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.
*****
Dawn
I was standing in the middle of an ocean. Below my feet was the water with waves crashing all around me. The water wasn't firm or anything but yet I was still standing on it. In all directions there was nothing except for water.
"I don't know who we're trying to kid," I heard Aaron's voice beside me. "Everyone knows that this isn't the way it's supposed to be."
Aaron stood beside me on the water as we looked out at the sun setting. The enormous yellow sphere seemed to be dipping into the water just a mile away from us. As the sun moved into the water the sky was growing blacker and blacker.
"It's wrong," I agreed with Aaron.
"It's not supposed to be this way," Aaron said. "It's close though."
"How should it be?" I asked him. Aaron looked at me and smiled. He opened his mouth but only electronic tones were coming out of his mouth. I stared at him in confusion and reached out towards him. As my hand passed through his chest I felt something vibrating in my hand.
"Hello?" I said into the phone as I woke up. I had been dreaming but it was slipping from my mind really fast.
"Dawn," I heard Mike on the other end of the phone. "Get dressed. I'm coming to pick you up."
I looked over at the clock on the nightstand of my new bedroom. "It's 5:30," I pointed out to Mike.
"I know," Mike told me. It was at that moment that I finally was truly awake.
"What happened?" I asked Mike.
I could here Mike hesitate on the other end of the phone. "Something bad," was all Mike said.
"I'll be ready in ten minutes," I told Mike. He hung up the phone without saying anything else. I set my phone down and I was almost instantly up and getting myself ready. I showered faster than I ever had in my entire life. I was ready in eight minutes, which was a new all time record for me. As I was leaving my room I spotted my backpack on the floor. I wasn't sure if there was going to be time for school or not today. I figured it wouldn't hurt to bring it just in case.
As I was in the foyer of my new house waiting for Mike I spotted a notepad and pen on the table. I paused as I tried to think of what to say to Giles. The truth would probably be my best bet.
"Giles," I wrote on the note. "Something has come up. I'm not sure if I'm going to school or not today. Call my cell whenever you read this."
As I set down my pen Mike was in the driveway. I walked out the door and locked it on my way out. I looked back over at the car and noticed that Colleen was in the passenger seat. Colleen looked shocked and almost like she was about to cry. Mike looked tired and numb. He had the kind of look on his face that a person gets when they have been running on adrenaline longer than they should.
"What's going on?" I demanded as I got into the car.
No one said anything until after we had pulled out of my driveway. "It's Holly's mom," Mike eventually told me. "She was vamped."
"Oh God," I said. Colleen began to cry. I could tell that she had been crying for a while today.
"She almost," Mike trailed off. He had to regain his composure. "There was nothing…it was bad. I had to stake her in front of Holly."
No one spoke as we let the shock and horror sink in. I couldn't imagine what Holly was going through right now. Actually, I could imagine what it was like. It was probably a lot like what I had gone through three years ago. It was the same thing that Colleen went through last year. And although Mike's mom had died when he was really young, he had to grow up without a mother. I wasn't sure if it was intentional or not, but as we pulled into Holly's driveway I realized that Mike had only gotten the Scoobies who had lost their mother.
"Where is she?" Colleen asked quietly as we walked into Holly's front door.
"She's in bed," Mike told her.
"When did it happen?" I asked Mike as we each took a seat in Holly's family room.
"A few hours ago," Mike said. "Holly was a mess. I brought her to her room and lay with her for a while until she eventually fell asleep. Then I just waited around until it was a reasonable time to call you two."
"You didn't get any sleep at all last night?" Colleen asked Mike.
Mike shook his head. "I couldn't," Mike told us. "I didn't want Holly to wake up and me not be there for her."
"What about your dad?" I asked Mike.
"I woke Jack up and told him to cover for me," Mike said. "I told Jack that I was sleeping over at Holly's. Ill let him think whatever he wants until I get the chance to talk to him."
After that there was a long stretch of silence. No one really had anything they wanted to say. We watched the morning news as the sun was beginning to come up. The silence between us was broken when my phone began to ring. I looked down at the Caller ID and saw that it was Giles.
"Hello," I said to Giles.
"Dawn," Giles said. I could tell he was nervous. "Where are you? What's happening?"
"I'm at Holly's," I explained to Giles. "Her mom was attacked last night."
I saw the looks on Mike and Colleen's faces and I decided that it would be better if I had my conversation in the kitchen.
"Is she okay?" Giles asked me.
"No," I said after a pause. "She was sired and Mike had to stake her."
"Dear lord," Giles said. "Is Holly alright?"
"She's sleeping right now," I told Giles. "We want to be with here when she wakes up."
"Of course," Giles said to me. "I'll call the school and tell them you're ill."
"Thank you," I said to Giles.
"Do you need anything?" Giles asked me.
"No," I said to Giles. "We're just waiting till she gets up."
"If you need anything at all," Giles said to me.
"I'll call you," I finished for him. "Thank you."
I hung up the phone and looked at the time. Aaron and Jordan would be leaving pretty soon to come pick me up. I sighed as I called Aaron's cell phone.
"Hey," Aaron said as he picked up. "We're on our way."
"No you're not," I told Aaron. "Colleen and I aren't going to school today."
"Why not?" Aaron said. "I want to play hooky too."
"No you don't," I told Aaron. "Aaron, something happened last night."
"What?" Aaron asked, suddenly concerned. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," I told Aaron. I could almost hear him becoming less tense. "Holly isn't though."
"What happened?" Aaron asked.
I paused for a moment. "Her mom was vamped. Mike had to stake her."
"Holy shit," Aaron said quietly. There was a pause before began to talk again. "Is Holly okay?"
