Chapter twenty- The Night Is Young
Buffy fell down onto the ground and questioned what had just happened. Was it real? Did she really just sense a vampire with a soul? All these questions where running through her head and nothing. Nothing else at all occupied her head, just these thoughts. She heard people talking near by but because Buffy was in this little world of hers, she could not get out and join in with the voices in the distance.
The voices called out to her but there was no reaction from her. Faith quickly ran over to Buffy and kneeled next to her and whispered…
"Please no! Not again! Buffy don't go, don't got fooled again by the council! Come back for Giles and me! Please Buffy!"
There was no reply and Giles ran over and asked Faith what was wrong. Faith explained she didn't know what was wrong this time but told Giles what had happened previously. Giles was of course shocked by what the council had been up to and it clearly explained why he was taken away from Buffy at the start of the camp.
Faith and Giles just sat there with Buffy starring at her to see what her next move and action was going to be.
Buffy could hear the voices clearer and when she recognised Giles's voice she quickly got up and walked to him. Faith smiled as Buffy hugged Giles. Faith went over and hugged her friend too. Faith and Giles both asked Buffy what just happened and she told them she wasn't really sure herself but all she knew was that she needed some rest. Buffy then pulled Faith aside and whispered to her that she had something to tell Faith but she couldn't tell her right now because she didn't want Giles to know.
The three of them together walked out of the dark creepy stadium and headed for the cabins. Buffy and Faith said goodnight to Giles as he slipped away to a hidden cabin where the council wouldn't find him. Faith asked if Buffy wanted to talk now that Giles was gone and she just told Faith they had the rest of the week for her to tell her.
They climbed into their beds and went to sleep, one thinking about a vampire with a soul, the other thinking what could be so important that Giles couldn't even be told.
Both Faith and Buffy were woken up the next morning by other potentials. They could tell they were in the field but what Buffy and Faith wanted to know was where did they all come from because last night, no other potentials were on campus that they could see. They got up, got changed and headed outside.
The noise grew louder and they saw potentials training in the filed with Watchers. One of the Watchers called out to the girls and told them to hurry up to class. They ran over to where people from their year were training. Faith could see Kat and Alyssa but surprisingly they didn't come over and make smart remarks to them.
"Attention students, potentials, future Slayers. We are here to learn to fight in combat, in battle not to learn how to talk.. Kat and Alyssa, some of you don't need lessons on talking. Anyway back on track. You are here to learn to fight in the many ways the council have been teaching through generations, to generation. If you aren't keen on learning we will just have to make you. I am strict and if your not doing a kick or a combination properly then you will do it until you do get it right. Not many of you know me because I'm a new teacher for training but some of you may know from potions class and other magic classes. I prefer teaching the magiks but I am capable of teaching potentials their fighting skills. Anyone questions? Good. That means we can begin lesson one," a familiar man said.
"I thought Giles taught this sort of stuff Buffy," said Faith.
"So did I. Last year he did, we saw him last night, where is he now?"
"Maybe he's hiding in the cabin we saw him go to."
"Maybe he is but I think if he did go there last night he would have been found by now, so why haven't we seen him?"
"Seen who Miss Summers?" asked the familiar man.
"Oh just a friend we've been looking for that we can't find," answered Buffy.
"Well Miss Summers you can look for your so called 'friend' later, we have fighting techniques to learn."
"Left kick, punch with right arm swing, leap, run, run, run. Try that girls," said the familiar man.
"Sir are you sure this is one of the combinations the council has been handing down from generation to generation?" asked Sarah who was concerned about this man's fighting techniques
"No it isn't made up by the council, I made it up. Do you have a problem with that Sarah?
"No sir," replied Sarah.
"Don't call me sir again, call me Ethan."
"Everybody now try making up your own combinations with the fighting moves you already have learnt. I will mark you on the effectiveness and the amount of moves you use."
