Chapter 2

Part Four by Monique (a.k.a. Minerva A. S.)

Everyone screamed in terror. The figure was undoubtedly human about 5 feet tall. A young girl in her early teens with a mushroom like head. There was no face, just a neck covered with hair. Her hand shot up and pushed aside some hair in the front. . .revealing her face.

Ok, so it was just a normal girl and they were all still terrified from their earlier experience. She had just above shoulder length hair. It was dark brown, a dark copper color if you got the sun to shine on it just right. She was Asian and had an year round tan. Her face was always unusually pale with full naturally blossom red lips. Sometimes she was serious and responsible. Sometimes she was goofy hanging around with her friends, but she was getting tired of acting different ways certain times for select people.

Minerva had been walking in her neighborhood enjoying the evening breeze. Closing her eyes for a moment she opened them to find herself in the shadow of a pine. She had just witnessed three people destroy the vampire. She was somewhat shocked but she had read many horror books. Minerva figured she was going to have to accept weird things, but she wouldn't just let them pass. Her brown almond shaped eyes took in the scene. Knowing something was wrong with the town she wanted to get away, but there was something in her-in all of them, an instinct-that said "stay." There was always an instinct, an all knowing presence around. Some of her friends went as far as calling her psychic.

"Hi, I'm Minerva." she said. "My friends call me Minnie because of my size. And I love Disney."

The three introduced themselves. They decided they would have to find some one who could tell them where they were and find a place to stay. They had to find out what was up with this place. As the four of them walked, they talked about themselves among other things.


Part Five by Patrick

Unbeknownst to the group, their brief altercation had not gone unnoticed. The figure detached itself from the shadows of the alley across from the scene. Its hands were shoved into the pockets of a black leather biker jacket, its eyes trained on the four figures as they made their way down the street. It nodded once to itself, looked from side to side affirming that there were no other witnesses, then silently disappeared back into the shadows.

The air was brisk, a chilling fog was beginning to settle in for the night. The group walked faster hoping to find shelter. As luck would have it the next corner was home to what looked like an all night diner. It wasn't exactly the Ritz, but after what they had just been through they just wanted a place where they could collect their thoughts. Bells chimed as they opened the door, a burst of warm air greeted them along with a raspy, "You need menus?" from a middle aged waitress behind the counter.


Part Six by Joel

"God I can't believe it's 5:30," Joel groaned looking at the alarm clock on the headboard of his bed. "Why can't I sleep late like normal people! It's Sunday!" Knowing how useless it would be for him to even attempt to fall back asleep he climbed out of bed, threw on a pair of baggy jeans, black T-shirt and made his way to the bathroom to brush his teeth and find his glasses.

"Damn you look gorgeous," He said sarcastically looking at the face staring back. Desperately he tried to finger comb his blond hair into something normal, giving up, he stared at the hint of dark circles forming under his slightly blood shot gray-blue eyes.

At 31, Joel was lucky to have been blessed with the kind of face that didn't seem to age, he could still get away with passing for someone five years younger, a fact that he secretly delighted in. As far as looks, he knew he would be drop dead gorgeous if he underwent at least two years worth of plastic surgery, but as it stood he was simply ordinary, and tended to blend in with the crowd.

Brushing his teeth he made his way downstairs to the coffee pot. Flicking on the kitchen light he glanced into the dining room and took a moment to survey the table. The remains of last night "Star Wars: The Role Playing Game", a plastic tricorder, Klingon disrupter pistol, and several small metal miniatures of men in armor littered the surface.

"You are going to have to grow up one of these days Mr. Brown," Joel said out loud. "And you are going to have to quit talking to yourself." Turning he started to fill the coffee pot with water. Out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of the large stack of anesthesia records he had copied on Friday before he left work. Rolling his eyes he turned back to the sink and finished filling the coffee pot, hoping that somehow that the records magically become billed all by themselves and disappear into the hospital's computer system.

Turning the coffee maker on he grabbed a banana and walked into the living room. Flinging himself in his chair, he flicked on the TV and grabbed the remote for the satellite dish he had bought some four years previously. "Well lets see what HBO has on this time of the day." Pushing the button on the remote he was rewarded with a loud pop, and then darkness.

