Chapter 8
This was another one of those times when I hated being just one more Potential. We were being herded upstairs so that the grown ups could do their planning. Lucky for me with so many girls no one noticed me heading for the kitchen instead of the stairs.
Slipping out the backdoor was easy. Quickly I walked around to the front yard, pausing behind a bush while Wood showed up and was invited inside.
The curtains were closed so I couldn't see what was going on inside. That was fine, they couldn't see me talking to Alucard, either. Speaking of Alucard, he was nowhere to be seen. I didn't want to yell for him, someone inside might hear.
Rubbing my arms I began pacing, trying to ignore the cool breezes. If he took much longer I would have to risk being caught to get a coat.
"You cold?" Alucard asked.
I didn't turn to look at him until my pacing brought me back to facing him. With a sigh I stopped walking. "How long have you been out here?"
Alucard shrugged. "Not long. What's up with the slayer? She didn't seem too happy in there." He motioned towards the living room.
Taking a deep breath I debated on how to answer that. I didn't want him to know all of our problems, but was there any harm on telling him some of what was going on? Maybe, maybe not. Best just to play it safe.
"The First is getting annoying, nothing big," I answered.
Alucard's eyes asked everything he didn't. He knew something was up, but also knew he didn't have to ask about it. "So, what have you decided?"
I shook my head. "Never got a chance to talk to Buffy. I think the trip's going have to wait till- wait, do you hear that?" Alucard gave me a look of confusion as I stood still. Faintly in the distance the sound of drums was coming. I couldn't tell where from though.
"First there is the Earth."
I turned around, trying to see who had said that. It sort of sounded like Dawn, but she was inside.
"Then there came the Demons."
A faint, ghostly roar sounded about the drumming, which continued steadily. I stopped moving, listening carefully. Was there really a demon near by? What was going on?
"Hey, Liz, you okay?" I heard Alucard ask.
I ignored him as the words continued. "After demons, there came Men." Chanting sounds, this time sounding as if it came from the house.
I began to get the feeling that it was Dawn speaking, but for some reason I could hear her. I glanced at the house, seeing shadows against the curtains. Someone was making a shadow puppet show for some reason or another. Ignoring the bodies of the people in the room I looked at the pictures circling around, picking up on the story.
"The men found a girl."
I heard a brief scream as a girl was added to the pictures. They started to turn faster.
"The Men took the Girl. To fight the Demon, um, all Demons. They. . ." I heard her hesitate, and I was certain it was Dawn. "They chained her to the Earth." Chains were added to the picture and I heard them rattling.
There was a pause, I could feel that Dawn was saying something, but that it wasn't important that I hear it. The pictures began to spin faster, taking on new shapes. The girl was in chains, the demon moving towards her and the men. . .
". . . you cannot be shown, you cannot just watch but you must see - see for yourself but only if you're willing to make the exchange."
Wind must have been blowing inside the living room because the curtains opened enough for us to see what was inside. The shadow puppets were spinning out of control, then suddenly the turntable they'd been rotating on disappeared, leaving behind a portal that was the size and shape of a door.
"Okay, I must have missed something. . ." I heard Alucard say, but my attention was focused on the group.
The people inside were talking amongst themselves, arguing. When the portal started to close Buffy shouted something to the rest of the group before diving strait into the portal. It closed behind her and the room was left in silence. The drumming was gone, all the supernatural stuff that had been going through my head left with it.
"Mind explaining what that was about?" Alucard asked.
I just shook my head. "I'm. . . I'm not sure. I just heard. . ."
Suddenly, with a flash of light similar to that of the portal, a blast knocks all the people inside back a step. Suddenly a demon is teleported into the center of the living room. Tusks, droll, muscles. . . typical huge demon sent to kill everyone. The demon took a second to look around before backhanding Xander, who stood the closest.
"Oh shit," I said right as I ran for the door, Alucard at my heal. I ran inside right as the demon lashed out at Willow, smashing her in the face with a punch. Willow was thrown against the living room table.
The demon spun to face principal Wood, and I saw three morning stars embedded in its back. Wood didn't get another chance to grab a weapon before the demon smashed him into the floor.
"Weapons!" Kennedy shouted to Dawn who went for the weapons chest. The demon was on them before they got a chance to do anything, though.
There were too many people being thrown around for me to run into the fight, but Spike brushed past me as if I wasn't there. "Get her out of her. All of you, 'less you want to be all dead and useless." He shouted to Kennedy and the rest.
"Yeah-" Kennedy snapped, "what are you gonna do?"
"What I do best," Spike said, throwing her a look before charging at the demon.
Spike grabbed the demon by the head and bashed it against the living room wall. For a moment I actually thought he might be hurting it. No such luck though. The demon literally picked Spike up and threw him through the ceiling.
The demon looks around, making sure there's no one else to take care of. He saw me, and the door, and rushed forward. I ducked as he tried to backhand me, throwing a quick punch to his gut as I did so. It barely hurt him, but he grunted, which I suppose meant that it did something. The demon growled at me. I didn't move, so he backhanded me.
For a moment my face hurt, well, it still hurt afterwards but I was able to fight back. I punched him hard in the face, taking it by surprise. He seemed surprised that I was even still standing after he hit me.
The demon growled at me, letting out a huge below as he hit me aqain, this time with enough force to knock me back into the wall. I crumbled to the ground afterwards, but looked up in time to see the demon run outside.
Alucard stepped to the side as the demon ran by, not wanting to get involved in our little scrimmage. He glanced at the people standing back up before looking at me. The look on his face said that he didn't want to hang around at the moment. He mouthed the word "Backyard" before seeming to vanish. I starred at where he was for a second before looking back at the living room.
Everyone was checking everyone else, making sure that no one was injured too badly. Dawn was the first one to her feet, and she immediately turned to Kennedy, "are you injured?"
Kennedy got unsteadily to her feet, "Just hurt. Don't make a case out of it. How about you?" She asked the others.
"Think we'll live," Xander said with grim sarcasm.
Anya glanced up, "Except maybe Spike." I walked into the living room, looking up as well, hoping Spike was okay.
"Is getting thrown through the ceiling what he does best?" Kennedy asked wryly.
I shrugged, "He's better at that then writing poems," I murmured.
"I'll go check on him," Dawn stated.
"And we've got bigger problems," Anya stated, staling Dawn.
We all looked towards the door that was hanging half off its hinges. "Demon loose, no Slayer," Wood said bluntly.
"We need Buffy," Willow stated.
"You gotta get her back. Looks like it's spell-o-clock," Xander said.
"Which spell?" Anya asked, "You see how powerful that thing was? You expect to get that portal re-opened without sending Willow off the deep end?" She didn't seem to be too sure on the plan.
"Thanks for your support," Willow muttered, frustrated.
"Well it's true." Anya snapped. "There's gotta e some other way."
"There isn't. And Buffy knew it. I have to get her back," Willow stated.
"We don't even know where she went," Kennedy pointed out.
"Well, if the demon comes back I think I can handle it," I said, no one seemed to notice though, they were too busy fighting with themselves.
I sighed and took a step back. They didn't need me here. They wouldn't even believe me if I told them what was going on with me at the moment. They needed a leader to run smoothly. Smirking I saw the irony. Now they'd have to deal without Buffy, she couldn't be carrying them anymore. Briefly I took a moment to wonder how well they would do before leaving the room.
I walked into the kitchen and out the back door. Alucard was waiting, leaning against a tree. He smiled to me as I walked out. "So, what's up with the big guy coming out of nowhere?"
I shrugged. "They weren't exactly saying anything useful in there."
"I see," Alucard murmured, watching me walk out onto the porch. I sat down on the back steps and just stared.
Alucard pushed off the tree and came over next to me. "So where's Buffy?" He asked.
"I-I don't know," I said, though at the moment I wasn't sure.
Suddenly I hear the drums again. I felt my body go slack as I just stared forward. My vision parted into two segments. It was as if one eye saw one world, and the other saw another.
In the first world I was on the porch, staring at Alucard. In the other I stood in a desert, completely isolated. Slowly the sands began to swirl, shifting in the wind. In a flash of light Buffy fell onto the top of a sand dune, sliding face first down it until at last she landed at the bottom. Slowly she got to her feet, shaking off the sand as she got her bearings.
"Well. Guess that worked," she muttered.
I was standing next to her, but I knew she wouldn't see me. I was more of a phantom then a real person, not even really there. I saw as Buffy heard the drums and looked off in the distance. A small group of people stood somewhere far off, they hadn't been there when I first looked. I watched as Buffy started towards them before returning to the real world.
"Liz? Liz what's wrong?" Alucard was shaking me, trying to get me to answer.
I blinked for a moment, trying to figure out what had just happened. "Okay, you can stop now," I told Alucard, grabbing his arms so that I could sit still.
He slowly pulled back, looking genuinely worried as he starred at me. "What the hell just happened?" he asked softly.
I couldn't stop a shiver running through me as I considered the same thing. "I don't know," I sighed. "Buffy. . . I saw her. She's in some desert. I was there, but I wasn't. She didn't see me."
Alucard was just staring, deep in thought. Finally he spoke up. "this ever happen before? You trailing Buffy?"
I began to shake my head, then stopped. "I was in her dream."
Alucard nodded. "Okay, that's important, I think. Well, you shouldn't be able to stop this. It'll just happen, but it's all leading up to something, and when you know what that is, it'll stop."
I nodded slowly. "Okay, how would you know all this?"
He paused, not sure of how to answer. "I had a friend, a long time ago, who I think went through something similar."
"Why do you think that would apply to me?" I asked.
He shrugged. "You're both slayers, you both are going through a similar occurrence. Could have something to do with it."
I raised an eyebrow. "You had a Slayer for a friend?" I asked, disbelieving.
He nodded, suddenly uncomfortable. "I was alive at the time."
That explained his nervous expression. "What, afraid people will think less of you for hanging with a slayer?" I asked, trying to lighten the mood.
He allowed himself to grin. "Something along those lines, I guess." He stated. Standing back up he looked down at me. "So, I take it we're not grabbing the watchers tonight."
I shook my head. "No, that doesn't sound like the best of ideas."
Alucard shrugged then glanced at the house. "You think you'd be able to help the humans?" he asked.
I shrugged. "Don't know."
"If you can you should," He stated.
I was going to say something, but then I froze.
Buffy approached three men. They sat rocking back and forth, chanting in front of their tent. Buffy walked towards them, entering their group.
"Hello?" she asked, unsure of herself.
The men stopped chanting and looked up. They were old, very old. They were black and dressed like ancient desert nomads, each with a staff. They reminded me vaguely of the shadow puppet men for some reason.
"I'm Buffy," Buffy starts, "I'm the Slayer. I'm-"
One of the shadow men cut her off speaking in what I recognized as Swahili, and managed to understand, even though I didn't speak that language. "We know who you are," he said.
"And we know why you're here," Added the second man.
"We've been waiting," the third said.
Buffy waits a moment before saying, "Good. That's good then and I know we've got bigger issues to deal with but how'd I understand a word you just said?"
The men stood without answering.
"I know," Buffy went on, "ancient Magicks, I just thought it was neat."
The men, still standing, begin to walk around Buffy and she turned to keep eye contact with them as they looked her over.
I was watching everything form outside the circle they had going on. None of them even glanced my way.
"We have been here since the beginning," The first guy said.
