ACT I
Ceres looked around him at the school, standing on the steps near the street, leaning against one of the bars. It was early morning and the sun was rising still in the sky, and there was nary a cloud to shade it's view of the land. The school was bustling with life as students poured into it for the first classes of the year. Ceres stood alone, with a red shirt and jeans, his hair waving lightly in the wind. As he gazed, a car pulled up on the street. A lone teenager got out, with black hair and all black clothes. He pulled his backpack out of the car and waved to the driver.
"Try and make some friends today, Warren!" She called out after him as he walked up to Ceres, making a face as he heard his mother. A few kids snickered nearby at him as he stopped to look back and just sort of nod blankly at his mother, waving half-heartedly. She drove off and he turned back to Ceres, moving his jaw slightly as if gritting his teeth.
"…yeah." Warren said, shrugging a little bit and walking past Ceres. "Come on, I'll show you where the classes are."
"Good morning to you, too, Warren." Ceres said, looking minorly upset and disturbed. He hefted his backpack onto both shoulders from the ground.
"Right, sorry. Good morning."
"Your mother's kind of a ditz." Ceres stated right out.
"Always has been, probably always will be. When I was younger, she used to tape notes to my chest with such messages as 'Be happy!' and 'Do great'!"
"Don't be embarassed by the immense humilation of everyone knowing you're a momma's boy?" Ceres offered.
"Actually, she did use that one once...Now, come on, I have to get to my classes too, so I want to show you the layout of the school before they start. That way you can find your way around between classes." Warren turned and headed into the school. Ceres paused for a moment and another, older male student stopped beside him.
"Dude, just a bit of advice, but try not to be seen with that loser too much if you want any other friends but him. Even the dorks and gimps avoid him." The student said, patting Ceres on the back.
"Uh, thanks.You would be which?"
"Hah! Good on-... wait..."
Ceres muttered. "Got to go follow him, he's showing me my classes.." Without waiting for a reply he walked forward and into the school. The student stared after him for a moment and shrugged, walking into the school.
"Dude, you got owned." A friend beside him said.
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Ceres opened his locker and put his books inside, inspecting the insides of the locker for a moment with a strange look before closing it with a ponderous look. As he walked away from the locker he hefted his books up to himself, nearly avoiding colliding with a passing student. He made quick apologies and slipped down the hall, opening a door that said clearly on the glass, "Principal Flutie."
He paused upon entrance, as the principal was reading what appeared to be a taped up paper, turning it around. The principal had quite a curious look upon his face, as if he were horrified and amused at the same time. He glanced up from his paper and looked at Ceres. "Oh! You must be one of the new students." He put the paper down.
"Uh, yeah. I'm Ceres Winters. I transferred here from Los Angeles?"
"Really, now? That's interesting." Flutie looked at his paper for a moment. "Says here you maintained honor roll in your other school. We're not going to have any problems, then! Don't you worry about a thing. I'll take care of the paper work. You're free to go as soon as you answer a few questions for me. I'm sure you're eager to get to classes."
"Uh, yeah."
"Have you ever gotten in trouble in school?" Flutie questioned.
"Once or twice."
"Gotten into a fight?"
"All the time."
"Stabbed anyone with wooden objects?" Flutie asked, reading through the taped report.
"Uh... toothpicks count?"
"Been responsible for mass panic?"
"Pulled a fire alarm once."
"Burned down a school?"
"I've burned down my toaster, if that works."
"Ah! Good." Flutie put the file down. "looks like you're a normal kid. You'll fit in fine here, Ceres. Just keep out of trouble and avoid troublemakers. Would you like me to show you to your classes?"
"…no…" Ceres, obviously wierded out.
"Good, good.. You're free to go. Have a nice day! " The principal turned back to the taped paper and sat down at his desk again. Ceres paused and then left the office.
As he walked down the hall, his attention began to wander. He looked at a few passing girls, looked down the hall to check to see if he could find Warren, and checked to make sure he had all his books. He became so engrossed in making sure he had the right amount of books and they were all of the right make, edition, color, size, shape, and so forth that he completly failed to notice the open locker door about to hit his head.
