Chapter One: Welcome To The Hellmouth
In every generation there is a Chosen One. She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons and the forces of darkness. She is the Slayer.
At Sunnydale High School, A fist punches through a windowpane of a classroom and reaches in to undo the clasp. A boy and a girl, sneaking into the school.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" She asks.
The boy smiles. "It's a great idea, now come on." They crawl in and walk out of the classroom, continuing down the hallway.
"Do you go to school here?"
"I used to. On top of the gym it's so cool. You can see the whole town." He continues down the hall, but she stops him close to the intersection.
"I-I don't wanna go up there." She says.
He looks at her. "Aw, you can't wait, huh?"
"We're just gonna get in trouble."
"Yeah, you can count on it." He smirks before leaning in to kiss her but she draws a quick breath, startled and turns her head around to look down the hall.
"What was that?"
"What was what?"
"I heard a noise."
"It's nothing!"
She shakes her head. "Uh, uh, maybe it's something."
"Or maybe it's some thing." He teases.
She looks at him. "That's not funny."
He looks down the other hall. "Hellooooo!" His voice echoes. He turns back to the girl. "There's nobody here."
"Are you sure?" She looks away.
"Yes, I'm sure."
"Okay." She turns back to him, vamped out. She releases a growl before biting him. He grunts in pain as they sink to the floor.
Buffy tosses and turns in bed. She's having the nightmares, with visions of the Master's lair, the cemetery, the Master, of vampires and other demons, various events and artifacts. She wakes with a gasp.
"Buffy?" Joyce calls.
She sits up. "I'm up, Mom!" She yells.
"Don't wanna be late for your first day!"
Buffy sighs. "No." She mutters to herself. "Wouldn't want that."
Joyce pulls up to the school. "Okay!" She smiles. Buffy gets out. "Have a good time. I know you're gonna make friends right away, just think positive." She gives a thumbs up. Buffy looks through the open car door and gives her mother a quick nod. She turns to go and closes the door behind her. "And honey?" Buffy looks back at her. "Try not to get kicked out?"
"I promise."
"Okay." Joyce smiles.
Buffy faces the school and lets out a deep breath. Joyce drives off.
Xander bobs and weaves through the crowd on his skateboard. "'Scuse me, comin' through, pardon me, 'scuse me, whoa! 'Scuse me, not sure how to stop! Please move, whoa, 'scuse me…" He trails off as he sees Buffy. "Whoa." He breathes. He doesn't see the stair railing in front of him, too busy staring at the girl. He crashes into it and falls beneath it, grunting in pain. "God!" Willow and Trinity step over his legs. "I'm okay. I feel good." Willow looks down at him, smiling and pulling her hair behind her ear. Trinity rolls her eyes and shakes her head. Xander looks up and sees them. "Willow! You're so very much the person that I wanted to see!" He gets up.
"Hello to you too Xander." Trinity says. He smiles at her.
Willow smiles. "Oh, really?"
"Yeah." He says. "You know, I kinda had a problem with the math."
"Uh, which part?"
"The math." He puts his hands together. "Can you help me out tonight, pleeeease, be my study buddy?"
"Well, what's in it for me?"
"A shiny nickel!"
"Okay. Do you have 'Theories in Trig'? You should check it out."
"Check it out?" He asks.
"From the library? Where the books live." Trinity says.
"Right, I'm there!" He nods. "See, I wanna change."
"I believe you." She laughs.
They enter the school.
"Hey, hey!" A boy calls.
Xander smiles. "Hey, Jesse, what's what?"
"New Girl!"
Xander nods. "That's right, I saw her. Pretty much a hottie!"
"Is that right?" Trinity asks.
"I heard someone was transferring." Willow says.
"So tell!" Xander urges.
"Tell what?" Jesse asks.
"What's the sitch, what do ya know about her?"
Jesse shrugs. "New girl!"
"Well, you're certainly a font of nothing!"
Trinity lays a hand on his arm. "It's okay Jesse, I still love you."
He smiles and wraps an arm around her shoulder.
Buffy sits in Principal Flutie's office. He walks around his desk, looking at her school record. "Buffy Summers, sophomore, late of Hemery High in Los Angeles. Interesting record, quite a career…" He sits, takes the sheet he's reading and tears it into pieces. Buffy sends him a shocked look. "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 reads one of the pieces. "Whoa."
"Mr. Flutie-" She starts.
"All the kids here are free to call me Bob."
"Bob-"
"But they don't." He begins reassembling the torn sheet.
"I know my transcripts are a little…colorful."
"Heeey…we're not caring about that. Do you think, uh, 'colorful' is the word?" He taps the paper. "Not, uh, 'dismal'?"
"Wasn't that bad!" She defends.
He looks at her. "You burned down the gym."
She sighs in exasperation. "I did, I really did, but…you're not seeing the big picture here, I mean, that gym was full of vampi-" She catches her mistake. "Asbestos."
