Disclaimer: Any character that you've seen on the show is owned by Joss, not me.
Colleen: Buffy's successor both as the Slayer and as the guardian of the Hellmouth.
Jordan: Psychic chosen by The Powers That Be to guide the Slayer with The Visions.
Holly: The daughter of a human and a Sellar Demon.
Mike: Something previously unseen on this Earth: A Living Vampire.
Dawn: The ancient energy known only as The Key given a human form.
Aaron: Although not the most powerful warlock in the world, this teenager has developed an impressive amount of power.
*****
Monica Peterson was taking back the night. More specifically, she had decided that she would walk home from the library instead of bothering her parents by asking for a ride. Sure, everyone in Sunnydale knew that it wasn't safe to walk by yourself after dark, but Monica wasn't the type of person to live her life in fear.
When Monica heard a twig snap behind her, she felt her courage waiver a little. Casually, she looked over her shoulder to see who was there. However, when she looked behind her, no one was there. Not feeling at all relieved by this, Monica decided that she would quicken her pace slightly. Her pace quickened even more with every voice that she heard that she couldn't quite figure out where it was coming from. When she heard a voice right behind her, she completely stopped and looked behind her. No one was there.
Frantically, Monica turned her head in every direction looking for the source of the unknown voice. "I'm warning you right now," Monica yelled out to her unseen stalker, "I have mace and I'm not afraid to use it." Monica waited around for a moment and no one appeared. Tentatively, she began to walk again. "Or at least some very strong breath spray," Monica mumbled to herself.
Suddenly, as Monica passed by an alley, a pair of hands reached out and pulled her into the shadows. She thrashed for a few moments, but it wasn't long before she was being drained by four vamps.
In the center of the same alley, a familiar energy pattern was beginning. The air became slightly translucent a few moments before Cassio apparently stepped out of no where. On his face was a look of newfound enlightenment.
"Well isn't that interesting," Cassio said to himself, not even bothering to drink from the last of Monica's blood.
*****
Holly was working as fast as she possibly could. She was only on page three of her ten page response to Oedipus Rex. She looked down to the lower right hand corner of her computer monitor and saw that she was supposed to be at Mike's in half an hour. There was no way she was going to get this paper done before she left.
Holly sighed and got out of her chair. She walked over to her bed and collapsed onto it. She put her head in between her pillows and tried to figure some way to save the world and not get a C in English. Her best option at this point was to try to hammer out another page or so before she left for patrol and then possibly pull an all-nighter to get the paper done. Of course, if she did that, she was going to have to take a nap after school tomorrow so that she could still patrol the following night and that meant that it was going to be a Mikeless afternoon.
Holly sighed. Being a super hero looked so much more glamorous on television.
"Holly?" Tracy Nils asked as she poked her head into Holly's room.
"Hey mom," Holly said, staring up at her ceiling.
"What's wrong?" Holly's mom asked as she sat on the edge of Holly's bed. She was dressed in her police uniform.
"About seven pages of Oedipus Rex," Holly told her mom.
"I'm sure it wasn't just assigned today," Holly's mom gave the typical mother response. Holly rolled her eyes at her mother. "Are you going over to Mike's house tonight?"
"If I can ever get this paper done," Holly lied to her mother. She was going to Mike's regardless.
"You've been spending a lot of time there," Holly's mom said to Holly. "You know you could always bring Mike over here."
Holly sat up at that comment. Usually Holly's mom's attitude towards her and Mike's relationship was don't ask and don't tell.
"Do you ever talk to Mr. Dalton?" Holly's mother tried to be casual as she talked to Holly.
"Yeah," Holly told her.
"Is he nice to you?" The mother asked her daughter.
"Of course," Holly said, having an idea where this conversation was going.
"I heard that he got engaged," Holly's mom tried to say nonchalantly.
"She's no where near as hot as you," Holly said to her mom with a grin.
"Holly!" Ms. Nils said to her daughter while still grinning. "Since when do you talk like that?"
Holly thought about that question more than her mother had intended her to. When had she come out of her shell? "Since I grew up," Holly said to her mom, her expression only half serious.
Tracy smiled to herself as she ran her fingers through her daughter's hair. "I knew it was bound to happen." Tracy stood up and put on her cap. "I like your haircut." Last week Colleen and Dawn had talked Holly into a new hair style. She was completely apprehensive about it at first but after she saw the end result she had to admit that she loved it.
