Chapter 3: After School Hours Pt. II
"Hah. Nothing to this electrician gig. Just flip the big switch and the light comes on. Time for me to join the union." Buffy said happily.
She had finally made it to the main power switch. She fought at least four vampires on her way there. When she made it to the main power, she was surprised. She expected a wall panel with a bunch of fancy switches like on Jurassic Park.
Buffy ran out of the basement, via the first electronic door. She took out the card Willow gave her earlier and opened the door. The door opened to a long hallway with pipes running along the ceiling above her. She jogged the whole way. But she stopped suddenly. A vampire stepped in her way, coming from the right intersection.
I so don't have time for this right now.
"Chick fi…" Buffy dusted the vamp before she finished her sentence. She ran the rest of the way, till she came to a ladder. She dashed up the ladder and ran up the stairs. Just as she made it to the door leading back to the first floor of the school, a loud beep sounded above her head. Buffy looked up to see the intercom. A familiar voice spoke:
Um…Buffy…this is Giles. A…um…a not to panic. But you should come to the library right away. We have an uninvited guest here attempting to retrieve some books…without a library card. I might have just given myself away. He spotted…CRASH…no! Wait!
Giles was in trouble! Buffy had to hurry and get to the library. Luckily she would be able to make it. She would have to come back for Willow and the others later, unless they were also on their way to the library.
"Up, up, and away!" Buffy opened the door quickly and ran out into the hallway. Another vampire stepped into her way. Buffy ran at him full speed and tackled him to the ground. She staked the surprised vamp and he turned into a cloud of dust.
If it's not too much trouble, I could use a little help!
Giles was still yelling over the intercom, that meant he was still okay.
But for how long?
Buffy slammed through the double doors. She was relieved to see the library up ahead. She heard signs of a struggle inside. Buffy picked up speed and ran through the swinging doors.
"If anybody has a hand, I'm about to be eaten!" Giles yelled out as he sat in the corner below the looming vampire. It was the same guy Buffy saw on the roof earlier. He had long hair and pale, white skin. He wore some kinda red skirt-thing and a black strap around his shoulders. He turned to face Buffy. He had the face of any ordinary vampire not counting his huge size, but Buffy noticed a sign was imprinted on his forehead. Whatever that sign stood for there was no doubt he was bad news.
"Hey, what do you think this is, a library?" Buffy asked
Okay, maybe it is. But that was the best I could come up with right now.
"Just the stray I was looking for. Come out to play." he said in a deep, raspy voice.
"You don't think I'm gonna let you read without a fight." she replied. Buffy took a running start and leaped into the air for a jump kick. The vampire moved quickly out the way. Buffy landed on the ground where the vamp once stood. Buffy felt a sharp pain in the back of her neck as she fell to the ground. Her vision blurred and the room felt like it was spinning.
Okay he's fast. And damn he's strong
Buffy knew that a blow to the head like that would kill anyone. But she wasn't just anyone, she was the Slayer.
"Wait till I drag you back to my master!" The vampire retorted. Buffy had a lot of gross remarks to that comment but decided to keep her mouth shut. She jumped up and surprised him with a strong punch combo, finishing with a powerful uppercut which caused him to stumble backwards and fall. Buffy ran up to him and tried to punch him while he was down. She let out a sharp cry of surprise as her fist smashed into the hard tile. Buffy turned around quickly in time to see the vampire's foot as it smashed into her gut. He kicked her in the air and slammed her with a powerful kick that sent her soaring. She landed and rolled back up. She had never felt so dizzy in her life, but she knew she couldn't give up, if she wanted Giles to survive.
Buffy ran towards the stairs.
This guy is tough. I'm gonna have to come up with a better plan.
The vampire stared at her, flexing his muscles and beckoning for her to come.
"Wow, look. A vampire with loads of macho swagger. Like we had a shortage." Buffy said.
Buffy gathered all the strength she had left and ran towards the vampire. She delivered a series of deadly blows. The vampire staggered back and fell. Buffy took a step back then leaped in the air just as the vampire stood up. Before he had time to react, Buffy was already on him. Everything seemed to move in slow motion. Buffy performed a bicycle kick. Each deadly blow connected with the vampire's torso. The vampire fell to the ground. He stood back up again, but did not attack. Instead he turned around and ran. He ran towards the balcony and jumped on the desk.
"We will continue this later!" He said as he snatched up the book, and with a graceful leap, crashed through the sunroof above, disappearing into the night.
