As Buffy's head made contact with the jukebox, she knew, at the last moment, what she was finally up against, with this woman.
Elizabeth was fast, strong, and unlike other Vamps Buffy had fought; liked to improvise with her attacks.
That and she was relentless. Elizabeth never waited for Buffy to get back onto her feet, instead came at a quick pace. Picking up Buffy and flinging her in another direction.
There was only one other tool at Buffy's disposal to help slow this crazed hussy down, and that was approaching soon.
Elizabeth, on the other hand, felt superior in this match.
"Now I know why the others are afraid of you, Slayer. Having Angelus at your side seems to be your greatest strength. It's a shame, though. Having a Vampire do all of your battles…"
Buffy stopped her in mid-sentence with a brutal kick to the face that sent Elizabeth sprawling.
"Enough talk, just fight." Buffy said.
Elizabeth scowled with fury and lunged after Buffy's torso, tackling her to the ground.
Raising her knees to her chest, Buffy threw Elizabeth off of her and into the ceiling fan.
Buffy then got back on her feet and made a hasty retreat out of the bar.
Looking out at the horizon and seeing she was still an hour away till daybreak, Buffy looked around, wiping away some blood that came to her eye.
Behind her, the door to the bar was ripped open and Elizabeth came out, her hair askew.
Buffy didn't need any more hesitation, she ran.
Chapter Eight: Revelations
Dawn, Giles, and Willow became increasingly worried. Seeing as how it was almost morning and Buffy had usually returned from earlier than this.
"Should we go look for her?" Dawn inquired.
Willow looked to Giles; "It's been awhile since she has ever gotten home this late."
Giles thought for a moment and then shook his head, "No, we shouldn't interfere with whatever's happening to Buffy, right now. She's still has a dependence on others to help her."
Dawn looked at Giles and Willow with complete incredulousness.
Willow sighed, "Dawn…It's not like we don't want to help, Buffy. It's just--"
Dawn didn't wait to hear the rest as she left the room.
Kennedy and Vi came in just as Dawn had left.
"What's up with 'miss pouty'?" Kennedy asked.
Willow sighed.
Vi looked around, "Where's Buffy?"
"Still out, apparently." Kennedy answered.
Dawn had returned and looked defiantly at Giles and Willow.
Giles sighed, "Vi, Kennedy, will either one of you maybe go out and see what's taking Buffy so long from getting back?"
Buffy was feeling fatigued as she was still running. Behind her, Elizabeth looked no different.
Looking to the right of her, Day's light still a good forty minutes from breaking, Buffy felt that she had only one option.
Buffy came to a complete stop; Elizabeth stopped short of eight feet away.
"Giving up, Slayer?" She crowed.
Buffy turned around and looked at her.
Elizabeth's expression changed and she stood a little firmer.
Buffy was surprised by Elizabeth's sudden change in demeanor.
"Oh, don't stop on our account. An old, demented, bitch like you has a lot to say, right?"
Buffy then noticed Kennedy and Vi come up to next to her.
Elizabeth smiled, "More Slayers, huh? It doesn't matter. I can take you all on without even breaking a sweat." She then took a step forward.
Kennedy threw a stake at her, which penetrated her in the middle of the chest.
Elizabeth looked down and scoffed. "Your aims off, Slayer."
The sides of the stake sprung open to reveal two rectangular, thin pieces. This made the end on the stake to look like a cross. The pieces had pointed ends with hooks. The middle of the stake sprung forward toward Elizabeth's chest and the hooks clung tightly to her chest. A hissing sound, followed by smoke came from Elizabeth and she found herself desperately trying to pry the device from her while wincing as touching the device caused her hands to burn, as well.
Kennedy smiled, "Ya like it? I call it a "Holy Stake". Invented it myself."
The sun was beginning its ascent and Elizabeth glowered at the three.
"This…this isn't over!" She then retreated into an alleyway.
As soon as she was gone, Vi turned to Buffy and took notice of her injuries.
"You've had a busy night, haven't you?"
Buffy laughed and nodded, "That's an understatement, but yeah."
"Well, let's get you home. Is today a school day?" Kennedy asked.
Xander arrived in Santa Cruz in the early afternoon. Upon arriving, he had to ask for directions to The Gleaming Gem Motel.
Once that was out of the way, it took him little bit under twenty minutes till he got there.
The Motel itself was a split-level, aquamarine colored, building with ceramic tiling for the roof. The paint was faded all over the building and tiling itself was cracked in various places. Xander also noticed that there were some areas that had water damage to the sides of the building.
The sign for the establishment was the words for the motel and a wooden waterfall with all sorts of sparklies within them.