"Buffy, don't worry. 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. And if your needs and our needs don't mesh." He puts the poorly repaired sheet back into her file and slaps it shut. She gives him a thin, nervous smile.
Buffy comes out of Mr. Flutie's office. She opens her bag and rummages through it as she walks into the hall right in front of a girl and a boy. The girl bumps into her, making her lose her grip on the bag and spill its contents. "Oh! Sorry!"
"That's okay." The girl says.
Buffy looks down at the mess. "Oh…"
Xander hears the noise, looks back, quickly comes over and squats down next to her to help her gather her things. "Can I have you?" He asks. She gives him a confused look. "Uh…" He chuckles. "Can I help you?"
She smiles. "Thanks."
"I don't know you, do I?"
"I'm Buffy. I'm new."
"Xander. Is-is me. Hi." He smiles.
"Um, thanks." They finish gathering up everything.
"Well, uh, maybe I'll see you around…maybe at school…since we…both…go there."
"Great!" They stand up. "It was nice to meet you." She starts down the hall.
Xander frowns and mutters to himself. "We both go to school. Very suave. Very not pathetic." He notices a stake still on the floor. "Oh, hey!" He picks it up. "Hey, you forgot you…" He looks at the object. "Stake." He finishes, confused. Buffy doesn't hear him and continues down the hall. Xander holds on to the stake.
In a classroom, the teacher writes 'The Black Death' on the board and then turns to the class. "It's estimated that about twenty-five million people died in that one four-year span. But the fun part of the Black Plague is that it originated in Europe how?" She asks. Buffy is seated next to a brunette girl, taking notes. "As an early form of germ warfare. If you'll look at the map on page sixty-three you can trace the spread of the disease into Rome, and then north…"
Buffy doesn't have a book and looks around for help. The girls next to her notices and shares her book. "Thanks." She says.
"And this popular plague led to what social changes? Steve?" The teacher asks.
The bell rings and the students get up to leave.
"Hi! I'm Cordelia." The brunette offers her hand.
"I'm Buffy." Buffy shakes her hand.
"If you're looking for a textbook of your very own there's probably a few in the library."
"Oh, great, thanks." They get up. "Where would that be?"
"I'll show you, come on." They walk out of the classroom. "So you're from Hemery, right? In L.A.?"
"Uh, yeah."
"Oh, I would kill to live in L.A." Cordelia smiles. "That close to that many shoes?" Buffy laughs as they walk down the hallway. "Well, you'll be okay here. If you hang with me and mine, you'll be accepted in no time. Of course, we do have to test your coolness factor. You're from L.A., so you can skip the written, but let's see. Vamp nail polish?"
"Um, over?"
"So over. James Spader?"
Buffy smiles. "He needs to call me!"
"Frappuccino's?"
"Trendy, but tasty."
"John Tesh?"
"The Devil."
"That was pretty much a gimme, but…you passed!"
"Oh, goody!"
They turn toward a drinking fountain. Willow is there. She straightens up and sees them coming.
"Willow! Nice dress! Good to know you've seen the softer side of Sears." Cordelia smiles.
Willow looks down at her outfit. "Uh, oh, well, my mom picked it out."
"No wonder you're such a guy magnet." Cordelia says sarcastically, smile gone. "Are you done?"
Willow looks at the fountain, then back at Cordelia. "Oh!"
Trinity walks up. "Hey Cordelia, why don't you use daddy's money to buy yourself some manners?"
"What did you just say to me?"
"You heard me." Trinity says before turning to Willow. "Let's go." She takes her arms and leads her away.
Cordelia shakes her head. "You wanna fit in here, the first rule is: know your losers. Once you can identify them all by sight…" She looks after them. "They're a lot easier to avoid."
Buffy lets out a nervous laugh and nods. She looks at Willow and Trinity again, who has gone through the door at the end of the hall. Willow looks back at them before she continues.
Cordelia and Buffy walk to the library. "And if you're not too swamped with catching up you should come by the Bronze tonight."
"The who?" Buffy asks.
"The Bronze. It's the only club worth going to around here. They let anybody in, but it's still the scene. It's in the bad part of town."
"Where's that?" They stop outside the library doors.
"About a half a block from the good part of town." She laughs. "We don't have a whole lot of town here. But, um, you should show!"
"Well, I'll try." She looks towards the library. "Uh, thanks."
"Good. So, um, I'll see you in gym, and you can tell me absolutely everything there is to know about you." She waves before leaving.
Buffy waves back. "Thanks." She mutters to herself. "Oh, that sounds like fun." She goes into the library and looks around. "Hello?" She calls. "Is anybody here?" She looks at the book checkout counter and sees a newspaper. A picture has been circled. 'Local Boys Still Missing.' A man in a tweed suit comes up behind her and taps her on the shoulder. She spins around, startled. "Ooh!" She gasps. "Anybody's here!"
"Can I help you?" He asks.
"I was looking for some, well, books. I'm new."
"Miss Summers?"
"Good call! Guess I'm the only new kid, huh?"