"It's a date." Buffy said to herself.
Buffy heard a painful groan. She ran up to Giles and lifted him up, he looked terrible.
"Giles, how's your noggin?" she asked. Giles fluttered his eyelids and turned to face her.
"Bruised, but otherwise alright. I believe I've taken a resistance to cranial trauma." He replied quietly. He lifted his arm up and Buffy helped him to his feet.
"That must have been a really good book." Giles shook his head.
"It was a rather obscure text on spirit channeling. The author was long-winded and pedantic." Buffy nodded.
"Want me to track him down. Get the book back?" Buffy asked.
"That won't be necessary. The text is seriously out of date. The book won't be any good to anyone but an amateur medium." Giles replied.
"That's fine." You just rest here. I'll go get the others." Buffy said. Giles sat in a nearby chair and closed his eyes. Buffy patted him gently and walked out.
---
I'm screwed. That's it, it's all over.
Xander cowered against the wall. The bat laid in pieces on the ground by his feet. The vampires advanced on him. He could smell the putrid stench of their last meal.
Looks like I'm next on the menu.
"Listen, you guys. You don't want me, I eat too much junk food. I'm too high in calories, not good for your figure. And you being undead and all, will have one hell of a time trying to burn that off!" Xander yelled. The vampires continued to advance.
"He talks too much, let's hurry up and kill him." A vampire said impatiently. Suddenly, just like that, the vampires stopped. They stared at each other for a minute, then turned around and left. Xander was ecstatic. He picked up a long piece of the bat and waved it in the air towards them as they walked away.
"Yeah, that's it! You made the right choice! You knew better to mess with Xander the Vampire Slayer!" Xander yelled out at them.
Xander waited till they were gone, then he followed, towards the double doors. He heard a loud moan behind him. He turned around and saw the vampire he tried to kill earlier on the ground, the stake still pierced in his gut. The vampire turned his head and gazed weakly at him.
"I will rip you to shreds and wear your bones as my necklace!" The vampire yelled angrily, but weakly. Xander held back a laugh. He shook his head and walked towards the injured vamp. He knelt down and staked the vampire in the heart with the broken bat. The vampire dusted and the stake fell to the ground. Xander picked it up and put it back in his pocket. He took out the keycard he found in the library earlier and used it on the double doors, towards the library.
---
Willow and Cordelia walked down the hallways. Willow used her keycard to get through the electronic locks. They were lucky to realize there was no vampire in sight. They continued to walk down the hallway. Cordelia looked around in search of Xander, neither him or Buffy was in sight.
Willow heard an electronic beep sound behind the double doors in front of her. The doors opened and Buffy stood in the doorway.
"Wow that was easier than I thought. You two okay?" Buffy asked. Willow nodded her head.
"We're fine. Did you find Xander yet?" Willow asked.
"Some crazy night, huh?" a familiar voice said. The three girls turned to see Xander walking towards them. He had what looked like a broken bat in his hand. He walked towards them smiling.
"Hey girls! Xander Harris reporting. Status: still alive." Cordelia ran towards him and hugged him. Xander returned the hug and they began to kiss. Cordelia suddenly pulled away from him and slapped him on the shoulder.
"Where the hell were you when those monsters were chasing me through the whole school!" Cordelia asked angrily.
"For your information, Cordelia, I was fighting a little war on my own. I had to hold back a group of hungry vamps. Let's just say they were no match for the Xan Man." Xander said proudly. Cordelia rolled her eyes.
"Oh please, whatever. Can we just get the hell out of here?" Cordelia asked impatiently. Buffy stepped up.
"Finally Cordy, you mentioned something I entirely agree with. Let's get back to the library." Buffy walked back down the hall, Xander and Willow followed behind.
"Not the 'Can we just get the hell out of here' I was talking about, but whatever." Cordelia called out to them. The gang continued walking. Cordelia sighed and ran to catch up.
---
Giles stood up as the gang walked in. He was surprised to find that his head didn't hurt as much as he thought. Either he was telling the truth about developing some resistance to cranial trauma, or the vampire wasn't as strong as he led it to be.
"Thank God, you're all alive. Did everything turn out well?" Giles asked. Cordelia rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, everything turned out great. We got locked in a pitch black school in the middle of the night with a bunch of homicidal, blood-thirsty savages who chased us around as far as we can go while all of were split up. Now that I think of it, I couldn't think up another night that turned up half as well as this one." she replied sarcastically.
