Claire's family tries to convince her that it's insane to date a vampire. Jeta hones her mojo and shows the other vampires who's boss. Elektra has another Slayer encounter, and teaches them a lesson, causing Giles to worry about what may be coming.
"You played lead guitar for Dingoes Ate My Baby!? Must sister loved you guys!," Anita tells Oz. "I saw you once, when she took me to a frat party at UC-Sunnydale. To be honest, I found your lead singer a little to Rob Thomas-esque."
"That's too harsh on Devon, and not harsh enough on the rest of us. Didn't you have a problem with our sloppy, amateurish playing?" Anita laughs. She seems quite taken with the Oz-man. Sure, she has a boyfriend. But that doesn't stop her from flirting. Meanwhile, Edie arrives.
"What took you so long?," Claire asks, hugging Edie and kissing her on the lips. Nina observes this, and is puzzled. But she's also relieved, since it seems Claire will finally stop trying to befriend her.
"An hour late, and already you're auditioning replacements?," Edie asks, casting a glance Nina's way.
Claire laughs. "You know no one can replace you." She smiles and takes Edie's left hand in her right hand. Perhaps she's compensating because of the guilt she feels due to her burgeoning relationship with Spike. She knows how eager Edie was about "turning" Claire and becoming her girlfriend.
Speaking of "turning," we return to 1943, and Jeta's first days as a vampire. She's still discovering her powers, including some that few vampires possess. Jeta is in the barn, sitting on the ground and passing the time by staring at a haystack. Slowly she causes hundreds up pieces to float up into the air. "You're a witch," Ivan declares. Jeta loses her concentration, and the hays falls back to earth as she turns round and stands up, fearful of how Ivan will react.
"I was never that powerful. I learned a few things from my mother."
"Was she a witch?"
"I know witches. Saying she is a witch is like saying a man is a soldier because he knows how to fire a gun."
"Do all you Gypsies know tricks?" Jeta scowls at the stereotype.
"We have superstitions. You gadze have superstitions. We both practice magic. The difference is, ours works."
"Could you make things float before I remade you?" Jeta, forgetting for the moment her strategy, glares at Ivan for his self-serving characterization of his pivotal role in her life.
"No. But now I am more powerful. I can run, leap and climb better than I ever thought possible. This is no different." She turns around. Ivan puts his arms round her from behind.
"I knew you were special the moment I laid eyes on you."
"Did you feel that way about the others?"
Spike and Angel get out of their cars in the art gallery parking lot. "Why are you following me?," Angel asks.
"I'm not following, you stupid git. I'm here to pick up my girl." Angel pauses.
"You're kidding?"
"Why the bloody hell would I do that?"
"Claire's an art student. Who just happens to be attending the opening of Nina's work."
"Nina has a show?"
"I think there are other artists."
"Everything has to revolve around you." Spike storms past Angel. Angel catches up. Both of them walk fast, each trying to overtake the other.
"I don't think you're dressed for the occasion," Angel needles.
"I'm wearing black. Since when did artists have a problem with people wearing all black?"
"I'm only saying this because I wouldn't want you to embarrass yourself in front of your new girlfriend."
"Afraid I'll upstage you?"
"Since when was I ever afraid of that?"
"You may do things first, but I always do them better. Ask Buffy."
"Speaking of Buffy, does Claire know about your obsession?"
"Does Nina know about yours? Does she know you can only shag her if you don't love her?" Angel nails Spike in the face with a right hook. "The truth hurts."
Inside, Anita's introducing Oz to her boyfriend Russell. Oz wonders why she came on to him so strong if she already has a boyfriend. Nina rejoins him, glad to break free from Claire and Edie. "I missed you," she whispers to Oz.
"Are you also feeling a little too popular?," he asks, referring to how curious Claire and her friends are about them.
"What does that mean?," Angel demands to know. "That in your mind the honorable' thing would be to cut her loose and let her be alone?"
"The proper thing would be to scuttle any illusions she might have about where your relationship is going. The girl's obviously in love with you. As bloody foolish as I think that makes her, it doesn't mean she should be punished."
