Jack rose the stake in the air, snarling viciously, about to bring it down upon Ceres' chest. As he did so, however, Ceres kicked as hard as he could in the direction of Jack's crotch and delivered a solid thump in the fork of the legs. Jack immediately dropped out of game face, dropped the stake, dropped Ceres, and grasped his crotch, doubling over. Ceres immediately bolted down the alleyway.
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Warren, Josh and Nan backed into each other, looking at the vampires as they closed in. Warren's face was the expression of fear, while Josh and Nan had more hardened looks.
"Looks like this is it.." Warren muttered. The other two remained silent as the vampire Josh had tackled moved in, grabbing Josh and tossing him backwards. Warren and Nan tried to grab his arms and push him away, but he shrugged them off onto the alley floor. He stood over them, snarling.
"Who to eat first? I think I could use a snack.." He reached for Nan. Before he could get her, however, Ceres plowed into him from the side and knocked him down and into a dumpster headfirst. He got up as fast as he could and looked at the vampires still blocking them.
"Nice save, except there's three more goalies between us balls and the net of freedom." Warren said.
The vampires smirked at each other and began to walk towards them when Josh tackled the rightmost one, knocking him to the ground and pinning him down. The other two turned and growled, grabbing him and pulling him off their friend. "GO!" Josh screamed. "Get out of here!" as the vampires slammed him up against the wall.
Warren dashed out through the opening. Nan hesitated for a moment and looked at Ceres, who gritted his teeth looking at Josh. "There's nothing we can do!" She grabbed Ceres hand and ran off, pulling him with her.
Josh screamed.
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ACT I
Jack got up slowly, exhaling with the pain of one who was just kicked in the crotch. "They got away. Why didn't you stop them?"
His vampire sister shrugged and watched him. "Wasn't my orders.. I just had to find him, put a little fear of godless things like us into him."
"So you let him get away. He killed one of our number. Sheep shouldn't rebel against their masters. I'll find him.. and make him pay." He walked off with a slight limp. Behind him, Jill only smirked in amusement at her brother's pain.
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"So, Ceres, you want to explain exactly what just happened out there?" Warren asked, sitting down. The three were inside Ceres' room, with Nan on the bed, Warren on a desk chair and Ceres looking out the window nervously. It was still darkness.
"Vampires. Lots of em." Ceres responded, still looking out the window.
"No, really? What was your first clue, the fangs? The way they wanted to suck our blood? Their stale breath?" Warren muttered, shuddering.
"How, though?" Nan questioned calmly. "You had the book on Vampires. What do you know?"
Ceres paused and looked back at Nan. "Well, er.. Basically the world used to belong to demons, and one of them bit a human on their way out. That human became a vampire, and started making other vampires, and now there's a whole subculture of them feeding and waiting for the old gods to return."
"Old gods?" Warren questioned. "There's a breed of new gods?"
"No, it just refers to demons, I guess." Ceres replied.
"My book mentioned that, too.." Nan said quietly.
"Mine sure didn't!" Warren complained. "Just all about hair and moons and fur and saliva. Ick." He made a face. "I thought it'd involve more about-"
"Ceres, how do you kill a vampire?" Nan asked suddenly.
"What?" Ceres turned from the window, shaking his head, looking a bit confused.
"Vampire, killing? How do you kill one?"
"Oh, er.." Ceres paused for a moment. "You can put a piece of wood through their heart, chop off their head, or push them into the sunlight. They don't like holy water or crosses, either, but that won't kill them per say.. Unless you stuffed it into them somehow."
"That doesn't sound so hard." Warren commented dryly.
"What are you talking about?" Ceres snapped. "Did you not SEE them? They're several magnitudes stronger then we are, faster, and they can jump like they're on hyperactive.. Pogo sticks!"
"And we got away from them, didn't we?" Nan responded. Ceres had no response and just turned to the window.
"This is not happening." He muttered to himself.
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"What happened, again?" The dark-glassed vampire master asked in quiet bemusement.