"Thanks mom," Holly said as she went back to her computer. "Stay safe."
"Always will," Holly's mother told her as she got ready to leave her daughter's room. There last exchange was the same that they had always had since Holly was very little. "I love you," Holly's mother said as she was leaving.
"Love you too," Holly said as she began to concentrate on her paper. "You need to get going though; you're going to be late."
"Goodnight," Tracy Nils said as she shut her daughter's door.
*****
"So if this Giles guy is like the expert on the paranormal then why are we doing this here instead of at your place?" Jordan asked Dawn as he layed on Mike's floor. It was taking them a lot longer than they thought it was going to take to get the information they needed out of Eben's book.
"Because he's very, very British," Aaron said as he continued to attempt to translate the strange symbols in the book.
"And that inhibits us how?" Mike asked. Mike didn't like to admit it, but he got very bored during these information gathering sessions.
"Aaron's afraid of him," Dawn explained.
"He still hasn't had his talk with you, has he?" Jordan asked Aaron.
Aaron shook his head. "I've been avoiding him for two weeks and I'm content with it up."
"And how does Dawn feel about this?" Mike asked Dawn although he phrased the question as though he was talking to Aaron.
"Dawn is not a big fan of this plan," Dawn said in the third person. "In fact, if Aaron doesn't abandon this plan soon then he's going to find that he's getting a lot less attention from Dawn."
Aaron rolled his eyes and a moment later he rolled on top of Dawn. "Don't act like you could resist me." Aaron said with a smile as he kissed Dawn lightly on the lips.
Dawn giggled a little as Aaron pulled away. She brought her lips up to meet his again but soon she was laughing loudly as Aaron was tickling her sides.
"Aaron!" Dawn squealed while she was still laughing. "Stop it! I'm serious, cut that out!"
"Yes," Jordan agreed. "Please cut that out."
Just then there was a knock on the door. Mike called out for whoever it was to come in and Holly entered the room.
"Hey Holly," Mike said as he got off of his bed and gave Holly a kiss hello.
"Come on Jordan," Aaron said. "Aren't you going to make a snide comment to them?"
Holly looked over at Aaron in confusion.
"Never mind," Dawn explained to Holly with a smile. Aaron tried to tickle her again but this time Dawn teleported to the other side of the room to avoid.
"That is so cheating," Aaron said to Dawn.
"It's so not," Dawn said.
"Jordan?" Aaron asked his friend. "Isn't that cheating?"
"Why me God?" Jordan looked up to the sky in mock prayer. "Why does it always come down to me?"
"We should probably get going," Holly said to Mike. "I got tied up with school work. We were supposed to meet up with Colleen a while ago."
"Okay," Mike said as he grabbed his coat. He turned towards the others. "You guys can stay here if you want. Just go out the back door when you're done and in case my dad asks just say I had to run with Holly to the store or something."
"Works for me," Aaron said. "Not like I have anywhere else to go."
"Ahem," Jordan said with a fake cough.
"I mean outside of my halfway home," Aaron clarified. His parents had cut their latest business trip short after Aaron had gotten a hold of them and told them about the fire. He wasn't as lucky as Dawn to have a brand new home conveniently waiting for her when her apartment burned down. With Aaron's parents only able to stay in town for a few days before they needed to get back to Europe there was only enough time to meet with a contractor to have plans for their new house drawn up.
Aaron's parents had always planned on eventually getting a house in Sunnydale; they just had been putting it off. For fifteen years. But since they no longer had a place to live they were more motivated than ever to get one. However, with all the time it took to get everything settled on the house Aaron was left without temporary quarters. Luckily, Jordan's parents offered to take him in.
"Okay," Mike said as he and Holly were leaving. "Don't touch my stuff."
*****
For the last seventeen years, Tracy Nils made it a point to patrol the dark streets and sidewalks of Sunnydale while she was on duty. Not only did she take the usual equipment with her, but she also took some things that only would come standard on the uniform of a Sunnydale Police Officer. Very few other cities equipped their cops with stakes.