And hit his head it did. The locker swung backwards, forcing it's owner, a young average-sized girl in generic, indie-flavored clothing (including a red and white striped long-sleeved shirt and jeans) and soft brown hair to jump backwards as it shut and Ceres went down backwards, all his carefully counted books landing atop him. He groaned as a few more books of the non-his variety from the girl fell onto his legs from the locker.
"Oh, uh, sorry!" The girl crouched and quickly began to pick up her books as Ceres sat up to the snickering of the crowd around him. One girl outright laughed, exclaiming 'What a klutz!' to her friends and walked past. "You should watch where you're going next time. I'd hate to accidentally break your nose the next time you did that."
"That's assuming the next time I count my books and don't pay attention to where I'm going, you hit me in the face with something again." Ceres mumbled, organizing his books.
"I don't see why not. It'd keep you from doing it again, wouldn't it?" She smirked at him and he looked at her for a moment, at a loss for words. She stood up and smiled, then curtsied. "I'm Nancy. I'll see you at lunch? Good!" And with that she walked off, leaving Ceres on the ground wondering what had just happened.
".. at least I'm making friends." Ceres said.
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A teacher gestured at the chalkboard. "So after you finish that reading I want you to think about the context of it and what it means to you, and more important, what it has to do with the death of Antony Bageras in 1934. And if you would turn your attention to the board, it has all of your homework for today." The class groaned as they looked.
The chalkboard had only "Read Chapter Two." on it.
Ceres leaned over to Warren, who was sitting next to him near the window, scribbling on his papers. "Chapter two of what? The syllabus listed about fifteen books."
"Uh, he means read chapter two of.. all of them." Warren muttered. Ceres' face went blank for a moment.
"I'm sorry, I've totally retroactively forgotten I asked a question so I don't have to deal with the horror that is the answer." Warren laughed and got up, collecting his books as Ceres followed suit, looking at the teacher with a mute expression of horror. The teacher simply sat down and collected a few papers. After a moment Ceres turned and headed towards the door, Warren following. "I need to head to Calc now. I'll see you at lunch?"
"Of course. Just look for the pale guy sitting by himself trying to figure out how to make the mashed potatoes more interesting then the cardboard they're in." Warren grinned and headed off in another direction.
Ceres walked down the hall and towards another classroom. He opened the door to see an art room in progress, with some of the students turning to look at him. He paused for a moment, muttered "oops, wrong class" quietly and quickly left the room again, closing the door.
He left the room so quickly, in fact, that he accidentally bumped into a passing student-jock with a red jacket. It was the same student who had met him earlier out before the school, only with books now and in a group of friends, and a girl hanging beside him. He turned slightly to look at Ceres as Ceres stumbled.
"Sorry, didn't mean to.. oh, it's you." Ceres said.
"Hey, I remember you. You're Ceres, right?" He turned back to his friends. "Go on, guys, I'll catch up with you later." They shrugged and continuined a fascinating conversation about the physics of footballs, leaving the student behind. The girl stayed, looking bored. "Sorry about earlier if I weirded you out. Just trying to help out the new guy and all. I know how it feels to be a new kid in Sunnydale."
"No, it's fine, I'm just not used to being told my friends are wierdos and to stay away from them by people I don't know and all."
"We can solve that. I'm Josh." He extended his hand, and after a moment Ceres shook it, not really smiling. "And this is Aura." He gestured to the girl. She waved and smiled, but resumed looking bored immiedately. "I heard you got hit by Nan earlier." He gestured down the hall.
"You mean Nancy?"
"Yeah. She's part of the wierd indie-jazz club we have. Come to think of it, we have a lot of wierd clubs and a lot of wierd people here, just to warn you." Josh paused for a moment and shrugged.
"She's such a wierdo." Aura commented. "She knows everyone's names all the time. I think she's autistic or something. I wouldn't be suprised if she was stalking you, Josh. Or you, come to think of it." She looked Ceres up and down. "You're not half-bad. Wierd name, though."
