dying girl, "Xander's gonna vamp you now. You'll be enrolling in those night classes two weeks ahead of me. And don't worry. I won't tell any of our classmates that you were ever a Slayer, so no one'll give you a hard time about it."

The dying girl spoke again, this time her voice was hoarse.

"Ohhhh...fuuuhk you!"

Then Amanda was silent. She'd stopped struggling, and was limp in Xander's tightly gripping arms, while he kept on sucking out her blood.

Now Anya spoke, "It's okay Xander." There was a sharp tone in her voice. "She's dead! You can stop giving her that suck job!"

Xander ignored Anya, and kept on sucking the girl s blood, which continued to flow.

Anya shouted, "I told you to stop!"

She reached out, grabbed the dead girl's shoulders, and threw her to the ground.

Amanda lay dead at Xander's feet, with a small trickle of blood flowing from the pair of puncture wounds in her neck.

He said, "Anya? What's the problem?"

"I want to make sure, oh fiance of mine, is that all you ll do is bite her with your biter, and not go on to poke her with your poker."

He asked, "What are you talking about?"

"I heard her say she wanted to 'fuck' you! Twice!"

"No she didn't Anya!" Dawn told the Vengeance Demon. "She was just cursing."

"That's right." Buffy added. "She died cursing, like a high school girl."

Anya said, "But after she becomes undead, she'll want Xander to poke her with his poker, and we all know how horny vampire's can be. I'm right about that, aren't I Buffy?"

Now Xander spoke, "But I don't want her that way Anya. Her blood was enough to satisfy me."

"Was it?"

"Yes. Believe me, my love, the only one who I want to poke with my poker..."

He looked at Dawn and Buffy with embarrassment. Both sisters tried not to laugh.

He continued, "The only one I want is you, Anya."

"Yeah--Right."

Buffy called out, "Wait a minute!"

Anya and Xander silenced. Buffy now stood above the dead girl, with a thoughtful look on her face.

"Did any of you notice," she asked, "that something was just wrong about her killing?"

The other three looked puzzled.

"She's dead." Dawn said, "Nothing wrong with that, at least for vampires, and for someone scheduled to become a vampire."

Buffy said, "Killing her was too easy. She was no stronger or faster than any average girl. She should have had the same kind of moves that I have, or that Faith had or Kendra, but she didn't. She was a brave girl, but she didn't know the first thing about fighting, and she died like an untrained girl, not like any Slayer."

"That's right." Anya sneered, "She was defeated by Xander, or all people."

He said, "Hey. I'm not that bad."

"Well all you did," she told him, "was grab her arms from behind, while me and Dawn knocked the weapons out of her hands."

"Right." He said, "Then she couldn't have been a Slayer; but why did she say that she was?"

"I think", Buffy said, "She wanted us to kill her, so we'd think that the new Slayer was dead. Then we'd let down our guard. In that way we wouldn't be prepared, when the real new Slayer shows up."

Dawn looked down at her lifeless classmate. "She was a decoy? She deliberately let herself be killed?"

Her older sister nodded, "A very brave girl, who was as loyal to the new Slayer, whoever she is, as all of you are to me. There may be others just as loyal. We can't let down our guard."