ACT 3
CONTINUE SCENE.
Oh, I forgot to tell you. Your grandmother called while you were out this morning.
Carl is frozen in shock. The camera follows Buffy and Dawn as they rush to the foyer, where we see JOAN, their grandmother: the same blonde woman in the picture with the young Carl Kolchak, now aged in her sixties, still extremely attractive and dignified-- and furious. Beside her we see their Aunt PAULINE, a woman in her forties who bears a striking resemblance to Buffy, and who looks around nervously. Xander stands dumbfounded, holding the door open. The partying Potentials remain frozen and silent.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I picture Carol Lynley in the part of Joan, for reasons which should be obvious to those familiar with the original Night Stalker movie. I picture Pauline being played by Dianne Kay, best known as Nancy Bradford in the 1970s series Eight is Enough, because some people have pointed out a strong resemblance between her and Sarah Michelle Gellar, as well as her being the right age to play Joyce's older sister. Both Ms. Lynley and Ms. Kay are among my all-time favorite actresses, BTW!
Grandma! Aunt Polly!
They exchange embraces with the other two women, although there is a decided tension.
Buffy. Dawnie. The two of you pack up right now! You're leaving this place with us!
Yes. The two of you are moving in with me and Uncle Matt in Glendale.
Excuse me? I'm twenty-two, I have a job, I'm Dawn's legal guardian until she turns eighteen in another year and a half. We both have lives here in Sun--
Carl Kolchak! If you're in this house, get your ass out here right this second!!!
A long moment of silent tension, and then Carl slowly steps into view in the dining room. The tension continues to mount as he and Joan stare at each other. Neither is quite prepared for this moment, and both are close to tears. We also see Spike in the background in the dining room, obviously fighting to keep from bursting out laughing.
Joan's lips quiver for several seconds, then her expression hardens again.
Kolchak! You get out of this house and you stay away from my granddaughters!
Well, that's a fine how-do-you-do from the mother of my children!
Whom I haven't seen since Kennedy was President. I've missed you, too, Joanie!
I mean it, Carl! Get out of here and stay away from Dawnie and Buffy!
Excuse me, Grandma. This is Dawn's and my house. Mom left it to us and left me as Dawn's guardian, and Dawn's... almost... a legal adult any...
Her voice trails off as she realizes she's spitting into the wind. More silent tension, and then the camera zooms in on Pauline, who has been blinking and quivering her lips increasingly.
Daddy?
Pauline?
She rushes forward, and they both burst into tears as they wrap their arms around each other.
I never forgot you, Daddy! It's been forty years and I never forgot you! Joyce was too young to really remember, but I do!
Mom! Why did you lie to me and Joyce and tell us he was dead?
It's okay, Sweetheart! Your mother did the right thing. My life was far too dangerous for the three of you to be any part of it.
Then what in God's name are you doing here with Joyce's children?!?
Hello! Everybody? Can we air the family laundry someplace a little less public?
INT THE KITCHEN. The family members sit around the counter, Buffy, Dawn and Carl on the outside, Joan and Pauline facing them on the kitchen side. Spike guards the back entrance. Willow, Xander and Anya guard the dining room entrance while passing food and drink to the Potentials in the living room. The PARTY NOISE AND MUSIC have resumed, but at a much lower volume.
Joanie, the first thing you need to know is that I came back here to Sunnydale to do the exact same thing you came here to do. Get Buffy and Dawn out of here.
Really! And since when is "Congratulations, it's a Grandfather" synonymous with "Bon Voyage"?
Well, since arriving back here, I've learned something that changes the whole picture. Buffy and Dawn belong here.
Well, I learned a few things too, today. Like they have some boy staying here.
It's not what you think, Grandma. It's a long story.
Yeah, Grandma, I've never even been on a real date.
And I suppose all these girls are your friends from school. That my little Dawnie is now the most popular girl in Sunnydale High.
Well, Grandma, it's been nearly a year since you've seen us. And you haven't been up here in Sunnydale since Mom's funeral...