"He.. Kicked me in the crotch. He got away." Jack muttered.
"No, before that, amusing as it is. You abandoned your post to go prey on him?"
"We had him cornered, master! He was but a boy!" Jack suddenly found himself pressed against the wall, the dark-glassed vampire holding him so tightly across the throat that he could not speak.
"I wanted you watching Belinda, not him. Jill was to watch him. Do you know why I had Jill watching him? Because she knows how to scare people, make them never come near our world again. You merely muck things up. You are good for killing, and that is why I keep you and your disastrous ignorance around." He dropped Jack on the ground. "He knows, now. He'll be forewarned. Things have changed." He looked backwards at Jack. "You're quite lucky, you know. Any other master would kill you on the spot for your failure. In fact, why shouldn't I?"
"Because.. We brought you a meal?" Jack gestured to the shadows fearfully, where Jill walked out with a young girl. The vampire master's face changed as Jill pushed the girl towards him, looking at Jack.
"Oh, you didn't. For me?" He reached out and grasped the girl's chin, stroking it playfully. The girl whimpered in terror. "A very nice catch to play with… very well. Get out of my sight."
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Warren sat at his desk in class, very bored with the algebraic lesson being taught. He took a small yawn as he looked out the window every so often. The bell rang abruptly to signify the end of class, and he got up, looking over at Nan, who was putting her books away quietly. The class filed out slowly.
"Where's Ceres?" He asked, shifting his backpack onto his back.
"I don't know.. He's not in school today."
"That's trouble."
"I don't think he's handling this vampire thing very well. He's afraid of something." She said softly, looking out the window almost into space.
"Vampires? So am I! But it makes sense to me, at least. Sunnydale's always been a weird place, it makes sense vampires would end up being real after all."
"He's probably going to show up at some point.. Or get himself killed. Want to come over my house for a study session after school?"
Warren blinked. "Erm, sure. Aren't you worried about Ceres?"
Nan merely smiled.
Warren shrugged as they walked out into the hall, looking around. "I haven't seen Josh around either. Do you think he got away..?"
"No." Nan replied. Warren stopped in place and looked at her with an expression of mute horror as she walked down the hall.
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ACT II
Ceres walked along the streets, passing people and buildings, shaking his head and muttering to himself. He bumped into a few people without apologizing, until he bumped into someone who grasped his arm and stopped him. It was the woman from last night, dressed exactly the same.
"What are you doing out of school?" She questioned. Ceres looked up at her and jerked away when he recognized her.
"None of your business! Who are you, anyways? And what do you have to do with vampires?" Ceres demanded.
"Quiet!" She immediately snapped, looking around her for a minute. But no one had noticed Ceres use of words. "I'm called Belinda. You can call me Bell if you want. Let's not talk out here in the daylight- follow me." With that, she turned around and walked down an alleyway, leaving Ceres to stand alone by himself for a moment. After grunting dissatisfied to himself, he followed after her. She opened a door down the end of the alleyway and walked down some stairs to a small apartment. It was nicely furnished, had a big-screen TV and a couch, a kitchen in the corner with a counter and stools and a wall full of books.
"Nice place." Ceres muttered.
"Thanks. I'm just renting it out, though."
"Just here on business?" Ceres snapped. "Like mine, for example?"
"What you do is entirely my business, Ceres. For starters, you're out in the streets going crazy when you should be in school, learning."
"I'm sorry, vampires exist! Obviously I should be cool as a cucumber about this. Dead things want me dead. Yes, let's study history!"
Bell smacked Ceres across the face. He stood there for a moment, breathing. "Get a hold of yourself. This is no way for a prophesied one to behave." Ceres looked about ready to raise his voice again, but a -very- stern look from Bell stopped him in his tracks. "Can I get you something to drink? Orange juice, tea, soda?"
"I'll have some orange juice." Ceres responded slowly. He sat down on one of the stools, looking at Bell.
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"Master, she's made contact with him. It's daylight, and she's gone into her apartment. There's nothing I could do." Jill spoke into her cell phone from a café across the street, well in the shadows.