"I'm Mr. Giles. The librarian. I was told you were coming." He heads around behind the counter.
"Great! So, um, I'm gonna need 'Perspectives on 20th Century-"
"I know what you're after!" He interrupts, a large grin on his face as he pulls out a large old book with the word 'VAMPYR' written in gold leaf on the front cover.
Buffy face pales as she gazes at the book with a look of unease. "That's not what I'm looking for."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm way sure."
His face curls in confusion. "My mistake." He puts the book back behind the counter. Buffy quickly leaves. He straightens back up. "So, what is it you said…" He sees her leave the library.
In the locker room, two girls are talking. "The new kid? She seems kind of weird to me. What kind of name is Buffy?"
"Hey, Aphrodisia!" A girl greets.
"Oh, Hey!" She smiles.
"Well, the chatter in the caf is that she got kicked out, and that's why her mom had to get a new job." Another girl says.
The girls work the combinations to their gym lockers. "Neg!"
"Pos! She was starting fights!"
"Neg-ly!"
The girl opens her locker. "Well I heard from Blue, and she said that-" The dead boy falls out of the locker onto the girls arm. She screams and backs away, letting the body fall to the floor.
At the school quad, Willow and Trinity are sitting on a bench. Willow begins to take out her lunch when Buffy walks up.
"Uh, Hi! Willow, right?" She says.
They look at her. "Why?" Willow asks. "I-I mean, hi! Uh, did you want us to move?"
Trinity looks at her. "We were here first." She says before looking at Buffy. "If she has a problem, she can find her own spot."
"Why don't we start with, 'Hi, I'm Buffy,' and, uh, then let's segue directly into me asking you for a favor." She sits down next to Willow. "It doesn't involve moving, but it does involve hanging out with me for a while."
"But aren't you hanging out with Cordelia?"
"I can't do both?"
Willow shakes her head. "Not legally."
Buffy sighs. "Look, I really wanna get by here…new school…and…Cordelia's been really nice…to me…anyway, but, um, I kinda have this burning desire not to flunk all my classes, and I heard a rumor that you were the person to talk to if I wanted to get caught up."
Willow smiles. "Oh, I could totally help you out! Uh, if you have sixth period free we could meet in the library?"
"Or not." Buffy says. "Or we could meet someplace quieter. Louder. Uh, that place just kinda gives me the wiggins."
"Oh, it has that effect on most kids. I love it, though, it's a great collection, and the new librarian is really cool."
"He's new?"
"Yeah, he just started. He was a curator at some British museum, or, 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?"
"Not at all." Buffy smiles.
"I'm Trinity." She says. "Welcome to the losers club, because you just committed social suicide by speaking to us."
Xander hops up onto the wall behind the girls and sits on it between them.
Jesse stands in front of them and drops his bag. "Hey!"
"You guys busy? Are we interrupting? We're interrupting." Xander says, tossing his bag to Jesse.
"Hey!" They girls greet.
"Hey there!" Jesse smiles, dropping Xander's bag next to his own.
"Buffy, this is Jesse and that's Xander." Willow introduces.
"Oh, me and Buffy go waaay back, old friends, very close. Then there's that period of estrangement where I think we were both growing as people, but now here we are, like old times, I'm quite moved." Xander rambles.
"Is it me, or are you turning into a bibbling idiot?" Jesses asks.
"No, it's, uh, it's not you." Xander answers sheepishly.
"Well, it's nice to meet you guys, I think." Buffy says. Xander reaches into his bag.
"Well, you know, we wanted to welcome ya, make ya feel at home, unless you have a scary home." Jesse says, making Trinity laugh.
"And to return this." Xander holds up the stake. "The only thing I can think is that you're building a really little fence." He hands it to her.
Buffy takes it. "Hah, no, um, a-a-actually it was for self-defense. Everyone has them in L.A. Pepper spray is just so passé."
"So what do you do for fun, what do you like, what do you look for in a man, let's hear it."
"If you have any dark, painful secrets you'd like us to publish?" Jesse continues.
Buffy gives a nervous laugh. "Gee, everyone wants to know about me. How keen."
"Well, not much goes on in a one Starbucks town like Sunnydale. You're pretty big news." Trinity says.
"I'm not. Really." She says.
Cordelia walks up. "Are these guys bothering you?"
"Uh, no!" Buffy says.
Willow shakes her head, an alarmed look on her face. "She's not hanging out with us."
Jesse moves closer to the girl. "Hey, Cordelia!" He smiles.
She looks at him and scoffs. "Oh, please!" She turns back to 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 canceled due to the extreme dead guy in the locker."
"What?" Buffy asks, shocked.
"What are you talking about?" Willow asks.
"Some guy was stuffed in Aura's locker!" She explains.
"Dead." Trinity clarifies.
"Totally dead. Way dead."
"It's not just a little dead, then?" Xander jokes.
Cordelia rolls her eyes at him. "Don't you have an elsewhere to be?"
