Spanderverse: Dracula

Chapter14: Banishment

Buffy stood in the kitchen of the Summers home. It was eight in the morning and the sun was streaming into the house. The world outside looked bright and welcoming, but these feelings didn't penetrate the walls into the kitchen. In this room, the world was dark and sinister.

Buffy was holding Dawn as she cried on her sister's shoulder. Riley was also in the kitchen with Joyce, one making coffee, the other placing slices of bread into the toaster. Joyce was paler than usual and her head was pounding again. She hadn't gotten much sleep after she'd gotten in. In fact, she doubted that any of them would get any sleep ever again. Asking Riley to get the creamer from the refrigerator, she turned to her daughters. One weary-eyed, but looking determined. The other crying ceaselessly; but making a valiant effort to pull herself together.

"Are we sure? I mean, about Mr. Harris? Could he have just been unconscious?" Joyce looked to Riley with hope.

"No," Riley answered. "No, the ambulance driver pulled the sheet up to cover his face. He was definitely deceased when they arrived. I didn't see them try to revive him, but even if they had, judging by the color of his face, I'd say Dracula…" Riley looked at the floor. He was trying not to think about what this news would do to Xander.

"Buffy, you have to find a way to stop this," Dawn said through her tears, "Dracula needs to die!"

"I know, Dawnie. Believe me, this time I'm making sure. I just need to wait for the girls and Giles to get here with the magic books. We'll find a spell to keep him from going 'poof' every time I stake him. Once we do that, I'll be able to stake the bastard for real."

Joyce took a breath to admonish Buffy for her language around Dawn, when she reconsidered it. He is a bastard. Dawn's right, we have to find a way to allow Buffy to kill the son-of-a-bitch. Joyce released a sigh of frustration and sadness. Poor Xander. Poor Peggy, what will she do now? Although Joyce hadn't met Xander's parents more than a handful of times, she was under the impression that Peggy had been an old fashioned house wife. She didn't think Xander's mother had ever worked a day in her life. She just hoped that Walt had life insurance to take care of his family with his passing.

As the toast popped up from the appliance in front of her, she turned her attention to breakfast. No one really wanted to eat, herself included. But until the research books arrived, they needed something to focus their attention on. Something other than the horrors of the night before.

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Giles stood before a nurses station, regarding the woman with annoyance. He'd been trying to find out how Mrs. Harris and Xander were doing and the woman was stone walling him at every turn. For God's sake, he was practically a family member to Xander, but simply because they weren't of the same bloodline, he couldn't get so much as a 'he's out of the woods' from her.

Frustrated, he turned away when Willow and Tara stepped out from the elevator. "How are they?" was Willow's first question.

"I…I don't know. The woman at the desk is being most obstinate with the 'family only' rule."

"Damn. I could always cast a dazzle spell on her. Put her into a fugue state for a second while we slipped past?" Willow was joking, of course, and yet Giles was uneasy with the look in her eyes. It looked, to him, like she was half considering it. Giles was deciding whether to admonish her about not fooling with magic, like that, when his attention was drawn to the nurse's station.

Tara was standing in front of the nurse, nearly hyper-ventilating. Tears streamed down her cheeks and she gasped in halting burps of air. The nurse had come around her desk and was holding Tara by the arms, patting her comfortingly.

Willow and Giles gave each other worried and completely confused looks. Tara had seemed fine when she'd left the elevator. Perhaps she was still much more shaken up by her encounter with Dracula than they had figured?

Tara was crying to the, till now immovable white clad figure. "Oh, gods! Why is this happening to us? First Xander, and now my Aunt Peggy and Uncle Walter! Why is this psycho out to hurt our family?"

"Shhh, shhh. I know. I know it's just horrible, but you have to be strong. Your cousin is going to need you to be strong for him. He doesn't know yet…you know, about your uncle. Someone needs to tell him, and it would be best if it came from family. With your aunt heavily sedated…"

"Okay. I…I…know…know your right." Tara made a great show of getting herself back together. Wiping the tears from her eyes, she looked at Giles' nemesis. "Do I look, okay? I mean, this is going to be so hard, I don't want to look like I'm about to fall apart."