"This is bad." The master murmured, holding the cell phone up to his ears. "Terrible reception. What did you say, Jill?"
"I said she's made contact with him."
"She's cracking Jim? Poor Jim! I knew him well… well, not really."
Jill turned the cell phone off and pursed her lips, disappearing through an exit way. The master looked at the cell phone curiously. "Must have lost the connection. Ah, well. Where were we.." He turned back to the girl brought to him the night before, who was now strung up upon the wall, bloody and beaten, and turned the cell phone off.
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"I thought we were going to study Math, Nan!" Warren complained, looking over several old books on the floor of Nan's room as he sat at her computer, doing something.
"I said study session. I made no promises or specifics." Nan replied from the floor. "Now quiet, I think I have something. There's this stuff about a slayer.. Who is a female, and obviously not Ceres. But there's a prophecy unrelated to her about a boy."
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"So.. What's this about a prophecy?" Ceres questioned, drinking his orange juice.
"Well, it's quite simple, really. You're destined to kill a powerful vampire master known only as The Third."
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"The Third? What kind of name for a vampire is that?" Warren sniggered.
"He's the Third Vampire ever made. The first two are long since dead and gone, but he survived." Nan replied from the books. "According to this prophecy, 'a boy will come forth from the angels and take the demons. ' After that somewhere, he kills the Third."
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"And I'm expected to do this how?" Ceres questions. Bell shrugged.
"Prophecies work in strange ways, but it's going to come to pass, regardless of how hard you fight against it. What matters is if you decided to fight -with- it. The harder you fight against it, the more of your friends will die before it comes to pass."
Ceres paled for a moment and became quiet, looking at his drink of orange juice before responding. "Why isn't there anyone.. You know, official helping me, if there's a prophecy on it and everything?"
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"I'm in!" Warren said. "What did you want from this.. Council of Watchers, anyways? They had some pretty good hacking defenses."
"Search for anything on the prophecy." Nan said. Warren did so, and after a moment he got a link that brought up a text. Reading it, he frowned.
"This can't be right. According to this, the prophecy already occurred.. 800 years ago."
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"They were tricked. They thought the prophecy fulfilled, and the Third dead. In reality he simply disappeared again. He is aware of the prophecy and intends to thwart it. You see, prophecies are mutable.. They tend to bend in unexpected ways without straying from the truth."
"I thought it says I kill him?"
"You turn him to dust, it says."
"And that would be bendable.. How?"
Bell shrugged and took Ceres' empty glass. "I don't know. Apparently he does. He's not going to be an easy fight. He is to a vampire what a vampire is to you. His age affords him incredible power. His cowardice ensures he never confronts a foe head-on."
"Is that cowardice? I mean, maybe it's just, you know.. Being smart." Ceres responded, almost hesitantly.
Bell looked at him quizzically.
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"So no official help on this one. How did you know about this site, anyways?"
Nan shrugged. "Grandpa was one of them. Used to have a password to get in, but they've removed my access abilities." She flipped through the books as Warren stared at the computer.
"Huh. I wonder if they know you can hack them." He muttered.
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"So what's your role in this?" Ceres questioned.
"I want you to kill him. You could call me your guardian angel, of sorts." She smiled at him.
"Yes, but why?"
"I used to be quite proficient at killing vampires, myself. But things.. Changed. Now I just make sure the vampire population is kept trimmed to a nice level. I don't want them wiped out.. Nor do I want them in power. Plus there's the whole moral deal."
"So you're a volunteer worker."
"Could say that. I took upon this mantle myself, after having quite a few forced on me. But enough of me." She left the kitchen and opened a door to a basement of sorts, walking down it. "Come along!" Ceres paused for a moment, and then followed reluctantly. She took him into what looked to be an extensive training area, with punching bag, an array of weapons on the wall and a small ring.
"Wow. How did you get this apartment, again?"
"Pulled a few strings." She walked over to the wall and picked up a sword, tossing it over to Ceres, who caught it in midair. "You're proficient with the sword, yes?"