"So you've let Claire know she means nothing to you?" Spike tries a right hook. Angel backs out of the way and smiles. "The truth cuts both ways, William."
"Claire's just looking for some fun."
"Perhaps. I don't see how she could expect anything more from you."
"You think they've met?"
An alarmed Angel rushes inside, as does Spike. Both of them have slime on their coats from the demon-killing. "Oh my God," Claire announces when she catches sight. "They're together."
"I got stood up for Spike?," Nina jokes to Oz.
"Don't worry. Doesn't look like they had much fun." Edie watches Claire stare at Spike and smile as he comes closer. Her heart sinks. She grabs his t-shirt, pulls Spike in and kisses him. Edie angrily stalks out of the gallery.
"Fuck," Anita comments before trying to chase down her friend. Russell, now without his girlfriend, stares at Angel. Oz tries to make sense of the complex sexual inclinations of Claire's friends, then decides it's better not to. Nina hugs Angel and gets slime on her hands.
"Sorry."
"It'll wash off." She playfully puts her dirty hands on his faces and kisses him on the lips. "Miss me?"
"You have no idea."
"The feeling's more than mutual." They both laugh. Angel walks over to Oz.
"Hope this wasn't too much of a drag," Angel tells him.
"Boring it wasn't. I met some very . . . interesting people. Some a little too interesting." Nina nods in agreement. Angel notices Russell staring at him.
"You're Angel."
"You've heard of me?"
"I'm friends with Claire. Her ex-boyfriend, actually." Oz hadn't known this. It seems strange to him that Claire's ex-boyfriend is currently dating Claire's best friend. It also seems entirely normal for this apparently incestuous group. "You have a very impressive human form. I study sculpture."
"Thank you very much," Angel replies with a smile, taking Russell's comment as a professional compliment rather than a come-on.
"I think it's time we go," Nina tells Angel. She quickly heads with him for the exit, but is cut off by Claire.
"It was cool meeting you, Nina. We should double date sometime." Angel and Spike shake their heads. "Or, maybe, head out for coffee or something. Just not on a full moon," she jokes. Angel's upset that in addition to knowing Nina, Spike's girlfriend also knows she's a werewolf.
Spike puts his left arm around Claire's shoulders. "My place or yours?"
"Yours has the stronger walls," she jokes. Angel cringes.
Theo reclines on a couch, grabs a bunch of grapes off a large complementary table of fresh fruit and lowers them towards his mouth, picking off the bottom ones. Cynthia, standing above him in a hotel bathrobe, dips a strawberry into a bowl of chocolate and bites it. "Try these." She dips another one and puts it on Theo's mouth. They kiss. Theo sighs. "What now? Is there a comped show we could be seeing?"
"I'm feeling like Icarus."
"Don't get melodramatic on me."
"We're setting ourselves up for a fall. We have to be. This is too good."
"I thought I was the worrywart and you were the one who said sit back and enjoy the ride?"
"That was before the ride got out of control. Doin' whatever the hell we wanted back home, that's one thing. Livin' like high rollers in Vegas, with fake I.D.'s and demon loot?"
"That's not why we came here. It's just a, pleasant side effect of risking our lives to save other people."
"We were saving Debbie. Not that that's not a worthy goal, but don't try to make it sound like we're doing a public service."
"How many people would those vampires have killed? How many lives have we saved?"
"Now you're starting to talk like Diego."
"And you're talking like someone who thinks we're abusing Debbie's power."
"We're sure benefiting from it."
"If you feel so guilty, why don't we go home right now?"
"I don't feel guilty. I feel, nervous. How long can our good luck last?"
Elektra walks out of a club in Denver arm-in-arm with a college guy. She starts whispering in his ear and laughing. He smiles. She takes his hand and runs with him behind the building. "Why wait?," she asks, leaping up, wrapping her legs around him and kissing him. He backs into the wall. They can hear the band blaring from inside. Elektra kisses his neck, thrusts her hands down him pants and undoes them.