"I don't know yet," I told Aaron. "She's sleeping right now. We're over her house."
"Do you want us to come over?" Aaron asked me.
"No," I told Aaron. "I mean not yet. We shouldn't overwhelm her at first."
"Right," Aaron said. "But what should Jordan and I do?"
"Just go to school," I told him. "We'll call you when you should come over."
"Okay," Aaron said to me. "I love you."
"I love you too," I told Aaron as I hung up the phone.
I walked back into the family room and told Mike and Colleen what I told Aaron. After that we were in silence again. It took a while for the news to eventually sink in and for us to be able to make quiet small talk. Trying to talk after someone dies is so hard. It almost makes you feel like you are a horrible person for trying to live when someone else is dead. The conversations that we had were very quiet and not very extensive but we had to do something to kill time. Holly didn't wake up and come out of her room until 2:00 in the afternoon.
*****
Aaron
School was harder than usual. Not hard in the sense of the things that they were teaching me were difficult. School was always easy in that sense. It was hard because the seconds were taking even longer than usual to tick by. Every few minutes I found myself checking my cell phone to make sure that I hadn't missed a call. Every single time I left a class Jordan was almost instantly outside the door giving me a questioning look. Every time I had to shake my head no.
I knew that Jordan was having a harder time than me. He was probably having one of the worst times. Jordan was closer with Holly than almost all of us. It was obvious that Jordan would have much rather been at Holly's house instead of at school.
Me on the other hand, I wasn't exactly looking forward to when we would go over to Holly's house. It wasn't that I didn't care about Holly. I felt horrible and I wanted to help her. I just don't find situations like that comfortable. Well, no one finds situations like that comfortable. Maybe it was just that I was afraid of those situations because I'd never had anyone very close to me die.
By the time the last bell had rung informing us that it was time to go home my phone had still not rung. The atmosphere between me and Jordan was very tense. During the entire drive back to Jordan's house he didn't take his eyes off of my phone once.
"The watched pot never boils," I said to Jordan with a small smile.
"Good thing this isn't a pot then," Jordan said. He definitely wasn't in the mood to talk. Things had been rough between us before we went to sleep last night after I had finished translating the prophecies. Now everything was even worse. We walked into Jordan's empty house and immediately went up to his bedroom. As we sat down inside of his room, neither of us had anything that we wanted to say.
I felt really bad for Jordan. I could tell that being here was tearing him up inside. I had to think of something to do to distract him for a little while.
"Do you think you could help me with my telekinesis again?" I asked Jordan. I had found a spell that would allow me to focus my emotions into telekinesis. When I didn't succeed at first I had asked Jordan for help. He tried to coach me through it but I just wasn't getting it.
Jordan quit looking at the wall when I asked him. He gave me a half smile. "Sure," he said.
I went back over to my temporary room and gathered a few things that I needed. It was just a book, a few candles, some incense, and the feather that I had been trying to levitate. When I got back into the room, Jordan was sitting on the bed cross legged waiting for me. I lit the candles and incense and joined him on the bed. As I sat down the same way that he was sitting, I set the feather in between us.
"Okay," Jordan said as he began to focus. "This is a lot easier than you are making it out to be. You just need to concentrate." Jordan demonstrated this so called "concentration." He closed his eyes and I watched as his face went almost blank. The feather between us shot up to the ceiling and then slowly floated down back to where it was originally lying.
"You make it sound so easy," I told Jordan.
"That's because it is easy," Jordan told me.
"Maybe for an actual telekinetic," I pointed out.
"I was just born attuned to the energies," Jordan explained. "You attune yourself to different energies all the time when you're casting. This shouldn't be that hard for you."
"We'll see about that," I said to Jordan as I mimicked his expression. I tried to calm myself and focus on the feather. I imagined the feather between us. I drew a clear picture in my head. This was all the easy part. The hard part was going to be attaining some form of focus.
The truth is I'm not the most focused person in the world. Adding to my already sizeable lack of focus was all this new stuff with Holly. I felt so many things at that moment. I was worried for Holly. I hoped that she was strong enough to get through this. I was scared about what was going to happen. This was the first real direct attack against one of our family members. I wanted to know if this attack was planned to just to hurt Holly or if it was just another random murder in Sunnydale. And above all else, I was angry. I was angry that there were creatures like vampires in the world. I was angry that people that I cared about had to get hurt and die. More than anything, I was angry that there was practically nothing that I could do about it.
"Aaron," Jordan said as he shook me out of my concentration. He pointed up at the ceiling and I looked up. The end of the feather had managed to actually go through the ceiling.
"Whoa," I said.
"Yeah," Jordan said. "Looks like you're getting the hang of focusing your emotions. Now you just need to work on controlling it."
"At least it's progress," I said to Jordan. I pointed my hand towards the feather and began to focus again. I held my hand out like a moron for about a minute before I gave up. "Or maybe not," I said with a small smile.
Jordan chuckled a little. "It just takes time," Jordan told me as he pulled the feather out of the ceiling without even looking at it.
I sighed. "Do you ever get tired of just being the other ones?" I asked Jordan.
"What do you mean?" Jordan had no idea what I was talking about.
"Colleen, Holly, and Mike are all it, you know?" I tried to explain to Jordan. "Me, you, and Dawn? We're just the other ones. We'll teleport or get a vision or cast a spell, but when it comes down to it we aren't the ones who save the world. It's them."
"Unless you are casting the spell that is sealing the Hellmouth," Jordan pointed out. "Or Dawn is killing a goddess. We're a team."
I shook my head a little bit at Jordan. "If one of us three left the team I think that we would be fine. What if we lost one of them?"