"Sure, sure…you look fine." After Tara had blown her nose with the tissues the nurse grabbed from behind her desk, she began to escort Tara down the hallway. Tara stumbled into the nurse and looked behind her.

"Oh! Oh, please. I know Xander shouldn't have visitors, yet. But…but, I don't think I can do this alone. Can't I have Willow and Mr. Giles there, too? Please? They are like family and I know Xander will want them there when I have to break the news."

"Well," the nurse's brows wrinkled for a moment. "All right, then. I mean, the young man is out of serious condition and your right, of course, he's going to need the support."

Giles and Willow chased after the two down the hallway, both surprised and puzzled by the nurses sudden about face on visitation. When they reached Xander's private room, Tara took the nurse's hand warmly and thanked her. She turned to the door to screw up her courage, leaving the nurse to travel back toward her station.

"Tara? Please tell me you didn't…" Giles faltered.

"No spell. Just the dramatic talents of someone who was always trying to stay out of trouble with her father back home." Tara gave them a small smile, it was very sad. "Not that it had to take a whole lot of acting. Everything I said, except being a cousin was true."

"Wow," said Willow, "you should be the one in drama class."

"Well, I suppose, uh, we should…" Giles pointed toward the door. He followed the girls into Xander's room.

Inside, Anya was sitting on the bed holding Xander's hand and murmuring quietly to him. Giles had wondered where she'd gone to when he arrived. He had relieved Spike in the lounge and sent him to what constituted 'home' for the vampire. Although Giles had meant to relieve him before dawn, with everything happening, he hadn't arrived till after sunrise. Fortunately, Spike was aware of caves that sat beneath the hospital. Apparently he'd used them before. Giles hadn't bothered asking why he would be sneaking in and out of hospital, having had a fair idea already.

"Anya? What are you doing here? I thought…I mean Spike had told me you were, uh, freshening up."

"Oh, there was a code blue somewhere on the floor. When the nurses and doctors were occupied I slipped in here. Look! Xander's awake and feeling much better! Isn't that wonderful?"

They all murmured agreement and took turns hugging Xander. When Giles' turn came, he settled for a handshake, but it was a warm one. In the following uncomfortable silences that followed, with everyone seeming to be looking everywhere but at him, Xander cleared his throat.

"So, uh, do I look that bad? I'm not growing mold on my face, right?"

"Huh?" Tara asked him.

"Anya seems to be the only one willing to meet my eyes. What's up?"

"Oh, God. Who died?" He asked, jokingly.

Giles turned his face toward the wall. Willow immediately began crying, while Tara placed her hand on her shoulder. Xander saw all of their faces pale. Even Anya, usually pretty unobservant to the subtleties of Scooby interaction caught on immediately. Her hands instinctively sought out Xander's and gripped them tightly.

"Oh, God! Who died Willow? It was Dracula, wasn't it…he killed somebody. Oh, no! Was it Buffy?" Xander was near panic, now.

Willow sat on the other side of the bed and placed a hand on his chest. Screwing up her courage and taking a deep breath she told him of the night's incidents. Tara's near miss, the death of Blayne, and crying even more heavily now, the attack on Xander's own family.

"Your mom's here in the hospital, Xander. It doesn't look like she was attacked, just shook up and hysterical. They have her sedated. But…your dad…Xander, I'm so sorry!"

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Buffy stood in the doorway between the kitchen and dining room. The others were arrayed around the kitchen island, simply listening. Buffy had tears streaming down her face as she apologized to Xander for the twentieth time in ten minutes. She was guilt-stricken that she'd failed to anticipate that Dracula might go after his family. She'd been so sure that he would strike at her, directly.

Xander was dealing with his own guilt. Some of it was that he'd been Dracula's servant and tried to get Buffy vamped. Hell, he'd even been looking forward to getting turned himself. He also felt guilty at the anger he felt, because the truth was, an irrational part of him did want to lie this at Buffy's feet. And maybe Giles', too; someone should have thought that Dracula might focus on hurting them through their loved ones. Of course, his more rational side argued, they didn't know he wasn't actually dusted. Once Xander was attacked, of course they all rushed to the hospital to check on him. And everyone knew how fast a vampire could strike once your attention was diverted.