Josh looked at Aura for a moment, looked back to Ceres and shrugged apologetically. "Anyways, I gotta head to class, but do you wanna meet up and look for girls at the Bronx later?"
"The Bronx?"
"Yeah, it's a club. Most everyone hangs out there. We meet there around six every night to do guy stuff. Good way to get into the in-circle, you know?"
"Sounds like a plan.."
"Good! I'll see you there, then." Josh walked down the hall with Ceres looking after him. Aura turned back and waved with a smile before Ceres shrugged and walked down the hall in the opposite direction.
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"So this jock just up and invited you to go to the Bronx?" Warren questioned, moving his potatoes about. Ceres nodded and looked at his own meal in thought, swirling his fork around the mashed glop.
"Well, I don't think you should do it. They recruit you into their group, you're a jock for life. It's a title you can never get rid of."
"Not even if I'm a total geek?"
"Not even."
"PLUS," Nan suddenly mentioned, appearing out of nowhere from behind Ceres and startling both of the boys. "Jocks are always dying off for some reason or another. Very easy to kill, I guess." Ceres raised an eyebrow, but made no expression of suprise.
"Uh, hello?" Warren said slowly.
"Warren, this is Nancy. Nancy, Warren." Ceres said.
"Oh, I know who he is! I've watched him." Nancy smirked. "Call me Nan, please. Nan-SEE is just so commonplace. I like wierd names, like Aura or Ceres or-"
"Warren?" Warren interjected hopefully.
"Boring." Nan stated matter-of-factly. Warren pouted.
"Well, Nan, we were discussing my invitation to the Bronx by the Jock Josh." Ceres said.
Nan's face brightened. "Oh! We should definitely go. The Bronx is lots of fun. It's great for partying and drinking and feeding and the like." She pulled her hair back to take a bite of the potatoes on her own plate.
"Well, it's agreed then. The Bronx, tonight, at six?" Ceres said.
"Sure." Warren shrugged. "Make for a good welcoming party."
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There is a room, dark with one window letting light in onto a silver steel table. A young woman looking to be in her twenties in a black silk suit sits behind the desk in a chair. Her hair is black, short, trimmed, and professional. She has an odd look about her, however, one of a certain sort of fierceness. She's wearing an amulet of some sort with a dragon pendant on the end.
A man in a street-suit walked forward, staying out of the light. "Madam, the report you wanted on the new arrivals." He extended his hand and tossed a folder onto the table, remaining out of the light with caution. The woman picked up the folder and opened it, looking into it.
The folder contains pages of information on several new people- Susan, George, Emily, Buffy, and she stops on one titled Ceres.
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ACT II
Ceres put a few books into his locker and closed it, and was promptly startled when Josh was beside him, putting his own books into his own locker. Josh glanced over at him, then paused to look at him.
"Well!" Josh said. "Looks like we're locker buddies, too. Isn't that cool?" He grinned.
"I suppose it is." Ceres agreed reluctantly, gathering up his backpack.
"I just got out of algebra. That class is going to kill me."
"Why, too hard?" Ceres smirked.
"Too -boring.- Half the kids in there still think a root has something to do with trees, and slopes are what you sled down on." Josh shook his head.
Ceres paused. "Josh, did you just.. crack a joke about the stupidity of your peers?"
"Yeah, I guess so." Josh huhed. "Fancy that."
"I think you just earned yourself a few cool points."
"Aw, man. I'm trying to hold back on cool points. Can't they be diet cool points or something?" Josh grinned and started to walk down the hall.
"Well, they -are- geeky cool points, so.."
"Oh, that's better, then. Geeky cool points are like empty calories."
"Hey!"
"What? It's true." Josh grinned.
"Even so, my inner geek demands I object."
"My inner jock wants to beat up your inner geek." Josh retorted.
"My inner geek is going to go hide in the library for a bit, then. See you later?"
"Sure. See you at the Bronx, man." He waved and kept walking down the hall.
Ceres opened the doors to the library as a boy with dark hair and a nerdy, nervous disposition pushed past him, a look of confusion on his face as he apologized briefly for the contact and walked down the hallway. Ceres looked after him for a moment and shrugged, walking into the library's room.