Buffy started her combination with a jump kick and kicked with her right leg, then jumped again and while in the air turned around jumped back on the ground, swinged around and did a punch with her left hand. Then did a block as if he punched back and did a double kick and then double punch. As Ethan came around and watched Buffy's routine he clapped his hands and told her that was some nice work but it wouldn't have worked if she had done it against a real demon but you see Buffy had gotten her combination today from last nights fight in the stadium except Buffy had changed a few things here and there.
Faith did a run then jump tumbled through the air and when she landed she kicked with her right leg and punched with her right arm after and did a block as if someone had punched her. She did a back flip backwards and then did a full double punch, double kick, double punch twist. Faith ended up on the ground but didn't know why because she had done a similar thing to that last night and it worked. She turned around and the creepy man Ethan clapped his hands and said to her very good too.
"You and your friend are quite good but not as good as you should be. You two wouldn't be capable of going up against a demon yet. You have to prepare yourself for the worst. You. Faith. You weren't ready for an attacker from behind you. Work on your senses girl. You need to be able to sense a human first then you will be able to go onto to working on your senses for a vampire," said Ethan.
Ethan was stupid of course, that's what Buffy and Faith thought anyways because he didn't know about them defeating all those vampires last night with those same combinations but what Buffy and Faith didn't know was he was watching, keeping an eye on Giles and making sure he was staying in the same place, not trying to come back to Slayer Camp.
After the talk from Ethan he goes to the front of the class and tells them, he has marked their skills and combinations. He would now like to talk about the magiks. The potentials sit down eager to hear what Ethan says because he fascinates them for some strange reason, like he has a spell on them.
Buffy and Faith don't pay attention to him and sit down at the back of the group. As Faith is about to ask Buffy what she wanted to tell her, Buffy quickly turns around and she sees Wesley walk past, it's as though she sensed him.
Buffy quickly turned back round and Faith asks Buffy the question. Buffy tells Faith that when they were with Giles yesterday; she doesn't think they were really with him. She was sensing something different about him. He wasn't Giles, someone or something had done a spell to look like him or something. Buffy wasn't exactly sure what was going on, if she was right or not she just knew Giles wasn't his same old self. Something happened but that something still had to be figured out. Faith thought Buffy was just worrying and making things up but she did admit herself she sensed something too, a vibe, a bad vibe from Giles, it was evil. So much for Faith not being able to sense humans.
The old loud Slayer camp bell rang three times on time and it meant this time to change to the next class, which was history. For history there were two classes and Buffy and Faith weren't in the same class so they went off in separate directions. Buffy walked into her classroom thinking about Giles, last night fighting and a vampire with a soul thought came floating back into her head. She sat down at a table in about the middle of the classroom.
They wrote down the heading 'Vampires Who Like To Bite', it was the name of the book they had been reading from about vampires in history to the current day who are dangerous to Slayers, the ones who have killed a Slayer or the ones who have caused chaos. Buffy started copying down from the book names of the few vampires mentioned in the first few chapters, The Master, Darla, Angelus (Angel), William The Bloody (Spike), Druscilla and Dracula. They were the ones the book clearly marked were the ones to watch out for first and learn about in depth.
Buffy had remembered the name William the bloody from somewhere but she couldn't exactly remembered. She asked her teacher Mrs. Gloss if they studied a vampire named William the Bloody last year and she said no, she might have mentioned but they didn't do any work on him. Buffy then remembered she had seen the name written somewhere in a text but she couldn't remember where. The name sounded so familiar but it wasn't familiar enough to ring a bell.
Buffy continued copying down notes from the book. As Buffy wrote down the information, Kendra came over and sat next to Buffy at the table. Buffy just kept writing until Kendra started to speak.
"You know what Buffy. If you want yo do any good as a Slayer you have to stay away from people like Faith. They are no good, those sort of people are trouble makers and won't get you anywhere as a future Slayer."
"And why do you think you have the right to come up to me and tell me what is best for my future?" asked Buffy.
"I think I have the right because as a future possible friend of yours I want to give you some important advice," replied Kendra.
"What if I don't want you opinion about MY future? You should just mind your own business, you don't know anything about me so don't come up to me and say things like that."