"Y'know, if you need a shoulder to cry on, or just to nibble on…" Jesse flirts, inching closer to her.
"How did he die?" Buffy asks.
Cordelia shrugs. "I don't know."
"Well, were there any marks?"
"Morbid much! I didn't ask!"
Buffy looks at everyone. "Um, I gotta book. I'll, I'll see you guys later." She grabs her things and leaves.
Cordelia stares after her. "What's her deal?"
They miss the look of concern on Trinity's face.
Buffy sneaks up to an outside entrance of the gym. She tries to open and discovers that it's locked. She uses her strength to break the door and goes in; looking around to make sure no one sees her. Buffy finds the body and pulls back the sheet. She sees the vampire bite. "Oh, great." She groans.
Buffy barges into the library. "Okay, what's the sitch?"
Giles steps out of the stacks. "Sorry?"
"You heard about the dead guy, right? The dead guy in the locker?"
"Yes."
She drops her bag on the study table and heads up the stairs. "'Cause, it's the weirdest thing. He's got two little, little holes in his neck, and all his blood's been drained." She walks up to him. "Isn't that bizarre? Aren't you just going, 'ooh'?"
"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." She says.
"Then why are you here?" He asks.
She loses her steam. "To tell you that…I don't care, which…I don't, and…have now told you, so…bye." She turns to leave.
"Is he, w-will he…rise again?"
She turns back. "Who?"
"The boy."
She shakes her head. "No. He's just dead."
"Can you be sure?"
"To make you a vampire they have to suck your blood. And then 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?" Buffy turns and goes down the stairs.
Giles moves over to the railing. "You really have no idea what's going on, do you? You think it's coincidence, your being here? That boy was just the beginning."
"Oh, why can't you people just leave me alone?"
"Because you are the Slayer." He walks down the stairs. "Into each generation a Slayer is born, one girl in all the world, a Chosen One, one born with the strength and skill to hunt-"
Buffy interrupts him. "With the strength and skill to hunt the vampires, to stop the spread of their evil blah, blah, blah." She finishes. "I've heard it, okay?"
"I really don't understand this attitude. You, you've accepted your duty, you, you've slain vampires before…"
"Yeah, and I've both been there and done that, and I'm moving on."
"What do you know about this town?" He goes into his office.
"It's two hours on the freeway from Neiman Marcus?"
"Dig a bit in the history of this place. You'll find a, a steady stream of fairly odd occurrences. Now, I believe this whole area is a center of mystical energy…" He comes back, his arms filled with books. "That things gravitate towards it that, that, that you might not find elsewhere." He sets them on the table.
"Like vampires."
He puts the volumes into Buffy's arms one by one as he lists off various monsters and demons. "Like zombies, werewolves, incubi, succubi, everything you've ever dreaded was under your bed, but told yourself couldn't be by the light of day. They're all real!"
"What? You, like, sent away for the Time-Life series?"
"Ah, w-w-w-yes."
"Did you get the free phone?" She asks.
"Um, the calendar."
"Cool! But, okay." She gives him back the books. "First of all, I'm a Vampire Slayer. And secondly, I'm retired. Hey, I know! Why don't you kill 'em?"
"I-I'm a Watcher, I-I haven't the skill…"
"Oh, come on, stake through the heart, a little sunlight…it's like falling off a log."
"A, a Slayer slays, a Watcher-"
"Watches?"
"Yes. No!" He sets down the books. "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 getting to tell anyone because I might endanger them? Go ahead! Prepare me." Buffy sighs when he fails to respond. She turns and leaves the library in disgust.
Giles hesitates for an instant. "Damn!" He mutters to himself and rushes after her.
Xander and Trinity walk out from behind the stacks. "What?" He says, not seeing the look of fear and worry on Trinity's face.
Giles catches up with Buffy. "It's getting worse!"
"What's getting worse?"
He guides her over to the wall and speaks with her in a low voice. "The influx of the undead, the…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 tries to evade him, but he puts his arm out to stop her.
"Something's coming, something, something…something is, is gonna happen here. Soon!"
"Gee, can you vague that up for me?"
"The signs, as far as I can tell, point to a crucial mystical upheaval, very soon. Days. Possibly less."
"Oh, come on! This is Sunnydale! How bad an evil can there be here?"
Underground, vampires bearing torches are gathering.
A male vampire kneels on the ground. "The sleeper will wake." He says in a deep voice. "The sleeper will wake. The sleeper will wake. The sleeper will wake, and the world will bleed." He looks up. "Amen!"
At home, Trinity opens a journal and reads the passage.
Slayers do not understand us, they never will. We are not human and because of that, they will kill us on sight. They cannot be reasoned with. To try is foolishness that will end with your death.
Trinity looks up, a look of horror on her face. She sets the book down and runs a hand through her hair. She looks at her hand and watches as her nails turn into claws.
Buffy is in her room trying to figure out what to wear to the Bronze. She holds a shiny black outfit up to the mirror. "Hi! I'm an enormous slut!" She switches with a floral dress. "Hello! Would you like a copy of 'The Watchtower'?" She lowers the dress. "I used to be so good at this."