When Xander came inside, the inside waiting room looked completely out of date. The furniture, wall clocks, and carpeting seemed to have originated from the seventies.
The man behind the desk was balding and had a thin ratty looking mustache.
"Can I help you sir?" He asked.
Xander took his eyes away from the hideous interior of the place and turned to him.
"Yeah, I got called about a wallet that was left in a room?"
The man smiled, "Ah! Mr. Harris. Haven't seen you in a good while. Wait here for a minute and I'll get you yer wallet."
Before the man could turn away, Xander called out, "Wait. You remember me?"
The man nodded, "I also remember the pretty little girlie that you came in with. Boy, was she a looker. She left her wig in the room along with your wallet. Want me to get that too?"
Xander nodded.
The man then left all the while Xander scratching his head as to who this person could have been.
It was then Xander noticed that there were cameras above the front desk.
When the man returned with Xander's wallet and an extremely purple, sparkly wig; Xander nodded toward the camera above the man.
"Does that still work?"
The man nodded.
"Any chance I could see the time when I came in here with that girl?"
The man gave Xander a suspicious look. "May I ask why?"
Xander grinned, "I'm trying to find out who that girl was. Wouldn't you?"
The man returned the grin and motioned Xander to follow him to the back.
The manager's office was even more out of date than the waiting area. It seemed that this man's hobby was collecting things from the forties and the fifties.
The manager took out a VHS tape that had the date from last month and slid it into the TV/VCR.
Pressing play, Xander watched as the dimly lit counter at the bottom left hand of the screen started to count away, and watched as he saw not only himself but a girl with the wig, walk inside the motel with him.
Both of them were giggling like crazy and their speeches were slurred.
"Hey, should we get a room?" Xander heard him ask the girl next to him.
"What do you think?" She asked, grinning, as she then started nibbling on Xander's left earlobe.
Xander's brow furrowed as he tried to dig deep into his memory and search to find out as to who this girl was.
"Names?" The manager on the screen asked.
Xander watched himself dig into his back pocket and throw the wallet on the counter as he then turned and started making out with the girl.
The manager, standing next to Xander in the claustrophobically small room, sighed, "I've never seen anyone as drunk as you two and I've been here for thirty years."
As shoddy as the motel was, Xander was surprised by that statement.
Still watching, there was still no clue as to who this girl was.
"I'm going to need an ID from you too, honey." The manager said to the two of them.
This was it; this could be the clue Xander needed to solve who he was with.
She dug into her pocket and brought out an ID and handed it to the man.
"Alright, Miss Anya Jenkins, you and Mr. Harris are all set, enjoy your stay."
Xander stared at the screen and immediately rewound the tape and played it again, but no mistake he heard the same over and over.
Xander then shut off the set and looked at the floor, bewildered.
As the manager retrieved the tape and put it back into it's sleeve, he looked at Xander with concern.
"Is everything alright, Mr. Harris?"
Xander didn't speak for a moment. He then mumbled thanks and left the room.
Walking outside, Xander looked up at the sky wondering who was doing this. More importantly, why this was being done to him.
It seemed that only two weeks ago was the time he was able to finally put Anya's memory at rest and try to get on with his life.
Now there was this.
Xander knew for a fact that the woman on the video couldn't be the woman that he had loved, the woman who had died to protect someone weaker than her.
Andrew told Xander that Anya had been cut in half from a blade of one of the Bringers.
Xander sighed; he knew what he needed to do, now.
Andrew stirred in his sleep. Images of Warren and Jonathan seemed to plague him. This dream seemed to be coming more and more frequently as Andrew tried to feign sleep and then gradually succumbed to it.
It was always the same. The weirdest thing was that it took place here, near the Hellmouth, underneath the Rose Garden.
Andrew's dream consisted of the three of them looking down at the Hellmouth. All three nodding to eachother and then a blue demon with orange horns comes and points down to the Seal. Then, the three descend down into its opening mouth…
The vibration of his mobile awaked Andrew.
"Y-Yeah?" He answered dazily.
"Andrew? You weren't sleeping, were you?"
Xander.
Andrew got to his feet and cleared his throat, "Of course not."
"Good, 'cause you know what Willow and the others will do if you did."
Andrew closed his eyes and rubbed them as he stifled a yawn.
"So, what's up?" Andrew asked.
Xander sighed on the other end, "…Andrew, I need you to tell me exactly, word-for-word, what happened when Anya passed."
Andrew's eyes went wide, "Excuse me?"
There was a pause on the other end and then another repressed sigh.
"Please, Andrew." Xander replied.
Andrew then told Xander again on how while everyone else was doing what they were doing; how he and Anya were engaged in battle with a slew of Bringers and how he watched as she got cut in half by one of their blades.