"What the hell," He said rising out of the chair. "Goddamn circuit breakers!" Heedless of the darkness in the house Joel walked unerringly into the kitchen and grabbed a flashlight from drawer next to the sink. Flashlight in one hand, half peeled banana in the other Joel stomped angrily through the house to the basement door. Flinging it open he took a step forward into-

"A restaurant?" He blurted aloud, in disbelief staring around at his new surroundings.


Part Seven by Sabrina

15 year old Sabrina awoke to the annoying sound of her alarm clock ringing. "Monday," She thought as she reached over to shut off the alarm, "great." She was tired and did NOT want to go to school (Tenth grade wasn't fun, especially a month till exam time when all the teachers were rushing to finish their programs) but she forced herself out of bed and into the ugly gray kilt and white shirt that made up her school uniform.

She opened the blinds and let the sunlight flood her room. Her wavy brown hair shone copper in the light. "Well, at least it's a nice day," she thought as she tied her hair into a ponytail. She lived in Montreal, and even in May no one every knew if it would rain or snow (to be truthful, though, it was MUCH more likely to rain). She looked in the mirror and her brown eyes stared back at her. "Every day it's the same," she thought. "I go to school, then I come home. I go to school, then I come home..."

Her train of thought was interrupted by a ripple in the mirror. "I must be more tired then I thought. That's a mirror, not I pond!" She said to herself, as her refection transformed into that of teen-age Asian girl with dark brown hair.

Since the girl was almost as tall as Sabrina (who is about 5'1), she could look straight into the girl's eyes. The girl looked distressed. Sabrina pressed her fingers to the glass and suddenly she was in a public rest room. The girl was staring at her. "Either this is a dream, or I've seen to many episodes of Are You Afraid of The Dark, or both" she thought.

"What just happened?" she asked the girl.

Sabrina's confusion was mirrored in the girl's face.

"I have no idea," the girl replied, "but I think it has something to do with this town. My name's Minerva. Come with me, I'll introduce you to the others."

Still shocked, Sabrina followed Minerva out of the bathroom and into an almost deserted restaurant. At a small table near the window sat the only 4 other people in the room. They all had half filled coffee cups in front of them except for one blond-haired guy in a black shirt and jeans. His cup was completely full and he just sat there staring at it. The other people looked like they were trying to explain something to him.

"This is Ben...ah..." Minerva trailed off as she gestured a guy with long, light brown hair.

"Sabrina...I'm Sabrina," Sabrina said, though she didn't sound very sure.

"Okay, Sabrina, this is Angela," she said as she pointed to a woman, "and this is Stephanie," she pointed to a young blue-eyed girl, "and this," she said as she gestured to the guy with the full coffee cup, "is Joel."

"Sabrina just came through the mirror in the girl's bathroom," Minerva stated flatly.

Joel shook his head in disbelief, but Ben just muttered something that sounded like "I'd believe just about anything right now."

Sabrina ordered a cup of tea as they explained what had happened to them since last night. Sabrina took it rather well, maybe because she had read too many books centered around seemingly impossible circumstances.

"It sounds to me like we should find out more about this town," Sabrina suggested. She was feeling slightly calmer after drinking the tea. Tea always did that to her. Must have been her British ancestry. "How about we go to a library...?"

They stared at her dumbfounded until Minerva said "Sounds like a good idea. I think the waitress said there's one around the corner."


Part Eight by Cally

The tall, red-head wandered the stacks at the Sunnydale Library. "I'm so glad mom's company made her move us here," she thought. "This school is wonderful. I think I'm going to be good friends with Willow." Cally had been so surprised when somebody had actually talked to her in Computer Class. "She seems really nice. I hope we get to be friends. Everybody else here has been bratty." She knew she wasn't the _most_ attractive person, but she was okay. "It's not like looks are everything. Besides, if they're that shallow who needs them," she told herself, but inside she knew that wasn't true.