Her mother comes into the room. "Hi, hon."
Buffy returns her dresses to the closet. "Hey!"
"Are you, uh, going out tonight?" Joyce asks.
"Yeah, I'm going to a club."
"Oh. Will there be boys there?"
Buffy sends her a look. "No, Mom. It's a nun club."
"Well, just be careful."
"I will."
"You know, I think we can make it work here. I've got my positive energy flowing…I'm gonna get the Gallery on its feet…" She trails off. "Oh, uh, we may have found a space today."
"That's great."
"Oh, and that school is a, a very nurturing environment, which is just what you need."
"Well, actually…"
"Oh, not too nurturing. I know, you're sixteen, I've read all about the dangers of over-nurturing." She watches as Buffy goes to her bed and lays out a couple of outfits. "It's hard. New town and everything…it is for me, too. I'm trying to make it work." She takes her daughter's hands in hers. "I'm going to make it work."
"I know."
"Oh, you're a good girl, Buffy." She pats her on the head. "You just fell in with the wrong crowd. But that is all behind us now."
"It is. From now on I am only going to hang out with the living." She lets go of her mother's hands and picks up her dresses. "I mean, lively. People." Buffy heads back to her closet with an awkward look on her face.
"Hmm. Okay. You have fun."
Buffy is walking down a dark street, when someone appears behind her. She senses that she is being followed. After walking for a ways, when she gets a chance she ducks down an alley and looks around for a place to hide. A cat yowls and kicks some cans as it runs away. She spies something above her.
A man comes into the alley but doesn't see her. As he slowly walks along he doesn't see Buffy in a handstand on a bar high above the pavement. As he passes underneath her, she swings down and kicks him in the back. He is knocked to the ground, and Buffy positions herself above him with a foot on his chest.
He laughs. "Is there a problem, ma'am?"
"Yeah, there's a problem. Why are you following me?" She questions.
"I know what you're thinking. Don't worry, I don't bite." He says. She backs off and lets him get up, but keeps her fighting stance. "Truth is, I thought you'd be taller, or bigger muscles and all that. You're pretty spry, though." He massages his neck.
"What do you want?"
"The same thing you do."
She relaxes her stance, letting down her guard. "Okay. What do I want?"
He steps toward her. "To kill them. To kill them all."
"Sorry, that's incorrect. But you do get this lovely watch and a year's supply of Turtle Wax. What I want is to be left alone!" She starts to walks away.
"Do you really think that's an option anymore? You're standing at the Mouth of Hell. And it's about to open." He says. She turns to look at him with a wide-eyed gaze. He reaches into his jacket and pulls out a small box. "Don't turn your back on this." He tosses her the box. "You've gotta be ready."
"What for?"
"For the Harvest."
"Who are you?"
"Let's just say…I'm a friend." He starts to leave.
"Yeah, well, maybe I don't want a friend." She calls after him.
He turns back, still walking. "I didn't say I was yours." He leaves.
Buffy stares after him for a moment, then opens the box. It contains a silver cross and chain. She takes it out, holds it in her hand and takes another glance in his direction.
Outside the Bronze, people are arriving and meeting. Buffy is wearing the cross around her neck. She walks up to the entrance, gives the doorman some cash and goes in.
The dance floor is crowded as the band plays.
Oh, I just want to believe
Can you hear me?
Can you see me?
What's inside of me?
Oh, I just want to believe
If my life can have a purpose
Help me to believe
Oh, I just want to believe
Can you hear me?
Can you see me?
What's inside of me?
Oh, I just want to believe
If my life can have a purpose
Help me to believe
Buffy moves to the music a bit. She sees a guy waving in her direction and waves back, then notices someone behind her waving back and pulls her hand down, embarrassed.
Everybody wants to find the circle
The line of truth that has no end
Because so many nights I've slept with the feeling of empty
And I say, right now I'm ready to believe
She finds the bar and sees Willow and Trinity sitting there. "Hey!" She greets.
Willow perks up. "Oh, hi!" She smiles. Trinity nods in acknowledgement. Buffy takes a seat on the stool next to Willow. "Hi!"
"Oh, are you guys here with someone?" Buffy asks. "Am I interrupting something?"
Willow shakes her head. "No, we're just here. I thought Xander was gonna show up."
"Oh, are you guys going out?"
"No, we're just friends. We used to go out, but we broke up."
"How come?"
"He stole my Barbie." She sees the confused look on Buffy's face. "Oh, we were five."
Buffy nods. "Oh."
"I-I-I don't actually date a whole lot…lately."
"Why not?"
"Well, when I'm with a boy I like, it's hard for me to say anything cool, or, or witty, or at all. I-I can usually make a few vowel sounds, and then I have to go away."
"It's not that bad!"
"No, i-it is. I think boys are more interested in a girl who can talk."
"You really haven't been dating lately."
"It's probably easy for you."
