Spanderverse: Dracula
CH 8: Xander's Switch
Buffy, Willow and Xander ran toward the former Watcher's apartment. Buffy was feeling energized with adrenaline, but Willow and Xander were quickly tiring out. Slowing to a brisk walk, Buffy took a moment to gaze around her vicinity. She didn't detect any vampires in the area, but Dracula was no ordinary vamp. The way she'd felt whenever his eyes met hers had left her disturbed. There were feelings he was able to bring about in her that she didn't like. She wasn't exactly sure, but she thought she may have been feeling a little bit sexual by his presence. That was just all kinds of wrong.
Digging into her pocket, she hit the quick dial for Riley's cell on her own. She was trying to not feel guilty; it wasn't really her fault that Count Dracula had a hypno-tingle-power in addition to those nifty shape-shifting abilities. Still, as she spoke to Riley, she hoped she wasn't sounding funny on the phone. Asking him to meet her at Giles' right away, she passed the phone to Willow to call Tara.
"Tara's at the shop with Anya," Willow said to Xander. "She's going to drive her over to Giles' after they close up the shop."
"What sweetie? Ok. Ok." Willow continued, once she had hung up the phone, "They said it would be about twenty minutes or so. She's gonna call Giles and let him know we're all on our way over." She handed the phone back to Buffy.
"What about Spike?" Xander asked. "I mean, as a vampire himself, he may know something."
"I don't know how to reach him, except stopping by his crypt." Buffy replied, secretly glad that Spike wasn't carrying a cell around. "Right now let's find out how much the Council knows about Drac. We can find Spike and grill him, later."
Xander was annoyed with the way Buffy put things whenever referring to the blonde, not-so-menace, but he kept his irritation to himself. "We definitely need Tara and you to start scoping out spells, Will. We can't fight someone if they keep turning into mist on us."
"Maybe some kinda freezy thing," Willow mused, "if we froze his mist solid…"
Arriving at Giles', they found that Riley had already arrived. Giles was flipping through one of the Watcher's diaries. Looking up, Giles nodded his head toward the kitchen. "Hot water for tea is on the stove, coffee is brewing and there should be some juice left in the fridge. I'm looking through the diaries of a Watcher, Cy MacKinnon. He was, uh, Watcher in the mid sixteen hundreds before his charge, uh…"
"Punched in her ticket?" Buffy said casually as she headed for the coffee pot with Willow.
"Well, uh, yes, actually. Though I think I could have put it a little better."
"Was it Drac, related? You know, her, uh, demise?"
"No. She was trapped in a mine fire while hunting a group of vampires that had been feeding on the workers. Mining at that time was still extremely risky. Gas build-up in the mine probably ignited while she was running around with her torch."
"Can we not talk about other Slayer's ends, please?" Riley said.
"That's my sweetie. Big commando with weak stomach," Buffy joked.
"It's not really funny, Buffy. I mean, she was what, a teenager, still. Not to mention that we shouldn't be joking around if Count Infamous is paying you a visit."
"I know, honey. But I'm going to be just fine. This really isn't any different from the other vampires we face, except, y'know, he's totally famous!"
Riley had a worried frown on his face when conversation was delayed with the arrival of Tara and Anya. As Tara gave her girlfriend a peck, there was another round of raiding Giles' coffee pot and refrigerator. Giles was, naturally, the only one drinking tea. The delay stretched on as Buffy insisted she was famished and dug into the ham and Swiss cheese, Giles had in the fridge. Anya also decided to eat something, and joined Buffy in making sandwiches.
By the time everyone had reseated themselves, Riley was less worried and more irritated. It just didn't seem to him that anyone in the room was taking this seriously. Dracula was a far older vampire than the ones hanging out at their freshly unearthed graves, plus if there were any sort of truth to the myths, he had hypnotic abilities too.
Xander regaled the assembled group with the meeting of the famous vampire earlier in the evening. "And then, poof, he was this giant bat! I mean, talk about cool!"
Xander backtracked a bit on seeing the look on Riley's face, "I mean, y'know, not so cool as much as evil and, um, underhanded," he added a bit lamely. Of course, Buffy was completely oblivious to Riley's growing anger behind her.
"Are you kidding Xan?" She practically squealed, "That was way cool! Oh! And did I tell you guys that he knew me? Hah! Me, Buffy Summers, known by the Count of the Dreamy Eyes!"
"Ok, damn it," Riley interjected, "this isn't a rock star looking for your autograph Buffy! Can we remember that this guy used to split people on stakes… before he got vamped? I mean, vampire? Evil and soulless monster? Must be slain?"