What Xander really felt guilty for though, was that all he could think was 'at least it wasn't Buffy or Willow'. Xander pushed these thoughts away. It wasn't helping anyone get the job done and he knew deep down below the irrational part of his mind that no one was to blame for what happened, except the vampire himself. "Listen, Buffy. I'm going to be fine. It'll take time," he swallowed over the painful lump in his throat that wouldn't go away, "but right now I got to focus on mom. This'll send her straight to the nearest bottle the second she's out of the hospital. There's going to be things I need to do: the funeral, a casket, his will. I don't even know if he had life insurance or anything."

Xander took a deep breath to calm himself. He'd take everything just one minute at a time. "I'm gonna go, Buff. They let me out of here tomorrow. I'll see you, then." Xander hung up the phone and twisted the clean linen sheets between his fingers. He wanted to cry, he really did, but nothing was coming.

"I'm right here, Xander." Giles approached closer to the bed, "The Council gave me a lot of training in personal legal matters, and I've had to go through this when my own parents passed away. I'll help you with arraignments, going through his papers, anything at all that you or your mother needs."

"Thanks, Giles. I'm really going to need the help. From everybody," his eyes took in all of his friends. It sometimes seemed that they were just as much his family as his parents were, maybe even more so. "But right now, I just need you to kill the fucker." Xander's voice was quiet but intense, and cold as a mountain glacier.

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Three hours later and a plan had begun to form in the Summer's dining room. Tara was the first to contribute to the idea with her plan to moderate an obscure spell to harden mist into ice. With a bit of modification, she was sure that she and Willow could get it to freeze Dracula the next time he turned into his vaporous form. It was unknown however, how the spell would interpret freezing. Would he be paralyzed, would he turn to dracu-crystals, or would it force him to return to physicality? Buffy's part of the plan would be obvious; all she needed to do was to do what she did best. Dracula, the group was sure, would revert to his smoky form the moment she staked him, as he had already done several times.

The next part would be tricky. If the misty freeze spell had the effect of forcing him to de-mist, he'd be easy to kill afterward. Like any other vampire, a second staking would really turn him to ash. In case a different effect occurred, however, or (as Giles insisted they consider) if the spell failed outright they'd have to work as a team. Buffy, Riley and Anya would have crosses that they would use to keep the vampire corralled in a limited triangular space, while Giles and the two witches cast a dispersal enchantment which should also lead to his permanent death. In order to help keep Dracula off balanced as the fight began, Tara was prepared to cast "Rasputin's Spiritless" spell. Designed to stun any foe without a soul, and therefore useful against demons of all sorts, she'd been pleased when she had found the enchantment that morning.

The issue with that stunning attack was getting close enough to spread the herbal balm on Dracula's person. Riley volunteered for that duty as Buffy would surely be too busy with punches and kicks to take the time.

It was Dawn who asked the important question, "How do we know where he'll be? Here or Giles' or back at the hospital? And, what about Spike? Can't he help somehow…I mean why not use a vampire to kill a vampire?"

"I'm sending Spike to the hospital to guard over Xan. I can't believe for a minute that he's just going to ignore the fact that Xander's alive after he's gone through the trouble to go after his family," Buffy told her.

"But," Dawn asked, "how do we know that Dracula even knows about Xander? He didn't go after him last night."

"I know, Dawnie. But it doesn't make sense for him to seek vengeance on Xander's parents if he didn't know. Especially with you and mom and my Watcher available." Buffy got a sudden worried look on her face, "Willow, don't forget that 'no vampires allowed in the clubhouse' spell before you leave. I want to make absolutely sure that Dracula's invite is really revoked!"

"That still leaves the question," Joyce contributed, "how do you get the vampire where you want him?"

"I've just been looking at that issue." Giles stood with a dusty manuscript in his hands. His fingers were gliding above, but not touching the page. "I believe this gypsy spell may do nicely. It's designed to call upon their 'lord and master's' favor. It should compel him to come to us."

"Then that just leaves us a location," Riley contributed, "somewhere that's enclosed like an empty warehouse." Riley looked thoughtful for a moment, then snapped his fingers, "What about near the ocean front; Buffy and I can go scope a place. There are a few warehouses that the Initiative used to use for non-classified storage. It's likely that at least one of them hasn't been re-rented since we…I mean, since they…cleared out."