"If any of us were ever lost," Jordan said with a very sad smile, "I think we would be lost just the same."
I was about to say something to Jordan but before I could I watched as Jordan's eyes seemed to go somewhere else. He was receiving a vision. However, unlike Jordan's normal visions, this one was different. I watched as Jordan collapsed on the bed.
"Jordan!" I said as I grabbed him and tried to make sure that he was okay. It took a few seconds for the vision to eventually pass. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Jordan said as he stood up.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Much more than we need right now," Jordan said as he shook his head.
Before I got the chance to press on my cell phone began to ring.
*****
Holly
I felt numb. It was like there was a shell around my body. Nothing could touch me. My insides were churning. I was nauseous. I would throw up if I wasn't constantly on the verge of breaking down into tears. My body was torn between so many different emotions. It was like everything was trying to rush into my brain but getting stuck in the doorway. All that was real right then was that I was empty. And I was alone.
I wandered out into the family room. The second that my friends heard the door open they all turned at the same second. In that same instant they stood up and took quick first steps towards me. I must have flinched or something because they stopped. They decided rushing me wouldn't be the best plan.
"Holly," Mike said slowly. I looked into Mike's eyes and saw them from the previous night. I saw the way that my mother's eyes just seemed to explode into Mike's eyes in my memory. That's when I finally was able to break through into my memories and recall what had happened the previous night. I must have started to cry because Mike ran up and embraced me.
"It's okay," Mike said to me as I really began to cry. "Just let it all out Holly." Mike led me over to the couch and we sat down on it. I cried for a while before I finally realized that Dawn and Colleen were there too.
"Hey," was the first thing that I said that day. It was so lame but it took so much effort to even move my lips.
Dawn and Colleen didn't say anything. They just moved closer to me and hugged me and I started to cry again. It felt so good to cry. I had all this pain inside of me and crying was just letting it all pour out.
"Police officers came by the house today," Colleen told me. I held me breath for a moment. "They came to tell you that your mother never came back from duty last night. We told them that when you woke up and she wasn't here that you called us to come over."
I nodded slowly. Everything still wasn't real to me. "What did they say?" I asked.
"Just that they were going to look for her," Colleen continued. "We thought it would be best if they declared her missing…"
I began to cry again and everyone just held me. "You guys don't understand," I said as I slowed my tears down slightly. "She was all I ever knew. She did everything for me. Who is going to take care of me now?"
"We don't know," Dawn admitted. "You just have to know that your mom is in a better place."
I nodded. That was the standard response that anyone got after they lost a loved one. It sounded so nice too. I had never been a religious person. I mean, I knew that there was something else out there in the world. Being half demon you have to think that there is something else, but I was never exactly a believer in the greater good in the world. However, after what I experienced in these recent years, there had to be something good out there that I didn't understand.
"I know," I said to Dawn and I did my best to attempt to give her a smile. "It just hurts so much."
"No one is expecting it not to hurt," Mike told me. He grabbed my hand and held it tight. "We just want you to know that we're here."
"It's a Scooby thing," Dawn told me with a smile. "No one ever goes through anything by themselves."
I sniffled a little and smiled a little bit more. "Thank you guys," I told them. "But what's going to happen? Where am I going to go?"
"Don't worry about that now," Colleen told me. "First we'll deal and then we'll figure out what to do."
It was around then that I started crying again. No one really said anything. There wasn't exactly anything that needed to be said. I just cried and my friends were there to make sure that I had people there to support me. I was just happy that I wasn't alone.
My hand flew to my head when I received the overflow form Jordan's Vision. I had no idea how I had become linked to Jordan's Visions, but somehow whenever he received one I got the runoff.
Visions are definitely not the most effective form of communication. In all of the Visions that I have ever received, this one was by far the vaguest when it came to details. However, it was very effective in getting its message across. It was like a montage of scenes from all over town. In every single location there was a group of vampires. There had to be at least fifty vampires in all and they were all over. Something big was going down that night in the vamp world.
By the time that I recovered from the Vision Dawn was already on the phone with Aaron.
"Yeah," Dawn said after Aaron had answered. "Holly got it too. Get over here now." Dawn hung up without any more conversation.
"What is it?" Mike asked me.
"Vampires," I told Mike simply. "Everywhere. In a couple hours this town is going to be crawling with vampires more than ever before."
"Why?" Colleen asked.
I shrugged. "I don't know," I admitted. "It looks really really bad."
"Colleen," Mike turned towards his ex-girlfriend, "Is there any way you could get a hold of Eben?"
"Yeah because he makes himself so available," Colleen said sarcastically.
"I'll call Jack," Mike said as he went into the kitchen. "He'll know how to get a hold of him."
After Mike left I looked around the room. Dawn looked really anxious. She usually had a very anxious air about her when a fight was coming on. She had spent a lot of time learning how to fight this year and she had learned a lot. She didn't have strength though which was very important when you are fighting super strong creatures.
On the other hand, Colleen was looking very angry. I could tell she was trying to hide it, but Colleen was mad. I'm very good at reading emotions. I really wasn't sure what had Colleen so upset. Maybe what happened to me had just brought back a lot of memories from last year.
"I can't get a hold of him," Mike said when he got back. He turned to Colleen. "What are we going to do? We're down one person."
Colleen nodded. I looked over at Dawn and she avoided eye contact. "What are you talking about?" I asked Mike. "How are we down one person?"
Mike looked a little taken aback. "Holly," Mike said slowly, "You're in no shape to go out and fight tonight."
"You're wrong," I said pointedly to Mike. "There's no way that I'm sitting on the bench."