Technically, no one officially said anything about the way that Sunnydale was different from other cities. In fact, ever since Mayor Wilkins left office, it seemed that the whole police station underwent a change. Very few cops stuck with the department. None of the new rookies knew the truth that most of the old cops had none, and Tracy was not the person who would tell them.
Regardless of any new procedures, Tracy still patrolled the dark alleys even though she knew that demons were real. She knew more than most of the other police officers who were in the know. She had experiences that they could never relate too. Tracy was determined to never let another innocent women experience what she had gone through.
Sometimes, when she thinks about it, she wants to go back in time and slap herself. She doesn't understand how she could have been so unbelievably stupid. In one night, every moral that she had, everything that made her who she was, was temporarily dropped for the convenience of the moment. She thought she loved him. She thought she had instantly become a believer of love at first sight.
As she approached the Bronze on her patrol, she remembered how she truly believed that it was destiny. She never went out to clubs like the Bronze with her friends, but they had managed to drag her out there on her birthday. She had stuck to the shadows, running through ideas in her head of how she could sneak out and go home. That all stopped when she saw him. All she could think about was how blue his eyes were. When he touched her hand, it was almost like they were sharing the same soul. When he spoke to her, it was almost like he was speaking the words that were sown by her dreams. Before she met him, she never even imagined what love was.
But then she learned what he really was. Then he stripped her innocence away. Not just her physical innocence, but he took away her fantasy and showed her the truth. He let her know that all the little doubts she had about the world that she locked in the back of her mind were true. And just when she thought that she was going to die, he proved how evil he really was. He let her live.
Tracy knew that even though he hadn't killed her that she was still going to die. Although he left her body alive, he had killed her spirits. No one was able to lift her out of her depression. Just when she thought that she had hit rock bottom, she found out that she was pregnant. Her family basically abandoned her. Her friends pretended to be supportive even though she knew that they were talking behind her back. And in her mind, Tracy worried that she was bringing an evil, soulless creature into this world.
When she went into labor, Tracy was perfectly willing to kill whatever demon was going to come out of her. However, when the doctors handed her the tiny baby girl, and Tracy looked into her pale blue eyes, she knew that this wasn't a soulless creature. Although she had no proof, there was no doubt in her mind. Her child was human, and she loved her more than anything else in the world. Her child was her only reason for living.
"Somebody!" Tracy was snapped from her thoughts when she heard a desperate cry coming from the alley behind the Bronze. "Anybody! Please help me!"
Tracy ran towards the back of the alley and saw a vamp that was about to feed on a teenage girl. Getting in between the girl and the vampire, Tracy delivered a few strategically placed blows to the vampire before she kneed him in the groin and pushed him to the floor. Tracy reached for her stake but before she could finish the vampire off she felt a blow to the back of her head, and then her whole world went black.
"Thanks," the girl, in her vampire face, said to Tracy.
*****
"You're going to die Slayer," a vampire told Colleen as he knocked her to the ground. The stake in Colleen's hand fell out of her reach and the vampire was quickly getting closer and closer to her neck. Looking though the corner of her eye she spotted a rock right beside her. She picked up the rock from the ground of the cemetery and smashed it against the side of the vampire's ahead.
"I know I am," Colleen said as she calmly reclaimed her stake and turned the vampire to dust. "Just not for a very, very long time."
"I didn't think that you did this alone?" Colleen didn't even have to turn around to know it was Eben.
"All of our back up is currently tied up with translating that book of yours," Colleen explained to Eben as she dusted herself off.
"How is it coming?" Eben asked.
"Slow," Colleen admitted. "But I'm sure Aaron will get it."
Eben nodded but didn't say anything. There was a silence that Colleen had no plans to break. Eben eventually sighed. "Well I was wondering, since we are both patrolling," Eben trailed off without finishing his idea.
"I didn't think you did this with other people," Colleen said as she turned from Eben and started to walk away. Eben stood still. "Are you coming?" Colleen asked Eben without turning around. As Colleen heard Eben's footsteps behind her she wondered if Eben was still waiting to claim his part of the exchange.
*****
Mike and Holly had a system down. Every time they staked a vampire they got to take a five minute break. It was supposed to only be a five minute break, but whenever Holly's lips came into contact with Mike's it was like time just seemed to move way too fast. Without breaking contact with her boyfriend, Holly looked down at her watch. Seeing what time it was, Holly let out an unhappy moan.