Wait. Daddy. You said you came back to Sunnydale. You've been here and seen Buffy and Dawnie before?
I never met them until four days ago. I haven't been back here in over thirty years.
Pauline, what has your mom told you about me?
Until today, nothing except that you were a reporter, and that we left Las Vegas because you died and she had to find work somewhere else. Now on the drive up here she tells me that you were alive all this time and that your real name is Carl Kolchak, and that they once made a TV show about you and vampires.
Mom, you sounded like you thought the vampire stuff was real.
It is real, Polly! That's one thing I never disagreed with your father about. That's the real reason we left him and Las Vegas. He killed a very powerful vampire, and I wanted to protect you and Joyce from the wrath of any evils that he may have loosened by doing that.
Daddy, is that true?
Yes, Sweetheart. As I said, your Mom did the right thing.
Oh, my God! I find my father after over forty years thinking he was dead, and find out both my parents are crazy!
Mom, you sacrificed Joyce's and my childhood and happiness because of some crazy vampire story?
Polly, you just heard: your mother agreed all along that the vampires were real, even before anybody else believed me. It was painful for me to accept her decision at first. It was the most painful thing I've ever done, even more painful than what happened to me the last time I was here in Sunnydale.
This is where the Hellmouth is. Evil gravitates here. Vampires and demons and other sorts of evil beings gravitate here.
Pauline continues to stare incredulously.
Which brings us back to what we're all doing here. If you're telling the truth about why you're here, then what are you doing partying it up with Buffy and Dawnie and all these strange people when you should be helping them pack up?
Because we're not going anywhere, Grandma!
Buffy has a calling, Joanie. At any given time, there is one young girl in the world who is chosen to battle the evils that gather here.
And I'm her! I don't know if it's because my grandfather was a legendary vampire-hunter or if that's just a coincidence, but I was chosen. I've been at it for seven years now. And right now, there's a big fight brewing up that I don't know if we can win.
Buffy, you too? Oh, God!
Dawnie! Please tell me you don't believe any of this madness. Tell me I'm not the only sane person left in this family!
Sorry, Aunt Polly. I can't lie to you. I've known about the vampire stuff almost since we moved here to Sunnydale. Willow and Xander and Anya have been slaying vampires and demons alongside Buffy all that time, and I've just started doing my share of it within the last few months myself.
That's it! I'm calling child protective services! Buffy, you may be a legal adult and I can't do anything for you, but Dawnie's still a minor and I can have them take her out of here. Mom, you can either drop this delusion and back me up on this or you can get out of the way!
I guess we have to show her.
Hey, Spike?
ON SPIKE as he turns to face them with the back door in the background.
Could you give my daughter a little dem--
CRASH! The back door comes flying inward as several BRINGERS kick it in, come barging in and knock Spike to the floor.
INSERT THE LIVING ROOM AND FOYER as more Bringers come crashing through the front door and window. The Potentials and Andrew flinch back away from them, screaming.
Spike vamps out and comes up swinging.
In the kitchen and dining room, Buffy, Dawn, Willow, Xander and Anya galvanize into action. Joan and Pauline are paralyzed with shock and fear.
Carl jumps over the counter, pulls Joan and Pauline down to the floor and throws himself protectively on top of them.
A SERIES OF FIGHT SCENES.
Three Bringers at the front of the house draw their knives and drive the Potentials and Andrew against the wall opposite the kitchen and dining room, although the more experienced Potentials (Rona, Vi, Molly, Amanda and Kennedy) put up some token resistance.
Four more Bringers enter the front door and drive Willow, Xander and Anya into the back of the dining room. The table is knocked over. Food goes flying, and the three Scoobies put up a more respectable fight, using pan lids, platters and other utensils as shields and weapons.
Three Bringers gang up on Spike and keep him occupied at the back of the living room as eight more come into the kitchen from the back door.