"I love me a plan!" Buffy said, her eyes twinkling with excitement now that they had a real chance at being rid of the Master Vampire. He'd turned the life of one of her closest friends into Hell the last few days and it felt good to be ready for some payback.

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It was seven o'clock p.m. and the air was scented with the salty brine of the sea only a block away. It was cool and Buffy shrugged out of her light jacket in the warehouse where preparations were nearly completed for, hopefully, Dracula's last stand.

As Giles lit the circle of candles around Willow, he glanced at Buffy and Riley, "Be ready." And with that, he joined Willow in the circle. Anya stood behind Giles, a small hand ax at the ready to keep the vampire away from them till they could recover from the spell. Tara was hidden against one of the walls, covered by a stack of old empty crates. She was busying herself with focusing her mind on the spell to come. Buffy had her stake at the ready; once again she'd brought out Mr. Pointy for the occasion, while Riley held a stake in his right hand. In his left hand was spread a thick mucous of mashed herbs and oil, the smell being eye-stinging.

The things I do to be valuable, Riley thought deprecatingly.

As Willow began a simple chant asking for the Lord of Vampires to join her for a congregation with his most loyal disciples, Giles began humming a tune of Romanian origin. Willow's eyes began to glow with a deep, fluorescent emerald color just before she had closed them. Giles, reaching out to take one of her hands, raised them above their heads and began to sing a lilting chant.

As the air seemed to thicken, Buffy could feel her muscles tense. She hated magic, no matter how much it seemed to help them. There was something about these incredibly powerful forces, invisible and yet undeniably present that sent her 'radar' into overdrive. A glance at Riley confirmed it was just her that was suddenly uneasy with the chanting and singing going on. She wished she'd sent Riley to the hospital now, not that he'd have gone without an argument. Buffy was constantly worried when they were fighting side by side, as Riley was always being hit or thrown and he didn't have the Slayer's ability to shrug off a blow, or to heal rapidly afterward. She hated thinking of him as helpless, because she knew he wasn't, but he was still just a guy and the forces she dealt with regularly sometimes gave her a run for the money. She was always worried that he'd really get hurt. Especially with the way he was always trying to prove himself her equal. Throwing himself into danger at every turn, no matter how many times she'd plead for him to hang back.

Buffy's concern for Riley, and everyone else, rapidly tripled when Dracula came sweeping into the warehouse. He looked annoyed, restless, and ready to punish someone for his summons.

"It's show time," Riley needlessly said.

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Spike, now allowed in to visit Xander until ten, sat on his bed next to him. Xander was idly chatting about some of the movies he wanted to rent for the next b-movie marathon. Spike was playing along, groaning at the appropriate times to such 'gems' as "Octaman" and "Lord of the Thong" when the conversation lulled.

"So…Xan. Do you want to talk about it?"

Xander didn't bother responding right away. Spike could see something playing behind his eyes and in the set of his facial muscles. There was more than grief, but Spike couldn't hazard a guess as to what his friend was thinking.

"Do you think they'll really get him this time? I mean, I know for a fact that Buffy has already staked him at least twice and that didn't seem to slow him down."

"Those damned magicks of his. Makes it hard to do away with him. But, according to Buffy, they got a plan together to get around his tricks. We can only wait and see. I brought you, something, too."

Spike walked to a bag he'd set on the floor when he entered. Xander didn't bring it up, because he'd assumed it was a pint of blood for later in the evening. Especially, if Drac managed to give the team the slip again and Spike wasn't able to leave.

Spike pulled a white tissue wrapped bundle from the bag and brought it to the bed. Placing the bundle on Xander's outstretched legs, he gave him a smirk, "Now when you open it, don't be waving it around, yeah?"

Xander couldn't help but feel inordinately touched. Even though he knew everyone would be wanting to have a small party when he was released from the hospital, something that would have to wait until he'd taken care of his father's arraignments, no one else had yet gotten him gifts. "This was really nice of you, Spike. I didn't see you as the gift giving sort."

"Hey, trying to be more person-friendly these days, y'know. 'Sides, we're friends aren't we?"