"Whoa. Can't we go back to my car?" She grinds up against him and sticks her tongue in his right ear.
"What's the matter, handsome? Afraid of getting caught?" He smiles as she falls to her knees, his pulse quickening. But his expression changes the instant she bites into the artery in the inside of his left thigh.
"Aiigghhh! Bitch!! What the – owww!! – HELP!"
"Oh, gross!," a Slayer named Bianca calls out when she catches sight of the aroused man with his pants around his ankles. "As if what you do isn't gross enough." She averts her eyes. Elektra immediately puts her hands up to defend herself, bounds to her feet and faces the attack. A Slayer named Isabel attacks, but is knocked back by a quick left roundhouse kick. The victim slumps to the ground and nearly passes out from shock and loss of blood.
"He was asking for it," Elektra responds in her defense. Bianca attacks. Elektra blocks a left kick and sweeps her legs. Isabel hits Elektra with a right hook, but the vampire responds with a right roundhouse punch and a straight left kick. She backs away from Bianca, leaving her victim behind, his blood still coating her lips. "I didn't make him leave the club with me. He made the choice, he should live with the consequences." Both Slayers attack. Elektra leaps over their heads and lands behind them. "If you ladies keep saving these slutty men, they'll never learn," she argues with a wicked smile, putting her left hand in the back pocket of her white leather pants. Bianca steps forward and throws a right hook. Elektra ducks under, gets behind Bianca and brings her left arm up. Between her left thumb and index finger is a small throwing star with six razor sharp teeth. She brings her arm down and cuts the Slayer in the back of her right shoulder. Elektra then spins round, ducks to her right to avoid Isabel's left hook kick and slashes her left hamstring before she can bring her foot back down. The two injured Slayers cry out in pain. Bianca walks over to Isabel. They struggle to stay on their feet and hold out their stakes, daring Elektra to try and finish them off. Neither saw what cut them.
"Look at you," Elektra says with a smile, licking her lips and returning to her human face. "Is this the first time things haven't gone your way? Damn, are you girls gonna be in trouble when I come back here with my brother. Until then." She makes her escape.
Devlin sits at a thousand-dollars-a-hand poker table. He looks glum, and it's not because he hasn't gotten a good hand all morning. Dev looks to his left and sees Debbie sixty feet away, playing roulette. "I'm out." He folds, finishes his drink and walks over. Deb catches sight of Dev when he's twenty feet away. She thinks of leaving, but decides to stay put.
"What should I bet, blood or darkness. They're both your colors."
"I'd put my money on double-zero, but that's just me," he jokes.
"Don't all the mirrors bother you?"
"The thing about a casino is, no one's watching anybody else. Except for the house, who's only watching the cameras."
"Spoken like a man who knows how to hide."
"So it's not enough that I love you. It's not enough that I've done everything I can to make your life better. It's not enough that I've never, ever hurt you. That I regularly risk my life to save yours. Now I have to pay for things I did before we even met?"
"It's not about what you did. It's about who you are. You're the nicest, sweetest, kindest guy I've ever gone out with. But you're also a monster. It's time I stopped denying that side of you."
A horse-drawn covered wagon approaches a forest. Jeta leaps out, a long blue skirt protecting her legs, a long-sleeved yellow blouse protecting her arms, and a black bonnet protecting her head. She tosses off the bonnet once she's safe in the tree cover and dances around. "Come in, Ivan! Nothing to fear." He looks out, then jumps. She hugs and kisses him, spinning them around. He keeps letting go, but she keeps kissing him, so eventually he just gives in. "I can't resist you," she says with a smile, kissing Ivan again. Then she takes his right hand in her left hand and skips through the forest. "Isn't this wonderful? I can't believe you've never done this."
"The dogs attack and the people find you and trap you."
"We don't have to worry about that here." One of the benefits of living in a country where the people are kept down by a brutal occupation. She dances around some more and looks up at the canopy. Such a free spirit. He really likes that.
"Now what?," Ivan asks, bored by the prospects of enjoying nature.