"Maybe I don't know you that well but I would like to know you better and I thought if I showed that I cared about your actions you are making right now that will effect your future you would accept my opinion and maybe, just maybe we could be possible friends."
"Well next time you want to be friends with someone, my 'advice' for you is to approach people differently, don't go telling people what to fix in their life to make their future better, I know what's best okay, you don't."
"Did it ever occur to you that should follow your own advice sometimes? You just told me what I should do in the future."
Kendra then got up out of her seat, looked at Buffy up and down, walked back to her seat and smiled but really Kendra wasn't smiling. Deep down inside Kendra was angry and disappointed with herself, the plan had not gone right, Buffy hadn't of fallen for her plan of becoming friends with her. Faith was her next target.
For the last five minutes of history Buffy sat at her desk thinking about what Kendra was saying, she thought it was rather strange that the council had said similar stuff to that at the end of last camp and that now Kendra was practically saying the same thing. Buffy could tell something was not right and she had to let Faith know before Kendra did something else too strange, something too much like what the council would do.
Buffy's history summed up what they should have completed today and what they had to know for the next lesson. She began reading a passage from the book about William The Bloody. The bell rang and Buffy packed up her things and headed for the door to go to her next class, weapons class but before she could get out the door her teacher Mrs. Gloss stopped her and pulled her aside.
She explained she was concerned about Buffy not concentrating on her work as much and asked if something was bothering her, if something was wrong and Buffy said no, of course there was nothing wrong, but of course there was. Millions of things were running through her head everything second and it affected her in a very bad way. Everyone was treating Buffy like she didn't just defeat all those demons and vampires, it was as though no one was there that night, and no one saw what happened.. as though their memories of the night were taken from them.
Buffy rushed off to her next class. She looked around the room to see if she knew anyone. She recognised some people from the potential camp last year and went over to sit next to a girl named Jennifer. She remembered her to be a nice person and when she sat down next to her Jennifer didn't tell her to go away. Jennifer was polite and said hello to Buffy, she told Buffy she remembered her from last year. They started talked but the teacher came in and the noise stopped. Buffy's teacher for weapons class this year was Mrs. Post. Buffy knew who she was but did not say a word or gave her an evil look, she just sat their quite and listened to what she had to say.
Mrs. Post then handed out a twenty-page booklet. Buffy looked at the front of it and it had a picture of Mrs. Post on it, inside was the history of Mrs. Post and her family. A young girl named Mary asked why they were given a booklet about her and she snapped back and told her it was important for her and everyone else to know what she was like, who she was and what her family was like because she might quiz people on it later as a general knowledge test. Mary started to cry because Mrs. Post had upset her and Mrs. Post just got more angry because of this and said aloud "Why can't someone just turn this whining off so I can get on with the real work!"
No one replied to her because they were all scared themselves and just sat they're in silence. Mrs. Post then went her desk and picked up some heavy textbooks and handed them out to everyone. She then announced that these textbooks were very important for learning about weapons this year because they had clearly explained diagrams on how to use them. She also said that if the class didn't whine too much and didn't act so shocked and scared she might let them try out using the actual weapons. Buffy could tell that Jennifer, Mary and everyone else in the class didn't like their new teacher at all.
Meanwhile, Faith was sitting in weapons class with a girl named Lisa. Faith hadn't meant to sit next to her, Lisa just sat next to her as soon she got in the room. Kendra was sitting behind Faith waiting to get the right moment to start her plan on Faith.
Buffy and Faith only had two classes not together and that was history and weapons class. Buffy's favourite subject was history and Faith's was weapons class. They didn't mind not being in the same class for only two subjects because they were in the same classes for everything else.
The teacher came in and wrote his name on the board, Mr. Trick. He then started writing down some notes and told the class to copy them into their books. It was an introduction on the basic weapons they should know already. He then wrote down some examples you could use them for. He wrote down some new weapons and told the class to try and think what these weapons could be used for and to write down the ideas in your book.