"Now, we are almost at the end." the second.
"Okay, and the 'neat' of it just left me. End of what?" Buffy asked, beginning to grow edgy.
"You are the hell mouth's last Guardian" says the third.
"Latest. You mean "latest" guardian," Buffy tried to correct him.
The first man said, very sternly, "No."
"Look - I got a First to fight. You three have clearly had some time on your hands. Tell me what I need to know. I came to learn."
The first man stared at her, "We cannot give you knowledge. Only power."
"Okay, know what I think? I'm not really here at all. None of this is actually happening, this is like a play, like a shadow play, like a non- reality re-enactment hologrammy. . ." Her rambling was interrupted with a Whack, the shadow man's staff cutting her theory short as it knocked her unconscious with one blow. Buffy crumbled to the ground and without another word the Shadow Men began to drag Buffy away, resuming their chant as they head towards a distant cave.
Again I snapped back to reality. This time Alucard was sitting next to me, waiting patiently for me to come back. He glanced up at my movement, looking me over to make sure I was actually here.
"Hey, you're back, how was the trip?" He asked, looking me over.
I just sat there, a bit shaken. What had happened? Was Buffy okay? Sense when could I understand Swahili? Well, I probably couldn't anymore, but that wasn't the point.
"The trip?" I asked meekly, trying to come up with an answer. "God I'm sounding repetitive but I honestly don't know."
"Gotcha, no big deal," Alucard said with a shrug. "It'll probably make sense at the end." If only I was as sure as he was. He shifted position to get a better look at me. "Well, for the status report, as far as I can tell from being trapped outside the house, the vampire left, and everyone's upstairs working the mojo or what ever."
"Spike left? Was he in one piece?" I asked, concerned.
Alucard's eyebrows narrowed. "Why so much concern for the vamp?" he asked.
I opened my mouth to answer, then hesitated. What to tell him? "He's an old friend of mine," I answered, not making Alucard feel any better about whatever was bugging him.
"Yeah, he's fine. Could be better though," Alucard said. "The other guy went after him though, the black one? Don't know his name. Don't think he likes this 'Spike' much though."
"Principal Wood?" I asked, Alucard shrugged. "Don't really know him. . . I think he's the son of a slayer, or something like that."
That got Alucard interested. "A Slayer's boy, huh? Wonder how that came about."
I didn't know. Early pregnancy to say the least. It didn't really matter though. My guess was that Wood just didn't like a vampire hanging around. After all, his mom was killed by one.
"Look, maybe I should check on everyone," I suggested getting to my feet. The idea was quickly vetoed, though. A dizzy spell washed over me before I could even stand strait. "Or I'll just sit here," I said lamely as I fell back to the stairs.
"You okay?" Alucard asked, concerned.
I shrugged. "I will be," I said. "Just not feeling too peachy at the moment."
He nodded as he helped to steady me. "Maybe you should go inside," he suggested.
"Um, yeah, sounds good," I agreed. My mind started to shift though, back to the desert. I wasn't sure I would make it into the house.
"Liz?" Alucard asked.
I wasn't feeling good, and suddenly I wasn't feeling safe. Not because of Alucard, but I felt something else in the area. Not knowing what I shivered again, half from the cold and half from fear.
"Alucard, I'm about to zone out again. Something's not right out here so I'm inviting you inside. If you kill anyone I swear I will make you wish you were dead," even weak I managed to sound threatening. Of course if Alucard really wanted to kill someone he could start with me and there would be nothing I could do to stop him.
He didn't suddenly attack me though, so I didn't feel too bad. Instead he carefully picked me up. I frowned, not wanting him to carry me, but I couldn't do anything about it. My mind was already fading back to Buffy. I glanced out at the woods before blacking out, and I think I saw someone. I'd never be sure, but at that moment I would have bet anything that there were vamps watching us.
Buffy was slumped against a wall, head bowed and unconscious. The three men were just standing, staring at her. Slowly Buffy began to move again. She lifted her head to look around and spotted the Shadow Men. Standing slowly she begins to walk towards them, then stopped, realizing that she was chained to the wall.
"What is this?" She asked, demanding an answer.
"We are at the beginning," the second shadow man said, not answering her question the way she intended it.
The third man said, "The source of your strength. The well of the Slayer's power."
"This is why we have brought you here." The first man finished.
"I thought I brought me here," Buffy stated. The three men stayed silent as they stared at her. In unison they began pounding their staves into the ground, rhythmically as Buffy continued to talk. "Listen to me. I'm already the Slayer. Bursting with power - don't need more thanks. You're wasting time! I'm here to learn - I need to know how to fight The First."
"The first Slayer did not talk so much," The first man said in a monotone voice.
For the first time I actually began to look around. We were in a ritual chamber, the floor being painted with an ornate, swirling symbol. I took a few steps back, taking it all in. Even though no one was paying attention to me I felt as if I was being watch, examined. I studied everyone closer, wondering if there might be a way I could help Buffy, wondering if I should.
The men continue to chant as one of them suddenly stepped forward, holding a small, wooden box. He placed it on the floor in the center of the painted symbol, opening it carefully. All three Shadow Men stepped away, standing like guardians around the box as they held their staffs.
"Herein lies your truest strength," said the first man.
"The energy of the demon. Its spirit."
"Its heart."
"This is how you. . ." Buffy started.
The first man finished for her. "Created the Slayer? Yes."
"Bastards," Buffy says softly, her eyes shining with anger.
"This is how we did so then. How we will do so now." Slowly a mist began to rise out of the box, creeping its way slowly into the air. "This is how it must be." The mist continued rising, growing fuller and taking shape.
"It must become one with you," said the third.
"I get a say in this and I'm saying no," Buffy said, watching the mist rise.
"Merge, live, and grow inside you," the second continued.
"No!" Buffy shouted, trying to pull free of the chains.
"This is how it was then. How it must be now," The first man said.
The second continued. "This is all there is." The men continued to pound their staffs.
Buffy continued to pull at her chains, but it didn't help. The mist began to swirl, to rise and climb high above the chamber floor as if it was a sentient creature sniffing out its prey, slowly circling the ritual chamber. Suddenly the mist 'saw' Buffy. It pulled back, preparing to strike, then thrust itself into her, streaming through her eyes, mouth, nose, anywhere it could get in. Buffy threw back her head and screamed, but the mist kept coming.
"Stop!" I shouted, no one even noticed.
Buffy violently shook her head, sending the mist out of her. She braced herself and took a step back, watching the dark mist that was stalking her as it swirled around the chamber. Buffy tried to get into some kind of defensive position as the mist once again began to rise. The chains slowed her movements as they rattled and held her to the wall.
The mist attacked once again while Buffy was distracted with the chains. Once again it dived right into her, fanning out her clothes, blowing her hair wild. She screamed in agony as the mist dispersed around her and pulled back, collecting itself again for its next attack.
"Make this stop!" Buffy cried out.
"This is what you came for," Said the first shadow man.
"You got the wrong slayer," Buffy said, "I'm not the first one."
"We know."
"She begged for us to stop," said the second man.
"We did not then. We will not now." the third said, determined.
The mist attacked her again, but Buffy rolled out of its path and the mist rose for another go. Buffy rushed towards the Shadow Men, but her chains held her back. "How many times do I have to tell you? I'm already the slayer!" she shouted.
"You came to us for help." the first man said as the mist dove again.
"Do not fight this."
"We only want to help you."
Buffy didn't get a chance to respond as she had to move backwards, trying to avoid the mist, but the chains held her and it shot inside of her once again, leaving her screaming. The mist pulled back once again, Giving Buffy a break as she gasped for breath.
"I can't fight this," Buffy stated as she kept moving back, pulling her chains taunt. "I know that now. But you guys? You're just. . . men."
Suddenly she yanked on one of her chains, hard. It pulled out of the medal ring holding it to the ground. She swung it over her head a few times, ready to use it as a weapon and began to move with greater freedom.
"Just the men who did this. To her. Whoever that girl was, before she was the Primitive. To me, if you could," Buffy said, her anger rising.
The mist attacked again, but this time she sidestepped it with ease, still swinging the chain, and headed for the shadow men.
"But you can't" she finished as she let loose with the chain. It whipped around one of the Shadow men's ankles. Buffy yanked on it, pulling the shadow man crashing to the floor.
The first man started speaking, trying to make something out of the situation. "You don't understand. You need our power. To reject us is to disrupt the Slayer line."
"You're making things worse."
"Good," Buffy said defiantly.
The men stood together, raising the quarterstaffs as they attacked Buffy. She handled the situation with ease, avoiding their staves and using the chain to wrap around one of the staves.
"You think I came all this way to get knocked up by some demon dust? Think again, old guys," Buffy shouted.
She pulled on the chain, pulling the staff with it. She grabbed the staff and whipped it around, nailing the man coming at her from behind.
"You're only destroying yourself," The first shadow man said, trying desperately to stop Buffy, but getting nowhere by it.
"Please, I died more times then you can count," Buffy replied as she took out the second shadow man with a quick hit. "I think you forgot one thing about power."
I knew that Buffy was going to win this fight, and so did the men. Suddenly the man in front of her dropped his quarterstaff and just stood there, defeated but dignified. Buffy took her own staff and cracked it across her knee.
"I am the power. Disrupting things is what I do."
"We offered you power. You came for knowledge," the shadow man said sadly.
"So tell me something I don't know," Buffy retorted.
"As you wish," Smiling sadly he lifted his hand, Buffy warily let him touch her. He reached forward "Now you will see. But without the power I wish to know..." he began as he touched her head. "How will you save the world now?"
Buffy froze, staring into nothing, or I should say, staring at whatever the man had shown her. She didn't notice the portal erupt behind her until it was dragging her in. Then she disappeared in a wave of blue light, leaving behind the beaten corpse of the demon who had shown up at the house.
I stared, waiting to go back myself, but I didn't. I still stood standing in the cave, staring at the three men. The first was helping the other two to their feet. They picked up what was left of their quarterstaffs and just stood there for a moment. Finally one of them turned to me, for the first time actually looking at me.
"Why have you returned?" He asked in a different language than before, but one I recognized, but couldn't name.
I wasn't sure how to answer his question at first, but settled on saying, "This is my first time here."
The man shook his head. "No, but I can see you don't remember."
I looked at the three of them, glancing from one to another as they all stared steadily at me. "I don't understand, what don't I remember?"
"Yourself," he stated. "You're people, who you were, what you are."
Again I was staring dumbly. What were they talking about? "I know who I am."
The man's face remained blank, but I had the feeling that he was laughing at me. "You know who you are now. That won't help you."
Frowning and confused I just stood there, having so many questions that I wasn't sure which to start with.
"Why do I need help? Can't you just explain things without the cryptic part?" I asked.
The men were silent for a moment before the first one nodded. "You were Airaei, of the Lerian people. Born Slayer. Now, you're Elizabeth Blake. Always a Slayer."
"To save the world you must remember who you were."
I blinked. "What?"
The man just smiled at me. He waved his hand, and things started to go fuzzy. Back to the real world I guess, but I didn't want to leave yet. There were so many questions that I needed to ask. Nothing made sense, what was he talking about?
Before I could say anything else though, I was gone. For a moment I was only in darkness, waiting to show up back in my body.