"Holly," Colleen turned to me. "Last year, when I first found out that my mother was turned I was in no shape to fight."
"But you did," I pointed out to Colleen. "Even though it was hard you still fought."
Colleen shook her head. "It's different though," she told me. "I'm the Slayer."
"And I'm a demon," I told Colleen as I shifted into my demon form. "Colleen, I'm just as strong as you are. We're all warriors of The Powers That Be. I'm not going to sit out just because you guys think that I should."
"I'm not letting you go out there," Mike said to me. I listened to the concern in his voice and tried to ignore it. "Holly, I'm not going to let you get yourself hurt."
"Then why did you let me go out all those other nights?" I challenged Mike.
Mike shook his head. "This is different and you know it," Mike told me.
"You're right," I said to Mike. "This is different. Now I have a reason to go out there and fight."
There was a tense silence in the room that was broken by Aaron and Jordan opening the front door.
"Sorry to interrupt," Aaron said. He and Jordan were both holding bags from Wendy's.
"We thought you guys might be hungry," Jordan said quietly. He made it a point to make eye contact with me.
I gave him a smile. "I'm starved," I said as I retreated back into the kitchen. There was absolutely no way that I was staying out of the fight that night.
*****
Colleen
"I just don't know if this was the best plan," Aaron said as we walked through the park while the sun was setting. "These teams just don't seem balanced."
"And again I'm reminding you that this isn't a competition," I said with a sigh. Aaron, Jordan, and I were patrolling the eastern part of town while Mike, Dawn, and Holly were patrolling the western part.
"I'm going to have to agree with Aaron," Jordan said while we continued to walk. "Not on the team competition thing, but on these groups. Aaron and I have our skills but fighting isn't one of them."
"You're with the Slayer," Colleen said to them. "You'll be fine."
"Holly doesn't seem like she's doing that great," Aaron said.
I sighed. "She's dealing," I told him. "It hasn't even been a day yet."
"We should have made her stay home," Jordan voiced his opinion.
"We weren't going to make her do anything she didn't want to do," I assured him. "That's why Mike and Dawn are with her. She has the most back up possible."
We all stopped talking when it got dark enough for the lampposts to turn on. I was actually relieved that the fighting would start soon. I was sick of talking. I was sick of sitting around. I was sick of people I knew getting hurt.
This town was my responsibility. It's the Slayer's duty to protect the Hellmouth. I was the first in a new line of Slayers and the only thing in my job description was that I had to protect the Hellmouth.
So what do I do? I let someone that someone who is close to me loves gets killed. I let what happened to me happen to Holly. While Holly's mom was being killed, I was flirting with Eben. What the Hell kind of guardian does that make me? What kind of person does that make me?
"Looks like it's just about that time," Aaron said as we all began to notice the large group of vampires that were walking towards us.
"Here's the way this works," I said while Aaron and Jordan took out their stakes. "I'm going to knock them down and you guys are here to clean them up."
"Got it," Jordan said.
"Stay back," was the last thing I told them as I ran towards the group of vampires. There were only six. If I had to worry about staking them all I would be a little nervous. All I had to do was just hurt them enough so that they would fall.
The vampires were grinning until they realized that I was running towards them. When they finally pulled their heads out of their asses and realized that something was up it was already too late. I jumped into a spinning kick and connected with one of the vampires in his back. As soon as I was back on the ground I landed two punches and another kick to the vampire in front of me. I spun around and kicked the vampire that was behind me right in the chin.
I was in my element. I was doing what I was born to do. There are very few things in my life that I can control. However, when I'm kicking the crap out of a bunch of soulless demons, it gives me a very nice feeling of control.
"That went smoothly," Aaron said as he staked the last vampire. "And since nothing we ever do goes this smoothly I'm getting very worried."
"I don't know why you're worried," I said to Aaron. I wasn't even out of breath. "I can keep this up all night."
"Well that's good," Jordan said as he pointed towards a clearing about twenty yards ahead of us. "Because you just might have to." There were about a dozen vampires in the field.
"Are you sure you can handle this?" Aaron asked me.
"Bring it on," I told him as once again I ran off into the middle of the fight. I started it off just as I started off the last one. I jumped in with a spin kick and landed right in front of another vampire. While I was punching that vampire though another one caught my legs in a sweep. The second I hit the ground I brought myself right back up. I turned to face the vampire that had attacked me. As I landed a few quick blows to the vampire's face I could sense another one coming up behind me. Without looking I elbowed the vampire in the face while pulling my arm back for another punch. Despite all of this, another vampire tackled me to the ground and without even hesitating lowered his mouth to my throat. As the vampire turned to dust, I looked up to see a stake floating in front of me.
"Thanks," I said to Jordan.
"Better get on your feet," Jordan told me. I noticed a vampire racing towards him.
"Jordan!" I shouted. Jordan turned around and as he did the stake he was manipulating went plunging directly into the vampire's heart. Jordan mentally pulled the stake back into his hand while the vampire exploded into dust.
I didn't get a chance to see what Jordan did next because as I stood on my hands and knees another vampire came and kicked me in the face. I rolled from the blow and used my momentum to get back on my feet. As I continued to move backwards I kicked myself off of a tree and put my foot right into the vampire's face.
As hard as I continued to fight there was just way too many vampires. Even as Aaron and Jordan continued to dust them as fast as possible there were more coming from the shadows. We were starting to get even more outnumbered. At one point I looked over towards Aaron and Jordan. Aaron was attempting to fight a vampire in hand to hand combat while Jordan was knocked to the ground. I made a move to go help them when a vampire grabbed me by the ankle and brought me to the ground. I kicked the vampire that grabbed me in the face but he still held on tight. I moved to land another kick but before I could the vampire burst into flames. I looked back over to Aaron and Jordan and the vampires surrounding them were soon engulfed in flames along with every other vampire in the area.