Four of them make a grab for Buffy and Dawn, trying to drag them to the back door, but they begin fighting back readily.
The remaining four go around the counter and grab Carl. Two of them pull him off Joan and Pauline and start to drag him off. The remaining two grab at a paralyzed and hysterical Pauline, but Joan starts to kick at them (maternal protective instinct kicking in). They shove her away against the stove and grab again at Pauline, and Joan starts kicking again.
At another corner of the kitchen, the two Bringers with Carl start to drag him off, but he draws his stake and starts flailing at them. They let go of him and join the two who are going after Pauline. This time, one of them pins Joan back against the stove while the other three drag Pauline off, shoving Carl out of the way.
Buffy kills her two attackers after a struggle, but two of the others in the dining room break off from attacking the other Scoobies and hit her from behind.
Dawn wrestles free of her attackers and starts punching and kicking at them successfully.
Spike kills one of his attackers and continues struggling with the other two, who pin him to the floor.
Dawn's two attackers lunge toward her again and she kicks them back.
INSERT DAWN'S POV looking past her attackers at the four Bringers dragging Pauline out the back door, again shoving Carl back into the kitchen.
Aunt Polly!
Dawn's two attackers lunge at her again. This time, she puts up only token resistance before the two Bringers grab her by the upper arms and drag her out the back door as well.
Spike sees this as he kills a second of his attackers, but the third continues to keep him occupied.
Niblet!
EXT THE SUMMERS HOME BACKYARD-- NIGHT as the first four Bringers carry a struggling Pauline off. The other two Bringers yank Dawn along by her upper arms, moving at a slower pace behind them.
INT THE LIVING ROOM. The Potentials and Andrew sit icing bruises and bandaging wounds as Buffy and Spike stand before them. Several of the Bringers lie dead on the floor.
Nobody needs to go to the hospital? Nobody missing besides Dawn and my Aunt Polly?
Everyone shakes their head and/or mumbles "No".
Buffy, I should be able to follow their scent. There's no time to lose.
Okay. Wait. Take Dawn's cell phone with you. It should be in the recharger in her room, on her bedside table.
Spike starts up the steps.
INT THE DINING ROOM. The table has been uprighted. As Buffy enters, Willow and Anya help Joan into one chair as Xander helps Carl into another. Joan is still in shock, trembling and downcast.
Damn you, Carl Kolchak! You come back into my life after forty-one years, and within eight hours our granddaughter and our only living daughter are kidnapped by God knows what!
Not just God. I know what those bastards are too. The worst evil I ever faced.
And you brought them here to Buffy's and Dawnie's house!
Grandma, that's not fair. That's not true. They've been here before. They've trashed the house like this before.
Then why did they take Polly and Dawnie?
Spike reappears in the foyer, waving Dawn's cell phone.
Buffy, I'm off!
He goes out the front door as Buffy nods in acknowledgement.
We'll explain later.
Wait. That is a good question. They didn't want any of the Potentials, didn't really hurt any of them too seriously. Or Xander or Willow or Anya or Spike. But they tried to take me and Grandpa too, but we fought 'em off.
But they didn't try to take you. They held you back, but they didn't try to take you.
They tried to take me and my direct descendants! They want my blood! They want people who have my blood.
They must be trying to open the seal again. The one they tried to open with my blood the last time I was here.
Joan looks at him in horror but says nothing.
Then we don't need Spike to follow their scent! We know where it is!
Xander, you're driving. We can pick up Spike on the way.
Can you two do a locator spell on Dawn and Aunt Polly just to be sure?
It'll take a few minutes for me to get the stuff together.
Do it, then call me on my cell if they're not at the seal. Let's go, Xander!
I'm going, too!
Grandpa...
Dammit, Buffy! This is no time to argue!
Then I'm going, too!
Joan, it's too...
Dammit, Kolchak! This is no time to argue!