Then I was there, in the kitchen, blinking back the light before I rubbed dry eyes. My body was sore, making me wonder if I had been out of it long. It hadn't seemed like that long of a time, but maybe time was different in that world. Slowly I leaned back, taking a look at what was going on around me.
No one was here at the moment other than Alucard, the girls must still be upstairs else they would be storming the place. Alucard was doing a good job of making a mess by himself though. He was wondering around the kitchen, going through cupboards as he searched for something. He glanced at me, seeing me up and moving.
"Hey, welcome back," he said, "There's coffee made for you, if you wait a second I'll get you some."
I smiled with a nod. "Caffeine good."
He grinned as he grabbed a mug from one of the cupboards. "So, what happened?" Alucard asked while getting everything ready.
"A lot," I said as he handed me the cup. "Thanks," he nodded. "Well... um... Buffy kicked ass, beat up some shadow men, got some bad news and left."
Alucard raised an eyebrow. "That made so little sense, you know."
I nodded. "Yeah, I know."
"So what happened with you?" He asked.
"I. . ." I murmured. "I'm not sure. I think the men told me something important, but I don't understand what they were talking about."
"Really. . ." Alucard started, considering what I had said. "Shadow men, eh? Were they shadows or?"
"The men from the shadow puppets, I think," I explained.
Alucard nodded. "Weird. That made sense." He shrugged before continuing. "So what did they tell you?"
I shrugged. "Well, a lot of stuff that didn't make that much sense," I stated.
"Such as?" Alucard asked, rummaging through the fridge. He pulled out a package of blood, opened it and pored it into the cup.
"I believe the exact words were 'To save the world you must remember who you were.'"
Considering that Alucard put the blood in the microwave to heat it up. "Save the world, eh?" He asked. I nodded. "And did he say anything else about who you were?"
"Yeah," I murmured, going over the conversation in my head. What did he mean? Who was Airaei and what were Lerians? I knew for a fact that I had never seen them before, I had never been there. Yet they seamed sure that I had.
The microwave dinged and Alucard pulled the blood out, walking to sit on the other side of the table. "So? Are you going to zone out for the next few hours or are you going to explain what's going on?"
"Have you ever heard of a Lerian?" He had been around awhile, he might know something.
Alucard froze with his cup half way to his mouth. He stared at me as if he was startled more than surprise. Almost as if I had given him really bad news, though I wasn't sure why that would be. Alucard quickly got over it, finished taking his sip. He put the cup on the table and stared at me for a couple of minutes, thinking.
Finally he spoke. "What else did they mention?"
I wanted to know exactly what that had to do with anything, or at least have him explain why it mattered to him. I had the feeling that he wouldn't answer though, so I didn't bother to ask.
"To sum it up, that I was Airaei, a Lerian, and now I'm Elisabeth Blake," I stated bluntly. "Does that mean anything to you?"
Alucard was still staring, deep in thought. "Kind of. . . I've met up with a few Lerians, interesting people."
"When did you meet them?" I asked, trying to figure out where I might get some information.
"A long time ago, they're not around anymore." He stated.
Frowning I asked, "Not around? Did they die off?"
Alucard shook his head. "Nah, their race isn't like that. They don't really die in this dimension. They just left, went back to where they came from."
Okay, he really wasn't helping with the confusion problem. "You know that you're making no sense, right?"
Alucard nodded with a grin. "Just realized that, yeah."
"So, could you explain what you're trying to say?" I requested.
He nodded. "okay, the Lerians come from a different dimension. They send a group of five hundred or so, they hang around awhile, one to five hundred years, then they go back, taking with them all the information they gathered. They know more about just about every dimension then any other race as a whole."
That mad more sense, except. . ."Why would he say I use to be one of them?"
Alucard was about to say something, then he stopped himself. After a moment he answered with a shrug, "Sorry, don't know." It was my turn to take a moment to think, and he used the time to drink some more of his blood.
"You know, Spike's going to be ticked you took his dinner," I stated, absently.
Alucard shrugged. "I can take care of Spike, don't care if he's pissed."
"Do you even know who he is?" I asked.
He nodded. "I spent the day asking around on info about your new friends," he stated.
"Asking who?"
He shrugged again. "Demons, vamps, you know, they people who know about the slayer because they spend all their time avoiding her."
"Ah, I see,"
Footsteps sounded from the stairs, and I looked toward the door, hoping the Potentials weren't coming down stairs to go to bed. We wouldn't go out tonight, the day had been too eventful.
"So, are we going after the watchers tomorrow?" Alucard asked, ignoring the oncoming people.
I took a sip of my coffee, gagging at the warm taste. Alucard smirked and I got up to switch it for a new, still hot drink.
"I actually have to talk to Buffy first," I stated. "She still doesn't know what's going on."
"That's not good," Alucard murmured.
"Hey, who're you?" Anya asked, walking into the kitchen. Alucard glanced up at her for a second before looking away again. "I'm talking to you," Anya snapped.
"Shut up, Anya, I really don't want to listen to you right now," Alucard muttered, taking another drink from his own.
Anya stared at him for a moment, her face in a mask of shocked recognization. She looked around the room, seeing me. "You! You invited him in here!" she asked making it more of a statement.
"You know Anya?" I asked Alucard, who only nodded.
"You did! I don't quite remember your name right now, but I'm getting Buffy and she's going to stake him!" Anya glared at Alucard before turning to storm off. Alucard was on his feet and blocking the doorway before I could blink.
"Anya, calm down. If I wanted to kill everyone you'd be dead by now," he said it in a mocking tone, which wasn't helping the situation. I had forgotten to think through the someone might see that I invited a vampire into the house part and it was turning out to be a bit of a problem.
Anya was actually not making this too bad. All she had to do was shout and someone would come running. Instead she was just standing defiantly, glaring at Alucard.
"Okay, one of you explain what's going on?" I demanded.
Anya just turned her glare on me, while Alucard watched with amusement. "You invited him in! He's a vampire, you should know that. He's a very evil and old vampire who likes hurting people!"
"Anya, you know I haven't don't anything particularly gruesome for the last three hundred years or so," Alucard pointed out.
"Who's version of gruesome?" Anya retorted, "You did things that even I thought was wrong. And I was one of the better vengeance demons."
Alucard smirked, "You're just mad that you never got to cast one of your lovely spells on me. Sorry babe, you're going to have to live with it."
"I didn't want to cast a spell on you, I would have been perfectly happy if you just met up with a nice slayer," Anya muttered.
"And I did, if my memory serves me right, one that you happened to bring into the area," He pointed out.
"And then you killed her," Anya snapped. "What's wrong with you? You were supposed to die."
He shrugged. "You should have set me up with some mortal and have them make a wish. Would have been much simpler for you."
"Okay, what happened between you two?" I asked, trying to cut off the current conversation, but I couldn't until I knew what was going on.
Alucard moved away from the door, allowing Anya the chance to leave if she wanted it, but she didn't. Walking over to his cup he continued drinking as Anya began to answer.
"Alucard here used to be a fan of using humans to get high. They'd take some drug and he'd get it through the blood. . ." Anya started to explain.
"I know how it works," I stated, trying to get her to move on with the story. I'd seen plenty of vampires do that. They'd get their victims drunk or high, that way the humans wouldn't remember what happened, or believe it if they did, and the vamps could have a bit of fun.
"Well, Alucard happened to try it on me when I was trying to get a girl to make a wish. Can you believe it, he thought I was human. The idiot actually tried to bite me, but he was kind of drunk at the moment so he wasn't all there. . ."
Alucard cut in, speeding things up. "Yes, I was acting like an idiot when we met. But eventually we got involved, went on a few dates, had a nasty break up, needless to say she doesn't like me."
"You make it sound like you didn't do anything wrong," Anya snapped before turning to me, "There were these two vampire chicks and-"
"-Please, I really don't want to know," I stated. Chances are the story would get a little too detailed for me, and I wasn't interested on hearing that. Alucard was still standing out of the way, watching us with amusement. He didn't seem to care what Anya said at the moment.
There was some information I wouldn't mind Anya telling me, though. "So, how long ago did all this take place?"
Anya glanced at Alucard, doing some quick calculations. "Around seven hundred years ago?" She asked him, checking to make sure she was right.
"Closer to eight," he murmured.
I raised an eyebrow. "Eight hundred years old, you've been around awhile." I said to him before asking Anya, "So did he still go by Alucard then?"
Anya shook her head. "No, that started a couple hundred years later. At the time he used a couple different names, but would claim none of them as the original. And he was around quite a time before we were a couple."
Which probably meant he was at least over nine hundred. That was something to talk about later, though. At the moment, he didn't seem to be trying to hide any information, which he normally did. Anya liked to talk though, so if he tried to hide anything she'd probably just bring it up, so maybe it was safer to stay quiet. I'd help and not ask anymore questions at the moment, but that was mostly because I didn't want to risk some of the answers I'd get. Anya didn't really mind being graphic and there were many things I didn't need to know about Alucard.
Speaking of Alucard, he was back to the fridge, searching for another package of blood that he promptly put in the microwave. "I can't believe your boy Spike drinks this daily, it's horrible."
"Yes, well some vampires have souls," Anya muttered.
Alucard smirked. "Yes, and I'm sure that helps."
"What are you doing here anyway," Anya asked, going back to her first question.
"Actually, that was what I was wondering," We all turned to see Spike standing in the doorway. He was staring at Alucard, who took a moment to stare back, looking him over. Both were sizing up the threat, but Alucard didn't seem threatened. It wasn't like when he met Zeke and we all stood on edge. It was more of checking to make sure the nuisance wouldn't get in the way.
"You must be Spike," Alucard said, opening the microwave once it went off.
Spike nodded slowly, turning his gaze to me. "Who is he?"
"Alucard, the somewhat good guy," I stated.
"Somewhat good guy?" Anya asked. "What do you mean, somewhat?"
"He's a soulless vampire, what do you think she means," Spike muttered angrily, but not angry with Anya, angry with me. "What's he doing in this house?"
"There were unusual circumstances," I stated, knowing that it wasn't much of an answer.
Spike didn't like it in the slightest. "So you invite in a vampire? A very old master vampire?"
"Oh, come now, as she said there were special circumstances, and I'd hardly call myself a master," Alucard stated, pulling Spikes anger away from me for a moment.
"I know a master when I meet one," Spike stated.
I spoke before anyone else got to, "That's nice, I don't. What makes the difference?"
"Masters are typically over a thousand years old, and very evil, all wrinkly like," Anya stated.
I glanced at Alucard, "He's in human mode now, and most vamps are wrinkly. . ."
"No, I mean they're always that way. Their evil changes their looks permanently," Anya explained, in one of those moments when she's acting smart.
"I'm not a master," Alucard said again.
Spike rolled his eyes. " I know you are. Now say what you're doing her so that we can get you out."
"I'm going to get Willow," Anya said to Spike before throwing another glare at Alucard and heading out of the room.
"Willow's the witch, right?" Alucard asked me.
"Doesn't matter," I said.
Spike sighed. "While this is going well, answer the question already."
"Sheesh, don't be in such a hurry," Alucard said, settling against the counter as he drank his blood. "I'm just here helping out Liz. Saved her life again, that's all."
Spike threw me a questioning look I shrugged. "Long story?" I said in an attempt to explain.
Suddenly Willow and Buffy walked in, followed closely by Xander and Anya, who had been talking but shut up when she entered. Buffy took one glance at Alucard before reaching for a stake that was conviently on the counter. Willow reached out and stopped her from doing anything at the moment, giving Alucard the chance to talk.