"Eben," I said as I noticed the only other person who was still standing.
"What the Hell is going on?" Eben asked as he helped me to my feet. "Jack tells me that Mike was asking for me and now this whole town is crawling with vamps tonight."
"You've noticed too," Aaron said as he and Jordan got closer to us. Aaron was bent over from exhaustion.
"I've dusted at least twenty vampires tonight," Eben said.
"The town's overrun," I tried to explain to Eben.
"But you don't know why?" Eben asked.
Jordan shook his head. "We have no clue," Jordan explained. "All we know is that The Powers sent me a vision telling us that this was going on."
"Where are the others?" Eben asked us.
"They're on the other side of town," I told Eben.
"There are a whole bunch of vampires a little ways south of here," Eben told us.
"And I'm sure there's just as many north of us," I said. I let out a sigh. "We should split up and take out as many vampires as possible. Eben, you go south with Jordan. Aaron, you're with me."
"Be careful," Eben said to me before he took off heading south. Jordan's eyes bulged a little at the speed that Eben was going before he made his best attempt to keep up with him.
"Well that was sweet," Aaron said to me as we began to move through the park once again. "The way Eben showed concern for you."
"Aaron," I turned to Aaron and made sure that my voice showed that I needed him to be serious. When Aaron wasn't being annoying he was one of my best friends. Sometimes I felt like I had more in common with Aaron than anyone else. He looked at me and I could tell that I wouldn't be getting a sarcastic response. "What is going on tonight?"
Aaron shook his head. "I have no idea," he told me.
"You've been reading all of those prophecies," I reminded Aaron. "Does it say anything about a massive army of vampires attacking?"
"Not specifically," Aaron said as he thought through the prophecies. "It does talk about hordes of vampires coming to the Hellmouth though. They also don't really paint a good picture for Mike's future."
I stopped walking. Aaron stopped with me. "What does it say?" I asked him.
Aaron shook his head again. This time he did it because of what he didn't want to have to say. "It talks about how the Living Vampire is going to be infected."
"What does that mean?" I asked him.
"I don't know," Aaron admitted. "But I do know that it will mean that Mike will have a lot of power. Enough to open the Hellmouth."
I didn't know what to say. Mike meant more to me than almost everyone else in the world. It wasn't even because he used to be my boyfriend. I loved Mike, even if we weren't together.
"Colleen," Aaron said very quietly as he pointed over to another clearing. "Look."
I did what Aaron told me to do and almost had to take a step back. There was a large fire burning on a street that had a good number of businesses on it. Surrounding the fire were at least fifteen vampires. I couldn't recognize any of them except for one who was standing the closest to the fire. Bathed in the dancing light of the flames was Cortez.
"Colleen wait," Aaron said as he grabbed my arms. On instinct I had begun to move towards Cortez. "There is no way you are going in there by yourself. You need backup."
I thought about what Aaron said and knew that he was right. "Call Dawn," I told him. "Have them teleport here immediately."
Aaron pulled out his cellphone and called Dawn. "You guys need to get here now," Aaron said to Dawn without even saying hello. "Trust me; it's a lot worse here." He paused as he listened to her response. "Well we need at least two of you." Another pause. "We're at the edge of the park right near the north gate. Get here now." Aaron hung up the phone and a few moments later Holly and Dawn were standing next to us.
"What's going on?" Holly asked. Colleen pointed over to where Cortez and his men were standing. "Great," Holly said as her fist tightened.
"Aaron," I got Aaron's attention. "Do you think you can do something? Cause a distraction or anything like that?"
Aaron paused for a moment. "Well," he said slowly, "I think I might have an idea."
"Do it," I told Aaron.
Aaron reached into his cargo pocket and pulled out a baggy full of an orange powder. He poured the powder into his hand and began to chant a few words in a language that I didn't recognize. When Aaron had finished he blew the dust into the air. All four of us watched as the cloud of orange dust slowly made its way over to the already impressively large fire. As soon as it hit the flames, the fire became an even larger inferno. We watched as a few vampires instantly burst into flames. Unfortunately, Cortez was not one of them.
"Let's go," I said mostly to Holly. We ran towards the vampires with our stakes in hand. In less than a minute we had each staked two vampires. Aaron and Dawn were staying a little further back and working together in an attempt to stake a few vamps.
"Slayer," Cortez said as I finished staking another vampire. "You're just in time for tonight." Cortez ran towards me and we began our dance. Every blow that I landed on him was immediately followed by one of his own to me.
"And what's tonight?" I asked him as we continued to fight. I tried to sweep his legs out from under him and he jumped over my attack.
"A monumental night," Cortez said cryptically. I didn't get a chance to pry more information from him because another vampire got a little overzealous and knocked me to the ground. When I was back on my feet I was fighting this new vampire instead of Cortez.
While fighting my new opponent, I looked over at Cortez and saw that he was now trading blows with Holly. Knowing that Holly would need my help I tried to stake the vampire as quickly as possible. Every time I made a move for its heart he would block my attack. I caught another glance at Holly right as she managed to knock Cortez to the ground. While Cortez was stumbling back he knocked the vampire I was fighting right into my stake. The vampire in turn fell into me causing me to drop the stake and fall to the ground. As the vampire turned to dust I watched as Cortez picked up my stake. His back was to Holly who was running towards him. To my horror, Cortez took the stake and surprised Holly with it, sinking it deep into her abdomen.