Faith copied down the work but Lisa kept interrupting her. Faith tried and tried to ignore the girl sitting right next to her and when the girl finally shut up when it was half way trough the lesson, Kendra started talking to her. Faith ignored her too until Kendra came up to her table slapped her on the face to get her attention. It sure got Faith's attention and she got up out of her seat to face her.
"What the hell do you think your doing?" asked Faith.
"Trying 'real' hard to get your attention," replied Kendra.
"Well your little 'plan' to get my attention worked 100%," answered Faith.
"That's good news because I have some important information to tell you. Buffy doesn't want to be your friend anymore. On my way to class I saw Buffy walking with Jennifer telling her she didn't like you and how she wasn't going to be your friend any more because you were effecting her future as being a future Slayer."
"I don't believe a word you say sweetie because all I hear coming form your mouth is rubbish, what you say doesn't mean a thing to me. I have no reason to trust what you say to me about Buffy."
"Fine then, don't believe me. Be stupid and think she likes you but she doesn't and you know deep down that she doesn't like you; you know she isn't good for your future. She'd be getting in your way all the time and ruining your perfect chance at being a great Slayer."
"I'm not stupid at all, you are. Your stupid because you think you can fool me with your rubbish, you can't I'm too smart for you and Buffy's not ruining my chance at being a great Slayer at all, the only person ruining it is you!"
"Oh! How am I ruining it for you?"
"Well clearly this shows your stupid because you don't even know how you're ruining it for me… sweetie the reason why your ruining my great future as being a great Slayer is because your wasting my 'precious' learning time. You see I'm trying to learn about the weapons we are supposed to know for fighting but I can't learn them while I'm dealing with you because how am I supposed to use all of my effort in listening and learning when I have to use all my effort in explaining to you why your ruining MY future darling."
"You think your smart, you think you can make me look like a fool well your not, your crap at that. You're the fool and you will always be because you didn't take my advice and you didn't listen to me about what I know what Buffy said. People will always remember this moment, the moment where a future great Slayer didn't listen to me and never achieved their best and never became a Slayer because they didn't do what was best for their future."
"Oh, oh shut up Kendra! Faith is right and you're wrong, just accept it. We all know you just want a friend so don't go stealing other people's friends and making up lies okay, you're the fool," said a girl named Prue.
The teacher then came back into the room after that big discussion with Faith and Kendra, and Faith quickly sat down in her seat. The teacher rubbed off the information on the board and handed out some textbooks, the same ones Buffy's class got.
Lisa got up out of her seat and sat next to Kendra and started whispering to her about Faith. She could hear what they were saying and nearly started to cry but stopped herself. The bell rang and Faith was glad it did, she couldn't stand being in the classroom any longer. She picked up her stuff and headed straight for the door. As soon as she went out the door she saw Buffy, she was waiting outside for Faith.
"Hey did Kendra say anything to you in weapons class?" asked Buffy.
"Yeah, why?" asked Faith.
"Just because she babbled on in history about being friends with you would ruin my future as being Slayer."
"Yeah she did that to me too, I mean she said that being friend would ruin my chance of becoming a Slayer and she was telling me I was a fool that I didn't believe her that you said you didn't like me. I told her I knew you would never say that and she just kept calling me a fool. Bu then this girl, I think her name is Prue.. yeah Prue, she told Kendra off and said I was right and she was wrong. She also said that everyone knew that Kendra just wanted to have a friend and to stop stealing people's friends and making lies up.,"
"Whoa girl, she never said that much too me, but she did say pretty much similar stuff. I think that girl Prue is right about her wanting to be friends with someone, I've heard all that stuff around about Kendra in rumours but I never believed but it does all start to make sense now."
"Yeah it does all make sense, but why does she try to make friends that way? She should try another approach because that way she just causes a big fight with people."
"Yeah, but what should we do now? Should we say anything to her?"
"I dunno. I think we should leave her and see what happens next…."
"Well I think she should just not go around talking about people behind their backs, it's rude, nasty and an impolite thing to do," interrupted Kendra.