"Yeah, real easy."
"I-I mean you don't seem too shy."
"Well, my philosophy, do you wanna hear my philosophy?"
"Yeah, I do!" Willow nods eagerly.
"Life is short." Buffy says.
Trinity holds back a laugh. Don't you know it. She thinks.
"Life is short!" Willow repeats.
Buffy shrugs. "Not original, I'll grant you, but it's true. You know? Why waste time being all shy and worrying about some guy, and if he's gonna laugh at you. Seize the moment, 'cause tomorrow you might be dead."
"Oh, that's nice!"
Buffy looks at Trinity. "Are you and Jesse dating?" She asks, making Willow laugh.
Trinity smiles. "No. I'm not interested in him…or anyone with a penis."
"Oh." Buffy says, her eyes widening.
"Oh." Trinity nods.
Buffy looks up and sees Giles on the upper level. "Um, I'll be back in a minute." She gets up.
"Oh, tha-that's okay, you don't have to come back." Willow says.
Buffy smiles. "I'll be back in a minute." She walks away.
"Seize the moment." Willow mutters to herself.
"Do you think I scared her off?" Trinity asks.
Willow looks at her. "No way! She seems really nice. I'm sure that she doesn't have a problem with you. And if she does, she'll have to go through me!" She nods.
Trinity smiles. "Thank you Willow." She gets up. "I'm going to head to the bathroom. I'll be back in a minute." Willow nods and Trinity walks away.
I feel love with my friends
I feel love in my songs
If I could just hold love
Then all the answers might come
I said, oh, if we're all children of God
And we just turned away
I got a lack of belief
I said a world without faith
It's time we turn back around
Buffy walks up to Giles. "So, you like to party with the students. Isn't that kinda skanky?"
He sends her an annoyed look. "Oh, right, this is me having fun. Watching…clown hair prance about is hardly my idea of a party. I'd much rather be at home with a cup of Bovril and a good book."
"You need a personality, stat!"
He points to the crowd below. "This is a perfect breeding ground for vampire activity. It's dark, it's crowded…besides, I knew you were likely to show up, and I have to make you understand-"
"That the Harvest is coming." She says. "I know, your friend told me."
He looks at her, confused. "What did you say?"
"The Harvest. That mean something to you? 'Cause I'm drawing a blank."
"I'm not sure. Uh…w-who told you this?"
"This…guy. Dark, gorgeous in an annoying sort of way. I figured you two were buds."
He shakes his head. "No. The Harvest. Did he say anything else?"
"Something about the Mouth of Hell. I really didn't like him!"
The crowd applauds as the band finishes their song and starts a new one.
Giles moves around Buffy, leans on the railing and looks down at the crowd. "Look at them, throwing themselves about; completely unaware of the danger that surrounds them."
"Lucky them."
"Or perhaps you're right. Perhaps there is no trouble coming; the signs could be wrong. It's not as though you've been having the nightmares."
Buffy doesn't respond.
"My mom doesn't even get out of bed anymore." Cordelia tells her friends. "And the doctor says it's Epstein-Barr. I'm like, pleeease! It's chronic hepatitis, or at least chronic fatigue syndrome. I mean, nobody cool has Epstein-Barr anymore."
Jesse spots Cordelia and comes over. "Hey, Cordelia!"
She rolls her eyes. "Oh, yay, it's my stalker."
"Hey, you, uh, you look great!"
"Well, I'm glad we had this little chat." She dismisses him.
He coughs. "Listen, uh, you know, you wanna dance, you know?"
"With you?"
"Well, uh, yeah."
"Well, uh, no! C'mon, guys." She and her friends walk away.
"Fine! Plenty of other fish in the sea. Oh, yeah, I'm…on the prowl. Witness me prowling!" He tries to save face.
"I didn't say I'd never slay another vampire." Buffy says. "It's not like I have all these fluffy-bunny feelings for them, I'm just not gonna get way extracurricular with it. You know, if I see one, sure I'll-"
"Will you be ready?" Giles interrupts. "There's so much you don't know about them, about your own powers. A vampire appears to be completely normal until the feed is upon them, only then do they reveal their true demonic visage."
"You're like a textbook with arms, I know this."
"The point is, a Slayer should be able to see them anyway. Without looking, without thinking. Can you tell me if there's a vampire in this building?"
"Maybe…"
"You should know. Even through this mass and this…din, you should be able to sense them. Well, try! Reach out with your mind." Buffy looks around. "You have to hone your senses, focus until the energy washes over you, until you, you feel every particle of-of-"
"There's one." She points.
He looks around. "W-where?"
"Right there, talking to that girl."
"You don't know-"
"Oh, please! Look at his jacket. He's got the sleeves rolled up, and the shirt! Deal with that outfit for a moment."
"It's dated?"
"It's carbon dated. Trust me, only someone living underground for ten years would think that was still the look."
"But you didn't…hone."
Buffy looks closer at the girl. "Oh, no."
Giles looks as well. "Isn't that-"
"Willow."