"No!" I yelled as Holly returned to her human form and fell to the ground. I wanted to rush to Holly's side so badly but the rage I felt inside of me compelled me to go after Cortez. I landed blow after blow to Cortez before he fell to the ground.
"Are you just going to let your friend die?" Cortez asked me. I looked back to Holly who was being attended to by Dawn. While I looked away Cortez kicked my leg right at the knee and I fell to the ground. When I got back up Cortez was no where to be seen.
"Colleen," Dawn said as I returned my attention to Holly. I rushed over to them and fell to my knees at Holly's side. Aaron was with us in less than a second. I looked down to Holly's stomach and was shocked when there was no wound.
"Holly," I said, almost in shock. "Your stomach."
"It's only hurt in my demon form," Holly explained. "It'll heal while I'm human." Despite what she said, her voice was full of pain. I shouldn't have let her come out tonight. She wasn't thinking clearly and she wasn't able to fight to the best of her ability. I had let someone else get hurt.
"Does it hurt?" Aaron asked her. Holly nodded.
"You two have to get her out of here," I said to Dawn and Aaron.
"We're not leaving you alone," Dawn said to me. "There's still a ton of vampires around here."
"You have to get her to a hospital or something," I told them.
"You heard what she said Colleen," Aaron told me. "Doctors can't help her."
"She can't stay here though," I spoke with urgency in my voice.
"And we can't leave you here alone," Dawn countered my argument.
"Wait," Aaron said. "Let me try something." Aaron's eyes closed as he began to concentrate. There were a few seconds of silence before his eyes opened again. Moments later, Eben was by our side.
"Okay," I said to Aaron, "How did you do that?"
"I contacted Jordan telepathically," Aaron explained. He was massaging his temple which made me think that it wasn't exactly painless.
"You're psychic now too?" I asked Aaron.
"No," Aaron said. "Just good with magicks. It's a best friend thing."
"I'm not even going to try to understand what just happened," Eben said as he jogged closer to us. That's when Eben noticed that Holly was on the ground. "What happened? Is she okay?"
"No," I told Eben. "But they're taking her to get rest."
Dawn looked up and I could tell she was a little pissed at me. "I'm coming right back," she flat out told me. "You're not going to stop me." With that, a swirl of green energy emerged from Dawn and encased herself, Aaron, and Holly before they all disappeared.
*****
Mike
"Dawn," I said as I wrestled with the vampire that was attempting to pin me to the ground. "You're supposed to put your cell phone on silent when you're fighting vampires." I managed to use my strength to roll myself on top of the vampire. Reaching for the stake that had fallen to the ground right beside us, I quickly forced it through the vampire's chest.
"Hello," Dawn said as Holly and I continued to fight off the remaining three vampires. "As warm as that greeting was we're a little busy right now." Dawn paused while she listened to whoever was on the other end talk. "We can't all leave, there's still a ton of vampires here." She paused again. "Okay, Holly and I are on our way. Where are you?"
Holly and I finished off the rest of the vampires right as Dawn was getting off of the phone.
"What?" Holly asked to Dawn.
"Aaron and Colleen need me and you," Dawn said to Holly.
"We can't leave Mike by himself," Holly told Dawn in response.
"I'll be fine," I assured Holly and I gave her a small kiss on her forehead. "They wouldn't call unless they really needed you. Get going."
"Be careful," Holly told me as she walked towards Dawn. In a swirl of green energy they were gone.
I sighed as I began to walk off into the night. I really wish Holly had just stayed at home where she should be. She had barely begun to mourn yet and she was out risking her life. The only thing she was going to do was get herself hurt or killed. At least now she was with Colleen. As powerful as I am, she would be safer with Colleen.
"Well there you are," I turned around as I heard a voice from behind me. Standing there with two vampires on either side was Cassio. "I've been looking for you all night. Tonight is the big night after all." I turned around and saw that I was completely surrounded by vampires.
"The big night huh," I said, trying to put up a brave front. "Tonight is the reason you have all been looking for the Living Vampire?"
Cassio nodded. "Now I would give you the timeless spiel about how there are two ways that we can do it, but let's get serious here. You're one of the white hats. You're going to fight no matter what, am I right?"
"You're God damn right I'm going to fight," I said as I jumped out of the way of the vampire that rushed towards me. I pulled out my stake and as he swung around I buried it in his chest. I turned around and there were two vampires right in front of me and another two behind me. I tried to punch and kick them away from me but it wasn't long till there were six vampires holding me down.
"Now see," Cassio said as he walked towards me. Despite my strength I couldn't pull myself away from the six vampires that were pinning me down. "Wasn't that just a waste of time and energy?" Cassio leaned in close while he was speaking and he punctuated his sentence with a head butt which knocked me unconscious.
I'm not sure how long I was out but I don't think it was that long. I came to a rather rude awakening when Cassio punched me hard to the face to wake me up. It took me a second to get my bearings but I soon realized that I was bound and that we were in a very dark warehouse.
"Oh good," Cassio said with a grin. "You're awake." I struggled against the chains that bound me but it was no use. I looked around the room and saw that there were way too many vampires for me to even fight through. It was then that I noticed the other demon in the room. The demon was wearing brown robes and seemed to be about six feet tall. It was bald and his skin seemed more like white scales. His eyes were a yellow color and his lips and nose were very thin.
"Is this your first encounter with a Ladron demon?" Cassio asked me when he noticed the way I was looking at the demon. "They are marvelous creatures. Here, let's take a closer look." Cassio picked me up and moved me closer to the demon. "They have the most extraordinary talent. They are actual able to manipulate souls and daemons."