"I've told you this many times before, Xander." Andrew said, sitting back down on the folding chair.
Xander then began to tell Andrew of the anonymous phone call that he had gotten from the Gleaming Gem Motel and what he had discovered once he had gotten there.
When he had finished, Andrew whistled.
"Wow, that's almost like Gandolf returning in the Two Towers."
"Yeah, well, guess what Fan Boy; things in reality don't happen like in the books or movies. When people die, they stay dead; they don't get back up again."
Andrew smirked, "Really? Well what about you guys resurrecting Buffy?"
Andrew heard a groan on the other end and he knew that he had got Xander on that one.
"…Well, there are some exceptions, of course. But, Buffy was an exception. She didn't die of natural cause, Anya did."
Andrew thought long and hard. "Are you sure it was Anya?"
Another pause.
"…No, actually. This girl was shorter than Anya, so it couldn't have been her. Although, the way she acted seemed like her. But, still, it's impossible."
"Unless someone broke the rules and have had her brought back into a different form." Andrew said.
He could tell this really got through to Xander as it now had taken him longer to respond.
"…Maybe."
All the while at her job, Buffy still couldn't shake off that there was a Slayer-hungry Vamp that had the upper hand.
Elizabeth was a force to be reckoned with and it was troubling Buffy that she couldn't seem to find any loophole in the battles that she's been having with her.
Principal Kendrick knocked on the wall of her cubicle causing Buffy to jump a little.
"Miss Summers?"
Buffy tried her best to get back from being startled.
"Yes?"
"I have Madeline Geiss waiting to see you, are you ready for her?"
Buffy nodded and the Principal left and were soon replaced by a very pale Madeline.
The last time Buffy had seen Madeline she was wailing so much she really couldn't get anything out of her, now she just seemed to terrified to say anything.
"Won't you have a seat, Madeline?" Buffy asked, pointing to the chair.
Madeline sat down and, while shaking, put down her book bag.
At first, no one spoke. Buffy tried to have the students speak before she did.
But after a minute, Buffy decided to break the silence.
"Anything you want to talk about, Madeline?"
Madeline looked up at Buffy, her eyes red and swollen, most likely from crying.
"…Y-You won't tell my parents, will you?" She stumbled out.
Buffy looked at her with surprise.
"Won't tell your parents, what?"
Madeline looked back to the floor, "Miss Summers…I'm…I'm…"
"Yes?" Buffy asked, a little anxious now.
Madeline closed her eyes, "I think I'm pregnant."
Buffy felt as if the whole world had now came crashing down on her, and she bent her head down.
"Yeesh…"
Madeline was now looking at her. "What should I do?"
Buffy's sense of duty came back to her and she sighed, "Are you sure, Madeline?"
Madeline nodded, "I missed my period about a week ago."
Buffy sat up straight and then leaned forward. "What I mean is, have you take a test, or have gone and seen a doctor?"
Madeline shook her head.
Buffy smiled, "Well, first things first, make sure that you are before making a mess of yourself. Second, if you are, I'll need to schedule a meeting with you and your parents. I'm sorry, Madeline, but this isn't something I could keep from them."
Madeline sighed, "Are you sure? Maybe you could, I don't know, mail them a letter?"
Buffy, again, smiled. "It'll be fine, believe me. You won't be the first for this to happen to."
Madeline shrugged, "I guess so. What should I tell Josh, though?"
"Is he the boy you slept with?" Buffy asked.
Madeline nodded.
Buffy thought for a moment. "Well, I wouldn't tell him that it's certain, but I think you need to tell him that you're worried. If he's smart, he'll be willing to see this out with you, but don't get him worked up."
Madeline nodded.
"Anything else you'd like to talk about?" Buffy asked.
Madeline shook her head.
Buffy then excused her and wrote her a note for her next class. After Madeline left, Buffy took a moment and looked down at her own belly and had finally decided she should make an appointment for herself.
Using a pair of pliers, Gunter, one of a few of Vamps that was with Elizabeth; took out the "Holy Stake" that was still lodged in her.
Elizabeth groaned as the stake was pulled out of her and she got up an took a mug filled with blood and drank noisily.
Deidrich watched her with irritantce. "You knew our rules, Elizabeth. Never try to take on more than one Slayer without backup. You got sloppy."
Elizabeth sneered at him, "Where were you then!"
Deidrich pointed a finger at her, "Don't."
She flashed a set of teeth at him, "Or what?"
No one said or moved. All the other Vampires looked between the two nervously.
Finally, Deidrich sighed and put down his finger and walked to the boarded up window, looking out.