Xander grinned widely and with a nod returned his attention to the white bundle before him. He picked it up and felt from its shape, something familiar, but he couldn't immediately place it. He gave the package and shake, but nothing rattled.

"Oi! It's not a Christmas gift, y'dork. It's much more a working gift, just in case the gang don't get it done tonight."

Xander suddenly recognized the shape of the package and unwrapped it to find what he'd now expected. Well, expected from Buffy or Giles, it was still unusual to get it from a vampire.

In his hands was a wood cross, burnished to a shine. It was large, about ten inches in length and seven inches wide. Binding where the two pieces of expensive looking wood met, was a golden lasso of shiny material. It was simple, but elegant and the wood was of high quality; one could tell by its feel.

"This was really nice of you, Spike. I mean, considering…"

"Let's not get all 'poofy' about it. I just want you to have a second line of defense if Dracula gets by me, that's all. Now, I'll trust your going to put that under your blanket or somethin'? It's giving me the major willies."

With a small laugh, Xander placed the crucifix under his pillow within easy reach should it become necessary.

Xand placed his warm hand over Spike's cool one and squeezed lightly. Spike, at first a little at a loss, returned the gesture. The two broke apart, and Xander told the vampire to get the deck of cards that came in every bedside table in the hospital's private rooms.

As the two began a game of gin, Xander enquired, "Have you seen my mom? I was kinda figuring she'd be up sometime today to check in with me. Do you think they're still holding her?"

"Well. She was pretty freaked from what I hear. I heard some nurses talking, and she's still under a mild sedative to keep her calm. I think they want to keep her till tomorrow, so you can both leave at once. From what I've been able to pick up, she was pretty plastered when they brought her in."

"Gee, color me shocked," Xander answered darkly.

"Don't be so rough on her Xan. Having heard your domestic life when I was stuck in your basement, I'd say she's had a pretty rough time of it, marriage wise."

"I guess. Gin!" Xander layed down his cards and Spike tallied up the scores. "I haven't cried, y'know."

Spike looked up, but Xander was looking away embarrassed. "I mean, your dad just gets killed, you'd think there'd be a tear or two, wouldn't you?"

"Your old man, and I apologize if this sounds demony, but he was a right shit. You don't need to feel like you should cry or feel anything, except whatever it is your feeling. I didn't cry when me old man ran off with a barmaid when I was seven. I'd had me mum, and that was all I needed."

"I still feel a little guilty about it. I mean, I think I want to cry. Its not some macho-thing, it's just…nothing is happening."

"Could just be a little shock. I mean, an awful lot has happened in a very small amount of time. Gin."

"You think," Xander asked. It was obvious that his lack of an emotional outburst over his father's murder was really bothering him.

"I do. It's been my experience around people…the ones I haven't killed anyway, is that when they're in survival mode, they don't really react the way you'd expected. Until Dracula is done away with, I think your still in survival mode, Xan. That's all it is, I'm sure."

"Spike, can I talk to you about something? It's something I don't want you making me pay for later, you know?"

Spike quirked an eyebrow, but the teasing retort he'd had on his tongue died when looked into Xander's eyes. "Sure, mate."

Xander opened his mouth, but then closed it again. He suddenly seemed unsure about bringing up whatever was preying on his mind.

"Gin," Spike said. "It's okay Xan. It's obvious there's something more on your mind that's really bothering you. Promise you, I won't embarrass you with it later, whatever it is. Scout's honor. Or it would be if there'd been boy scouts when I was a lad."

"When I was in that alley," Xander started, "I remember Dracula standing behind me. He ended up biting me from behind."

"I know. I saw that part when I rushed him."

"Well, anyway, when he was pressed against me, uh, oh boy. Um, his naughty parts were pressed against a part of my anatomy in back of me. And, uh, I was terrified 'cause I knew he was one pissed off master, but…"

"You found it excitin', is that it?" Spike thought he was getting the gist of the problem Xander had running around his head. It was tough when a guy was convinced he was 'Mr. Hetero' and finds himself getting off on another guy pressed against him.

"He wasn't. I mean, there was never any bad touching till he fed off me. But, I was definitely having a, uh, reaction. I mean, I never, ever, you know, about a guy. I mean, I'm talking nothing at all in the shower room, or with Oz or Riley. I've always been the whole-heartedly hetero, red-blooded, give me the boobies, kinda guy."