The Sunnydale High library had two levels. The entrance leads into an open area with a checkout counter to Ceres' right, and a caged off section to his left. In the center there is an octagonal area with a reading table, surrounded by chairs. Stairs on the left and right sides lead up about three feet to the mezzanine level containing bookshelves. There is a doorway at the back of the mezzanine leading into the library stacks.
"Wow. Big library.." Ceres murmured. He paused before the counter. Laying upon it were several books- one on zombies, one on werewolves, one on incubi, succubi, vampires, frog-demons, fungi demons.. a great many topics. They all looked old. He frowned. "Well, this is unusual.."
Ceres paused and looked around himself.
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"Whoa!" Warren muttered as Ceres pulled out an old book entitled "Werewolves" and placed it on the table. They were in a study room, one that they had mostly to themselves, right by the window that showed the football field. The others in the room were focusing on their own groups and Ceres, Warren and Nancy were mostly unnoticed.
"Where'd you get this?" Nancy questioned Ceres with a suspicious look.
"Library." Ceres said with an ambigious grin.
"Really?" Warren asked. "The new librarian must have brought this stuff, because I've never seen it in the library before. Not that I go there very often, but still, these things draw your eyes."
"And your fingers, apparently." Nan said. Warren glanced at her in confusion until Ceres reached over and pried Warren's hands off the book, passing it to Nancy. Nancy promptly opened it up and jerked her head back. "Wow, old-style print! This kind of text isn't seen very often past the 1500's.. they stopped using this kind of cursive."
"How would you know that?" Ceres questioned.
"History buff." Nancy responded.
"More like history freak." Warren muttered. He was rewarded with a quick slap to the shoulder and winced. "Hey!" Nancy just glared at him with a tiny smile. "Also a violent freak, by the way, Ceres. Ow!" He rubbed his shoulder as Nancy hit him again.
"She promised to hit me in the face if I count my books." Ceres offered.
"Well dang." Warren said. "That totally makes up for the exciting name you have."
"Much more exciting name he has. I like it. Ceres. Greek in origin, you know. One of the gods."
"Wasn't Ceres a god-DESS?" Warren corrected.
"Hey, shut up and stop poking fun at my name." Ceres muttered. "I have to give this back to the library eventually, so I'm going to take it home tonight, take notes on all of it. That way at least I know the important stuff."
"I'll help." Warren shrugged.
"Sure.. purely because I like historical fiction." Nancy smirked at Ceres.
"Fine. Warren, you want the werewolf one?" Warren had already pulled the book back towards him and was hugging it. "Uh, okay.. Nancy, you get the one on succubi and incubi, then. I'll take on the vampires." The trio got up and headed out of the room.
In the window, Josh looked on with morbid curiosity, his face revealing he had heard almost every word.
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Ceres walked down the hall, heading for the exit, passing a scene where the librarian was blocking a young student from moving, speaking to her in urgent but low tones. He himself paused for a moment, unable to see the student's face since he was behind the teacher, which prevented either from seeing him.
"The signs, as far as I can tell, point to a crucial mystical upheaval, very soon. Days. Possibly less."
"Oh, come on. This is sunnydale.." the student protested. Ceres didn't hear any more of it, as he turned and headed off there and then, paling slightly.
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Giles walked into the library, shaking his head and rubbing his temple. "That girl is going to cause a bloody mess of things.." He sighed and rested his hand on the library counter, then paused and looked at the books.. or rather, where they had been. "Oh, dear. Not again."
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In a tunnel underground, kept lit only by electrical lights, a vampire-faced man and woman walked towards a kneeling figure. Both of them were wearing street clothing, looked very young and pretty, and currently had yellow eyes and fangs, so the pretty part is actually a bit of a lie. The man was wearing a black shirt underneath a leather jacket, and the woman was wearing a red and yellow-striped long-sleeved shirt under her own leather jacket.
"Sire, we believe Belinda is on the move." Said the male. Very slowly the kneeling figure rose and turned towards them, revealing a very gaunt face, but not thin, whose eyes were covered by dark sunglasses.