"Hmm," Mike said in between kisses, "That's not exactly good for my ego."
"We've been here for fifteen minutes," Holly told him before they kissed again.
"No way," Mike said. Holly held up her watch so Mike could read the time. "Well I'll be damned."
Holly sighed and let go of Mike. They began to patrol through the cemetery. So far that night they had staked a total of five vampires.
"What do you think of Eben and Colleen?" Mike asked Holly out of nowhere.
Holly was taken aback by the question. It was a very awkward question for him to ask her. Colleen and Eben's "relationship" had started while Mike was still dating Colleen.
"I guess I really don't think much about it," Holly admitted. "I mean, it's not like they're even really together or anything."
"Do you ever think that they will be?" Mike asked Holly. Holly really didn't like this conversation a whole lot.
"I don't know," Holly said. "Maybe. Why are you asking me all of this?"
"Just making conversation," Mike told Holly. At that moment Mike spotted a vampire about twenty yards away from them. "Showtime," Mike told her as he grabbed a stake from his cargo pocket and charged at the vamp.
"Yeah," Holly said, a little less enthusiastic. Holly knew that Mike and Colleen still loved each other, even though they weren't still in love with each other. Even though she tried not to be jealous of Mike's love for Colleen, it was hard sometimes. Holly just wished that Mike loved her too.
*****
"I think I finally found the passage we're looking for," Aaron reported to the others.
Dawn looked over at the page that Aaron was looking out. "I don't know how you can even tell," Dawn said to him. "It just looks like a bunch of random squiggles."
"That's how it's supposed to look," Aaron said. "It's the whole idea behind codes in general."
"Are you sure?" Jordan asked Aaron as he got closer to see what Aaron was working on.
Aaron paused a second while he checked something else in the codec. He then gave a nod. "Yeah I'm positive," Aaron said as he pointed at three different squiggles that were in three completely different places on the page. "This definitely refers to the Living Vampire."
Jordan just accepted what Aaron said as the truth. "I'm glad one of us understands that."
Just then, the door to Mike's bedroom opened. Aaron instantly slammed the book shut and a look of horror crossed his face as he realized that he had no clue what page he was on.
"Hey," Jack said as he walked into Mike's bedroom. He looked very confused. "Where's Mike at?"
"He went with Holly to the store for a little bit," Dawn gave an excuse to Jack. He seemed to buy it.
"What are you guys doing?" Jack said as he noticed all the books and notes that were on the bed. He tried to look down and read some but Jordan quickly grabbed the notebook.
"A project," Jordan lied. "For English."
"Mike's in my English class though," Jack looked at them skeptically.
"But Holly's in our English class," Aaron tried to salvage their excuse.
"Oh," Jack seemed to believe their story. "So what are you guys doing?"
"Right now we're taking a break," Dawn told him.
"Really?" Jack said. "Because I am seriously about to go insane from boredom. Do you guys want to play some cards or something?"
The three Scoobies looked at each other. Dawn and Aaron had known Jack from their advanced math and science classes. Jordan really didn't know him at all. They should be working on translating the book, but they had been doing that all night. In all honesty, they really were ready for a break.
"Sure," Dawn said with a smile.
*****
When Tracy Nils came to, she was chained to a wall in a dark room. She remembered the last things that happened before she was attacked and began to look around franticly.
"Oh good," Cassio said as he approached Tracy. He seemed to melt from the shadows. "You're awake."
"What are you?" Tracy asked, trying to put on a front of bravery.
Cassio smiled. "Excellent pronoun use," Cassio complimented her. "That's very smart, asking what and not who." He walked around the room in front of Tracy. "I'm a vampire of course, just like you are a witch."
"Sorry buddy," Tracy said to the vampire. "But you have your facts wrong on that one."
"You're right," Cassio told her. "Witch would be stretching the truth a little. But you did cast a spell that's causing me a world of trouble right now."
Tracy could count the number of spells she had cast in her life on one hand. They all had to do with Holly.
"You're not going to touch her," Tracy said, hatred dripping from her voice. There was one thing in this world that Tracy wouldn't let anyone ever take from her, and that was Holly.
"And we come back to the pronouns," Cassio said to her. "Not a 'her,' but rather a 'him.'"