"What's this?" She picked an old, leather-bound book off of the shelf. On the cover it read 'Vampyre: An encyclopedia of the undead'. "What is this doing in the school library?" She put it back on the shelf and realized that every book was about vampires. Behind her was a shelf about witches and fairies. She looked around in delight. Finally, a library with her kind of reading. Cally heard voices coming towards her. She thought she recognized Willow's voice and was about to go say hi when she listened to what the three were talking about. An older man said; "I'm worried about the resurgence of vampire-caused deaths in the area. With Buffy sick, I don't know how were going to stop the killings. It's strange that she would fall ill right when the vampire population increased."

"And there's those strange disappearances to worry about. I heard Alisha Kelly went into a stall in the girls bathroom and never came out. Nobody saw her leave." said Willow.

"I've got an idea. Why don't we slay the Vamps. Come on Giles, let us at those stakes." This came from an extremely fine teenage boy.

By this time Cally didn't know what to do. These people were acting like vampires were real. She was about to step out from behind the shelves when there was a commotion at the library door. A group of 7 people were there, chattering wildly.

"I don't know about this, sneaking onto school grounds."

"Well, the public library didn't have anything. The librarian told us that the high school had the best selection of occult readings. There has to be something here to explain what's going on."

The older man looked over at them, startled.

"What do you think you are doing in my library," he demanded.

"We need help."


Part Nine by buffyluvr

"Um, hi there." offered Joel. Uh, I'm Joel, and this is, ummmm..."

"What are you doing here?" demanded Giles again.

"Um, hi Willow." said Cally.

"Hi Cally." said Willow.

"This isn't the time for hellos, for the last time, what are you all doing here?" said a frustrated Giles.

"Well, actually, we don't know."

"Who is we?"

"Us."

"Is she with them?"

"No, she's with me."

"And you."

"We're together."

"And we're together."

"Yeah."

"And what about-"

"Stop it, stop it, stop it!"

"Giles, are we a little hot under the collar?" asked Buffy, who was obviously not paying the situation much mind.

"Okay, we're all mature adul-" Giles looks around the room at the wide variety of faces, some young, some old, some somewhere in between. "As I was saying, we're all mature PEOPLE, let's try to sit down and figure this out, person by person."

"I think I'll stand up, thank you." said Angela, who had been remaining quiet for a while.

"Not me, I'm feeling kind of woozy." said Sabrina, who had been near the door, also remaining quiet.

"I think I need some more coffee." said Joel. Everyone but Angela all sat down in unison with a long sigh of relief.

"Alright, who's the person who would know how to handle this the best?" pondered Xander. All the heads seemed to aim toward Giles.

"I think I've done enough talking, if you don't mind."

"I guess we'll have to go with Buffy then." said Xander.

"Gee, feels great to be second best. Alright, you, what's your name?" Buffy looked at Cally.

"Well, great to know how popular I am around here. I go to this school."

"That's Cally." said Willow. 'She just moved here." cally made a half-smile toward Willow.

"How much have you heard?"

"Enough."

"Well, I guess we'll have to kill you." said Xander. Everyone seemed startled. "I was kidding!"

"It's not smart to kid to a bunch of people who have spent their day running from vampires." said Angela, who had quietly moved over to sit with the others. Buffy and Giles exchanged glances.

"Vampires?" offered Giles. Just then everyone wheeled around as a crash came from outside. Buffy grabbed her stake from her purse and ran outside.

"Wait a minute, was that what I think it is?" asked Cally.

"On this day," replied Angela. "I'd believe just about anything."

Buffy rushed outside, everyone forming a crunched-together crowd staying a couple feet behind her. "I think we're safe." said Buffy, as someone peeked out from behind a trash can which had been knocked down. He stood up.

"Um, hi. I'm, uh, John Ferrer." He offered his hand out, even though nobody was even near him. He stared at his hand, not sure why he had done that, and reached up to scratch his eyebrow as if that was what he meant to do.

"Another one, geeze, do you ever stop?" said a still confused Giles.

"And you are?" asked Buffy.

"I, uh, just told you, I've been following these guys since they left the club, or bar, or whatever." He gestured toward the lost group. "What I have to say might sound a little strange."

"For some reason," said Buffy, "I don't think it will."

To be continued...