"She's almost never alone, you know this now. It would be easier to go after other Slayers and go after Miss Summers later on. Why continue this, Elizabeth?"
Elizabeth wiped away the access blood from the corner of her mouth, smiling.
"Ferenc would never let me hear the end of it. I won't have it."
Deidrich turned back to her, his left eyebrow arched.
"Elizabeth, Ferenc's dead. You know that."
Elizabeth cautioned herself and decided to go more carefully.
"Yes, of course. However, he's here in spirit, and I will not dishonor that spirit by letting one Slayer get the best of me; no matter how many other Slayers or Vampires she may have with her."
Deidrich sighed. He really didn't like on where this was going, or where Elizabeth was going with this, for that matter.
"Again, Countess, what's our next step?"
Elizabeth yawned and went to the back of the room, "Let me sleep on it, for now."
Portland, Oregon
Sitting in an abandoned warehouse, Clem along with other demons sat on boxes as they waited patiently for Talos to come back to them.
Everyone was garbed in maroon colored robes, Clem included, and all had on their foreheads a symbol that resembled a circle with an upside down triangle accompanied by several small circles at the points.
Clem, at first, was nervous of joining any sort of group, or cult for that matter. Yet, Dior had explained to him that this was all for the sake of making sure that the damn Hellmouth remained closed.
Talos, being the charismatic leader, concurred with what Dior had told Clem.
Talos, in Clem's opinion, was very wise for a seven hundred year old Foorsh demon, being so very young.
Once he arrived, everyone stood.
"Be seated." He said. Everyone obeyed.
"The time is near, my friends. Word has it that the Hellmouth is stirring and Bringers are drawing near to this one."
A Dorgon demon raised his hand, "How are we to fight these things? They nearly killed me and my brother in an alleyway in Helena."
Talos nodded, "They do have a unique strength and are unafraid to die. That's why…" Talos brought out a tattered black book with a gold seal on the front, "…O'Neirk has prepared for them."
This time, Clem raised his hand; his folds of skin waiving about in the air that blew in through one of the cracked windows.
"But Buffy, even with her junior Slayers, had their troubles with these guys. How's a book going to help us?"
Talos narrowed his eyes at Clem.
"I have forgotten you name, Mr…?"
Clem looked sheepishly as everyone turned and looked at him.
"Uh, Clem, sir. I'm Dior's friend."
Talos nodded, "Ah, yes, Clem. I remember now. You're the one who befriended the Slayer, Buffy. Brother Clem, when you have a moment I'd like to speak with you, personally."
Clem nodded and still shrunk down in his seat as others were whispering and looking at him with narrowed looks.
As soon as the meeting was over, Talos hailed Clem over.
"Brother Clem, come forward."
Clem gulped and did what he was asked.
As soon as he was over Talos led Clem to an office of the warehouse, which was scattered with rolled up parchments and similar tattered books.
Talos sat down in a swiveling chair and motioned to the one across for him for Clem to sit down in.
Clem sat down, still watching Talos, nervously.
"What do you know about the Slayer, Buffy Summers?" Talos asked.
Clem slowly told Talos everything that had transpired between him and Buffy. Beginning with how met her through Spike and the last time being when she had brought the Slayers-in-training to the demon bar.
Talos nodded through out all of it and only asked one question.
"She's strong, isn't she?"
Clem nodded.
Talos brought back out the book he had shown the ground and opened it.
"What makes this Slayer particularly strong is the company that she keeps. Rupert Giles, her watcher; Willow Rosenburg, one of the most powerful witches in the world; Xander Harris, an oafish but useful friend; the list goes on."
Clem was uncertain as to where this was going.
Talos continued, "Apart from being the Slayer, and an exceptionally strong one at that, Buffy Summers has survived more because of her friends, and that's what we hope to accomplish."
Clem looked at Talos, curiously. "What do you mean?"
Talos smiled, which was a first. "Brother Clem, this book that I hold, is the Book of O'Neirk. It was lost during the Crusades when it was last used. Only recently have I been able to find it. With this book we'll be able to bring forth strong individuals who'll be able to help us fight the Bringers and well as the First."
Clem's eyes went wide, "What kind of individuals?"
Talos closed his eyes and rocked back and forth in his chair.
"Again, Brother Clem, the Slayer's friends are usually the key to her many victories. Some have lived others have died. Wouldn't it be wonderful if some were to help us?"
To be continued…
A/N: Hopefully the concept of the "Holy Stake" got through, if not I apologize. Also, the ending of this was made clear as to what the Order of O'Neirk plans on doing.
A/N II: Big shout out to all who have reviewed and hope for those who haven't to come out forward. This is what keeps me going guys.
Q-n-P