"You know, I probably should be going," he said as he actually began to worry. While he was rather sure he could take on Spike, Buffy and Willow were a different story.
Buffy took a moment to stare at everyone in the room, trying to pickup information from each of us. Slowly she crossed her arms, still holding the stake. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"
Alucard looked at me, searching for an answer that wouldn't get him dusted. "I was just trying to help, don't kill me for doing a good deed," he muttered.
"Um, correct me if I'm wrong, but do vampires actually do good deeds?" Xander asked.
"Spike did," Anya stated.
Xander nodded, "Yeah, but he had a chip in his head, that was different."
"And don't compare us," Spike said.
"Why not, you both have corny nicknames," Anya muttered.
"Hey!" Alucard and Spike said at the same time.
I grinned, "She's right you know," I stated, receiving a glare from Spike and a smirk from Alucard.
"It was funny at the time," Alucard muttered.
"That's nice and all, but who are you," Buffy said, taking charge of the conversation.
Alucard shrugged, "Call me Alucard. Former sidekick to the guy who's trying to kill my friend Liz here, now somewhat good guy, as she put it."
Xander laughed. "Alucard? Please, way over used."
Alucard nodded. "Yes, but I was the first to use it so I can without regret. Ticked Dracula off a bit."
"You knew Dracula?" Willow asked.
Alucard nodded. "Said he did everything backwards, he took offense, saying something about me being the one backwards, so I said something about be a good old fashion Alucard, which didn't make him happy, but hey, I thought it was funny. Anyway, the name stuck."
"Okay, back to the point though," It was Spike this time, "Why would you be helping Beth?"
Spike shrugged. "That's actually a really good question, and I'm still working out the answer. Get back to me in a month or so I might have it."
"Why are you inside?" Buffy asked.
"Because I was about to pass out and there was something outside waiting to kill me, and I had the feeling Alucard wouldn't be able to stop it," I stated, speaking up.
That got everyone's attention. "What would be outside waiting?" Willow asked.
"Besides the monsters that make up half Sunnydale's population," Xander added.
"A vampire, probably more than one," I stated.
Alucard nodded. "He wouldn't have sent just one," he pointed out.
"Unless it was just to check out what was going on around here. Then he wouldn't want to send too many," I suggested. Alucard nodded, admitting that it could be the case.
"Who would send vampires after you? The First?" Buffy asked.
I sighed. This was not how I had imagined explaining things. I suppose it was better then having a hand fold of potentials surrounding us though.
As if irony wanted to torture me Kennedy and Dawn just walked in. "What's going on," Kennedy asked.
"Beth was just about to tell us," Buffy said pointedly.
There was no way not to feel self conscious with Buffy staring at me so intently. I was beginning to realize how everyone must have felt with Buffy addressing them. It was scary, but at the same time you couldn't be quiet, because she needed to know the answer. We kind of had to tell her.
"No, the First has just about nothing to do with this. Other than it sending a bunch of Bringers after us during the summer and the incident with Chloe the First has left me alone," I stated.
"So, who's the big bad guy here?" Xander asked, half joking.
"He calls himself 'The Boss'-" I stared.
Alucard butted in. "Actually, he doesn't call himself anything, he just lets everyone else call him that."
"And the Boss is?" Buffy asked.
"A vampire," I stated. "Alucard knows more about him than I do."
Buffy glanced at Alucard. "Is that so?" She asked.
Alucard nodded. "Yeah, I was hanging out with him for awhile."
"What is he doing? This Boss?" Kennedy asked, all too eager to go kick some vampire ass. Her enthusiasm would get her killed if she wasn't careful.
"At the moment trying to kill me," I stated.
Several confused looks came my way. Again I sighed, I didn't want to have to explain everything all over again, but it looked like I wouldn't have a choice.
"Why does he want you dead?" Anya asked. "You're just a Potential."
Alucard chuckled, then hid his grin when he received another glare from Anya. Spike was keeping silent, biding his time before he talked. No one else knew anything so it was up to me to answer. God I hated being in charge.
"I'm not a potential," I started, getting several different kinds of looks from all around the room.
"Then what-"
"I'm a Slayer."
There was a pause, everyone stopping to make sure they heard me right.
"I'm sorry, did you say Slayer?" Xander asked, confirming it. I only nodded.
"How. . . When. . ." Willow started to ask, not sure where to start.
"Because of me?" Buffy asked, getting over the shock. She looked so surprised and not sure of what to think. My guess was that she was comparing me to Faith, the rogue slayer.
"Kind of, I'm not sure exactly why," I stated.
"Well, you got the calling right? That's what makes us slayers," Kennedy said, with something like Jealousy in her voice. I stopped myself from making some smart-ass comment to her. It wouldn't be appreciated.
Spike saw my frustration and decided that he could speak up now. "There's more to it then that," he started, drawing everyone's attention, with the exception of Alucard who took the opportunity to glance my way with a look that asked if I told Spike. I nodded and Alucard sat back to think.
"How would you know?" Buffy asked, suspicious.
"Beth and I had a little chat, but that's not the point," Spike stated. "She was a Slayer before Buffy, but got cursed. The curse kind of went away when Buffy died and came back to life the second time."
"What sort of curse?" Willow asked, wondering if she might recognize it.
I spoke up again, explaining basically what the curse did, and that it stopped my aging and basically didn't let me die.
"So how long were you in that state?" Buffy asked.
"One hundred and twenty years," I said as if it was nothing. More shocked looks came at me, but I was getting use to that.
Xander raised his hand before speaking, "Out of curiosity, not to say she's lying, and I know we've dealt with weirder things, but, doesn't this sound a little far fetched?"
No one said anything, but everyone was sort of silently agreeing. Until Spike spoke up. "I can vouch for her," he stated.
"Did you run into her at some point?" Alucard asked, not sounding too happy about the idea. I wasn't sure why but he wasn't liking Spike at the moment.
Spike shook his head. "No, just so happens though, that she's my sister."
Everyone froze. They scoobies had been surprised when I said I was a slayer. Hell, the whole age thing had thrown them, but that was absolutely nothing compared to this reaction. I don't think one of them was breathing.
"Sister?" Dawn squeaked, not even being able to sound right.
Spike nodded.
More silence.
"You mean. . ." Xander looked from one of us to the other. "Wow."
"They do sort of look alike," Dawn said. "Same chin, and the same eyes, just different colors..." Great, now they were going to start noticing all the things we did that were similar.
Buffy was looking from Spike to me, then back to Spike. "Your sister?" She finally asked weakly. We both kind of stood there, waiting for her to say something else. "Why didn't you say anything?" she finally asked.
"Mainly because we didn't actually see each other until this morning. Funny how you can live in the same house and never run into each other," I stated.
"This is a really big deal, isn't it?" Kennedy asked. "Just the fact that she's a Slayer. . ."
"Why didn't you tell us you were a Slayer?" Anya asked. I was wondering when someone would get back to that.
"Because Jordan didn't want you all to be worried about all the problems that I brought with me," I stated.
"What exactly are those problems?" Buffy wanted to know.
"Mainly that the Boss has an army of vampires ready to come in here and slaughter all of us just to make sure that Liz here dies," Alucard said bluntly, getting strait to the point.
"What?" Xander asked.
I frowned, biting my lip. "Well. . ."
"Who exactly is this 'Boss'?" Buffy asked Alucard, not me. She knew he would give her a direct answer.
"The guy who's been uniting most of the vampires in the states under his rule for the past fifty or so years. He's got quite a group gathered," Alucard said.
"And they're trying to kill you?" Buffy asked me. I nodded. "Why?"
I took a deep breath, then blew it out slowly, trying to relax a little. "The Boss has a prophecy that says that if I live past May then I'll destroy all vampires, or something to that effect." I stated. "I think he misread it."
"Do we have a copy of the prophecy?" Willow asked.
I nodded and pulled out the book. "If you can read it be my guest."
It got passed over to her and she looked inside. I knew instantly she didn't have a clue what any of it meant. "What language is this, do you know?" She asked.
"Lerian," Alucard stated. I paused a moment before turning to stare at him, my confusion being a different type then everyone else's. He didn't look back.
"Never heard of that. . . Is it old?" Willow asked.
"Very."
"Do we have anyone who can translate it?" Buffy asked.
"Not likely," Alucard said. "I understand a few words, but that's it."
"So is he here as your interpreter?" Spike asked, bringing me back to the issue of Alucard.
"No, he's here as my. . . well, he was a prisoner. Kind of. Now he's a guide so to speak," I said, trying not to confuse them but being confused myself.
"A guide to what?" Dawn asked.
"My watchers, I have three other ones," I said quickly, trying to avoid unnecessary questions. More questions came, and I answered them. It would have been easier if I just went from the beginning to the end instead of jumping around, but it didn't work that way. After another half hour of questions and answers everyone kind of had a feel for what was going on.
"So, when do we go get the watchers?" Kennedy asked.
"Tomorrow if you're ready," Alucard stated. "It's going to get a bit sunny out before we'd get back, so I'm thinking it's best to wait.
Buffy nodded. "Fine. That works. Now get out," she said to Alucard. "You can come back tomorrow."
Alucard glanced at me, as if I might say something else. I didn't. So with a shrug he turned for the door. "I'll be back around sunset." Then he left without a backwards glance, leaving us to talk about him.
"Alucard, eh?" Xander started. "Don't like the guy. Willow, how about a spell?"
She nodded. "Already working on it. I'm going to need some supplies and the shop doesn't open till tomorrow."
"Fine. Tomorrow you get them," Buffy stated. "For tonight, caste some sort of shield so that he can't come back in."
"And tomorrow he's uninvited, no problem," Willow finished.
Buffy turned to me. "I don't know what you were thinking, or what was going on, but don't ever invite a vampire into this house again, understand?" I nodded slowly, waiting for her to go into some sort of speech. She didn't, but instead turned back to the group and continued talking.
After awhile I excused myself and went off to find a blanket and some spot to sleep in. The couch was taken as were the chairs and probably anything else that was soft. I found a pair of pajamas and rolled out a sleeping bag. I was surprised to find out how tired I was. Almost at the moment I laid down I was sleeping.
~
Gidgetgirl: Hey! Thanks for review, and for testing the stories! (the lack of mistakes was because I have a good beta tester ^.^) Yeah, I've given some thought on the whole Spike not being happy about a relationship thing. Anyway, thanks for review! I'll try to get the next chapter to you soon, It'll be long again, sorry, but then we should have a short one. Maybe.
Maude: You reviewed! And you read it! *looks all happy like* Glad you're liking it, read some other fanfictions! There are a lot of good ones! Check out some of the people who've reviewed my stories, I find some of the best stories that way.
Beyondthesilence: ^.^ I was hoping it would be a surprise. It was planned sense the beginning though, So it didn't seem like a surprise to me. Yeah, the stories getting more exciting. . . Got something planned for Alucard next chapter to make everyone hate him. Kind of. Thanks for the words, I'm just not good at fitting them in. O.o Yeah, it's following season seven, some of the script is the same. Anything that sounds like it's something the characters would actually say, I probably didn't write it. There might be a few more grammar mistakes this time cause I didn't wait to get the chapter back from gidgetgirl. Hope you liked it though.
Thanks for reading!