"The Sleeper is going to rise very soon." He said quietly. "Follow her, Jack. Kill any of her minions you come into contact with, just to be rude. Jill, I want you to find someone for me.."
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ACT
III
Ceres finished writing a few notes on vampires, his face focused on his work. A knock came on his bedroom door, and he jerked up, quickly pulling a math book atop of the more ancient book.
"Ceres?" His father opened the door and leaned in. "Everything alright?"
"Yeah, dad. I'm fine. Just doing homework and all."
"Good. Don't want you to fall behind on classes so soon." Mr. Winters pulled the door nearly shut but then opened it again. "Didn't you say you were going to the Bronx around 5:30? Do you need a ride?"
"No, I'm fine. It's a 15 minute walk or so."
"Okay. As long as you don't pick any fights or get into any trouble. Warren's going with you, right? He seemed to be a level headed kind of guy."
"Yes, very level headed.." Ceres said. "Can you let me finish my homework now?"
"Sure. I was just going to remind you that it's 5:37, but since you're so insistent.."
"What? Crap!" Ceres jumped up, grabbed his jacket and was putting it on as he rushed past his father.
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Ceres walked down the street, alone and in his normal clothes still. He looks from side to side occasionally, walking at a somewhat brisk pace. After he passes a seemingly empty alleyway, he pauses and looks down it for a moment, his face curious and his expression confused. He turns and continues to walk for a few steps, then suddenly reaches into an inside pocket of his jacket and pulls out a knife, turning backwards with a backward-swipe.
His arm is caught very easily by the woman in the silk suit and purple eyes. She holds his arm in an iron grip and he can't even budge despite struggles.
"Naughty. You should let strangers speak before trying to cut them." She reaches up and plucks the knife from his fingers, then lets him go.
"Who are you?" Ceres demanded, rubbing his arm.
The woman looked hurt. "You don't know? I thought you would.. and in any case, that's not the point."
"What do you want, then? No one creeps up on a stranger to say hello."
"Just to warn you. I've been watching you."
"Obviously, and by the way, creepy."
"You'd be hard pressed to find someone in this place that doesn't have a small measure of creepy in their life." She responded simply. Ceres was left speechless for a moment. "I only want to warn you. Your life is in danger tonight and tomorrow. Several dangerous forces are moving, and-"
"Mystic upheaval and whatnot, right? I heard. No need to reiterate." Ceres interrupted. "Unless you can give me specific aid, I don't think I need cryptic warnings from mysterious women in the night."
"Very brash of you." The woman responded. "To interrupt an elder so. But that just might be what makes you special. As you wish." She held out a small, sharp pointy piece of wood. "You'll need this tonight."
"..what?" Ceres said, taking it anyways. He looked down as he put it in his jacket where the knife used to go, and when he looked up, the woman was gone. He started and looked around for a moment, shocked.
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Ceres walked up the counter in the dance club, looking sideways at two ladies beside him speaking to each other, and looked around the Bronx. After a moment he just turned to the bartender and ordered a cherry coke. Warren made his way over to him, already holding a diet coke. "Hey, Ceres!" Warren said.
"Hey, Warren."
"You're a bit late! I thought we said to meet her at six?"
"Yeah, I got held up by creepsters." Ceres said.
"Oh, ugh. There's so many of those here. You'd think with a name like Sunnydale, there'd be more sunny dispositions."
"Like yours?"
"Exactly, like mi- hey! No fair." Ceres just sort of snickered.
"Speaking of which, who are they?" Ceres jerked his thumb over his shoulder.
"Them? That's Willow, the school's nerdiest nerd, and Buffy in the blonde, new girl. Don't know much about her."
"Really? Wow. Nancy was right."
"Say what?" Warren blanked.
"You have the most boring name here." Ceres grinned as Warren rolled his eyes and made a fist at him. "So, have you seen Nancy?"
"She's here somewhere. Probably dancing."