Tracy searched her memory. Either this vampire was completely wrong about something, or he was talking about Mike Dalton. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Okay, I'm going to make this easy for you," Cassio told Tracy. "You cast a spell on Mike Dalton which binds his soul to his body. I'm giving you one shot to remove that enchantment."
Tracy had no idea why anyone would be interested in the spell she had cast on Mike so many years ago. However, since she was talking to a demon, she knew that whatever his reasons were that there was no way that she was going to do it.
"Go to Hell," Tracy told Cassio.
Cassio sighed. "I figured it was going to have to be this way." Slowly, Cassio approached Tracy. As she saw him come closer and closer to her, she began to back up. When his fangs broke the skin on her neck, she began to scream. She pleaded with him, pleaded for her life.
"You had your chance," Cassio said as he took his mouth from her neck, wiping the blood from his mouth. "But if I want you to be more cooperative before the sun comes up I'm going to have to do this now."
"Holly," was all Tracy Nils had the strength to say. A single tear fell down her face as she felt her life pass quickly though her. This was all happening too soon. She couldn't leave. She couldn't leave Holly here by herself. Who was going to take care of her? Who was going to love her?
"Aw," Cassio said as he cut his wrist and put it to Tracy's lips as she continued to fade fast. "Isn't that touching?" Cassio let Tracy drink for a long time. The more blood used in the siring process, the quicker the new vampire would wake up. Cassio nearly let Tracy completely drain him. Now that Cortez knew who the Living Vampire was, there was a race to claim his power.
"Miller!" Cassio called out to another vampire in the layer. Miller quickly came into the room. "Go outside and see if you can find me a quick snack. I'm suddenly feeling very peckish."
*****
"And that's another euchre," Jack said to Aaron and Dawn as he gave himself and Jordan another two points. Aaron flashed Dawn the evil glare of death.
"What?" Dawn asked.
"What do you mean what?" Aaron asked Dawn. "What did you call that on? Like Ace, Queen, Nine?"
"Like you're really helping this team," Dawn said as she rolled her eyes at Aaron. Aaron gave her a little kick under the table. "Oh this means war," Dawn said with a smile while she and Aaron got into a kicking fight.
"Are they always like this?" Jack asked Jordan.
"Yes," Jordan said flatly. "Always."
"I feel bad for you," Jack said as he started to deal out the next hand.
Jordan shrugged while he looked as his hand. "It's not that bad."
"It must not be," Jack said. "You six seem to hang out every single second." Jack looked around at the looks he was getting from the other three. "Not that it's a bad thing," Jack quickly covered for himself. "Actually, it seems kind of nice."
"It's a fun little clique," Dawn said to Jack.
"Hey Jack," Aaron said to Mike's to-be-stepbrother, "Have you been hanging out with that new kid?"
Jordan and Dawn both waited to see where Aaron was going to be taking this. "Who? Eben?" Jack asked. Aaron nodded. "Yeah. He asked me for some help catching up in computer class. He's really cool though, we've been hanging out a lot lately."
"Really," Dawn said, trying to act nonchalant. "He seems like kind of a loner."
Jack shrugged. "Yeah he kind of is," Jack admitted. "He basically just comes over here and hangs out."
"You guys don't go over his house or to movies or anything?" Jordan asked.
"We're friends, we're not dating," Jack said with a small laugh. He suddenly seemed like her just remembered something. "Hey, is there something going on between Colleen and Eben?"
"We honestly have absolutely no idea," Dawn admitted with a smile.
"Yeah," Jack said as played the final card of the game, winning for him and Jordan. "He's really weird about stuff like that."
"But not about other stuff?" Aaron continued to pump Jack for information.
"No," Jack said. "He's pretty cool. Do you guys want to play again?"
Aaron looked down at his watch. He really needed to get those prophecies translated tonight. "I would, but I really need to get the rest of my homework done."
"Yeah, I should probably get going too," Jordan told Jack.
"This was really fun though," Dawn said to Jack. She bit her lip as she debated whether or not she should say what she wanted to say next or not. "You should hang out with us sometime. I mean, with the whole group."
Aaron tried his hardest to keep his face completely blank. Jordan didn't think that it was that bad of an idea.
Jack smiled. "That sounds cool," Jack told them.