EXT SUNNYDALE HIGH SCHOOL-- NIGHT. Xander's car pulls up to the main entrance and he, Buffy, Joan and Carl all pile out. Xander has the crossbow, Buffy the axe and Joan and Carl each have a broadsword. Buffy pulls out her key ring and unlocks the front door.
No sign of Spike. Not even he can run fast enough to beat us here.
Maybe the Bringers didn't know about the shortcut we took.
Then maybe we actually beat 'em here.
INT THE SEAL OF DANZALTHAR CHAMBER IN THE HIGH SCHOOL BASEMENT. Buffy kicks in the door. Xander steps in behind her, dropping to one knee and aiming the crossbow into the center of the room. Joan and Carl stand back in the hallway.
The camera zooms back to reveal the exposed seal, the torture wheel with its rope and pulley system-- and nobody present inside.
INT THE SUMMERS HOME DINING ROOM. Willow and Anya sit facing each other across a map of Sunnydale on the table. There are multicolored points of light at the high school on the map. Willow's cell phone RINGS next to the map and she picks it up.
Buffy, did you find them?
INTERCUT THE TWO SCENES AS BUFFY AND WILLOW CONVERSE.
Did your spell work?
I'm showing all six of you over the seal. You, Xander, your grandparents, and Dawn and your aunt. Are you there?
We're at the seal, but there's no sign of Dawn or Aunt Polly.
Your aunt should be right there in the room with you, and Dawn's moving toward you.
They're not here, Willow. Is it possible the Bringers have some kind of invisibility spell?
Behind Buffy, Carl looks around the room.
Buffy, this can't be the same seal they tried to open with my blood.
Wait a sec, Willow.
Are you sure, Grandpa?
We're just in the school basement. The seal I was in was at least fifty feet below ground level. In a natural cave. This place is laid out the same with the torture wheel and everything, but the seal itself is a little different. I remember the other one. This isn't it!
Willow, your locator spell. It's only two-dimensional, right?
Yeah, it's a two-dimensional map.
Then they've got to be below us somewhere. Is there any way to get three-dimensional?
No, I can't think of any.
Do you have a location on Spike?
We hear a CALL WAITING TONE. Buffy looks at the display on her phone.
Never mind. He's on call waiting. Wait a second, Wil.
Spike?
EXT THE CHRISTMAS TREE LOT FROM "AMENDS" AND "BRING ON THE NIGHT". Spike stands over the hole in the ground leading to the underground chambers, speaking into the cell phone.
Buffy, I'm still on the scent. I'm at the hole in the Christmas Tree lot. I wanted you to know before I went in, since I'll probably lose the cell signal.
CONTINUE INTERCUTTING SCENES
Spike! Wait for us! We'll be there in three minutes!
Everyone back to the car!
They head back out and down the hallway, Buffy last and still on the phone.
Buffy, you still there?
Yes, we're on our way.
I didn't have time to tell you earlier, but I don't think they got the Niblet.
What do you mean? Where is she?
I mean, she's probably with your auntie and the Bringers. Her scent is still on the same trail as theirs. But I don't think they really got her.
INT A CAVERN. It is laid out nearly identically to the chamber where the Seal of Danzalthar is located, except that it is a natural cavern lit with torches. A pentagram seal with a goat's head, very similar to but not quite identical to the Seal of Danzalthar lies in the center of the cavern, sticking perhaps an inch or two out of the solid rock floor. A large wooden torture wheel rigged to overhead ropes and pulleys hangs vertically off to one side as in the high school basement.
The four Bringers drag Pauline into the cavern from its only access tunnel. She is exhausted, no longer resisting but not walking along either. They bring her up to the seal, pull her right arm out over it. One of them uses its knife to make a shallow cut across her forearm as she squeals.
Her blood drips from the cut onto the seal. As one point of the pentagram rises to open with a shaft of light projecting from it, the other two Bringers drag Dawn into the cavern where she sees the opening seal. They remain on either side of her, holding her by the armpits while holding up their curved knives in their respective outside hands.
END ACT 3. INSERT COMMERCIAL BREAK