Chapter 14: The Battle of Orlando
Principal Wood cranked on the bus and from there we went to International Drive and then to Epcot, Disney, The Magic Kingdom, Universal Studios, Sea World and a multitude of other attractions. During trips to these attractions on the bus, Giovanni the Magician with the aide of Dr. Jacobi did his magic and entertained us with his magic tricks like pulling black rabbits out of his hat and filling the bus up with all those black bunnies that would've been Anya's nightmare come true if she had lived to celebrate with us, according to what I was told of as far as her fear of bunnies were concerned. He was pretty much the life of the party on that bus with all his magic tricks, that drew cheers, laughs and applause. Each and every single one of us had the time of our lives and it was the happiest event for all of all ever.
Before we knew it, the day was over and night had arrived. We went to supper at Barnhill's Buffet in Apopka next to the Masonic lodge. We all ate heartily and after everyone had their generous fill of old-fashioned Southern food and discussed the wonderful events of the day, We all climbed back into the bus. Buffy took notice of someone, sitting on the steps by the Masonic lodge. Which was something Buffy noticed when Principal Wood stopped at the gas station right by to get fuel.
It was someone quite familiar, a girl with that familiar blue strand on her jet black hair, her familiar sunglasses and her punkish paramilitary fashion statement. "Could it be?", Buffy uttered as everyone turned to take notice of her. "Emilie", I said. She was sitting there on the steps smoking a cigarette. We blew the horn and waved at her and at first she didn't seem to notice us. After Principal Wood paid for the fuel. We pulled right into a vacant parking lot of the lodge which looked more like a lawn than a parking area. We all got off the bus to greet Emilie who had just finished her cigarette and tossed it aside and blew the remaining puff of smoke. She cracked a smirk and said, "At last we meet again. You guys are the stuff that legends are made of". Buffy asked, "What do you mean?".
"Hey, the news about the hellmouth and Sunnydale reached fast around the world, Buf!", Emilie said. "Who is this, B?", Faith asked. "She's a vampire slayer vampire with a soul", Buffy replied. "Say what?", Principal Wood asked. "Never mind", Buffy said. "So what's been of your life for the past seven years-er shall I say your undead life?", Buffy asked. "Going back and forth all over the world and up and down on it", Emilie replied. "But it's been quite adventuresome, I met a lot of people even though I walk a path of solitude, by the way I was in L.A. just recently when you vanquished the First Evil. Angel says Hi and Cordelia last I heard was in a coma, long story". "So what made you - -?", I was asking before Buffy cut me off.
"You mean to tell me you saw Angel again just recently?", Buffy inquired. "Ummhmm, yeah he was just returning from Sunnydale after his most recent meeting with you. He told me how you vanquished Caleb the preacher man who was a disciple of the First Evil", Emilie said. "What else did he tell you?", Buffy asked. "Oh he was so sore about you accusing him of going all "Dawson" on you while you denied any romantic involvement with Spike and something about cookie dough", Emilie said. "Personally as to whether or not you had anything to do with Spike or not, I really don't care, it's really none of my business and I'm just relaying to you what Angel had told me", Emilie said.
"Well, I'll neither deny nor confirm what happened that's all water under the bridge now!", Buffy said. Buffy briefly finished introducing Emilie to the rest of the group since Buffy and the rest of the original gang including Giovanni and I knew her. "Want to climb aboard and join us?", Buffy asked Emilie invitingly. "I thought you'd never ask", Emilie said and climbed back into the bus and boarded with the rest of us. We went around the lodge and turned back on Highway 441, Xander wanted to take a closer look at the stadium behind Goff's ice cream stand that we saw earlier. Willow and Kennedy also wanted to see the stadium even if no games were scheduled to be performed that night. Upon reaching the stadium grounds, Principal Wood parked the bus.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, here we are at the grounds of the Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium which hosted the 1994 FIFA World Cup Soccer Games", Principal Wood announced. We all got out of the bus and turned to look upwards. "What I'd give right now to see a ballgame inside", Xander said. "Last time, I saw a ballgame was at Pitt Stadium in Pittsburgh many long years ago", Emilie said. "I remember when I was in my girl's little league softball game", Willow reminisced. "I remember when I used to play cricket back in England when I was in my youth", Giles said. "I was a pitcher when I played baseball as a kid", Faith said. "I was a pitcher when I was in the girl scouts", Kennedy said. "I remember when games of this sort were not yet invented", Giovanni the Magician said. "I remember when Turkish oil wrestling was first invented", Dr. Jacobi said. " Gladiators were the craze back in my youth", Giovanni added. Everybody looked on and eventually took a late night stroll on the grounds outside the stadium reminiscing. "You all remember the future and yearn for the past", said a female voice that cut the night air like a knife.
Everyone turned to see whence the voice had come. A silhouette, very feminine and striding towards us in an albeit semi-playful manner. As the silhouette drew closer everyone armed with a stake reached for one in their jackets, while those poorly equipped were given stakes by Giovanni as he pulled wooden stakes out of his hat for those caught unprepared as Dr. Jacobi passed them on to anyone who needed one. Andrew and I were given stakes , as the female form approached all the more closer with each step that she took. "Isn't it a nice night for a walk in the park", The woman said. Emilie and some of the gang eventually recognized who it was, Drusilla. "Why are you here?", Emilie asked. "Funny for I was ready to ask the same question, you know the answer for it is not the answer but the question that draws us". Drusilla said. "My poor, poor Spike calls me from the beyond, the wind carries his mournful tones to me", Drusilla said. "But you dear have been naughty, naughty girl", Drusilla said pointing her finger accusingly at Buffy. Buffy looked at Drusilla with bewilderment and caution.
"I assume you know her, and I hope she's one of your friends", I said. "Yes to the first and no to the latter". Buffy said which made me feel all the more uneasy. "Nosy, nosy security man", hissed Drusilla at me. "Is she a baker act?", I asked with a tone of condescension. "Baker, baker, act. Act why would a baker have to act?", Drusilla asked quirkily. "Let me handle this", Buffy said. "Slayers stand by me, the rest of youback to the bus", Buffy said. So Faith, Kennedy, Rhona who's a black slayer, Emilie and the other slayers who survived the battle of Sunnydale joined forces with Buffy while the rest of us proceeded to make our way to the bus.
All of a sudden other vampires came out of the shadows and began to surround us. "Now I'm beginning to think that this stop to the stadium was a bad idea", Andrew said. Kennedy turned to see while Buffy was fighting Drusilla to see what was happening to us. "Willow!", Kennedy shouted as she witnessed the other vampires approaching us. "Go with our sister slayers and help them", Buffy told Faith between the exchange of blows between Buffy and Drusilla. Faith, Kennedy and the other slayers ran to our aide and began defending us from the vampires who attempted to close in on us for some late night snacks. With a wave of his wand, Giovanni the Magician smote the vampires with blindness that facilitated the dusting of all those vampires by the slayers as they all got staked.
Drusilla and Buffy kept fighting their cat fight. Each one determined to beat the other. Slayer and Vampire exchanging blows that gave the impression of a karate dance from a martial arts movie, it actually reminded me of a fight scene in a movie called, "The Matrix". Drusilla managed to knock Buffy off her feet in an unguarded moment. Buffy stunned by Drusilla's sudden move gave Drusilla the chance to take Buffy left on the ground nearby, when Buffy was knocked off her feet. Drusilla began to close in for the kill.