"What's she doing?"
"Seizing the moment!" She rushes down the stairs.
Trinity walks out of the bathroom and makes her way through the crowd.
We're formed in liquid
Pushed out still dripping
A world was thrown before my eyes
Willow is being led out of the Bronze by the vampire.
Giles is at a loss for what to do.
Now paint a picture
Crayon stick figures
With blue-haired people, purple skies
Trinity walks up to Buffy. "Have you seen Willow? I can't find her." She asks, but Buffy continues on. "Hey!"
Buffy has lost them. She tries the back. She breaks a leg off of a chair from a stack and begins to walk. After a while Cordelia comes out of the restroom and surprises her. Buffy reacts, grabbing Cordelia by the throat and pushing her up against a wall. "Cordelia!" Buffy says, surprised to see her classmate. She releases her.
"God! What is your childhood trauma?!" Cordelia says. Her entourage appears in the restroom door behind her.
"Have you guys seen Willow? Did she come by here?"
"Why? Do you need to attack her with the stick? Jeez!" Cordelia says. Buffy turns and leaves, not noticing Trinity following behind her. Cordelia turns to her friends. "Excuse me, I have to call everyone I have ever met, right now."
Giles catches up with Buffy. "That was quick. Well done! I-I need to go to the library. This Harvest thing-"
"I didn't find them!" She says.
He grabs Buffy by the arm and turns her to face him. "The vampire is not dead?"
"No, but my social life is on the critical list."
He lets go of her. "So, what do we do?"
"I'll take care of it!"
"Don't worry. One vampire I can handle." She leaves, walking past Jesse talking to a girl.
"So, um, what did you say your name was?" He asks.
The blonde smiles up at him, it the vampire from earlier. "Darla."
"Darla. You know, I haven't seen you around before. Are you from around here?"
"No, but I have family here."
"Have I met them?"
"You probably will."
The Master rises out of the pool of blood as Luke kneels and looks on. He steps out of the pool over to Luke and offers his hand.
Luke takes it. "Master!"
"I am weak." He says.
"In the Harvest, he will be restored." Luke quotes.
"The Harvest."
"We're almost there. Soon you'll be free!"
The Master reaches his arm out to test his mystical confines. "I must be ready. I need my strength."
"I've sent your servants to bring you some food."
"Good. Luke?"
"Yes?"
"Bring me something…young."
Willow and Thomas are walking on the sidewalk next to the cemetery. "Sure is dark." She says.
"It's night."
"Well, that's a dark time, night. Traditionally. I still can't believe I've never seen you at school. Do you have Mr. Chomsky for history?" Thomas ignores her babbling and heads into the cemetery. "Uh, the ice cream bar is this way. It's past Hamilton Street?"
"I know a shortcut." He grabs her hand and leads her into the cemetery.
Trinity follows Buffy outside the Bronze. "Buffy. Buffy!" She calls.
"I can't right now Trinity."
"Where's Willow?" She asks.
Xander sees them. "Hey, you're leaving already?"
"Oh, Xander!" Buffy says. "Have you seen Willow?"
"Not tonight, no."
"She left with a guy."
"We're talking about Willow, right? Scorin' at the Bronze, work it girl-"
"No, I need to find her. Where would he take her?"
"Why? Oh, hey, I hope he's not a vampire, because then you might have to slay him." He teases.
Buffy is taken aback. "Was there a-a school bulletin? Was it i-in the newspaper? Is there anyone in this town who doesn't know I'm the Slayer?"
"No. I only know that you think that you're the Slayer, and the reason why I know that-"
"Well, whatever, it doesn't matter; just tell me, where would Willow go?"
He looks at her. "You're serious!"
"We don't find her and there's gonna be one more dead body in the morning!"
Trinity walks further away. "Follow me!"
They look at her. "You know where she is?" Buffy asks.
"I can smell her." She continues.
"What do you mean you can smell her?" Xander asks.
"Her scent." Trinity says. "Now that we're out of the club, it's easier to follow."
Buffy grabs her arm. "What are you?"
"Nothing you need to worry about." Trinity glares at her. "Now let me go so I can find my best friend."
Willow and Thomas walk through the cemetery. "Oh, okay, th-this is nice…and scary." She says. "Are you sure this is faster?" They reach a mausoleum.
"Hey! Ever been in one of these?"
"No. Thank you." She turns away.
"Come on." He comes up behind her and pulls her hair back. "What are you afraid of?" He moves in toward her neck. She lets out a yelp as he grabs her and pushes her into the mausoleum.
Willow trips down the stairs and stops up against the stone coffin. She turns around. "That wasn't funny!" She glares at him. Thomas comes down the steps. She backs away from him, against a wall. She trips over some stones. "I think I'm gonna go."
"Is that what you think?" He comes toward her again. She skirts by him, but only because he lets her.
Darla blocks her way out of the mausoleum. "Is this the best you could do?" She asks.
"She's fresh!" Thomas says.
"Hardly enough to share."
