Part 5:
The vampire's body remained upright for a few seconds after Buffy chopped his head off, just long enough for said head to roll across the ground and cause Willow to jump out of its path with a little shriek. The Slayer spun away from him in the same movement that had decapitated the vampire, slid the sword back into the sheath she carried on her back, and let herself fall right into the arms of her lover. Buffy and Angel shared a kiss as both body and head crumbled into dust.
"One more for the good guys," Buffy giggled between kisses.
"Kiss or dead vampire?"
"Both!"
Faith, who had dusted a vampire of her own and was busy wiping its remains from her jacket, watched Buffy and Angel with a smirk on her lips.
"Check out the lust bunnies!" She shook her head. "Is it just me or are those two trying for new cuteness heights every other night?"
"Just every other night?" Cordelia shrugged.
"They are cute," Willow protested their sarcasm. "Well, cute in the way that they decapitate vampires between kisses, but ..."
"We get the message, red," Faith said, chuckling under her breath. She could not help a funny feeling, though. It was more than just her usual bout of slight depression whenever she saw Buffy and Angel so obviously in love. No, something was making the hairs on the back of her neck stand up and it was not those loser vampires they had just taken care of.
Buffy did not seem to feel it, though, and seeing as she was by far the more experienced Slayer Faith was ready to disregard her intuition for now.
"Enough work," Buffy told the others. "Let's go party!"
Or maybe disregarding her intuition would be a mistake after all.
"Uh, B, we have another two cemeteries to check, remember?"
"They'll still be there tomorrow night." She snuggled into Angel's side. "I want to party!"
Faith waited for Angel to say something, as he was usually the responsible one in that pair. Well, not that Buffy was usually irresponsible in any way. She had heard some wild stories about how Buffy had tried to balance sacred duty and fun life as a valley girl from Willow and Cordy, but the only Buffy she knew was the one who had gone through hell. She took her duties seriously and, though she was slowly picking up quipping again, was quite demure most of the times.
Angel said nothing, just looked at his girlfriend with a look in his eyes that caused sweat to break out on Faith's brow. Angel should get an arm's license for that look. There was that feeling again, her senses seeming to scream at her that something was wrong.
"What the lady wants," her sensitive hearing picked up his whispered words, "the lady shall get."
Why was Angel talking with an accent all of a sudden?
"Uh, guys," Willow suddenly called for attention. "What is that?"
Everyone except Buffy and Angel looked where she was pointing, seeing a large group of people trail into the graveyard. For a moment Faith feared that they were vampires mounting some kind of major assault, but her senses stayed quiet. Those were humans, ordinary humans, and not the youngest of humans, either.
They were singing and carrying quite a few bottles of alcohol along with them.
"Is there some kind of graveyard party scheduled for tonight?" Faith asked, looking at the newcomers, who had yet to see them.
"This is gross," Cordelia added. "Most of these guys are old enough to be my parents."
"Some of them are," Willow said in a shocked voice, seeing her father among the crowd. Ira Rosenberg, who was usually about as lively as a rock, was singing along with some others, throwing back the occasional sip of beer.
"Now this is weird," was Oz' only comment.
"Buffy, do you ...," Willow turned to ask the Slayer for her opinion on the matter, but found that she was talking to empty space. Buffy and Angel were gone.
"Okay, this has gone beyond weird."
The group of adults was camping out near a big crypt, men and women in their late thirties to early fifties squatted down on the ground and kept singing ancient rock music, quickly consuming the beer they had brought along, nibbling on chocolate bars between sips.
"Shouldn't we do something about this?" Willow asked, spotting her father in an intimate embrace with a woman who definitely was not her mother. The redhead looked in serious danger of fainting right now.
Faith became aware that the others were looking at her, apparently waiting for her to decide something. When had she suddenly become leader of this little group?
"We should check in with Giles," she said, refusing to sound intimidated. "Maybe Watcher-man knows whether something weird is going on."
Two cars suddenly roared across the cemetery, two men in their forties behind the wheels, barrelling over quite a few tombstones as they raced against each other. They passed close to the group of beer-drinking squatters, who hooted after them.
