Part 3
" So Liam, you're a mythology and folklore student at Harvard?" Willow walked down the dark street with Liam at her side. She snuggled deeper into his leather jacket to keep warm. Although he had his arm draped around her he didn't have much body heat. He had agreed to get some ice cream with her and do some more talking in a quieter spot. She couldn't believe her luck. This hot older guy was so interested in her. He actually listened to her ideas. Unlike the shallow high school boys, he seemed to respect her mind.
" Yes, I am visiting a friend of mine at Sunnydale University." Angelus for his part actually found himself becoming interested in the girl. She was quiet and mousy but possessed a youthful prettiness that would mature into true beauty over time. Combine that with a keen intellect and a clear repression of her base emotions and she was a prime candidate for turning. Unlike many vampires, angelus had extremely high standards when it came to whom he gifted with vampirism. It came from his snobbish renaissance upbringing. He found himself stirred by the mind of this girl in the short time he had known her. He was a master of seduction but he himself was becoming seduced by her mind and her shy innocence. He had decided that he would turn her. She would make a fine companion for himself and Faith once she was in the fold again. She would be his greatest performance piece since Faith. He still remembered the turning of Faith. The bloody alter, the baptism in the blood of the priest who had taken her in. It was a work of art. In that small Italian town they still speak of the cursed church of blood, the birthplace of the scourge of faith. Snapping out of his thoughts he said, " I know a shortcut." He took Willow by the hand and led her off the path toward Restfield Cemetery.
**
Buffy ran outside of the Bronze and frantically looked around. She had wasted several minutes inside, trying to find Jesse because he might have known where Willow might try and take a guy. She couldn't find him and she eventually stopped wasting time and left. She stopped to ask some the smokers outside the club if they had seen Willow. None of them had. She was starting to lose hope when Xander walked up to her.
" Buff, what's up?" Xander walked up to her with a worried expression.
" Willow left with a guy."
Xander broke out into a grin. " Good for her."
" No, No. Not good. Xand you're going to find this hard to believe, but the guy is dangerous." Buffy stared at Xander with sorrow. " Willow is in danger."
" Why, is the guy a vampire?" Buffy stared at Xander in shock.
"W-What?"
" I heard you talking to the librarian at school today. Buff, I think he's been messing with your head. Vampires don't exist." Xander looked seriously at Buffy.
" They are real, and Willow just left with one of them." Buffy silently implored Xander to believe her. " Do you know where she might take a guy to talk with him?
" Wendell's ice cream parlor. They're open all night and she loves their sherbet." Xander barely finished speaking before Buffy grabbed his arm and jerked him along side her. " Show me where it's at."
**
Jesse too found himself in Restfield Cemetery. This chick he had met named Darla wanted to make out with him in the graveyard. He thought she was a little weird, but after Cordelia had shot him down he was flattered by the attention of the beautiful college girl in the catholic schoolgirl outfit. So he let her guide him to a medium sized mausoleum.
" We're here," she whispered. She turned around and with unusual strength pushed him up against the wall. She pressed her lips to his face, her icy tongue finding the inside of his mouth. Her hands moved down his chest and drifted to his ass. She gave an experimental squeeze. She had been a vampire for many centuries but she never lost her lust for sex. She had been a whore as a mortal and unlike that whiner Faith she relished her profession. She had contracted syphilis as a mortal and the master turned her because he needed a expert seductress. She used all of her centuries of experience on the boy. He should never have stood a chance. It was said that when Darla fucked someone, she could drain him or her in the middle of the act and they would never notice. One of the more entertaining rumors about her is that she once turned a guy in the middle of sex and he didn't realized it till he burned himself in the sun the next day.
So she was quite surprised when he pushed her away and shouted, " Willow."
**
Jesse pushed away Darla. He looked toward Willow and the guy she was with, a puzzled expression plastered on his face. He started toward Willow. It was one thing to risk himself in the cemetery, but there was no way in hell he was letting willow stay here with some guy.
**
Willow saw Jesse push away the girl who had been manhandling him on the mausoleum wall. He started toward her with a serious look on his face. Very un Jesse-like. He moved toward her when Willow then saw something she would remember for the rest of her very long life. The girl's face changed. It became bumpy and her mouth grew fangs. It happened so fast she almost didn't believe her eyes. It was like a special effects morph. Her hand snapped out and snatched Jesse by the shoulder. She must have been strong because she completely stopped his forward momentum. She forced him to his knees with a single hand.