"Why didn't you bring your own?"
She sends him a look. "I did."
Jesse stumbles into the mausoleum, holding his neck. "Hey! Wait up!"
"Oh, my God, Jesse!" Willow says.
He is weak from blood loss and collapses. Willow tries to catch him and breaks his fall. "Y'know, you gave me a hickey." He says. Thomas gives Darla a look.
She shrugs. "I got hungry on the way."
"Jesse, let's get outta here!" Willow says.
Darla shakes her head. "Oh, you're not going anywhere."
Willow stands up. "Leave us alone!"
"You're not going anywhere until we've" She vamps out. "fed!" Willow screams and falls back down next to Jesse. Buffy, Trinity, and Xander show up.
"Well, this is nice. I-it's a little bare, but a dash of paint, a few throw pillows…call it home!" Buffy moves behind the coffin to draw the vampires away from the others.
Darla looks at her. "Who the hell are you?"
"You mean there's actually someone in this town who doesn't know already? Whew, 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?" Xander asks.
"Not Yet!" Thomas says.
"Okay, first of all, what's with the outfit? Live in the now, okay? You look like DeBarge!" Buffy says. The vampires close in on her. She turns to Darla. "Now, we can do this the hard way, or…well, actually there's just the hard way."
"That's fine with me!" Darla says.
"Are you sure? Now, this is not gonna be pretty. We're talking violence, strong language, adult content…" Buffy says. Thomas growls. She pulls the chair leg out from inside her shirt. He attacks from behind, but Buffy neatly jams the makeshift stake into his chest. He falls back and turns to ashes. Darla can't believe her eyes. Trinity is the only one who doesn't look surprised. "See what happens when you roughhouse?"
"He was young and stupid!"
"Xander, Trinity, go!" Buffy orders. They gather Willow and Jesses and flee.
"Don't go far!" Darla calls.
Buffy and Darla start to fight. Darla punches high, but Buffy blocks. Darla throws a backhand punch, but Buffy blocks again and follows up with a front snap kick to Darla's stomach. As she leans forward from the pain, Buffy slams her elbow into Darla's back, making her hit the wall and falls to the floor, winded.
"You know, I just wanted to start over. Be like everybody else. Have some friends, y'know, maybe a dog…but, no, you had to come here, you couldn't go suck on some other town." Buffy says.
"Who are you?"
"Don't you know?"
Luke grabs her by the neck from behind. "I don't care!" He throws her across the room. He grabs Darla and lifts her to her feet. "You were supposed to be bringing an offering for the Master! We're almost at Harvest, and you dally with this child!"
"We had someone, but then she came. She killed Thomas. Luke, she's strong." She explains, fear in her voice.
"You go. I'll see if I can handle the little girl." He approaches Buffy as she starts to get up, still a little dazed. Darla quickly climbs the steps, looks back once and runs out of the door. Luke attacks Buffy with a double punch, but she blocks it and delivers a punch to his gut and a hopping front snap kick to his jaw. He steps back, but isn't fazed. "You're strong." He lands a solid backhand fist on her. She goes flying. "I'm stronger!"
Xander and Trinity are supporting Jesse as they run, Willow helping them.
"We'll get the police; it's just a few blocks up!" Willow says.
A group of vampires stand in front of them. Trinity lets go of Jesse and stand her front of her friend. Her eyes slit and claws grow. She hisses at the vampires.
"You're wasting my time." Luke says.
Buffy backs away up the stairs toward the exit. "Hey, I had other plans, too, okay?"
Luke shoves the heavy lid off of the coffin. Buffy does a cartwheel onto and over it to avoid it and kicks Luke in the chest with both feet, knocking him down. She grabs the stake from the floor and lunges at Luke, but he is too quick for her, and grabs her by the wrist. "You think you can stop me? Stop us?" He grabs the stake with his other hand and breaks it. Then he grabs her by the shirt. "You have no idea what you're dealing with." He throws Buffy onto the rim of the now open coffin. She rolls off onto the floor, dazed. Luke gets up and starts toward her, quoting scripture. "And like a plague of boils, the race of man covered the Earth."
Giles is paging through an old volume and stops on a picture of Satan with lightning coming from his hand to a man's.
"But on the third day of the newest light would come the Harvest. And the blood of men will flow as wine." Luke says.
The Master is sitting in an intricately carved chair.
"When the Master will walk among them once more."
Xander, Willow, Trinity, and Jesse are surrounded by vampires, including Darla. The vampires make a wide berth around Trinity as she hisses and swipes at them with her claws.
"The Earth will belong to the old ones." Luke continues. "And Hell itself will come to town." He grabs Buffy and growls. He lifts her by the throat and throws her toward the coffin. Buffy flips over in a front layout and lands in the coffin next to a skeleton, and lets out a quick scream, but then remains silent, only breathing. She can't see or hear Luke. She slowly starts to get up. Suddenly Luke jumps up and into the coffin. He smiles. "Amen!" He moves in to bite Buffy.