"Wait for the prey to arrive. The people stay in at night. They know better. But they feel safe during the day." Ivan smiles. He enjoys the way she thinks. The other women just do what they're told, and never come up with an original idea.
"And until then?," he asks as they walk and listen for company.
"While you're waiting to ravage them, you can ravage me." She smiles, bites her lip and lies down on her back. Ivan leaps towards her, but Jeta rolls to her right just in time, and he ends up kissing dirt. She giggles and runs away. He chases her down, winding in between trees, until he finally catches her. They laugh and roll along the ground. He pins her arms and leans in to kiss her. Jeta turns her head to the right. "Fawn." Ivan looks to his left and sees it. Jeta smiles and raises her eyebrows. Ivan slowly stands up and stalks the animal. Jeta puts her arms around his waist and pulls him close. "Let me." He agrees, and enjoys watching Jeta chase the animal down, leap on its back, ride it to the ground and bite its throat. She moved so gracefully - nearly as gracefully as the deer. "Arati! Arati!," she yells gleefully. (Arati is a Romani word for blood.) This is her way of saying "Dig in! There's enough for everyone." He comes over and bites the animal in the back. When he finishes, Ivan sees Jeta lying on the ground, her blouse off, her chest covered in blood. "An honest Gypsy girl never wears red," she jokes. Boy, had he lucked out when she came his way.
Claire returns home late Sunday morning, feeling better than she has in a long time. Her mother, as well as her brothers David and Nate, are waiting for her at the kitchen table. "Hi Claire," her mothers says. "I'd like you to sit down."
"What is this, an intervention?"
"We're worried about you. You're young, you're adventurous, but there are certain lines no one should cross."
"Like the one between warm-blooded and cold-blooded animals," David adds. Claire is indignant.
"I don't believe this! You people are such hypocrites."
"We are?," Nate asks sardonically. "I don't remember fucking a vampire. I'm not saying I haven't made mistakes. I have. Especially when it comes to sex."
"Spike saved my life. He helped save your lives. He's not evil. He's the opposite of evil. He fights evil."
"He's much older than you," her mother points out.
"Oh, come on!"
"Even in human years."
"Is this an anti-Spike thing, or an anti-vampire thing?"
"We'd have the same problems with Angel."
"You know something? Angel also has a girlfriend. She goes to art school! At USC. I met her last night. You think her family gives her hell about theirs relationship?" Actually, they might if they knew about it.
"We just want you to think about this before jumping off the deep end."
Claire laughs. "Too late." She leaves the house and goes to her room above the garage. David heads to his Episcopal church and sits next to his boyfriend Keith.
"My sister's fucking a vampire."
"Can you say that in church?" It seemed inappropriate for multiple reasons.
"I'm serious. Remember Spike?"
"Oh no. She did it with the dud."
"Actually, yesterday morning, I accidentally saw him naked."
"Accidentally?"
"I was delivering a package to Claire. Spike was there, and he has no shame. But he does have great abs, and few really nice, tight parts."
"I thought we agreed, no more threesomes."
"Speaking of things we shouldn't talk about in church," David jokes. "I was making an observation, not a proposition. All I'm saying is now I think I understand what Angel saw in him."
"And what Claire sees." David sighs.
"I don't wanna know what she sees."
"Come on, David. Isn't it obvious? Vampires got a rep."
"What rep, and how the fuck do you know about it?"
"Ever watched television?"
"That's what I'm afraid of."
"You think she's going after a fantasy?" Keith chuckles. "What if it's not a fantasy?" David looks sheepish.
"I'd rather not think about that. This is my sister we're talking about."
"I wonder what our priest would say about this?"
"Even with a soul, they're still enemies of God. Otherwise His symbols wouldn't hurt them. And let's face it, what Claire's doing is gross and unnatural."
"People say what we do is gross and unnatural. People say we're violating God's law."
"I can't believe you'd make that comparison! People aren't born vampire-lovers." David doesn't know about Slayers.
"It's her decision. No one gets hurt."
"Not yet, anyway. What if he falls off the wagon and decides to go for the nearest available neck?"
"You could always try to kill him," Keith jokes.