"Geez, honey. Alright! It wasn't like I'm not going to dust Sir Mists-A-Lot. I'm just saying that it's cool that he knows me." Buffy looked a little petulant, but tried to sympathize with Riley's worry. "It'll be alright. Really, we'll figure out a way to block his magic and then he'll be just another sorry member of the fang crew."
"We need to watch out for those dark, mysterious eyes of his too," Willow added. "Dracula's mind control powers are legendary. I mean, at least in the movies, they are."
"You found his eyes dark and mysterious?" Tara said, a teasing smile on her face.
"Oh, uh, well, uh, you know. Oh hell! Sorry baby, but yeah, his eyes were definitely dark and oh so mysterious. I might have to go so far as to say they were seductive."
"Hmm." Giles broke into the conversation, still peering through the deceased Mr. MacKinnon's journal, "According to this, he does indeed have powerful hypnotic abilities. They seem to be centered around his, uh, 'dark and seductive gaze'." Giles glanced up to see the eyes of everyone on him, Buffy's eyebrow in the air. "Oh! His words, not mine. Apparently, according to the rather detailed description that Mr. MacKinnon provided, he found the Count extremely attractive." Giles cleared his throat out of nervous habit, and returned to the pages in front of him. "He's also had some magical abilities taught to him. It doesn't give details, but I think we can hazard a guess that they would be gypsy in origin. Probably and specifically: Romanian. It also probably explains the shape-changing you've reported."
"Wow. That's some pretty powerful magic." Tara was looking worried herself now, a look matching Riley's ghosting her face. "I mean, my own mother could cast spells, but nothing like that. I know that Will and I could never do anything like that, not without winding up a twisted and grisly puzzle."
"Ew. Ok, so there will be no trying to shape-shift the Slayer to fight him." Buffy looked over to Willow, "Which brings me back to Xander's original plan, Will. We need some counter-magic."
"I'll get to work on it. Giles? How did Cy come up with this information? You said that his Slayer hadn't faced him before."
"Actually, I said that his Slayer wasn't killed by him. She did in fact fight off Dracula in the highlands of Scotland. It seems he was on vacation there, believe it or not. Anyway, he would have been a young, uh- as far as these things go- vampire at the time. It's probable that his magic wasn't nearly as powerful then, or MacKinnon would have provided more details. I'll need to check the volumes I have copies of after this one to see if anyone else had garnered more information about his magical growth. Anyway, he retreated from the area. It appears that he, Cy I mean, and Shannon, the Slayer at the time, were going to pursue him, but the Council intervened. That would have been the time when Council members were being targeted by a vampire named Barlow who was hanging around in Britain. No doubt, she was ordered to act as guardian for the headquarters until the crisis had passed."
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It was nearly two in the morning when the gang broke up among many yawns. It was decided that Willow and Tara would tackle the internet. The plan was to find as many divergent sources of information as possible. Hopefully, once they had collated the information, it would point out what was most likely fact and what they could dismiss as myth. Giles was going to concentrate on the Watcher's Diaries. Willow had wondered if he wanted company, but he'd smiled patiently and said that they'd all reconvene the following morning at his apartment.
"Can I give you guys a lift?" Tara enquired. Buffy was close to home and since Riley decided he was too wired to call it a night, she decided to just sleep there. She'd also feel a little better being near Joyce. Who knew what Dracula would do or what he really wanted?
"Nah. Thanks, though," Xander had said. "The campus is opposite direction and it's really late. Anya and I'll be fine."
"You're sure? I mean, Dracula's out there somewhere," Tara had said.
"We'll be together, plus he didn't get what he wanted tonight. Whatever his intentions are, I'm sure he's off strategizing."
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So Anya and he were walking down the street toward his basement. He had tried on occasion to call it the 'basement apartment' but it was too ludicrous to work. Anya was smiling and talking about the 'old days'. For her, the old days were really old, too.
"I'm sure he would barely remember me now. I mean, it being 500 years and all. But, God, did he know how to impress a girl. You should hear the flattery! He especially liked this one curse I put on this guy where I made him really fat. Like, really! He must have been as big as a mini-van before his heart finally gave out."
"Uh-huh," Xander said, not really enjoying the direction of this conversation.
"You could just sort of drop my name on him. Before you start fighting, I mean. Maybe see if he does
remember me just a little. I was Anyanka then, of course, he wouldn't recognize 'Anya'."
"I wasn't really intending to do a lot of talking."
Anya put on a beleaguered sigh, "Xander, there's no reason to get grumpy. I can't help it if I happen to know a lot of people. When you've been traveling the world for 1120 years, you tend to rack up a few ex-lovers along the way."
"Oh, I see! So, now Count Smoothy is an ex-lover, huh?"