"Weird, yep," Cordelia said.
#
Xander was sitting on a couch in the Bronze, waiting for the others. He was glad that Willow had told him about tonight, gladder even that she had invited him. She would probably attract some static from Buffy because of that, but it seemed his best and oldest friend was willing to go out on a limb for him again. Maybe things actually were improving a little.
He had not accompanied them on patrol. Somehow being close to Buffy while she was in Slayer mode and beheading vampires with that sword she always used as of late did not seem like the most healthy thing in the world to Xander. Time, he kept telling himself. Give it time. Lots of time. He just wondered why time was taking so long to pass these days.
Why were there so many adults in the Bronze today?
Rising to get himself another drink Xander suddenly spotted two familiar figures on the dance floor. Buffy and Angel were there, dancing close to one another. No, dancing was the wrong word for what they were doing. He had some fond memories of the dance Buffy had performed with him in order to make Angel jealous about a year or so ago. That was nothing compared to what he was seeing right now.
His attention was finally diverted when the band playing on stage was pushed aside by a couple of middle-aged men with bare upper bodies, all of them looking extremely drunk and eager to party. One of them grabbed the microphone and bellowed some kind of lyrics Xander had never heard before.
Wasn't that Mr. Jameson, a teacher from school?
Looking around the stuffed interior of the Bronze, most of the stuffing being done by people at least twice his age, Xander could not help but think that something strange was going on here. Much stranger than the fact that Buffy was busy licking Angel's chest where she had unbuttoned his shirt. God, that was a visual he could have done without.
#
Kicking the discarded tweed suit into a corner Ripper lit himself a fag, stuffing the last piece of chocolate into his mouth at the same time. God, what had he been thinking? Moving into a place like this? Wearing these stuffy clothes?
He could think of only one possible way to wash the stink of years as a prude off himself. He needed to get laid. Fast!
Now where would the pretty girls be hiding in a boring town like this?
TO BE CONTINUED
The vampire's body remained upright for a few seconds after Buffy chopped his head off, just long enough for said head to roll across the ground and cause Willow to jump out of its path with a little shriek. The Slayer spun away from him in the same movement that had decapitated the vampire, slid the sword back into the sheath she carried on her back, and let herself fall right into the arms of her lover. Buffy and Angel shared a kiss as both body and head crumbled into dust.
"One more for the good guys," Buffy giggled between kisses.
"Kiss or dead vampire?"
"Both!"
Faith, who had dusted a vampire of her own and was busy wiping its remains from her jacket, watched Buffy and Angel with a smirk on her lips.
"Check out the lust bunnies!" She shook her head. "Is it just me or are those two trying for new cuteness heights every other night?"
"Just every other night?" Cordelia shrugged.
"They are cute," Willow protested their sarcasm. "Well, cute in the way that they decapitate vampires between kisses, but ..."
"We get the message, red," Faith said, chuckling under her breath. She could not help a funny feeling, though. It was more than just her usual bout of slight depression whenever she saw Buffy and Angel so obviously in love. No, something was making the hairs on the back of her neck stand up and it was not those loser vampires they had just taken care of.
Buffy did not seem to feel it, though, and seeing as she was by far the more experienced Slayer Faith was ready to disregard her intuition for now.
"Enough work," Buffy told the others. "Let's go party!"
Or maybe disregarding her intuition would be a mistake after all.
"Uh, B, we have another two cemeteries to check, remember?"
"They'll still be there tomorrow night." She snuggled into Angel's side. "I want to party!"
Faith waited for Angel to say something, as he was usually the responsible one in that pair. Well, not that Buffy was usually irresponsible in any way. She had heard some wild stories about how Buffy had tried to balance sacred duty and fun life as a valley girl from Willow and Cordy, but the only Buffy she knew was the one who had gone through hell. She took her duties seriously and, though she was slowly picking up quipping again, was quite demure most of the times.