*****
"It's getting pretty late," Holly commented to Mike. It was almost 1:00. "What did you tell your dad?"
Mike shrugged. "Nothing really. Just that I was going out with you tonight. My dad gets really lenient when I'm with a girl. He won't even wait up for me."
Holly smiled. "Well, I need to get back to my house and work on my essay some more. Do you feel like keeping me company?"
"What time is your mom going to be home?" Mike asked Holly.
"Not till early this morning," Holly told Mike. "Why, do you have something planned?" She gave Mike sly smile.
"Just don't want to get you in trouble," Mike told Holly. "Are you sure you'll be able to work with me there?"
"Honestly," Holly told Mike, "I really don't think I'm going to get this essay done either way."
"Well then count me in," Mike told Holly.
*****
"I think that's about it for all the vampires that we're going to see tonight," Colleen told Eben once they had gone for about half an hour without spotting one vampire.
"Yeah," Eben agreed.
"It looks like it's about time for me to sneak back into my bedroom," Colleen said as she thought about the long walk home. "There's no way that you could teleport me, is there?" Colleen asked Eben.
Eben shook his head with a smile. "It doesn't work that way," he explained to Colleen.
"How does it work," Colleen asked Eben. "I mean, how do any of your powers work?"
Eben looked a lot less comfortable than he had a minute ago. "I don't know," Eben said lamely. "I just have these powers."
Colleen made a face at him. "And yeah, I believe that because I was in fact born yesterday." Colleen lost patience with Eben fairly fast. It had been such a good night with him. She was starting to think that they were making progress. "What is it Eben? What are you hiding from me?"
"I'm not hiding," Eben said to Colleen. "I'm right here."
"Okay, that's the lamest thing I've ever heard in my life. And keep in mind, I hang out with Aaron, so I hear a lot of lame things," Colleen said to Eben. She switched to a more serious tone. "Why do you keep us all at an arm's distance?" Her voice softened a little bit. "Why do you keep me at an arm's distance?"
Eben actually looked like he was a little sad. "Because I have to," he said quietly.
"Why?" Colleen said. "Who says?"
"You wouldn't understand," Eben said with genuine sadness in his voice.
"Why don't you try me?" Colleen stepped closer to Eben. "Please?"
Eben looked into Colleen's eyes and for a brief moment he was ready to let it go. He was finally ready to just give in and let someone else in. The problem with a moment is that it passes too soon.
"I'm sorry," Eben said as he looked away from Colleen. Before she could do anything Eben teleported away.
Colleen stood still for a moment, not reacting. She had been so close. She had finally almost gotten through to Eben. Maybe there was a chance. Maybe Colleen wasn't living a pipedream after all.
*****
Cassio and all of the other vampires in the old warehouse that they had set up as a lair all turned their heads at the same time. Only hours after she had been sired, Tracy Nils had risen from the dead.
"Wow," Cassio said as he approached the new vampire. "That was faster than I thought. So, are you ready to do that spell?" The vampire in front of him nodded. "Perfect." He led Tracy over to a table full of magickal supplies. "Is this everything you need?"
Tracy looked over the different things on the table. Everything was there. "Yes," Tracy said as she began to go to work on the spell. "Now let's do this fast. I have other things that I want to do before the sun comes up."
Cassio smiled. "That's music to my ears," he said to her.
*****
"You're cruel," Holly said to Mike.
"I'm not budging," Mike said to Holly with a smile as he sat beside her on the computer. "You only have to write four more pages. We're not doing anything till you finish this paper."
"I'm just going to write garbage then," Holly teased Mike.
"We both know that you're incapable of any form of bad writing," Mike told Holly while she punched on her keyboard.
Holly rolled her eyes. "Yeah, now you're just lying."
"Okay, maybe you don't know it," Mike admitted. "But I do. You're a phenomenal writer."
"And you actually think I would accept a compliment like that?" Holly asked Mike.
"No," Mike told her. "But you're going to know that I said it. And deep down, underneath all your doubts about yourself, you're going to know that it's true."
"Okay," Holly said. "Now I'm positive that you're just making shit up."
"Okay," Mike said. "Then how about this one. I love you." Holly stopped typing in the middle of page seven. She turned and looked towards Mike. "I was going to tell you that the other week in the car, but then you interrupted me." Holly moved towards Mike but he put a finger up and stopped her. "Nope, you still have to finish your paper."