Giles stared at Buffy, unaware of Cordelia's rant. Buffy was aware of his stare, and wore a guilty look on her face.
"Guessing your wondering about the outfit. See I've been doing an independent study to see if vamps are more likely to prey on cheerleaders rather than Slayers because you know…" Buffy said innocently. Giles cut her off.
"Buffy I'm well aware of your return to cheerleading. As long as it doesn't interfere with your duties as Slayer, I have no objections." Giles said calmly. Buffy perked up.
"I like this alternate universe Giles. Is the old one coming back?" she asked.
"Don't be ridiculous, Buffy. The alternate universe Giles has a beard."
"Maybe you should get concussed more often."
"Can we please focus for a moment on the business at hand?" Giles asked impatiently. Buffy wore a serious look and nodded her head.
"I'm the picture of focus."
Willow sat at the computer by the checkout counter. She hacked quickly into the police files and checked the latest reports.
"From what I hear, the police are already claiming the attack was from a gang on PCP." she said as she read off the computer screen. Buffy thought for a moment.
"Does anyone actually still make PCP?" Buffy asked. Willow shrugged her shoulders.
"Hello? Wrong girl to ask. I don't understand how they manage to cover it up with the same excuse as the last time vampires took over the school like this, back when Spike led his gang here to try and kill you."
Xander walked up to a chair and sat at the end of the table with a cookie in his hand. Giles frowned.
"Hey, those are mine." Giles said angrily. Xander finished chewing and began to talk.
"I might be throwing myself in front of the speeding mockery here, but didn't this attack seem more organized than usual?"
"I know. What could anyone want in a library?" Buffy asked. Xander quickly polished off the cookie.
"I'm thinking maybe Cordelia and I outta prowl the reference stacks just in case anything else was taken." Xander replied. Willow peeped up from the computer. Cordelia stood by her, peering over her shoulder.
"I could give you a hand. Not like you guys are all that familiar with the actual books." Willow offered. Cordelia gazed at her.
"Who's talking about books?" she asked.
"Oh. And, oh! Knew that. But stacks, prowling reference…confused but I'm better now. And there's no reason for me to be in the stacks with Xander…with you guys. Enjoy the prowling." Willow said nervously.
"Speaking of books," Buffy interrupted. "What exactly was that big thumbprint on ugly's forehead?" Giles appeared hard at thought.
"Precisely my next avenue of inquiry. While I'm glad our biggest problem of late is a handful of bungling vampires and a stolen library book, I am rather curious about that distinctive mark. Certainly it has some arcane significance." Giles said, almost to himself.
"All this fuss over a stupid book?" Cordelia huffed. "Why don't you people get your priorities straight? Hello? Cheerleading competition this week!"
Willow looked up again.
"So Buffy, you're really gonna go through with the whole cheerleading thing?" she asked. Buffy shrugged.
"I don't know. At first I was doing this as a favor to Cordelia but I might be getting the hang of it. I might just try out for a permanent spot on the squad. It's very empowering. And, there's the rhyming."
"Love the outfit Buff, Zis boom bah!" Xander said. Buffy didn't catch the last part of his sentence as he stuffed another cookie in his mouth. Giles glared angrily at him. Buffy smiled.
"Starting to think vamps do too. Cheerleading uniforms equal vampire magnets." Xander snapped his fingers at her and nodded his head.
"Also known to attract middle-aged men like a backyard bug zapper."
"Xander," Giles said angrily. I ask you not…" Xander cut him off.
"Whew. Well, all this Scoobying has left me a tad parched. The Bronze anyone?" Cordelia and Willow stood up from the computer.
"Yeah, and I thought I was the only one wondering why we're still here when there's loud music, dancing, and catty people watching to be had at The Bronze." Cordelia said. Buffy waved her arms in defeat.
"Audible sigh. Fine. The Bronze it is then since everyone else seems so determined. Let me just go home for a second to change."
Xander, Cordelia, and Willow walked towards the library exit. Xander ran quickly back into Giles' office and came out with another cookie in his mouth. Giles sighed angrily. Xander ran out quickly to catch up with the girls. Buffy started to follow, but turned around to face Giles.
"Wanna come with?" she asked. Giles shook his head.
"Actually, boring as it may seem, I rather think I'll try to accomplish something instead." he replied.
"Alright then, Mr. Responsible, we'll gyrate in your stead." Buffy said happily.
"Please don't." Giles said exhaustedly. Buffy smiled and waved goodbye. She turned around and jogged out the door to catch up with the rest of the gang.