"Dancing, you say. Sounds like a plan. A dancing.. plan." Ceres looked off in the distance for a moment towards Josh, who was waving from a pool table. "And I think I need to go entertain a jock for a minute. If you see Nan, bring her over."
"Sure thing." Warren said. Ceres walked over to Josh, leaving Warren by himself again. "Right. Nan. I am the predator. She is the prey. I am honing in on my prey. I can smell.. okay, I'm not really sure I want to know what that smell is, but it's probably not Nan."
Nan suddenly poked Warren in the side, causing him to jump and yelp, turning towards her, panting as she giggled. "What are you doing?"
"Looking for you!"
"From the counter, talking to yourself?"
"So my looking skills need work?"
"I'd say! A coke, please?" She gestured to the bartender, who promptly plopped one on the counter as if he had been expecting the request.
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Josh took a shot on the pool table, surrounded by three or four other jacket-wearing boys and looked towards Ceres as he walked over. "Hey, Ceres! Guys, I want you to meet the new kid. Ceres.. Winters, right?"
One of the jocks snickered. "Nice name."
Josh looked at the jock who'd snickered. "Shut up, Dickie." He turned back to Ceres. "Ceres, meet Jack, Bob, Dickie, and Parker." Ceres waved slightly and looked at them all a bit reluctantly, looking clearly out of his element. Josh slapped him on the back and took another shot at the pool table.
"So where you from, Cereal-boy?" Jack questioned.
"Los Angeles." Ceres replied.
"Ah, city of angels!" Bob commented. "Wicked."
"Actually, "Wicked" and "Angels" pretty much sums it up, yeah." Ceres said.
"Well, now you're in Sunnydale." Jack said. "We've got sun, we've got dales, we've got-"
"Actually, I think we're kind of lacking in the dale department, Jack." Josh commented.
"Parker, wasn't your girlfriend named Dale?" Dickie questioned Parker.
"Her, her sister and her cousin. I'm not lacking in the Dales department." Parker grinned.
"Oh, yeah! I remember that weekend.." Bob chuckled.
Ceres' face was twisted in a mixture of morbid amusement and "I don't want to be here"-ness. He paused and jerked his thumbs at the counter. "I'm.. going to go get a drink."
"I'll come with ya." Josh said. "Jack, you play for me." He tossed the stick over to Jack.
"Sure. Just don't too spend too long with Cereal." Jack commented, looking at the table.
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Josh and Ceres made their way over to the counter, where Nan was sitting, drinking her coke. Ceres blinked and motioned at her, then at the empty seat next to her. "Warren? My god, did you eat Warren?"
"Wouldn't put it past her." Josh commented.
"No, sillies." Nan said, and gestured out to the dance floor. "He got asked to dance by that girl. I got asked to dance by this really stupid-looking guy who looked like he got misplaced from the 80's but I said no, and now he's talking to Willow." She shrugged.
"You know Willow?" Ceres questioned.
"Nope!" Nan smirked and drank from her coke as Josh ordered one himself, shaking his head as Ceres made pointless gesturing motions from her to Willow and then just threw his hands in the air.
"Right. Anyways!" Ceres ordered a sprite himself and leaned against the counter. Warren walked up to beside him and Nan and grabbed his abandoned drink, muttering. "What's up? Where's the girl?"
"Left me on the floor. Said I was too skinny and a bad dancer." He muttered. Josh snickered, and Warren shot him a look.
"Oh, right." Ceres intervened. "Warren, Josh. Josh, Warren. Nan,-"
"Know who he is."
"Is there anyone who you -don't- know the name of?" Josh questioned.
"Dead people." She responded.
"I thought you liked history?" Warren asked.
"Yes! It's like a big story. But people die in history all the time. I mean, not even one person from the civil war survived the pages." Nan commented.
"I think that doesn't really deserve comments. All in favor?" Ceres said.
"Aye." Josh and Warren replied.
"Motion passed." Ceres said. Nan pouted.
A woman in a red and yellow shirt suddenly walked up to Ceres. "Ceres Winters?" She asked softly. Ceres looked around for a moment.
"Getting popular, you are." Josh said.
"That would be me." Ceres said.