This was another one of those times when I hated being just one more Potential. We were being herded upstairs so that the grown ups could do their planning. Lucky for me with so many girls no one noticed me heading for the kitchen instead of the stairs.
Slipping out the backdoor was easy. Quickly I walked around to the front yard, pausing behind a bush while Wood showed up and was invited inside.
The curtains were closed so I couldn't see what was going on inside. That was fine, they couldn't see me talking to Alucard, either. Speaking of Alucard, he was nowhere to be seen. I didn't want to yell for him, someone inside might hear.
Rubbing my arms I began pacing, trying to ignore the cool breezes. If he took much longer I would have to risk being caught to get a coat.
"You cold?" Alucard asked.
I didn't turn to look at him until my pacing brought me back to facing him. With a sigh I stopped walking. "How long have you been out here?"
Alucard shrugged. "Not long. What's up with the slayer? She didn't seem too happy in there." He motioned towards the living room.
Taking a deep breath I debated on how to answer that. I didn't want him to know all of our problems, but was there any harm on telling him some of what was going on? Maybe, maybe not. Best just to play it safe.
"The First is getting annoying, nothing big," I answered.
Alucard's eyes asked everything he didn't. He knew something was up, but also knew he didn't have to ask about it. "So, what have you decided?"
I shook my head. "Never got a chance to talk to Buffy. I think the trip's going have to wait till- wait, do you hear that?" Alucard gave me a look of confusion as I stood still. Faintly in the distance the sound of drums was coming. I couldn't tell where from though.
"First there is the Earth."
I turned around, trying to see who had said that. It sort of sounded like Dawn, but she was inside.
"Then there came the Demons."
A faint, ghostly roar sounded about the drumming, which continued steadily. I stopped moving, listening carefully. Was there really a demon near by? What was going on?
"Hey, Liz, you okay?" I heard Alucard ask.
I ignored him as the words continued. "After demons, there came Men." Chanting sounds, this time sounding as if it came from the house.
I began to get the feeling that it was Dawn speaking, but for some reason I could hear her. I glanced at the house, seeing shadows against the curtains. Someone was making a shadow puppet show for some reason or another. Ignoring the bodies of the people in the room I looked at the pictures circling around, picking up on the story.
"The men found a girl."
I heard a brief scream as a girl was added to the pictures. They started to turn faster.
"The Men took the Girl. To fight the Demon, um, all Demons. They. . ." I heard her hesitate, and I was certain it was Dawn. "They chained her to the Earth." Chains were added to the picture and I heard them rattling.
There was a pause, I could feel that Dawn was saying something, but that it wasn't important that I hear it. The pictures began to spin faster, taking on new shapes. The girl was in chains, the demon moving towards her and the men. . .
". . . you cannot be shown, you cannot just watch but you must see - see for yourself but only if you're willing to make the exchange."
Wind must have been blowing inside the living room because the curtains opened enough for us to see what was inside. The shadow puppets were spinning out of control, then suddenly the turntable they'd been rotating on disappeared, leaving behind a portal that was the size and shape of a door.
"Okay, I must have missed something. . ." I heard Alucard say, but my attention was focused on the group.
The people inside were talking amongst themselves, arguing. When the portal started to close Buffy shouted something to the rest of the group before diving strait into the portal. It closed behind her and the room was left in silence. The drumming was gone, all the supernatural stuff that had been going through my head left with it.
"Mind explaining what that was about?" Alucard asked.
I just shook my head. "I'm. . . I'm not sure. I just heard. . ."
Suddenly, with a flash of light similar to that of the portal, a blast knocks all the people inside back a step. Suddenly a demon is teleported into the center of the living room. Tusks, droll, muscles. . . typical huge demon sent to kill everyone. The demon took a second to look around before backhanding Xander, who stood the closest.
"Oh shit," I said right as I ran for the door, Alucard at my heal. I ran inside right as the demon lashed out at Willow, smashing her in the face with a punch. Willow was thrown against the living room table.
The demon spun to face principal Wood, and I saw three morning stars embedded in its back. Wood didn't get another chance to grab a weapon before the demon smashed him into the floor.
"Weapons!" Kennedy shouted to Dawn who went for the weapons chest. The demon was on them before they got a chance to do anything, though.
There were too many people being thrown around for me to run into the fight, but Spike brushed past me as if I wasn't there. "Get her out of her. All of you, 'less you want to be all dead and useless." He shouted to Kennedy and the rest.
"Yeah-" Kennedy snapped, "what are you gonna do?"
"What I do best," Spike said, throwing her a look before charging at the demon.
Spike grabbed the demon by the head and bashed it against the living room wall. For a moment I actually thought he might be hurting it. No such luck though. The demon literally picked Spike up and threw him through the ceiling.
The demon looks around, making sure there's no one else to take care of. He saw me, and the door, and rushed forward. I ducked as he tried to backhand me, throwing a quick punch to his gut as I did so. It barely hurt him, but he grunted, which I suppose meant that it did something. The demon growled at me. I didn't move, so he backhanded me.
For a moment my face hurt, well, it still hurt afterwards but I was able to fight back. I punched him hard in the face, taking it by surprise. He seemed surprised that I was even still standing after he hit me.
The demon growled at me, letting out a huge below as he hit me aqain, this time with enough force to knock me back into the wall. I crumbled to the ground afterwards, but looked up in time to see the demon run outside.
Alucard stepped to the side as the demon ran by, not wanting to get involved in our little scrimmage. He glanced at the people standing back up before looking at me. The look on his face said that he didn't want to hang around at the moment. He mouthed the word "Backyard" before seeming to vanish. I starred at where he was for a second before looking back at the living room.
Everyone was checking everyone else, making sure that no one was injured too badly. Dawn was the first one to her feet, and she immediately turned to Kennedy, "are you injured?"
Kennedy got unsteadily to her feet, "Just hurt. Don't make a case out of it. How about you?" She asked the others.
"Think we'll live," Xander said with grim sarcasm.
Anya glanced up, "Except maybe Spike." I walked into the living room, looking up as well, hoping Spike was okay.
"Is getting thrown through the ceiling what he does best?" Kennedy asked wryly.
I shrugged, "He's better at that then writing poems," I murmured.
"I'll go check on him," Dawn stated.
"And we've got bigger problems," Anya stated, staling Dawn.
We all looked towards the door that was hanging half off its hinges. "Demon loose, no Slayer," Wood said bluntly.
"We need Buffy," Willow stated.
"You gotta get her back. Looks like it's spell-o-clock," Xander said.
"Which spell?" Anya asked, "You see how powerful that thing was? You expect to get that portal re-opened without sending Willow off the deep end?" She didn't seem to be too sure on the plan.
"Thanks for your support," Willow muttered, frustrated.
"Well it's true." Anya snapped. "There's gotta e some other way."
"There isn't. And Buffy knew it. I have to get her back," Willow stated.
"We don't even know where she went," Kennedy pointed out.
"Well, if the demon comes back I think I can handle it," I said, no one seemed to notice though, they were too busy fighting with themselves.
I sighed and took a step back. They didn't need me here. They wouldn't even believe me if I told them what was going on with me at the moment. They needed a leader to run smoothly. Smirking I saw the irony. Now they'd have to deal without Buffy, she couldn't be carrying them anymore. Briefly I took a moment to wonder how well they would do before leaving the room.
I walked into the kitchen and out the back door. Alucard was waiting, leaning against a tree. He smiled to me as I walked out. "So, what's up with the big guy coming out of nowhere?"
I shrugged. "They weren't exactly saying anything useful in there."
"I see," Alucard murmured, watching me walk out onto the porch. I sat down on the back steps and just stared.
Alucard pushed off the tree and came over next to me. "So where's Buffy?" He asked.
"I-I don't know," I said, though at the moment I wasn't sure.
Suddenly I hear the drums again. I felt my body go slack as I just stared forward. My vision parted into two segments. It was as if one eye saw one world, and the other saw another.
In the first world I was on the porch, staring at Alucard. In the other I stood in a desert, completely isolated. Slowly the sands began to swirl, shifting in the wind. In a flash of light Buffy fell onto the top of a sand dune, sliding face first down it until at last she landed at the bottom. Slowly she got to her feet, shaking off the sand as she got her bearings.
"Well. Guess that worked," she muttered.
I was standing next to her, but I knew she wouldn't see me. I was more of a phantom then a real person, not even really there. I saw as Buffy heard the drums and looked off in the distance. A small group of people stood somewhere far off, they hadn't been there when I first looked. I watched as Buffy started towards them before returning to the real world.
"Liz? Liz what's wrong?" Alucard was shaking me, trying to get me to answer.
I blinked for a moment, trying to figure out what had just happened. "Okay, you can stop now," I told Alucard, grabbing his arms so that I could sit still.
He slowly pulled back, looking genuinely worried as he starred at me. "What the hell just happened?" he asked softly.
I couldn't stop a shiver running through me as I considered the same thing. "I don't know," I sighed. "Buffy. . . I saw her. She's in some desert. I was there, but I wasn't. She didn't see me."
Alucard was just staring, deep in thought. Finally he spoke up. "this ever happen before? You trailing Buffy?"
I began to shake my head, then stopped. "I was in her dream."
Alucard nodded. "Okay, that's important, I think. Well, you shouldn't be able to stop this. It'll just happen, but it's all leading up to something, and when you know what that is, it'll stop."
I nodded slowly. "Okay, how would you know all this?"
He paused, not sure of how to answer. "I had a friend, a long time ago, who I think went through something similar."
"Why do you think that would apply to me?" I asked.
He shrugged. "You're both slayers, you both are going through a similar occurrence. Could have something to do with it."
I raised an eyebrow. "You had a Slayer for a friend?" I asked, disbelieving.
He nodded, suddenly uncomfortable. "I was alive at the time."
That explained his nervous expression. "What, afraid people will think less of you for hanging with a slayer?" I asked, trying to lighten the mood.
He allowed himself to grin. "Something along those lines, I guess." He stated. Standing back up he looked down at me. "So, I take it we're not grabbing the watchers tonight."
I shook my head. "No, that doesn't sound like the best of ideas."
Alucard shrugged then glanced at the house. "You think you'd be able to help the humans?" he asked.
I shrugged. "Don't know."
"If you can you should," He stated.
I was going to say something, but then I froze.
Buffy approached three men. They sat rocking back and forth, chanting in front of their tent. Buffy walked towards them, entering their group.
"Hello?" she asked, unsure of herself.
The men stopped chanting and looked up. They were old, very old. They were black and dressed like ancient desert nomads, each with a staff. They reminded me vaguely of the shadow puppet men for some reason.
"I'm Buffy," Buffy starts, "I'm the Slayer. I'm-"
One of the shadow men cut her off speaking in what I recognized as Swahili, and managed to understand, even though I didn't speak that language. "We know who you are," he said.
"And we know why you're here," Added the second man.
"We've been waiting," the third said.
Buffy waits a moment before saying, "Good. That's good then and I know we've got bigger issues to deal with but how'd I understand a word you just said?"
The men stood without answering.
"I know," Buffy went on, "ancient Magicks, I just thought it was neat."
The men, still standing, begin to walk around Buffy and she turned to keep eye contact with them as they looked her over.
I was watching everything form outside the circle they had going on. None of them even glanced my way.
"We have been here since the beginning," The first guy said.