Holly couldn't believe that Mike did this to her. Now she knew that she was definitely just going to write garbage.
Mike smiled as he left Holly's side and moved to the bed. He didn't say anything, but he suddenly felt very odd. It was almost as if he was sick to his stomach, but he didn't feel nauseous. He lay on Holly's bed and felt like the whole room was spinning. He wondered if it had to do with what he just told Holly, but he knew it wasn't true. Something was very wrong.
*****
"So do you think that we'll actually go through with what we said to Jack?" Jordan asked Aaron.
"Don't know," Aaron said while he continued to work on the translation.
"I mean," Jordan kept talking while Aaron kept working. "It would be cool to have another non coupled member of the group. Not that I'm complaining or anything." Jordan thought about that for a moment. "Well I guess I am complaining."
Aaron didn't respond. He just continued to write down in his notebook what he translated from the book.
"I guess it really isn't possible," Jordan said while he continued to think about it. "I mean, we only seem to hang out with demons anymore. You can't really have a non demon fighting friend. It would just make things way too complicated."
"Yeah," Aaron said, not really even paying attention to Jordan anymore.
"Okay," Jordan said. "You're being way too quiet over there."
Although the Clarkes had set Aaron up in the guest room, Aaron usually spent most of his time in Jordan's room. Right now he was lying on Jordan's floor working on his translation. Jordan finally got a good look at Aaron's face and saw that he had an extremely serious expression.
"What's going on?" Jordan asked Aaron.
Aaron shook his head. He had finished the translation. "It's not good at all."
"What?" Jordan asked.
"This prophecy," Aaron paused before he finally was able to form words again. "It talks about how another vampire will infect the Living Vampire."
"Infect?" Jordan asked for clarification.
"It's all it says," Aaron continued. "It then goes on to say about how the Fallen Living Vampire will open the Hellmouth."
"Are you sure?" Jordan asked Aaron, his mouth dry.
Aaron nodded. "I'm positive," he told him quietly.
"Maybe you should check it over," Jordan suggested.
"I already did," Aaron told him.
"Well maybe you should do it one more time," Jordan said. "Just to make sure. Or give it to that Giles guy to take a look at."
"I told you I already fucking checked it!" Aaron screamed at his best friend. There was a moment of silence between the two friends.
"Maybe the prophecy is just wrong then," Jordan said in a whisper.
"Yeah," Aaron said, not even slightly thinking that Jordan might be right. "Maybe."
*****
"Done," Holly said with a smile as she climbed into bed next to her boyfriend. As she got close to Mike, she noticed that he didn't look that great. "Mike," Holly said with concern, "What's the matter?"
Mike didn't say anything for a second. "I don't know," he admitted. "I just don't feel good all of the sudden."
Holly took a good look at Mike. His skin was unusually pale and the look on his face made it seem that he was very disoriented.
"Come on," Holly said as she picked Mike up. "We have to get you home."
Mike really didn't want to go home. He had hoped that tonight could have been special between him and Holly. However, as he rose to his feet, he realized that he would have to put off tonight until some other time. Bracing himself on Holly's shoulder, they made it all the way to the front door. Holly opened the front door to a surprise.
"Mom!" Holly said with surprise. "What are you doing home so early?"
"I think I am the one that should be asking the questions here," Tracy Nils said in an uncharacteristically mean tone. "What are you doing here alone at this time of night with your boyfriend?"
"He was just helping me with my paper," Holly told her mom. Holly was suddenly feeling very sick too.
"I'm sure," Tracy said cruelly. "I wonder what I just walked in on."
"Nothing," Holly told her mother. "I was just taking Mike home."
"Oh no you aren't," Tracy said to her daughter. "I'll take him home." Tracy saw the way that Mike was leaning on Holly's shoulder. "Is he drunk or something? Were you two doing drugs?"
"Mom no," Holly said in a quieter tone. "He just isn't feeling good."
"I'm sure," Tracy said. There was a moment of silence between the three of them. No one moved or said anything. Holly was slowly beginning to realize what had happened. She didn't know if it was because of her low level psychic abilities or just an affinity with her mother. Despite realizing what had happened, Holly was definitely no where near accepting it to be true.