Suddenly, I found myself remembering the terrible feeling that I had in my stomach the night before. I looked around wildly for any possible escape but there was nothing that I could see. I didn't know why, but I knew that I had to get out of there. Even though it wasn't going to help, I began to kick and thrash wildly. Cassio just looked down at me and smiled.
"It's starting to dawn on you isn't it?" Cassio asked me. "You're starting to realize the situation that you're in." As Cassio talked the demon put a hand on my forehead and began to chant. "Let me fill in a few blanks for you."
"You see," Cassio said as he paced a few feet from me and the Ladron, "You're existence was foretold many years ago. There are a lot of prophecies about you. That's why all these vampires are at the Hellmouth. Everyone is out to get the power of the Living Vampire. Of course, most of these vampires are so hopelessly bound to the past that they can't possible come up with a plan that would get to your power."
Cassio stepped closer to me and smiled down at me on the floor. "However," he said as began to talk again. This was definitely someone who was in love with the sound of their own voice. "I'm better than that. I was the only vampire that was able to find you. Even after Cortez stole my information, I was still the one that took you. Are you even remotely aware of the power inside you? Of your potential?"
At this point, I was actually listening to what Cassio was saying and he knew it. "You have more power inside of you then any vampire in the last millennium," Cassio told me. "That's why it was so important that I found you and had the spell that bound your soul lifted."
If it was even possible, I was even more sick to my stomach. That's what had happened last night. The spell that protected me was removed. That's why Holly's mom was dead now. It was all because of me.
"You never would have known what kind of doors were open to you," Cassio said with a smile. "You never would have known what you were capable of." Cassio moved even closer to me and the demon. "Capable of with the right stuff inside of you."
With that final statement the demon slammed his left hand on my chest and his right hand on Cassio's chest. I screamed out in agony as energy passed through and burned me from the inside out. The whole world went black and then white and then black again. I fell to the floor and had to brace myself. The whole room was spinning and I moved my hand up to my head in an effort to orient myself.
That's when I realized that I had moved my hand. The chains were no longer binding me. I looked over across the room and several vampires who were moving closer and closer to us. I looked down and watched as some of them were helping Cassio back to his feet. Next to them were more vampires helping someone else to their feet. My eyes went wide as I realized that the person they were helping was me. I looked down at the trembling hands of the Ladron demon only to realize that they were my hands. I fell back against the wall as the room continued to spin.
"Surprise," I heard my own voice coming from my own mouth. Only now, it wasn't my body anymore. Something else was in it. "Did you see this coming?" The body that used to belong to me now walked towards my new body with purpose. I tried to stand up to him but I was still too dizzy. I stumbled forward to my hands and knees and I felt a kick to my face. I fell back and coughed.
"Cassio?" I asked weakly, still trying to figure out what had happened.
"Now you're getting it," Cassio smiled at me through my own lips. "Now you're piecing it together." He walked over towards what must have been the Ladron demon in his previous body. "That was quite a stunt, wasn't it? A little soul shuffle. Now I'm in your body, you're in the Ladron's body, and the Ladron, the only being who could reverse this, is in my body."
It was at that moment that I noticed the stake in Cassio's hand. Before the Ladron could react, Cassio staked his former body.
"Whoops," Cassio said as he brushed the dust off of my former clothes. "Looks like it's permanent now. You know, I think I'm going to take this new body out for a test drive."
I couldn't take it one second longer. I stood up and raced towards Cassio. He had to keep himself from laughing as he blocked my blows delivered from hands that were only slightly stronger than a human. He blocked a few more attacks before he got tired of me and knocked me across the room effortlessly with strength that even I didn't know that my body possessed.
"Settle down Mike," Cassio said with a chuckle. "Why don't you just sit back and sift through the Ladron's memories. It could be interesting. I know that yours are quite interesting." Cassio continued to walk towards the door. "Lock him up," he said to another vampire as he left.
"If you hurt her I'll kill you," I said to Cassio as two vampires picked me up. Cassio stopped and turned back towards me.
"Her?" Cassio said as he looked to be in thought. "Do you mean Holly or Colleen?" I didn't say anything. Cassio just continued to give me my trademark smile. "I guess I'll just have to go after both of them."
Even though I knew I couldn't get away from the vampires I struggled anyway until they eventually knocked me out.
*****
Jordan
Eben was handling four vampires very easily. I realized that I could have very easily have just gone home but you never realize when a situation is going to come up where a psychic is going to be needed.
"We were all wondering why you never work with us," I said to Eben after he finished off the last vampire. "Now I see that you really don't need to work with anyone."
"Your system seems to be working out," Eben said to me as we began to look for the next vampires.
"It beats having no one to make stupid conversation with," I admitted to Eben.
"Stupid conversation would be nice sometimes," Eben said quietly.
I debated for a moment whether I should say what I wanted to say or not. "You know," I said slowly, "we could really use some help. One of our friends, she had a loss recently."
We walked in silence for a few moments. "Who?" Eben eventually asked.
"Holly," I told Eben. "Her mom was vamped."
"I'm sorry," Eben said to me. "What happened?"
I shrugged. "It just happened last night. All I know is that Holly's mom attacked and Mike had to stake her."
"Wow," Eben said quietly.
"I know," I said back to Eben.
"I…" Eben trailed off as he seemed to want to keep talking. "I know what she's going through. I lost both of my parents."
"I'm sorry," I said to Eben. I had no clue what else to say.
"Don't be," Eben said to me. "It was a while ago."
"It would be really nice if you joined the circle," I told Eben. "It's not just for the whole demon fighting thing but also the friendship. It's nice to not be alone in this. I know Colleen would like it."
Eben didn't say anything but he nodded. "It does seem nice."