"Now, we are almost at the end." the second.
"Okay, and the 'neat' of it just left me. End of what?" Buffy asked, beginning to grow edgy.
"You are the hell mouth's last Guardian" says the third.
"Latest. You mean "latest" guardian," Buffy tried to correct him.
The first man said, very sternly, "No."
"Look - I got a First to fight. You three have clearly had some time on your hands. Tell me what I need to know. I came to learn."
The first man stared at her, "We cannot give you knowledge. Only power."
"Okay, know what I think? I'm not really here at all. None of this is actually happening, this is like a play, like a shadow play, like a non- reality re-enactment hologrammy. . ." Her rambling was interrupted with a Whack, the shadow man's staff cutting her theory short as it knocked her unconscious with one blow. Buffy crumbled to the ground and without another word the Shadow Men began to drag Buffy away, resuming their chant as they head towards a distant cave.
Again I snapped back to reality. This time Alucard was sitting next to me, waiting patiently for me to come back. He glanced up at my movement, looking me over to make sure I was actually here.
"Hey, you're back, how was the trip?" He asked, looking me over.
I just sat there, a bit shaken. What had happened? Was Buffy okay? Sense when could I understand Swahili? Well, I probably couldn't anymore, but that wasn't the point.
"The trip?" I asked meekly, trying to come up with an answer. "God I'm sounding repetitive but I honestly don't know."
"Gotcha, no big deal," Alucard said with a shrug. "It'll probably make sense at the end." If only I was as sure as he was. He shifted position to get a better look at me. "Well, for the status report, as far as I can tell from being trapped outside the house, the vampire left, and everyone's upstairs working the mojo or what ever."
"Spike left? Was he in one piece?" I asked, concerned.
Alucard's eyebrows narrowed. "Why so much concern for the vamp?" he asked.
I opened my mouth to answer, then hesitated. What to tell him? "He's an old friend of mine," I answered, not making Alucard feel any better about whatever was bugging him.
"Yeah, he's fine. Could be better though," Alucard said. "The other guy went after him though, the black one? Don't know his name. Don't think he likes this 'Spike' much though."
"Principal Wood?" I asked, Alucard shrugged. "Don't really know him. . . I think he's the son of a slayer, or something like that."
That got Alucard interested. "A Slayer's boy, huh? Wonder how that came about."
I didn't know. Early pregnancy to say the least. It didn't really matter though. My guess was that Wood just didn't like a vampire hanging around. After all, his mom was killed by one.
"Look, maybe I should check on everyone," I suggested getting to my feet. The idea was quickly vetoed, though. A dizzy spell washed over me before I could even stand strait. "Or I'll just sit here," I said lamely as I fell back to the stairs.
"You okay?" Alucard asked, concerned.
I shrugged. "I will be," I said. "Just not feeling too peachy at the moment."
He nodded as he helped to steady me. "Maybe you should go inside," he suggested.
"Um, yeah, sounds good," I agreed. My mind started to shift though, back to the desert. I wasn't sure I would make it into the house.
"Liz?" Alucard asked.
I wasn't feeling good, and suddenly I wasn't feeling safe. Not because of Alucard, but I felt something else in the area. Not knowing what I shivered again, half from the cold and half from fear.
"Alucard, I'm about to zone out again. Something's not right out here so I'm inviting you inside. If you kill anyone I swear I will make you wish you were dead," even weak I managed to sound threatening. Of course if Alucard really wanted to kill someone he could start with me and there would be nothing I could do to stop him.
He didn't suddenly attack me though, so I didn't feel too bad. Instead he carefully picked me up. I frowned, not wanting him to carry me, but I couldn't do anything about it. My mind was already fading back to Buffy. I glanced out at the woods before blacking out, and I think I saw someone. I'd never be sure, but at that moment I would have bet anything that there were vamps watching us.
Buffy was slumped against a wall, head bowed and unconscious. The three men were just standing, staring at her. Slowly Buffy began to move again. She lifted her head to look around and spotted the Shadow Men. Standing slowly she begins to walk towards them, then stopped, realizing that she was chained to the wall.
"What is this?" She asked, demanding an answer.
"We are at the beginning," the second shadow man said, not answering her question the way she intended it.
The third man said, "The source of your strength. The well of the Slayer's power."
"This is why we have brought you here." The first man finished.
"I thought I brought me here," Buffy stated. The three men stayed silent as they stared at her. In unison they began pounding their staves into the ground, rhythmically as Buffy continued to talk. "Listen to me. I'm already the Slayer. Bursting with power - don't need more thanks. You're wasting time! I'm here to learn - I need to know how to fight The First."
"The first Slayer did not talk so much," The first man said in a monotone voice.
For the first time I actually began to look around. We were in a ritual chamber, the floor being painted with an ornate, swirling symbol. I took a few steps back, taking it all in. Even though no one was paying attention to me I felt as if I was being watch, examined. I studied everyone closer, wondering if there might be a way I could help Buffy, wondering if I should.
The men continue to chant as one of them suddenly stepped forward, holding a small, wooden box. He placed it on the floor in the center of the painted symbol, opening it carefully. All three Shadow Men stepped away, standing like guardians around the box as they held their staffs.
"Herein lies your truest strength," said the first man.
"The energy of the demon. Its spirit."
"Its heart."
"This is how you. . ." Buffy started.
The first man finished for her. "Created the Slayer? Yes."
"Bastards," Buffy says softly, her eyes shining with anger.
"This is how we did so then. How we will do so now." Slowly a mist began to rise out of the box, creeping its way slowly into the air. "This is how it must be." The mist continued rising, growing fuller and taking shape.
"It must become one with you," said the third.
"I get a say in this and I'm saying no," Buffy said, watching the mist rise.
"Merge, live, and grow inside you," the second continued.
"No!" Buffy shouted, trying to pull free of the chains.
"This is how it was then. How it must be now," The first man said.
The second continued. "This is all there is." The men continued to pound their staffs.
Buffy continued to pull at her chains, but it didn't help. The mist began to swirl, to rise and climb high above the chamber floor as if it was a sentient creature sniffing out its prey, slowly circling the ritual chamber. Suddenly the mist 'saw' Buffy. It pulled back, preparing to strike, then thrust itself into her, streaming through her eyes, mouth, nose, anywhere it could get in. Buffy threw back her head and screamed, but the mist kept coming.
"Stop!" I shouted, no one even noticed.
Buffy violently shook her head, sending the mist out of her. She braced herself and took a step back, watching the dark mist that was stalking her as it swirled around the chamber. Buffy tried to get into some kind of defensive position as the mist once again began to rise. The chains slowed her movements as they rattled and held her to the wall.
The mist attacked once again while Buffy was distracted with the chains. Once again it dived right into her, fanning out her clothes, blowing her hair wild. She screamed in agony as the mist dispersed around her and pulled back, collecting itself again for its next attack.
"Make this stop!" Buffy cried out.
"This is what you came for," Said the first shadow man.
"You got the wrong slayer," Buffy said, "I'm not the first one."
"We know."
"She begged for us to stop," said the second man.
"We did not then. We will not now." the third said, determined.
The mist attacked her again, but Buffy rolled out of its path and the mist rose for another go. Buffy rushed towards the Shadow Men, but her chains held her back. "How many times do I have to tell you? I'm already the slayer!" she shouted.
"You came to us for help." the first man said as the mist dove again.
"Do not fight this."
"We only want to help you."
Buffy didn't get a chance to respond as she had to move backwards, trying to avoid the mist, but the chains held her and it shot inside of her once again, leaving her screaming. The mist pulled back once again, Giving Buffy a break as she gasped for breath.
"I can't fight this," Buffy stated as she kept moving back, pulling her chains taunt. "I know that now. But you guys? You're just. . . men."
Suddenly she yanked on one of her chains, hard. It pulled out of the medal ring holding it to the ground. She swung it over her head a few times, ready to use it as a weapon and began to move with greater freedom.
"Just the men who did this. To her. Whoever that girl was, before she was the Primitive. To me, if you could," Buffy said, her anger rising.
The mist attacked again, but this time she sidestepped it with ease, still swinging the chain, and headed for the shadow men.
"But you can't" she finished as she let loose with the chain. It whipped around one of the Shadow men's ankles. Buffy yanked on it, pulling the shadow man crashing to the floor.
The first man started speaking, trying to make something out of the situation. "You don't understand. You need our power. To reject us is to disrupt the Slayer line."
"You're making things worse."
"Good," Buffy said defiantly.
The men stood together, raising the quarterstaffs as they attacked Buffy. She handled the situation with ease, avoiding their staves and using the chain to wrap around one of the staves.
"You think I came all this way to get knocked up by some demon dust? Think again, old guys," Buffy shouted.
She pulled on the chain, pulling the staff with it. She grabbed the staff and whipped it around, nailing the man coming at her from behind.
"You're only destroying yourself," The first shadow man said, trying desperately to stop Buffy, but getting nowhere by it.
"Please, I died more times then you can count," Buffy replied as she took out the second shadow man with a quick hit. "I think you forgot one thing about power."
I knew that Buffy was going to win this fight, and so did the men. Suddenly the man in front of her dropped his quarterstaff and just stood there, defeated but dignified. Buffy took her own staff and cracked it across her knee.
"I am the power. Disrupting things is what I do."
"We offered you power. You came for knowledge," the shadow man said sadly.
"So tell me something I don't know," Buffy retorted.
"As you wish," Smiling sadly he lifted his hand, Buffy warily let him touch her. He reached forward "Now you will see. But without the power I wish to know..." he began as he touched her head. "How will you save the world now?"
Buffy froze, staring into nothing, or I should say, staring at whatever the man had shown her. She didn't notice the portal erupt behind her until it was dragging her in. Then she disappeared in a wave of blue light, leaving behind the beaten corpse of the demon who had shown up at the house.
I stared, waiting to go back myself, but I didn't. I still stood standing in the cave, staring at the three men. The first was helping the other two to their feet. They picked up what was left of their quarterstaffs and just stood there for a moment. Finally one of them turned to me, for the first time actually looking at me.
"Why have you returned?" He asked in a different language than before, but one I recognized, but couldn't name.
I wasn't sure how to answer his question at first, but settled on saying, "This is my first time here."
The man shook his head. "No, but I can see you don't remember."
I looked at the three of them, glancing from one to another as they all stared steadily at me. "I don't understand, what don't I remember?"
"Yourself," he stated. "You're people, who you were, what you are."
Again I was staring dumbly. What were they talking about? "I know who I am."
The man's face remained blank, but I had the feeling that he was laughing at me. "You know who you are now. That won't help you."
Frowning and confused I just stood there, having so many questions that I wasn't sure which to start with.
"Why do I need help? Can't you just explain things without the cryptic part?" I asked.
The men were silent for a moment before the first one nodded. "You were Airaei, of the Lerian people. Born Slayer. Now, you're Elizabeth Blake. Always a Slayer."
"To save the world you must remember who you were."
I blinked. "What?"
The man just smiled at me. He waved his hand, and things started to go fuzzy. Back to the real world I guess, but I didn't want to leave yet. There were so many questions that I needed to ask. Nothing made sense, what was he talking about?
Before I could say anything else though, I was gone. For a moment I was only in darkness, waiting to show up back in my body.