"Why aren't you coming inside?" Holly asked her mom quietly. Tracy didn't reply. She just continued to frown at Holly and Mike.
"Come inside," Mike told Tracy, as he was starting to get the same feeling as Holly. "Let's talk about this." Only someone who lives in a house can invite a vampire inside. Tracy continued to stand just a few inches from the door.
"Hold on," Holly said to her mother. "Let me go help Mike sit down." Holly spoke very quietly and directly. She helped Mike over to the couch. Mike tried to get back up and he made very direct and urgent eye contact with Holly. Holly put a hand on his chest that told him to sit down. With a very sad kind of quiet, Holly reached into Mike's cargo pocket and took out his cross and stake.
Holly kept the object behind her back and walked towards the door. "Come inside Mom," Holly said. With a smile on her face, Tracy walked through the threshold. Holly held her breath and with a fast motion, she shoved the cross into her mother's face. Faced with the religious item, Tracy Nils reverted to her vampire face.
"No," Holly whimpered quietly.
"What's the matter Holly," Tracy said to her daughter with a smile. "I thought you would be happy. I mean, now we're both demons."
Tracy took another step towards her daughter who was frozen with disbelief. Mike couldn't take another second of this. Despite how dizzy he was, Mike leapt towards Tracy and tackled her through the door.
Holly took a step closer to the door and watched as her boyfriend fought with her mother on her front lawn. She did nothing but stare. She knew that if Mike had been in perfect health that he could have made short work of a fledgling vampire. However, Mike was sick, and Tracy had been a skilled fighter when she was alive.
Holly let a tear slip past her eye as she thought that last thought. Despite that she was currently moving and talking right before her eyes, Holly knew that her mother wasn't alive. She was gone. Someone had taken Holly's mother away from her. She thought about that and used it as motivation to stop her mother from killing Mike.
"There's my little demon," Tracy Nils said to her daughter from the spot on the ground that Holly had knocked her too. Holly stood before her in her gold skin and gold hair. Tracy hadn't seen Holly like that in over ten years.
"I'm nothing of yours," Holly said without a tone. "You're nothing to me."
"Yeah," Tracy said as she stood back up and attacked Holly. "Just keeping telling yourself that." Tracy punched Holly in the face but Holly ducked her next blow. Holly landed a kick to Tracy's throat and then grabbed her and threw her across the yard.
"Shut up," Holly said to her.
"I mean, it's true that you are nothing to me," the demon spoke through Holly's mother's lips. "You little freak. Look at you. You're not even human."
"Shut up!" Holly screamed, but Tracy's words were getting through to her. As they continued to fight, Tracy was taking the upper hand.
"You were never human," the vampire continued. "You couldn't even pretend to be. You were always pathetic. Always a loner. Always different. And you took everything away from me. You took my family away from me. You took my fiancé away from me. You ruined my life."
At this point Holly was crying. As Tracy continued to take the upper hand, she beat Holly enough that Holly slipped back into her human form.
"You are a pathetic, disgusting creature," Tracy said as she reached for the gun that was still in the holster on her hip. She pulled out the gun and cocked it while pointing it at Holly. She shook her head as she looked at Holly. "I never loved you," she delivered her final blow. Holly could do nothing but stare at the body that once belonged to her mother and cry. Tracy prepared to pull the trigger when suddenly, her face contorted into an expression of shock. A few moments later, she exploded into dust.
Holly watched as the dust cleared to reveal Mike, with a stake in hand, standing right behind where her mother had been a moment before. Holly looked into Mike's eyes and couldn't take another moment. She collapsed on the ground and bawled her eyes out.
"I'm sorry Holly," Mike said as he collapsed to the floor beside her. He embraced her and Holly let her sobs out into his stomach. Mike sat up and ran his fingers through Holly's hair while she continued to cry. "I'm so, so sorry."
Holly wasn't sure how long she had lay on the ground crying to Mike. When she woke up the next morning she had no recollection of going to bed. Looking out the window, she knew that she had slept through school. It didn't matter. Nothing mattered at that moment. In such a short amount of time, Holly had gained so much and lost everything. In one night, everything in Holly's life had changed forever.
*****
Author's Note: Yeah I know, that was very dark. Please review and tell me what you thought. No one reviewed chapter five at all.