Angel said nothing, just looked at his girlfriend with a look in his eyes that caused sweat to break out on Faith's brow. Angel should get an arm's license for that look. There was that feeling again, her senses seeming to scream at her that something was wrong.
"What the lady wants," her sensitive hearing picked up his whispered words, "the lady shall get."
Why was Angel talking with an accent all of a sudden?
"Uh, guys," Willow suddenly called for attention. "What is that?"
Everyone except Buffy and Angel looked where she was pointing, seeing a large group of people trail into the graveyard. For a moment Faith feared that they were vampires mounting some kind of major assault, but her senses stayed quiet. Those were humans, ordinary humans, and not the youngest of humans, either.
They were singing and carrying quite a few bottles of alcohol along with them.
"Is there some kind of graveyard party scheduled for tonight?" Faith asked, looking at the newcomers, who had yet to see them.
"This is gross," Cordelia added. "Most of these guys are old enough to be my parents."
"Some of them are," Willow said in a shocked voice, seeing her father among the crowd. Ira Rosenberg, who was usually about as lively as a rock, was singing along with some others, throwing back the occasional sip of beer.
"Now this is weird," was Oz' only comment.
"Buffy, do you ...," Willow turned to ask the Slayer for her opinion on the matter, but found that she was talking to empty space. Buffy and Angel were gone.
"Okay, this has gone beyond weird."
The group of adults was camping out near a big crypt, men and women in their late thirties to early fifties squatted down on the ground and kept singing ancient rock music, quickly consuming the beer they had brought along, nibbling on chocolate bars between sips.
"Shouldn't we do something about this?" Willow asked, spotting her father in an intimate embrace with a woman who definitely was not her mother. The redhead looked in serious danger of fainting right now.
Faith became aware that the others were looking at her, apparently waiting for her to decide something. When had she suddenly become leader of this little group?
"We should check in with Giles," she said, refusing to sound intimidated. "Maybe Watcher-man knows whether something weird is going on."
Two cars suddenly roared across the cemetery, two men in their forties behind the wheels, barrelling over quite a few tombstones as they raced against each other. They passed close to the group of beer-drinking squatters, who hooted after them.
"Weird, yep," Cordelia said.
#
Xander was sitting on a couch in the Bronze, waiting for the others. He was glad that Willow had told him about tonight, gladder even that she had invited him. She would probably attract some static from Buffy because of that, but it seemed his best and oldest friend was willing to go out on a limb for him again. Maybe things actually were improving a little.
He had not accompanied them on patrol. Somehow being close to Buffy while she was in Slayer mode and beheading vampires with that sword she always used as of late did not seem like the most healthy thing in the world to Xander. Time, he kept telling himself. Give it time. Lots of time. He just wondered why time was taking so long to pass these days.
Why were there so many adults in the Bronze today?
Rising to get himself another drink Xander suddenly spotted two familiar figures on the dance floor. Buffy and Angel were there, dancing close to one another. No, dancing was the wrong word for what they were doing. He had some fond memories of the dance Buffy had performed with him in order to make Angel jealous about a year or so ago. That was nothing compared to what he was seeing right now.
His attention was finally diverted when the band playing on stage was pushed aside by a couple of middle-aged men with bare upper bodies, all of them looking extremely drunk and eager to party. One of them grabbed the microphone and bellowed some kind of lyrics Xander had never heard before.
Wasn't that Mr. Jameson, a teacher from school?
Looking around the stuffed interior of the Bronze, most of the stuffing being done by people at least twice his age, Xander could not help but think that something strange was going on here. Much stranger than the fact that Buffy was busy licking Angel's chest where she had unbuttoned his shirt. God, that was a visual he could have done without.
#
Kicking the discarded tweed suit into a corner Ripper lit himself a fag, stuffing the last piece of chocolate into his mouth at the same time. God, what had he been thinking? Moving into a place like this? Wearing these stuffy clothes?
He could think of only one possible way to wash the stink of years as a prude off himself. He needed to get laid. Fast!
Now where would the pretty girls be hiding in a boring town like this?
TO BE CONTINUED