"Please follow me? I need to talk to you." She extended her hand very demurely. Ceres looked reluctant and somewhat suspicious, but took her hand and let her lead him away through the crowd. As they dissapeared into the crowd, a pretty and loud-talking girl walked by, chatting on her cell phone.
"Like, I know! She just came at me with a piece of wood! What? I know! Her eyes were all bloodshot and she was looking for Willow, of all people. God, what is her childhood trauma?" She walked past the remaining three, who turned and looked at her as she did so, then shared a mutual shrug. After a moment, Warren got up from his counter.
"I wonder what she wanted." He muttered.
"Probably be best not to interfere if he's getting some." Josh commented.
"From a total stranger several years older then him?" Warren countered. Josh shrugged and held up his hands.
"Not my business what the freaks in this town do, and I wash my hands of it. Go stalk him if you want." He commented. Warren paused a moment, and then left after Ceres.
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The vampire Jack dusted another vampire easily in an alley, not even in his game face. He kicked another vampire across the alley and walked over to it, dragging it up and shoving it against a brickwall. He placed his stake against the vampire's chest and pushed it in slowly. "WHERE is she!" He demanded.
The vampire sputtered and began to shriek. "The Bronx! She's watching some kid! I swear!" Jack released the vampire, pulled the stake out and straightened the vampire's clothing up for him.
"There, there. Was that so hard?" The vampire stood up slowly, panting. Jack turned around and began to walk off. As the vampire slowly turned and began to ran away, Jack turned and flung the stake. It soared across the alley into the back of the running vampire, dusting him.
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ACT IV
The very old vampire with black sunglasses was sitting in the underground passage still. After a moment a ringing sound came from his side. He reached down and pulled out a cell phone, flipping it open and placing it to his ear. "Yeah?" He turned his head to the side for a moment. "Oh really? She's at the Bronx? He must be in there, then. Can't kill them all. Just monitor her for now." He clicked the cell phone closed and returned to his meditation.
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Aura was dancing with Josh and Nan was sitting by the bar alone again, watching everyone.
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Jill led Ceres to an alleyway outside the Bronx by the hand, then smiled at him and left him there, taking a few steps back into the shadows, her face covered by darkness. Ceres paused for a moment and looked at her curiously. "What..?"
"What is your name?" She asked softly.
"Ceres Winters." He stated simply, his expression one of wariness.
"I'm Jill."
"Do you have a last name, Jill?"
"I used to. Then I decided I didn't need one." She walked forward, her game face on.
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Warren jerked back as he saw her face from his position hiding behind a few boxes and stumbled backwards, running away, down the alley, around a corner, down the block and back into the Bronx. He panted and looked for Nan, and ran up to her, trying to catch his breath. "Ceres.. attacked.. girl.. brow.. sharp teeth.. thing!" He finished, heaving.
"Ceres was attacked?" Nan stated sharply. "Where?"
Warren was too out of breath to say despite trying to several times in increasingly failed succession, so he just gestured with his hands.
"That's the back alley way. Let's cut out the back. It's shorter. Easier on your pathetically out of shape self." Warren panted and exhaled, then nodded and quickly lead the way, cutting straight across the dance floor. They passed Josh; Warren ignored him, but as Nan passed she cheerfully told him "Vampires!"
Josh paused as Aura stumbled from his pause and looked at him in exasperation as he gazed after Warren and Nan. After a moment he left her and ran after them.
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"What's wrong with your face?" Ceres questioned. "You went from pretty to ugly in a matter of seconds."
"You've got nerve." Jill said softly. She suddenly leapt forward and thrust one long-sleeved covered arm out, hitting him straight in his chest and sending him flying backwards into the alley wall, hitting it with a thud. He collapsed to the ground, gasping. "A little too much, I think."
Two vampires jumped down from above them, growling softly. Jill waved her arm at them. "Pick him up." They did so, holding him upright as he regained his senses and started to struggle. "So very sorry for all this trouble, Ceres."
"What do you want?" Ceres said through half-gritted teeth.
"Just confirmation of facts. Don't worry, I'm not going to kill you."