"Would you help me?"
Once the sun sets, Jeta and Ivan leave the woods. It had been an enjoyable afternoon. In addition to their own revelries, a teenage girl came by to collect firewood. A few hours later, her older brother went looking for her. Before leaving, and when Ivan's back is turned, Jeta looks at the ground and causes a small stick to jump up into her right hand. She stows it away for later use. When they return to the barn, Jobyna hugs Ivan. "I was worried."
"You should be," Jeta replies with a wicked smile. Devora and Lukina have brought back a selection of six inmates from the concentration camp, whose hands are bound with rope.
"I'm full," Ivan says, gulping down vodka from a jug. Jeta puts her right arm round his waist and goes with him to his quarters.
"She's more than a novelty," Devora complains.
"The Gypsy girl has bewitched him," Jobyna argues.
"We'll deal with her in time," Lukina assures them. "Until then, more for us." The three of them dig in. The trio of victims who aren't killed at first must watch helplessly as the people they are tethered to get drained by monsters.
"Relax my brother," Jobyna says in Yiddish to a Jewish inmate, gently caressing his face. "It's better than the gas."
As Ivan lies sleeping, Jeta, who stays in his arms, calmly lifts her makeshift stake and zooms it around the room, honing her accuracy and control. Freedom from Ivan will require patience. Vengeance against against the Germans will require even more patience. Then again, it's not like she's getting any older. Ivan opens his eyes and starts grumbling. Jeta quickly drops the stake and turns to look at him, staring longingly into his eyes. "Is my hero rested?"
"Is my love?"
She sighs. "You wore me out," she says with a giggle that sounds grateful, but is in fact mocking. "I should allow the other girls to enjoy you. Would you like two, or three?" He laughs heartily. "One woman cannot satisfy you. Believe me. I have tried." She has to work very hard not to burst out laughing.
"You have done more that try. I sense fire in you, Yetta."
She smirks. "There will be fire. Until then, I'll smolder why Devora and Lukina show you their appreciation." Ivan growls as she stands up. Jeta snarls back and leaves. She points at the two vampires. "Master has requested your presence." The Romanian and Ukranian vampires speak little German, but understand Jeta, who pretends to look disappointed in order to buoy their spirits. Once they're gone, she looks at Jobyna and grins. "That leaves us."
"Yes," she replies nervously as Jeta slowly approaches her.
"You and I, we have much in common."
"I, I guess." German is Jobyna's third language, after Yiddish and Polish, but she can comprehend Jeta's words well enough. Then again, her body language says it all.
"Saved from the same fate by the same man. Torn from family. I know your loneliness. I know your fear. I know your desire."
"No. You, you don't," she replies, slowly backing up. Jobyna's never had a woman come on to her before. It seems so wrong. As opposed to killing people and drinking their blood, which seemed entirely on the up-and-up. Jeta cuts off her path to the door and tries to trap her against the wall.
"Were Devora and Lukina jealous of you? Did they resent the attention he lavished on you?"
"Yes."
"I know you resent me."
"No. Of course not." She knows Jeta already killed the other vampire Ivan sired.
"You shouldn't. Before me, there were three. Soon, there will be two. You and I. Father and daughters." This appealed to Jobyna. Except for the lesbian overtures. She had longed to get rid of the other two, but wasn't strong enough to do it on her own.
"And then there will be one?," Jobyna asks pointedly, still distrusting Jeta.
"But I like you so much. And so does Ivan. We are his. They are not. He won't care if they're gone. But I kill you, he kills me."
"I wish you luck." She tries to leave. Jeta grabs her shoulders.
"Wish me more than that." She looks Jobyna over, her eyes less than six inches from Jobyna's face. "With your beautiful, fawn-like brown eyes. Your soft, curly hair. Smooth, rich skin." She puts her right hand to Jobyna's left cheek, causing her to tremble. "It's warm. You just fed. Give me a taste." Jeta leans in to kiss her. Jobyna finally manages to duck away and flees into the darkness. Jeta leans against the wall and laughs. "A vampire. And yet still so innocent."