Another sigh. Which had really started to irritate Xander, lately. Not just tonight, but as time wore on. Anya seemed to have a special way of sighing that let him know that he was doing something wrong again. It was like he couldn't be quite good enough. And now here's Dracula, an ex-lover in the picture. That's just great. "Not really lovers, per se. I mean it was just that one time after this party in some Duke's palace in Vienna. Your dick is much bigger than his. Although, he did have some great moves, as I recall."
"Well maybe you should just look him up while he's in town, then!" Xander knew he was being a bit childish. After all, he had Faith as a one-time-only ex, also. And Anya did pay him a compliment about his manhood, before ruining it. But he was tired and feeling churlish.
"Don't be silly. I was a demon then and now I'm sure I'd just be a nibble-treat. Especially, if he doesn't remember me. Anyway, I'm going to go home now."
"What? You're not coming back to the, um, back with me?"
"Not tonight, Xander. Its whites day, remember? The bleach makes me feel yucky. Besides, I'm really tired now."
"Well that's just fine then. Maybe you could take a detour to a crypt and bare your neck invitingly! I'm sure Drac would be happy to stop by!"
"This isn't about Dracula! It's about my being tired and wanting to sleep in my own bed, not on a fold out couch. It's not my fault I live in a 'girls only' flophouse and you have to sleep next to the smelly washer!" With that, Anya turned on her heel and stormed off down a side block toward her tiny boarding room.
"Fine." Xander said, then again in more of a yell, "Fine!"
Realizing how suddenly quiet the street was now that he was alone, he turned toward his own home. "Oh no Tara," he thought to himself derisively, "I don't need a ride. I'm perfectly happy to wander around town in the middle of the night despite the fact that I live on a Hellmouth." No wonder the death rate here is so high, we must all be half nuts!
Xander crossed his street at a quick pace, looking down at the street's surface. As he approached his parent's house (more and more it was feeling less like 'home'), he was startled by a dark pair of leather boots. Above the boots were a dark pair of slacks, these were backdropped by a large square of red silk that could only be coming from the inside of a cape hanging down from the shoulder's of the man the shoes belonged to. Xander didn't need three guesses to know he was in some trouble.
"Wonderful. Why do we continue to walk around Sunnydale after dark?"
"I believe it is the Hellmouth's energy. It works to draw people out toward it at all hours, but never more powerfully than under the moon." The stranger spoke in an accent that Xander all too clearly recognized. Not that he hadn't known exactly who was in front of him, when he saw the cape. Looking up, Xander's breath caught in his throat as his eyes caught those of the strangers.
Wow, he does have some beautiful eyes. I mean, hey! "Undead guy. Hanging out waiting for me, huh? Well screw that, I can take you. You don't look all that powerful!" Well, that sounded good anyway. Hope Buffy avenges me.
"I am not here to fight you. Or to harm you," Dracula said.
"No? Uh… I'm not sure what to say, then. I mean, uh, usually it kinda goes: threat, threat, taunt, fist, my butt hitting the pavement."
Dracula continued as if Xander had not spoken, "I am here for the Slayer. I wish her to join me as my unholy bride. I believe you will be the one to assist me in getting her away from the rest of her friends, and that Watcher of hers."
Xander barked out a harsh laugh, "Yeah, right! Like I'd ever help…" he was interrupted.
"Silence," Dracula said only the one word.
"Uh, ok."
"You are now my emissary."
"Emissary? Like Sisko?" Xander was pondering what that would mean, when his Master spoke again.
"I do not know this 'Sisko'. You will be my eyes, ears and hands in the day. And for this service, you will become immortal. I shall bless you with my gift, if you but serve me faithfully and well. That is, once I have, uh, Buffy. We'll need to come up with a more impressive name for her after we've joined. But, no matter… once the Slayer is mine, you shall join us in eternal night."
"Really? How cool is that! Hah, and Anya thought she was all that… In her face!" Xander laughed for several seconds, almost giggled, actually.
"I'll totally serve you," Xander continued to his Lord, "believe me, no one can be the teen sidekick like me, your total spookiness of the beautiful eyes-uh-ness."
"You are odd," Dracula said, his brow questioning, "and I am having trouble understanding your babble."
"I'll just stick with something simple, like Master, your masterfulness."
"Uh, yes, well, I will contact you tomorrow evening for an update on what the Slayer has planned to resist me. You may go."
"Yes, Master." Xander bowed before the Count and then continued his way to his basement room. Giggling wildly to himself, he hadn't felt this happy in weeks. He'd show his Lord, he'd be the best darned servant ever, and once he'd joined his unholy darkness in vampiredom, maybe Vamp!Buffy would see him in a better light than Buffy saw him now.
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End Ch 8