We continued to walk and suddenly I felt a rush in my head. I wasn't sure how he did it, but I could feel Aaron in my head. It wasn't like I could hear him talking, but I knew that they needed Eben.
"Eben," I said as he braced me form the psychic episode. "You need to go right now."
"What's happening?" Eben asked me.
"The others need you," I said as I stood on my own two feet. "They're just on the edge of the park on the north side."
"I can't take you with me," Eben said to me.
"I'll be fine," I said to Eben. "I'm going to head back to Holly's. Just go."
"Be careful," Eben said to me.
"You too," I said to Eben. He nodded and teleported away.
All by myself, I began to walk down the deserted streets of Sunnydale. It was late and everything was closed down. The residents of Sunnydale were good at picking up on Hellmouth vibes.
I walked back to Holly's but no one was there. Aaron's car wasn't even in the driveway. I looked around and didn't see anyone around me. Since no one was back at the house I decided that I would go back out to see if my friends needed my help. There was no need for me to be resting when they could need me. Reaching out with my psychic senses, I made sure that there were no vampires nearby that I just didn't see.
Halfway to the park I felt a really strange tingle creep up the back of my neck. Looking around, I spotted Mike racing towards me down the sidewalk.
"Hey," I said to Mike as he caught up to me.
"Jordan," Mike said. I wasn't sure, but it seemed like Mike had forgotten my name for a second.
"Are you okay?" I asked Mike. He looked disoriented.
"I'm fine," Mike said. "I feel good."
"Are you sure?" I asked Mike. I couldn't put my finger on it, but something was definitely wrong. "You seem sick or something."
"I'm telling you," Mike said as he tried to laugh off my concern. "I'm fine."
"Where are Holly and Dawn?" I asked Mike. There was something that Mike wasn't telling me.
"Holly and Dawn?" Mike said. He looked like he was trying to remember. "Aaron called them," he eventually told me. "They had to go help Colleen."
I was about to say something else when I spotted three vampires across the street. "Mike!" Mike hesitated for a second before he looked over to where I was pointing. He hesitated for another second before he ran off towards the vampires, giving me a quick double take before he left.
I stood on the other side of the street and watched as Mike made short work of the three vampires. He tossed them around like they were rag dolls. He threw one vampire at least twenty yards. Beyond just the sudden increase in power, Mike definitely wasn't fighting like himself. There was more rage in his movements. Was he worked up over what had happened to Holly's mom? I watched as Mike picked up the last vampire. To my amazement, Mike ripped the head right off of the vampire, turning him into dust.
"What was that?" I asked Mike as I ran over to him. "Mike, there is something seriously wrong here and if you're not going to tell me what it is then I'm going to find out for myself."
That's when I felt it. I hadn't even really meant to reach out with my powers but it had happened almost instinctively. I had reached out with my mind and the person who I felt wasn't Mike. It was someone I had sensed before.
"Psychic," Mike said with sudden realization. He looked down at me through eyes that were definitely not Mike's. There wasn't a trace of any of the qualities that were fundamental to the Mike that I knew. There weren't any qualities of humanity at all in his eyes.
"Cassio?" I asked in disbelief.
With movements that were too fast for me to even process I found myself held by the sides of my head and lifted above the ground.
"I guess now that I'm in this new human body that I'm not immune to mind reading," Cassio said with a sickening grin. "I guess you know too much now."
A million thoughts raced through my mind as I started into eyes that belonged to Mike but were linked to Cassio's soul. But Cassio didn't have a soul. Cassio was a daemon. Why hadn't I sensed it before? Why had it taken me so long to realize that the person who now held my life in his hands wasn't my friend but rather my enemy?
As I dangled in the air I worried about my friends. I worried about what would happen to them. I worried about what this would do to them. I worried that maybe that this was all going to be too much for Holly. She had been through way too much. More than any person should ever have to go through. There was nothing I wanted more than for her to get some relief.
I thought about Colleen next. She took everything that happened in this town to heart. She thought that everything that went wrong was her fault. More than that, she loved Mike. This was going to be so hard for her. It was also going to be hard for Dawn too. Dawn was the heart of our group.
And what about Aaron? Mike and I were Aaron's best friends. What was he going to do now? And more than anyone else, I thought about Mike. Where was he? What had Cassio done to him? Was he even still alive?
Suddenly, I knew that Mike was still alive. I'm not sure how but I just knew. I was amazed at how bright it suddenly was outside even though the sun was down. Everything was getting so bright. The whole world was going white. There were more people around me now too. It felt so much better now that I wasn't alone. They were taking me. They told me that it was time for me to go, but at that moment all I could think about was what Aaron had said earlier.
"I can't go," I told them. "I'm not done yet."
"Yes you are," they said back to me. I could tell that they were right. I was done. There was nothing left for me here. I still had one last question though.
"Did I matter?" I asked them. "Did I make a difference?"
Although I couldn't see who they were or where they were taking me, I knew that they were smiling. "Of course," they told me. "And now you deserve a rest."
And with that last thought I let go of everything I ever knew.
*****
Cassio looked through Mike's eyes down at the lifeless body of Jordan Clarke.
*****
Author's Note: Yeah, another dark chapter. This was so hard for me to write. Although I knew it was going to happen, I really didn't want any of my characters to die. But it's unrealistic for no one to die in Sunnydale. It was just really hard to kill Jordan though. Anyway, please review this chapter. I'm more interested in people's thoughts on this chapter than any other. Was it very predictable? Are you worried that this season is just going to be exactly the same as season two of Buffy? If you are, then I'll end your worries right now. It's going to be different, I promise. Anyway, please keep reading. And if Jordan was your favorite character then I'm very sorry.