" Liam, do something," she shouted.
" Why, she's only going to kill him." Willow turned in shock and at the sight of Liam's face, began to scream.
**
They were running down the street, Buffy worried about Willow and Xander worried about Buffy and what the librarian had done to her to make her believe such an odd thing. They were by Restfield Cemetery when they heard a scream that sounded a lot like Willow. At the scream, Xander darted toward the cemetery, his face instantly becoming cold. No one messed with his Willow, Buffy following right behind. A high brick wall and a number of trees hid the cemetery. Restfield was a beautiful lightly wooded cemetery, so they couldn't see where willow was, they could only hear her screams. Xander hauled himself over the brick wall slowly, while buffy vaulted over the wall with a short running start. She swiftly outpaced Xander and began searching for Willow.
**
Buffy trailed Willows screams and burst into the clearing where the mausoleum lay secluded. She saw Willow screaming in terror as the vampire bent her head, exposing an appetizing expanse of neck. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jesse being dragged one handed into the crypt by a vamp in a schoolgirl outfit. Making a snap decision, she rushed the vamp near willow. He snarled at her and with a quick move shoved Willow into Buffy's path. Buffy vaulted over Willow and rushed the leather clad vamp.
Buffy laughed as she launched a series of punches with blurring speed. "Can't respect a vamp with hair that looks like that."
The vamp blocked the rapid blows with ease. He sent out a few probing blows of his own to test her reflexes. " Do you have any idea how hard it is to get your hair like this when you can't see your own reflection." He ducked a jumping spin kick that buffy twirled toward his head. He rushed inside Buffy's guard and landed a blow to Buffy's stomach that propelled her into a nearby tree. She lay there dazed as flakes of bark landed on her shoulders.
"Pathetic. I've fought a dozen slayers and you were the easiest I've ever beaten. You shouldn't have slacked off in your training. If you're wondering who is about to kill you, my names Angelus, The Scourge of Europe. Your watcher will have heard of me." He smiled in game face, revealing a mouth of fangs. " Not that you'll get the chance to ask him." Angelus approached Buffy and licked his lips. As he drew closer he began to stroke his groin leaving little question as to what he was going to do to Buffy.
He leaned over buffy when a form wearing a hideous green Hawaiian shirt tackled angelus and bore him to the ground. Xander began raining blows on his face. Xander's own face was a grimace of rage. This thing had assaulted Willow and was threatening Buffy. The first few blows caught the old vampire by surprise. He did nothing to protect his face since the strikes stung but did no real damage. Truth be told they kind of turned angelus on. After a few moments of pounding he tired of it and flung Xander off of him, throwing him a good fifteen feet. Angelus turned to where Buffy had been laying and found her gone.
Hearing movement behind him he whirled around only to meet Buffy's tiny but powerful fist. " Got my second wind." Buffy smiled as his head snapped back. Following up Buffy delivered a series of body blows. She felt his ribs give away under the brutal pounding. Retreating, Angelus maneuvered himself where Willow lay shaking on the ground. He snatched up his leather jacket and flung it over Buffy's head.
Buffy ripped the coat from her eyes and found the vampire gone. Growling she moved to try and track him when she remembered Jesse and second vampire. She looked toward the mausoleum and found the vamp and Jesse gone but the heavy stone door leading to the interior lay open. She cautious approached the entrance.
**
Xander felt like a giant bruise. His chest hurt and ribs were sore as hell. Whoever that guy was, he was strong. And buffy beat him back, moving faster than anyone Xander had ever seen. Too tired to get up, he crawled to where Willow lay weeping on the ground.
" Hey Wills." He smiled weakly at her. " I told you going home with strange guys was a bad idea."
Willow raised her blotchy face. " What were those things Xan." She began to break down again. " Oh God, she took Jesse."
" Jesse?"
" The girl he was talking to at the bronze was one of them too."
Xander tried to struggle to his feet. He tried to follow Buffy into mausoleum but he was too hurt. He slid to the ground and lay there. I think I'm hurt bad.