Then I was there, in the kitchen, blinking back the light before I rubbed dry eyes. My body was sore, making me wonder if I had been out of it long. It hadn't seemed like that long of a time, but maybe time was different in that world. Slowly I leaned back, taking a look at what was going on around me.
No one was here at the moment other than Alucard, the girls must still be upstairs else they would be storming the place. Alucard was doing a good job of making a mess by himself though. He was wondering around the kitchen, going through cupboards as he searched for something. He glanced at me, seeing me up and moving.
"Hey, welcome back," he said, "There's coffee made for you, if you wait a second I'll get you some."
I smiled with a nod. "Caffeine good."
He grinned as he grabbed a mug from one of the cupboards. "So, what happened?" Alucard asked while getting everything ready.
"A lot," I said as he handed me the cup. "Thanks," he nodded. "Well... um... Buffy kicked ass, beat up some shadow men, got some bad news and left."
Alucard raised an eyebrow. "That made so little sense, you know."
I nodded. "Yeah, I know."
"So what happened with you?" He asked.
"I. . ." I murmured. "I'm not sure. I think the men told me something important, but I don't understand what they were talking about."
"Really. . ." Alucard started, considering what I had said. "Shadow men, eh? Were they shadows or?"
"The men from the shadow puppets, I think," I explained.
Alucard nodded. "Weird. That made sense." He shrugged before continuing. "So what did they tell you?"
I shrugged. "Well, a lot of stuff that didn't make that much sense," I stated.
"Such as?" Alucard asked, rummaging through the fridge. He pulled out a package of blood, opened it and pored it into the cup.
"I believe the exact words were 'To save the world you must remember who you were.'"
Considering that Alucard put the blood in the microwave to heat it up. "Save the world, eh?" He asked. I nodded. "And did he say anything else about who you were?"
"Yeah," I murmured, going over the conversation in my head. What did he mean? Who was Airaei and what were Lerians? I knew for a fact that I had never seen them before, I had never been there. Yet they seamed sure that I had.
The microwave dinged and Alucard pulled the blood out, walking to sit on the other side of the table. "So? Are you going to zone out for the next few hours or are you going to explain what's going on?"
"Have you ever heard of a Lerian?" He had been around awhile, he might know something.
Alucard froze with his cup half way to his mouth. He stared at me as if he was startled more than surprise. Almost as if I had given him really bad news, though I wasn't sure why that would be. Alucard quickly got over it, finished taking his sip. He put the cup on the table and stared at me for a couple of minutes, thinking.
Finally he spoke. "What else did they mention?"
I wanted to know exactly what that had to do with anything, or at least have him explain why it mattered to him. I had the feeling that he wouldn't answer though, so I didn't bother to ask.
"To sum it up, that I was Airaei, a Lerian, and now I'm Elisabeth Blake," I stated bluntly. "Does that mean anything to you?"
Alucard was still staring, deep in thought. "Kind of. . . I've met up with a few Lerians, interesting people."
"When did you meet them?" I asked, trying to figure out where I might get some information.
"A long time ago, they're not around anymore." He stated.
Frowning I asked, "Not around? Did they die off?"
Alucard shook his head. "Nah, their race isn't like that. They don't really die in this dimension. They just left, went back to where they came from."
Okay, he really wasn't helping with the confusion problem. "You know that you're making no sense, right?"
Alucard nodded with a grin. "Just realized that, yeah."
"So, could you explain what you're trying to say?" I requested.
He nodded. "okay, the Lerians come from a different dimension. They send a group of five hundred or so, they hang around awhile, one to five hundred years, then they go back, taking with them all the information they gathered. They know more about just about every dimension then any other race as a whole."
That mad more sense, except. . ."Why would he say I use to be one of them?"
Alucard was about to say something, then he stopped himself. After a moment he answered with a shrug, "Sorry, don't know." It was my turn to take a moment to think, and he used the time to drink some more of his blood.
"You know, Spike's going to be ticked you took his dinner," I stated, absently.
Alucard shrugged. "I can take care of Spike, don't care if he's pissed."
"Do you even know who he is?" I asked.
He nodded. "I spent the day asking around on info about your new friends," he stated.
"Asking who?"
He shrugged again. "Demons, vamps, you know, they people who know about the slayer because they spend all their time avoiding her."
"Ah, I see,"
Footsteps sounded from the stairs, and I looked toward the door, hoping the Potentials weren't coming down stairs to go to bed. We wouldn't go out tonight, the day had been too eventful.
"So, are we going after the watchers tomorrow?" Alucard asked, ignoring the oncoming people.
I took a sip of my coffee, gagging at the warm taste. Alucard smirked and I got up to switch it for a new, still hot drink.
"I actually have to talk to Buffy first," I stated. "She still doesn't know what's going on."
"That's not good," Alucard murmured.
"Hey, who're you?" Anya asked, walking into the kitchen. Alucard glanced up at her for a second before looking away again. "I'm talking to you," Anya snapped.
"Shut up, Anya, I really don't want to listen to you right now," Alucard muttered, taking another drink from his own.
Anya stared at him for a moment, her face in a mask of shocked recognization. She looked around the room, seeing me. "You! You invited him in here!" she asked making it more of a statement.
"You know Anya?" I asked Alucard, who only nodded.
"You did! I don't quite remember your name right now, but I'm getting Buffy and she's going to stake him!" Anya glared at Alucard before turning to storm off. Alucard was on his feet and blocking the doorway before I could blink.
"Anya, calm down. If I wanted to kill everyone you'd be dead by now," he said it in a mocking tone, which wasn't helping the situation. I had forgotten to think through the someone might see that I invited a vampire into the house part and it was turning out to be a bit of a problem.
Anya was actually not making this too bad. All she had to do was shout and someone would come running. Instead she was just standing defiantly, glaring at Alucard.
"Okay, one of you explain what's going on?" I demanded.
Anya just turned her glare on me, while Alucard watched with amusement. "You invited him in! He's a vampire, you should know that. He's a very evil and old vampire who likes hurting people!"
"Anya, you know I haven't don't anything particularly gruesome for the last three hundred years or so," Alucard pointed out.
"Who's version of gruesome?" Anya retorted, "You did things that even I thought was wrong. And I was one of the better vengeance demons."
Alucard smirked, "You're just mad that you never got to cast one of your lovely spells on me. Sorry babe, you're going to have to live with it."
"I didn't want to cast a spell on you, I would have been perfectly happy if you just met up with a nice slayer," Anya muttered.
"And I did, if my memory serves me right, one that you happened to bring into the area," He pointed out.
"And then you killed her," Anya snapped. "What's wrong with you? You were supposed to die."
He shrugged. "You should have set me up with some mortal and have them make a wish. Would have been much simpler for you."
"Okay, what happened between you two?" I asked, trying to cut off the current conversation, but I couldn't until I knew what was going on.
Alucard moved away from the door, allowing Anya the chance to leave if she wanted it, but she didn't. Walking over to his cup he continued drinking as Anya began to answer.
"Alucard here used to be a fan of using humans to get high. They'd take some drug and he'd get it through the blood. . ." Anya started to explain.
"I know how it works," I stated, trying to get her to move on with the story. I'd seen plenty of vampires do that. They'd get their victims drunk or high, that way the humans wouldn't remember what happened, or believe it if they did, and the vamps could have a bit of fun.
"Well, Alucard happened to try it on me when I was trying to get a girl to make a wish. Can you believe it, he thought I was human. The idiot actually tried to bite me, but he was kind of drunk at the moment so he wasn't all there. . ."
Alucard cut in, speeding things up. "Yes, I was acting like an idiot when we met. But eventually we got involved, went on a few dates, had a nasty break up, needless to say she doesn't like me."
"You make it sound like you didn't do anything wrong," Anya snapped before turning to me, "There were these two vampire chicks and-"
"-Please, I really don't want to know," I stated. Chances are the story would get a little too detailed for me, and I wasn't interested on hearing that. Alucard was still standing out of the way, watching us with amusement. He didn't seem to care what Anya said at the moment.
There was some information I wouldn't mind Anya telling me, though. "So, how long ago did all this take place?"
Anya glanced at Alucard, doing some quick calculations. "Around seven hundred years ago?" She asked him, checking to make sure she was right.
"Closer to eight," he murmured.
I raised an eyebrow. "Eight hundred years old, you've been around awhile." I said to him before asking Anya, "So did he still go by Alucard then?"
Anya shook her head. "No, that started a couple hundred years later. At the time he used a couple different names, but would claim none of them as the original. And he was around quite a time before we were a couple."
Which probably meant he was at least over nine hundred. That was something to talk about later, though. At the moment, he didn't seem to be trying to hide any information, which he normally did. Anya liked to talk though, so if he tried to hide anything she'd probably just bring it up, so maybe it was safer to stay quiet. I'd help and not ask anymore questions at the moment, but that was mostly because I didn't want to risk some of the answers I'd get. Anya didn't really mind being graphic and there were many things I didn't need to know about Alucard.
Speaking of Alucard, he was back to the fridge, searching for another package of blood that he promptly put in the microwave. "I can't believe your boy Spike drinks this daily, it's horrible."
"Yes, well some vampires have souls," Anya muttered.
Alucard smirked. "Yes, and I'm sure that helps."
"What are you doing here anyway," Anya asked, going back to her first question.
"Actually, that was what I was wondering," We all turned to see Spike standing in the doorway. He was staring at Alucard, who took a moment to stare back, looking him over. Both were sizing up the threat, but Alucard didn't seem threatened. It wasn't like when he met Zeke and we all stood on edge. It was more of checking to make sure the nuisance wouldn't get in the way.
"You must be Spike," Alucard said, opening the microwave once it went off.
Spike nodded slowly, turning his gaze to me. "Who is he?"
"Alucard, the somewhat good guy," I stated.
"Somewhat good guy?" Anya asked. "What do you mean, somewhat?"
"He's a soulless vampire, what do you think she means," Spike muttered angrily, but not angry with Anya, angry with me. "What's he doing in this house?"
"There were unusual circumstances," I stated, knowing that it wasn't much of an answer.
Spike didn't like it in the slightest. "So you invite in a vampire? A very old master vampire?"
"Oh, come now, as she said there were special circumstances, and I'd hardly call myself a master," Alucard stated, pulling Spikes anger away from me for a moment.
"I know a master when I meet one," Spike stated.
I spoke before anyone else got to, "That's nice, I don't. What makes the difference?"
"Masters are typically over a thousand years old, and very evil, all wrinkly like," Anya stated.
I glanced at Alucard, "He's in human mode now, and most vamps are wrinkly. . ."
"No, I mean they're always that way. Their evil changes their looks permanently," Anya explained, in one of those moments when she's acting smart.
"I'm not a master," Alucard said again.
Spike rolled his eyes. " I know you are. Now say what you're doing her so that we can get you out."
"I'm going to get Willow," Anya said to Spike before throwing another glare at Alucard and heading out of the room.
"Willow's the witch, right?" Alucard asked me.
"Doesn't matter," I said.
Spike sighed. "While this is going well, answer the question already."
"Sheesh, don't be in such a hurry," Alucard said, settling against the counter as he drank his blood. "I'm just here helping out Liz. Saved her life again, that's all."
Spike threw me a questioning look I shrugged. "Long story?" I said in an attempt to explain.
Suddenly Willow and Buffy walked in, followed closely by Xander and Anya, who had been talking but shut up when she entered. Buffy took one glance at Alucard before reaching for a stake that was conviently on the counter. Willow reached out and stopped her from doing anything at the moment, giving Alucard the chance to talk.