"Gin." Spike said again. "Listen to me carefully, Xan. I can clear this up for you right now. It wasn't you. It wasn't that you were looking to get in on some man-on-man-action with Dracula. Y'see, when a vampire is that close with someone, whatever the gender, there is an intimacy there. Now the vampire-in-human-form can do two things with that intimacy. A) He can ignore it and just go straight for the eating or B) he can play it up. Get the victim to really be enjoying themselves while their being drained. Dracula likes option B. Even when he just wants a quick meal, he's always looking for the prey to idolize him and a big part of that is to know the victim is, uh, aroused by him. It's got nothing to do with you and everything to do with his need to control."

"Have you ever?" Xander nodded to him and he drew another card.

"What? With a guy?"

"No. I mean, yeah now that you mention it, but I was talking about playing with a person's emotions like that."

"Not really. I've gotten close to a bird by chatting her up, but once I was in full on fang-mode I wasn't into the whole game playing. Dru would play like that occasionally. Angelus liked getting off with that sort of thing."

"And the guy thing?"

"Sure, I have. Dru and I would, just once in a great while, have this orgy thing before we started feeding. Sometimes it was a woman, sometimes a guy. Sometimes there'd be a mixed group. Mostly whatever the princess wanted, she got. Gin."

"Y'know, the least you could do is lose. I am in my sick-bed here," Xander said with a smile.

"Sorry, luv. Demon here and all, yeah? No pity, no mercy. Shoulda called dollar a point."

"Make it a quarter and I'm in. So, what's it like? The guy on guy thing, I mean. Was it a demon thing, or was William playing on both sides of the street?"

"William? Hah. That ponce wasn't on any street at all. Too busy hiding behind an over-indulgent mother, he was. He was completely virginal before Dru got to him, and all she was interested in was turning. Sex didn't come until he was gone and I was on the scene. As to the guy thing, it's been awhile, but I don't remember ever minding the switching up."

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Dracula swept into the warehouse full of his, by now recognized, arrogance. His eyes swept over to see Willow and Giles, both a bit pale, standing up from the casting circle of candles. In front of him Buffy was ready for battle and there was a tall blond man behind her that Dracula didn't recognize.

"Slayer," Dracula hissed at her. "That spell was meant for those who worshipped and served me. How dare you misuse it!"

The fire burning in the Dracula's eyes caused her to swallow a lump of fear. Pushing it away, she took a step in the vampire's direction. "What can I say," Buffy replied flippantly. "You didn't leave a cell number and Mr. Pointy really misses you."

Dracula took his own step in her direction. "And you think that sliver of wood is going to do you any more good now than it has before?" Dracula's laugh echoes throughout the nearly empty warehouse. It was mirthless and cold. "I think it's well past time for you to be shown just how little power a Vampire Slayer actually has."

"Sure. Just hold that thought a second," Buffy said, "Riley!"

Together, Buffy and Riley rushed toward the vampire. Buffy had expected him to shape-shift, or mist away, but instead the vampire quickly glanced at Giles, Willow and Anya to insure they weren't up to anything and then met their assault head on.

As Buffy battled Dracula, she began to take more hits than she could deliver. That awful crap on Riley's hand was making her eyes sting and was distracting. She watched as Riley tried to take the vampire from the left, only to be stopped by a side kick to his stomach. As Riley recovered and returned to his feet, Dracula rushed the Slayer.

Buffy side stepped and placed her foot out in front of her. Like a simple-minded cartoon, Dracula tripped over Buffy's foot and went down on the concrete floor. Riley jumped on the vampire's back, causing a guttural yell from his 'lordship', as Riley smeared the oil and herb concoction all over the vampire's cape and into his hair. As if gravity were suddenly of no interest to him, Dracula raised himself to his feet in one swift motion, not using his hands or knees to raise him. He simply shot up to his feet causing Riley to be flung ten feet across the large room.

"Ewwcch! What the hell is this shit?" Dracula was wearing an all too human look of revulsion. "Let me guess, a spell by the Watcher?"

"No," Buffy replied, "the witch. Tara!"