"That's funny to hear you say something like that because I could hear you and Lisa in weapons class talking about me behind my back," replied Faith.
"It's different and anyways to answer your question, I try to make friends that way because that's the only way I know how to. Every other way I tried has failed like for example, sitting near people at lunch and recess hoping for people to talk to me but no that never worked girls did it?" asked Kendra.
"Well we never knew, you should have come up and talked to us, we just thought you were sitting there having your lunch not hoping for someone to come up to you to be friends," said Buffy.
"We did think you wanted to say something to us but we never took that any further, we just left it at that," said Faith.
"If you guys are so smart then why don't you tell me what I was going to say to you?"
"We thought you may have wanted to tell us something about the council, is that true?" asked Buffy.
"Arrrh ye…ees," said Kendra embarrassed.
"Thought so," replied Buffy.
"I wanted to tell you that they were getting other potentials from camp to work for them to spy on you and report back to them. After the council found out last year that I was possibly going to tell you or become 'friends' with you, this year they made me a spy and I had no choice," explained Kendra.
"This is all making sense now, but are you telling us everything?" asked Faith.
"There's more," added Kendra.
"Continue please," said Buffy.
"Can we go somewhere private please?" asked Kendra.
"Where abouts were you thinking?" asked Faith.
"Umm I know there aren't any cameras in one place, follow me," said Kendra.
"Cameras? They have cameras on campus? Where?" asked Buffy.
"Mostly everywhere except for a few odd places. I never knew until they made me a spy. They didn't tell me where all the cameras are, I don't know why but I know where most are," replied Kendra.
They followed Kendra to the forest at the back of the camp. No one was there and Kendra was certain there weren't any cameras. At this point Faith and Buffy just had to trust Kendra.
"Okay start talking," instructed Faith.
"Well Buffy," said Kendra.
"Yes," replied Buffy.
"You know the red book?" asked Kendra.
"Yeah…"
"The council has it now and are now tying to figure out how you got it and why you had it," explained Kendra.
"I know they took it off me when they were brainwashing me. I have a vague memory of..,I think it was Wesley, taking the book off me and me calling out something like no that's mine. But why would they care why I had it or where I got it from?"
"You know how the Watcher's Council are, they need to know 'everything'."
"Umm guys, what's the red book?" asked Faith puzzled.
"It's this book I found at my old school library one day and it had seven pages full of notes. It was like a diary, I think it may have been a Slayers diary," explained Buffy.
"Okay I get'cha now."
"The council already know where you got it from, they figured that out ages ago, they just now want to know why you took it and what you plan to do."
"How do the council know where I got it from?"
"Let me take a wild guess, they are always watching us so they just know because they are creepy people, is that anywhere near a correct answer?" asked Faith.
"Partly correct. The council knows because they sent a Watcher to your school on that very day you found the book," said Kendra.
"Oh my goat!" said Buffy.
"Oh my goat?" asked Kendra.
"It's just something I say instead of Oh My God. It's all coming together now. On the day I left the library with the book as I went out the door, I bumped into to someone, they looked familiar but they looked like the librarian too, it was Giles!"
"Yes it was but when he went to get the book it was missing and all he found was a photograph from the book."
"But why was Giles sent to get the book?" asked Buffy.
"I'm not exactly sure, all I know is that he wasn't allowed to talk to you if he saw you, he was just meant to focus on the mission, he was told the mission was what mattered."
"And the mission being?" asked Faith.
"Mission was to retrieve the book and bring it back to the council."
"How did the council know it was there and hey how did the book get there?" asked Buffy.
"Sorry girls I don't know anything else my main purpose talking to you now was to tell you something else not really about the red book but I think now I may know why Giles may have been sent to get the book. He was probably sent to get out of the Council's way so they could plan what was happening at this year's camp with you two."
"Yeah that does make sense" said Buffy.
"So what was it that your were planning to tell us?" asked Faith.
"I was planning to tell you what my job as a spy was."
"And that was?" asked Buffy.