"Two more girls in the hospital," Giles says to Gretchen as they sit down to Sunday brunch.
"Which ones?"
"Bianca and Isabel."
"But they've been doing so well. Ten weeks without even one close call."
"I suppose it was inevitable. They'll be fine in a day or two. What worries me more is the culprit."
"Singular? As in one?"
"It appears to be that girl. The one from Chicago. Same age. Same description. Same, er, method of hunting."
"How did she do it?"
"Some sort of razor blade hidden in her hand. Neither girl saw it."
"Did they at least save a life?"
"Yes. One very embarrassed young man."
"That's something."
"True. But there is a more worrisome aspect. She vowed to return. With her brother."
"Brother? Vampires have siblings?"
"Two individuals sired by the same vampire, I suppose."
"So we add another Slayer in Denver. Someone with more experience."
"This could be the tip of the iceberg."
"You mean the Great Counterattack you've always feared."
"It's a forgone conclusion that the vampires of the world will engage in some sort of organized resistance."
"Buffy's been planning for that for months."
"Plans go out the window the moment the fighting starts."
"Rupert, every day that goes by, they become weaker, and we become stronger. We put two, sometimes three new Slayers in the field every week. And if need be, there's hundreds more we could activate on short notice."
"On paper, it looks promising. But we have no idea how most of the girls would react to adversity. Look at what happened in Orange County. Three of those Slayers are refusing to return to patrols when they're healed. Young women leave here thinking they are invincible. What happens when they discover they aren't?"
Deb and Dev leave on Sunday morning. So do Cynthia and Theo. Diego, Melanie and Danielle will continue gambling until the sun sets, making it easier for their vampire significant others to go outside. Only Devlin's car has necro-tempered glass. As he drives down the highway, Deb looks out the passenger-side window. "You know, if I open this, you'll die."
"I trust you." She opens it a crack, then closes it. Opens it again, and closes it.
"Even now, when I'm afraid of you?"
"You still love me."
"Why didn't you kill me, like you killed Hilda?"
"Because you're better than her."
"How?"
"You were more human."
"You mean helpless. Easier for you to control."
"You're not the first human I've liked."
"Did you kill them?"
"I never kill or sire anyone I like. That would be counterproductive. But you, you're the first I've loved."
"Sweet words. But don't you also love killing Slayers?"
"For you, I'd never touch one again. What we have is better than any kill."
"Oh yeah. That's romantic," she replies queasily.
"The thing about our love is I know it's going to end. At some point, hopefully in the very distant future, you'll die. And I don't think I'll want to live without you. You've made me mortal, Debbie."
"I wish. Then we really could have a future."
After scaring Jobyna off, Jeta sneaks back into Ivan's room, ostensibly to watch. He digs that. It makes her seem that much more depraved. But while she watches, Jeta furtively grabs her stake. A few minutes later, she leaves and climbs up onto the roof of the barn. She can see the smoke from the crematoria billowing into the sky. Jeta refuses to go back to the camps to pick out victims with the others, even when she knows they're not going to the Gypsy camp. Though she knows she won't encounter her family in these other camps, seeing the people might remind her of them. She's scouted the exterior, and knows she could easily break in and make contact with her loved ones. The hard part would be breaking out. While her chances would be slim, her family members' chances would be nil, since they are far more vulnerable to bullets. First things first. Jeta waits until Devora and Lukina emerge from the barn, giggling and laughing. Jeta leaps down to the ground and lands behind them. They turn around.
"Let me come."
"It's a two person job," Lukina shoots back.
"I know." Jeta tosses her stake in the air and causes it to levitate. She grins as the two vampires in front of her get scared. "Relax," Jeta says, looking at Devora. The stake shoots at Lukina. She turns and runs. The stake follows, staying with her while she twists and turns like a vampire-seeking missile. When Jeta's satisfied with this game, she sends the stake that extra little bit forward, dusting Lukina. "Shall we go?," she asks Devora, who pauses for a few seconds before running away. Jeta shrugs and goes back inside to work some more of her charm on Ivan.