"The freaky faced duo doesn't really help that statement." He responded, struggling with his arms.
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From behind a set of crates, Nan and Warren conversed, the scene with Ceres in the background.
"What do we do?" Warren whispered.
"I don't know." Nan responded simply.
"We need a distraction!"
"Like what?" Nan questioned, her voice full of worry.
"Like, uh..." Warren jumped out from behind the crates. "HEY! GET OFF HIM!" Ceres and his two guards snapped their heads towards him in suprise and stared. "Oh, great plan." He muttered to himself. Jill didn't even look, only kept her gaze on Ceres, walking closer to him.
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Ceres raised his foot and stomped on one of the guard's legs, causing him to let go and yelp. Quickly reaching into his jacket he pulled out the stake and stabbed the guy holding him with it. Rather then turn to dust, the guard yelled in pain. "ARGH! My lung!" and twisted Ceres' arm he had. Ceres winced and stabbed again.
"OW! That's my other lung! OW! That's my kidney! OW! Liver! You're really bad at this! OW! Heart! Oh, wait.. sh-" He turned to dust and faded away.
"YES! Got one!" Ceres turned and was promptly clocked by the other vampire who's foot he'd stomped, spinning about and falling to a knee.
Jill laughed in pure amusement, suddenly jumping up into the air out of sight. Two more vampires suddenly dropped down from above, and three dropped down around Warren and Nan, trapping them.
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"What the hell? It's raining men!" Warren exclaimed.
"You die for that pun later." Nan stated.
"I think I might die -now.-" He whimpered slightly.
Suddenly Josh plowed into one of the vampires from behind, a -WHAM- sound heard as he crushed it into the pavement. The other two vampires backed up slightly for a moment as the jock got up. "Football! Good for knocking down!"
"What the hell?" Warren inquired.
"Less questions, more saving!" Josh replied, turning around and running off the way he came, Warren and Nan right behind him, and the two vampires in hot pursuit.
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"Comedy isn't going to help you with ME, little boy." The vampire muttered, reaching down to grab Ceres. Ceres suddenly jabbed his stake into the vampire's foot, still kneeling, causing the vampire to yowl in pain. Ceres punched the vampire across the face as hard as he could- enough to cause the vampire to jerk back a little bit- and then pushed him with all his strength. In conjunction with the punch's off-balancing and the stake in his foot, the vampire fell onto his back, landing hard.
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Josh, Warren and Nan turned onto an alleyway leading back out to the street and ran down it when their pursuers suddenly dropped in front of them. They came to a halt and looked behind themselves, where the tackled Vampire was walking up to them, rubbing his neck.
"Oh.. this isn't good." Warren said. The vampires started to move in.
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Ceres leaned down and grabbed hold of the stake, but as he did so, he was grabbed from behind by something bigger and stronger then him with the name of Jack, and tossed backwards across the alleyway, hitting the ground with a roll that left him on his back. Jack snarled softly.
"Causing trouble already? When will you sheep learn to just accept death as it comes?" Jack growled. Jill dropped down beside him.
"I think he's the one, Jack." She said softly.
"Good! We'll kill him, then. We'd kill him anyways, come to think of it." He leaned down and grabbed the stake in the vampire's foot, pulling it out. The vampire yelped. "You know, Winters, I really don't like it when my food gets uppity. It's a pain in the butt, you know? Yelling, screaming. Food should go down warn and quietly and make no mess." The vampire foot-stabbed got up behind Jack slowly, brushing himself off. "And incompetent hunters?" He jerked backwards, stabbing the vampire in the heart with the stake. The vampire looked at Jack in total suprise as he dusted, looking betrayed. "Don't deserve to live."
"He won't like you killing our own men, Jack."
"He'd have killed them anyways." Jack muttered. He walked over to Ceres and picked him up, pressing him against a wall. "You know what's it like to have a sharp piece of wood jabbed in your heart? Kind of stings, you know. Sharp feeling, then dissolving. So painful. Guess what? I think you should know how it feels. Cheerie bye!" He rose the stake in the air, snarling.