"It was to spy on you and see what your were planning doing but other spies, agents had that as a major job like Kat, Alyssa, Lisa, those girls but my main job was to keep you away from a secret room the council had. They told me that there was something in there that was a secret and no one could find it or go near it, especially you two."
"What's in this room?" asked Buffy.
"I'm not exactly sure, there could be more than one thing, or there could be just one small thing. I don't know how important it is but I do know the council didn't want you girls near it or finding it."
It was getting late and they had been talking about the red book for so long, longer than Kendra thought they would be talking about it that it was becoming dark. They started to walk over to dinner but still continuing their conversation.
"So Kendra what would be the best thing to do now?" asked Buffy.
"What exactly do you mean?"
"I mean if you know what the council have planned what would be the best thing for me and Faith to do?" asked Buffy.
"You see that's the thing, I don't know," replied Kendra.
"What do you mean you don't know? You just told us all this information. How could you not know what was going to happen next?" asked Faith
"Faith, the reason why I don't know what is going to happen because for the last two days the council haven't told me anything, I know they know something is going on with me, I think they don't trust me any more with my job. In a way this is good because I never liked spying on you guys but if I'm not on their side that means I'm a target."
"I see your point" replied Faith.
"So what are you going to do now Kendra?" asked Buffy.
"I was planning to show you the secret room."
"But what about the council? Wouldn't they be watching your moves now, they might even now know what your planning to do?" said Buffy.
"C'mon Buffy, since when have you ever worried about what the council have been doing or thinking?" said Faith.
"Since now Faith, everything is getting out of hand, imagine what will happen next year at camp. It won't be like this at all. All we can expect is something much bigger and worse."
"C'mon B the night is young."
'It's all right Buffy. We are in this together. We'll get through it. I'm sorry for what I've done or said in the past. I'm sorry to you too Faith. Nothing will go wrong, I hope, I can't promise but we can do it all together."
"Yeah I guess the night is young. Show me the way."
Faith and Buffy again followed Kendra. They were no longer heading for the dinning hall for dinner, they were heading for the back of the Council's building. They walked for a while past the dinning hall, past the cabins, past Mr.Traver's office window, past the common room's windows to the back of the building near a shed. They all climbed up on the shed roof and climbed through a window which led them into the secret room.
It was dark and silent except for a breathing sound, which they just thought was only theirs. Kendra found an oil lantern and picked it up and it lit their way through the room. There were shelves filled with weird stuff. There was a book cage room but it was sealed locked and it looked like it had important artefacts inside. They walked over to the right of the room and there was a cage and something was sitting inside chained up. It was something Buffy thought she would never see again. It was the vampire from the night she fought for her life, the one that had got away, the vampire with a soul. Buffy then fainted on the floor and Faith and Kendra rushed to her side and tried waking her up but it was no use.
The window slammed shut and three dark figures walked into the room, Ethan, Giles and Gwendolyn. Faith and Kendra tired to protect themselves and Buffy. Ethan ran over to Kendra and captured her and held her tight so she could not get away. Faith blocked Giles and Mrs. Post from being able to get Buffy and herself but because there were two Watchers coming after her and only one potential she did not win, Mrs. Post then captured her.
Faith screamed and kicked and yelled out to Giles, but Giles did not pay attention to Faith one bit all he did was walk over to Buffy, picked her up and held her in his arms. Ethan walked over to the far wall and touched a few bricks and new secret room was revealed with three beds in a row with three suitcases that happened to be Buffy's, Faith's and Kendra's.
Giles placed Buffy on her bed, then Gwendolyn followed by placing Faith on her bed and Ethan placed Kendra on the 3rd bed. The three of them walked out of the room with big smiles on their faces.
The brick wall closed behind them and three potentials were left in the dark alone.
A/N: That was definitely my longest chapter ever. It was 5,710 words long. I hope it was good. I would love to hear anyone's comments on the chapter. I have so many wonderful ideas to come. Keep reading and reviewing and I'll keep writing.
SlayGal a.k.a Michaela