From behind a jumble of crates stepped the blonde woman that Dracula had coveted and then wanted to slay. Mumbling words he couldn't make out, she looked over at him and raised her arms. From her body, a distortion of the air effect, shot out and toward him. Dracula tried to move away from the distortion effect, but it moved even quicker than he did and in a moment it seemed to penetrate his clothing and skin.

Dracula let out a hearty laugh, this one filled with amusement. "That was it? That was the big destroy-the-vampire-spell!" This followed with another amused laugh.

"The spell failed! Buffy, look out!" Willow screamed across the wide space.

Tara yelled next, "No. It didn't fail. Buffy, he has a soul!"

Dracula spun on his heels to punch Riley who had attempted to tackle him from behind. With the mortal man knocked to the side, he returned his attention to the red head. A muttered curse, and Giles, Anya and Willow lay upon the ground thrashing in pain.

"Of course I have a soul, you fools. What good would it have done for Vlad the Impaler to become immortal, if he wasn't here to enjoy it!"

With this he again launched another muttered word of power and Tara flew backwards as if someone had a rope around her waist and yanked hard. Flying back into the crates she had so recently hidden behind, she was immediately knocked unconscious.

"No more help Slayer. Now it's just you and me."

"Now that I'm not enthralled, that works just fine," Buffy said, going into a handstand kick that had Dracula fallen back onto his butt. "Y'know, I think I've been giving you way more credit than you deserve."

Dracula's reply was only an incomprehensible growl. As Buffy had hoped, he was becoming pissed, and that was making him clumsy.

As Dracula and Buffy exchanged blows, Riley again made it behind the vampire. Pulling out his own stake, Riley tried to find the heart. Just as he swung, Dracula reached around and grabbed him in an iron grip. Buffy surged forward, but was stopped cold by Dracula's threat to fang Riley where he struggled futilely in the monster's grip. As Dracula walked/dragged Riley toward the entrance to the warehouse, Riley managed to retrieve his cross from his back pocket. With a quick motion, he laid the cross against the vampire's skin, which drew the reaction he expected.

With a snarl, Riley was pushed away. Again being flung to the floor, Riley rolled into a somersault and returned to a battle stance, holding the cross in front of him.

Buffy used the distraction to get behind Dracula. Anticipating his move, as he swung around on her, she jabbed viciously with Mr. Pointy and with a solid 'thunk' speared the vampire. As he had done before, Dracula misted, trying to fool his hunters into thinking he'd dusted.

No one was fooled this time. As Riley, the now recovered Anya and Buffy held crosses in a triangular pattern, Giles and Willow began chanting a spell to block the vampire from escaping. It was as Buffy was desperately wondering what they were going to do next, now that the plan had gone pear shaped that she heard Tara's voice resounding throughout the warehouse.

A moment later and the misted form of Dracula became visible to everyone in the room. The vampire seemed to be trying to 'drift' toward the open warehouse door, but was moving in a slow motion.

Dracula, for his part, was trying to alter shape into a bat, but found himself stuck as a cloud of gas. Shrieking mentally in outrage, he tried to make a dash for the doorway and the Demeter beyond, but found himself moving through air that was heavy as drapery.

Giles, Willow and Tara quickly formed a triangle around Dracula's wispy form as Riley, Anya, and Buffy continued with their crosses, keeping the vampire confined. There was much chanting from the three magic casters in synchronized voices and then a white light shot out of all three of them.

The light struck the cloud that was the vampire's current form. It radiated out from the column of mist, and then began to spiderweb throughout it. In seconds, the mist had resolved into the anguished features of a face in a silent scream. A burst of light and force that had everyone blown back a few feet and it was over.

"Good…good show, everyone," Giles said struggling to his feet.

"So, we did it? That was it?" Tara asked a little timidly.

"Oh, yes. Dracula's psyche has been torn asunder. For all intents and purposes, he's been destroyed. Though, I'm not sure where Vlad might have gone."

"Doesn't matter. We won." Buffy looked around her at the group. Walking over to Riley and into his arms, she added, "But tomorrow the hard part starts. We have to face what he's already done to us and especially Xander."