"You know, I probably should be going," he said as he actually began to worry. While he was rather sure he could take on Spike, Buffy and Willow were a different story.
Buffy took a moment to stare at everyone in the room, trying to pickup information from each of us. Slowly she crossed her arms, still holding the stake. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"
Alucard looked at me, searching for an answer that wouldn't get him dusted. "I was just trying to help, don't kill me for doing a good deed," he muttered.
"Um, correct me if I'm wrong, but do vampires actually do good deeds?" Xander asked.
"Spike did," Anya stated.
Xander nodded, "Yeah, but he had a chip in his head, that was different."
"And don't compare us," Spike said.
"Why not, you both have corny nicknames," Anya muttered.
"Hey!" Alucard and Spike said at the same time.
I grinned, "She's right you know," I stated, receiving a glare from Spike and a smirk from Alucard.
"It was funny at the time," Alucard muttered.
"That's nice and all, but who are you," Buffy said, taking charge of the conversation.
Alucard shrugged, "Call me Alucard. Former sidekick to the guy who's trying to kill my friend Liz here, now somewhat good guy, as she put it."
Xander laughed. "Alucard? Please, way over used."
Alucard nodded. "Yes, but I was the first to use it so I can without regret. Ticked Dracula off a bit."
"You knew Dracula?" Willow asked.
Alucard nodded. "Said he did everything backwards, he took offense, saying something about me being the one backwards, so I said something about be a good old fashion Alucard, which didn't make him happy, but hey, I thought it was funny. Anyway, the name stuck."
"Okay, back to the point though," It was Spike this time, "Why would you be helping Beth?"
Spike shrugged. "That's actually a really good question, and I'm still working out the answer. Get back to me in a month or so I might have it."
"Why are you inside?" Buffy asked.
"Because I was about to pass out and there was something outside waiting to kill me, and I had the feeling Alucard wouldn't be able to stop it," I stated, speaking up.
That got everyone's attention. "What would be outside waiting?" Willow asked.
"Besides the monsters that make up half Sunnydale's population," Xander added.
"A vampire, probably more than one," I stated.
Alucard nodded. "He wouldn't have sent just one," he pointed out.
"Unless it was just to check out what was going on around here. Then he wouldn't want to send too many," I suggested. Alucard nodded, admitting that it could be the case.
"Who would send vampires after you? The First?" Buffy asked.
I sighed. This was not how I had imagined explaining things. I suppose it was better then having a hand fold of potentials surrounding us though.
As if irony wanted to torture me Kennedy and Dawn just walked in. "What's going on," Kennedy asked.
"Beth was just about to tell us," Buffy said pointedly.
There was no way not to feel self conscious with Buffy staring at me so intently. I was beginning to realize how everyone must have felt with Buffy addressing them. It was scary, but at the same time you couldn't be quiet, because she needed to know the answer. We kind of had to tell her.
"No, the First has just about nothing to do with this. Other than it sending a bunch of Bringers after us during the summer and the incident with Chloe the First has left me alone," I stated.
"So, who's the big bad guy here?" Xander asked, half joking.
"He calls himself 'The Boss'-" I stared.
Alucard butted in. "Actually, he doesn't call himself anything, he just lets everyone else call him that."
"And the Boss is?" Buffy asked.
"A vampire," I stated. "Alucard knows more about him than I do."
Buffy glanced at Alucard. "Is that so?" She asked.
Alucard nodded. "Yeah, I was hanging out with him for awhile."
"What is he doing? This Boss?" Kennedy asked, all too eager to go kick some vampire ass. Her enthusiasm would get her killed if she wasn't careful.
"At the moment trying to kill me," I stated.
Several confused looks came my way. Again I sighed, I didn't want to have to explain everything all over again, but it looked like I wouldn't have a choice.
"Why does he want you dead?" Anya asked. "You're just a Potential."
Alucard chuckled, then hid his grin when he received another glare from Anya. Spike was keeping silent, biding his time before he talked. No one else knew anything so it was up to me to answer. God I hated being in charge.
"I'm not a potential," I started, getting several different kinds of looks from all around the room.
"Then what-"
"I'm a Slayer."
There was a pause, everyone stopping to make sure they heard me right.
"I'm sorry, did you say Slayer?" Xander asked, confirming it. I only nodded.
"How. . . When. . ." Willow started to ask, not sure where to start.
"Because of me?" Buffy asked, getting over the shock. She looked so surprised and not sure of what to think. My guess was that she was comparing me to Faith, the rogue slayer.
"Kind of, I'm not sure exactly why," I stated.
"Well, you got the calling right? That's what makes us slayers," Kennedy said, with something like Jealousy in her voice. I stopped myself from making some smart-ass comment to her. It wouldn't be appreciated.
Spike saw my frustration and decided that he could speak up now. "There's more to it then that," he started, drawing everyone's attention, with the exception of Alucard who took the opportunity to glance my way with a look that asked if I told Spike. I nodded and Alucard sat back to think.
"How would you know?" Buffy asked, suspicious.
"Beth and I had a little chat, but that's not the point," Spike stated. "She was a Slayer before Buffy, but got cursed. The curse kind of went away when Buffy died and came back to life the second time."
"What sort of curse?" Willow asked, wondering if she might recognize it.
I spoke up again, explaining basically what the curse did, and that it stopped my aging and basically didn't let me die.
"So how long were you in that state?" Buffy asked.
"One hundred and twenty years," I said as if it was nothing. More shocked looks came at me, but I was getting use to that.
Xander raised his hand before speaking, "Out of curiosity, not to say she's lying, and I know we've dealt with weirder things, but, doesn't this sound a little far fetched?"
No one said anything, but everyone was sort of silently agreeing. Until Spike spoke up. "I can vouch for her," he stated.
"Did you run into her at some point?" Alucard asked, not sounding too happy about the idea. I wasn't sure why but he wasn't liking Spike at the moment.
Spike shook his head. "No, just so happens though, that she's my sister."
Everyone froze. They scoobies had been surprised when I said I was a slayer. Hell, the whole age thing had thrown them, but that was absolutely nothing compared to this reaction. I don't think one of them was breathing.
"Sister?" Dawn squeaked, not even being able to sound right.
Spike nodded.
More silence.
"You mean. . ." Xander looked from one of us to the other. "Wow."
"They do sort of look alike," Dawn said. "Same chin, and the same eyes, just different colors..." Great, now they were going to start noticing all the things we did that were similar.
Buffy was looking from Spike to me, then back to Spike. "Your sister?" She finally asked weakly. We both kind of stood there, waiting for her to say something else. "Why didn't you say anything?" she finally asked.
"Mainly because we didn't actually see each other until this morning. Funny how you can live in the same house and never run into each other," I stated.
"This is a really big deal, isn't it?" Kennedy asked. "Just the fact that she's a Slayer. . ."
"Why didn't you tell us you were a Slayer?" Anya asked. I was wondering when someone would get back to that.
"Because Jordan didn't want you all to be worried about all the problems that I brought with me," I stated.
"What exactly are those problems?" Buffy wanted to know.
"Mainly that the Boss has an army of vampires ready to come in here and slaughter all of us just to make sure that Liz here dies," Alucard said bluntly, getting strait to the point.
"What?" Xander asked.
I frowned, biting my lip. "Well. . ."
"Who exactly is this 'Boss'?" Buffy asked Alucard, not me. She knew he would give her a direct answer.
"The guy who's been uniting most of the vampires in the states under his rule for the past fifty or so years. He's got quite a group gathered," Alucard said.
"And they're trying to kill you?" Buffy asked me. I nodded. "Why?"
I took a deep breath, then blew it out slowly, trying to relax a little. "The Boss has a prophecy that says that if I live past May then I'll destroy all vampires, or something to that effect." I stated. "I think he misread it."
"Do we have a copy of the prophecy?" Willow asked.
I nodded and pulled out the book. "If you can read it be my guest."
It got passed over to her and she looked inside. I knew instantly she didn't have a clue what any of it meant. "What language is this, do you know?" She asked.
"Lerian," Alucard stated. I paused a moment before turning to stare at him, my confusion being a different type then everyone else's. He didn't look back.
"Never heard of that. . . Is it old?" Willow asked.
"Very."
"Do we have anyone who can translate it?" Buffy asked.
"Not likely," Alucard said. "I understand a few words, but that's it."
"So is he here as your interpreter?" Spike asked, bringing me back to the issue of Alucard.
"No, he's here as my. . . well, he was a prisoner. Kind of. Now he's a guide so to speak," I said, trying not to confuse them but being confused myself.
"A guide to what?" Dawn asked.
"My watchers, I have three other ones," I said quickly, trying to avoid unnecessary questions. More questions came, and I answered them. It would have been easier if I just went from the beginning to the end instead of jumping around, but it didn't work that way. After another half hour of questions and answers everyone kind of had a feel for what was going on.
"So, when do we go get the watchers?" Kennedy asked.
"Tomorrow if you're ready," Alucard stated. "It's going to get a bit sunny out before we'd get back, so I'm thinking it's best to wait.
Buffy nodded. "Fine. That works. Now get out," she said to Alucard. "You can come back tomorrow."
Alucard glanced at me, as if I might say something else. I didn't. So with a shrug he turned for the door. "I'll be back around sunset." Then he left without a backwards glance, leaving us to talk about him.
"Alucard, eh?" Xander started. "Don't like the guy. Willow, how about a spell?"
She nodded. "Already working on it. I'm going to need some supplies and the shop doesn't open till tomorrow."
"Fine. Tomorrow you get them," Buffy stated. "For tonight, caste some sort of shield so that he can't come back in."
"And tomorrow he's uninvited, no problem," Willow finished.
Buffy turned to me. "I don't know what you were thinking, or what was going on, but don't ever invite a vampire into this house again, understand?" I nodded slowly, waiting for her to go into some sort of speech. She didn't, but instead turned back to the group and continued talking.
After awhile I excused myself and went off to find a blanket and some spot to sleep in. The couch was taken as were the chairs and probably anything else that was soft. I found a pair of pajamas and rolled out a sleeping bag. I was surprised to find out how tired I was. Almost at the moment I laid down I was sleeping.
~
Gidgetgirl: Hey! Thanks for review, and for testing the stories! (the lack of mistakes was because I have a good beta tester ^.^) Yeah, I've given some thought on the whole Spike not being happy about a relationship thing. Anyway, thanks for review! I'll try to get the next chapter to you soon, It'll be long again, sorry, but then we should have a short one. Maybe.
Maude: You reviewed! And you read it! *looks all happy like* Glad you're liking it, read some other fanfictions! There are a lot of good ones! Check out some of the people who've reviewed my stories, I find some of the best stories that way.
Beyondthesilence: ^.^ I was hoping it would be a surprise. It was planned sense the beginning though, So it didn't seem like a surprise to me. Yeah, the stories getting more exciting. . . Got something planned for Alucard next chapter to make everyone hate him. Kind of. Thanks for the words, I'm just not good at fitting them in. O.o Yeah, it's following season seven, some of the script is the same. Anything that sounds like it's something the characters would actually say, I probably didn't write it. There might be a few more grammar mistakes this time cause I didn't wait to get the chapter back from gidgetgirl. Hope you liked it though.
Thanks for reading!