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Epilogue: In an Iraqi desert, tucked away in a small underground chamber deep beneath the Earth lay a simple stone sarcophagus. Within the darkness of the sarcophagus, a glowing had begun. If the chamber had not lain undisturbed for the last 220 years, and if human's hands were to have opened the sarcophagus in question, they would have noticed the scattered bits of an unusual metal sprinkled along the bottom of the resting place. The soft glow emanated from these pieces of exotic metal, no more than filings in appearance.

Within the sarcophagus, an archeologist might expect to find the body of some high priest, or ruler held in great stature though that mode of burial had been outdated for thousands of years. He may have reacted first with disappointment (ignoring the scientific value of the metal shavings for a moment) and then been interested in what was buried in this particular resting place. For, it was not only the metal figments which rested at the bottom of the sarcophagus. Atop these unusual slivers were lengths of hair, having been removed from someone at its roots. In addition were fingernails and the red dust of old and dried blood. The archeologist would no doubt be intrigued and puzzled that such odd bit and pieces were deemed of so much import, to be buried in this manner and then hidden so well.

If he or she had then continued to watch the sarcophagus over the coming years, they would have been amazed; the world would have been amazed! For from the bits of hair and nails grew skin. And from this skin, would grow muscle, and from that muscle would grow bone and sinew.

Vlad was nothing if not thorough when it came to his own survival. Though the dark Arab mystics had warned him that the chances of the spell working were very poor, Dracula had insisted that he would pay any price for them to work it anyway. He'd given them the hair and nail and blood which they had required and set to work looking for a famed 'Gem of Amara'. Finding the gemstone, Dracula did not do what others may have, wearing it in order to ignore the daylight and other vampire-killers. Instead he'd broken the gem and the pendant it had been part of down mystically into just bits of material. This he also gave to the wise and powerful mystics.

Dracula knew, in ways that other and more simple demons did not, that the Gem by itself would not grant the immunity that so many had searched. Even with the most powerful of artifacts, there was always a way around their protections. Instead he would use the gem's mystical might to reconstitute him should he ever be destroyed. His tissue would clone, and he would rise more powerful than before, if the darkest and rarest spells that only the Arab sect knew actually worked. He had felt it worth the sacrifice and expense.

In the sarcophagus, the only light coming from the destroyed 'Pendant of Amara', Dracula's vampiric body began to grow anew. It would take years to complete, and there were no guarantees that the clues he'd left behind for other's to find would be put together to lead them to this place when he needed them to. But the risks of so bold a plan necessarily relied upon faith in the dark gods to fulfill.(1)

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As for the Demeter, that noble ship met its end at the moment Dracula had. Without his mystical lifeforce to maintain its enchantment, the screen of invisibility and its aura of repulsion faded within minutes.

Its true end, however, came when the time it had survived caught up with it. No longer was it protected by the cocoon that had kept it untouched by time and element. In less than thirty minutes, its sails had tattered, as they should have done ages ago. The wood that had spend over one-hundred years in the briny ocean, suddenly warped and rotted. Literally, the might hull fell apart. The masts that would have been snapped by Dracula's famous storms, suddenly did, crashing down and through the decks.

In the morning, excitement would spread throughout history buffs and museums the world over when its pieces were discovered floating in the yacht club. The discovery of the largely intact, though quite destroyed hull in the thirty feet of water just off of berths 12 through 22 would capture the imagination. The final theory would be that the odd storm that had traveled across the Pacific for such an unusually long span of time (the effects of global warming, being mentioned) had dredged up the missing ship and deposited it where it was now found.

The ship's name, Demeter, discovered on a placard would cause another world wide sensation as everyone speculated on its relation to the Stoker novel. Naturally, shows like 'A Current Affair' immediately tripped over themselves to 'prove' that Stoker's novel might have had some kernels of truth to it, salaciously wondering if Count Dracula had existed.

In the end, the Demeter was returned to Romania to be preserved for its historical value. There were no traces left on the vessel to suggest it had so recently sailed across the Earth's mightiest ocean carrying the essence of evil below decks. Despite Geraldo Rivera's claims to the contrary.

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End Story

(1) See Blade III.

Stories before this: Spanderverse: To Dream; Spanderverse: After 314 and Spanderverse: Spike