"How did you know?"
"I have a file on you."
"Little creepy, that."
"Creepy in a good way, I hope."
"Luckily for you."
Bell just smiled and took another sword off the rack for her own, and removed her business suit, leaving her in a blouse and slacks. "Come at me."
"What?" Ceres balked.
"Come at me. I'm going to give you a few pointers. You're going to need them."
"Why?"
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"Hold the phone." Warren muttered, reading the screen. "According to this, before he fights the Third, he fights a guardian of the Third on the night of the Harvest. It's how they picked out the prophecy boy before, 800 years ago. "
"Hey, I just passed something like that.." Nan flipped a few pages back in her books. "The Harvest..? That's tonight!"
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ACT III
"Jack?" The Third asked, shaking his cell phone. He pressed a few numbers on it and sighed as it gave him a "No signal."
"Yes, Master?"
"Would you be a dear and find someone to act as sire for this one?" He gestured at the newly vampirized girl on the wall, who was hissing softly. Jack walked over to her and unshackled her slowly. She cringed in fear from the Third and Jack took her away.
"Oh, and Jack?" The Master called out. "You have free rein to go after that boy tonight if you want. Just so you know."
Jack's eyes lit up and he grinned a vicious grin. "Thank you, Master!" With much more enthusiasm he led the girl away.
The Third looked into a blank mirror, stroking his chin. After a moment he grinned, revealing all of his teeth to be pointed and sharp, sickly and devilish.
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Ceres was knocked backwards onto his rear again, grunting. Bell removed her foot from the air and swung the sword to the ground. "You keep forgetting I have other limbs, Ceres. Remember, the sword isn't just a weapon. It's a part of you while you're using it. It IS a limb. You should not treat it like an object, or else it can be removed like one. Neither should you forget you have other limbs." She smirked.
"Right.." Ceres got up slowly, rubbing his stomach where he was kicked. "How exactly is this going to help me with fighting some vampire tonight? They're still stronger, faster."
"You're right. But you have something they don't have."
"What is that?"
"Fate. You're going to win, no matter how hard they fight, or how much better they are. Trust in that.. And you'll win."
"Great! Trust in the words of a person I only just met today that I can kill some unnatural demons I only realized -did- exist last night. I might be hallucinating or dreaming."
"Maybe, but you know what the difference between life and dreaming is?" Bell said.
"What?"
"Why would you be dreaming about insane things like this?"
Ceres had no answer, and just raised his sword again, shaking his head.
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"So what are we doing here again?" Warren muttered as he looked around the decrepit shop. It was stocked full of costumes, old weaponry, and apparently 'mystical' items. Nan took the bag off the counter and took her change from the clerk, an old, British-looking man by the name of Rayne. She thanked him and walked out, and Warren followed her as she put the money back into a pocket.
"Getting weapons, of course." Nan responded, looking through the bag. "We've got crosses, a crossbow, some holy water and I bought some silver just incase."
"Silver?" Warren questioned, looking at the bag and looking around him rather inconspicuously. The sun was starting to set, and he looked more then a little fidgety, moving his backpack around on his back as if it bothered him.
"Just in case."
"How did you know to come here?" Warren looked at Nan as Nan got on top of her bicycle, slinging the bag onto her back. She looked incredibly odd, yet did not seem to notice or care. Warren paused for a moment and just looked at her as she looked back at him.
"Just did." Nan paused for a moment. "Are you going to get on your bike and stop questioning me or am I going to have to look for Ceres on my own?"
"Fine, fine." Warren got on top of his bike, looking around. They began to bicycle down the pavement. Warren made a face. "So what exactly do you plan to do? Mind including me in on this little whole fighting vampires again plan, since we did so wonderfully last time? I still have the bruises."
"We're not going to fight one, Ceres is."
"Why can't we call the police?"
Nan slowed down for a moment and biked with one hand, pretending to be on the phone with the other. "Excuse me, officer? I have to go kill this undead monster of the night tonight and I wanted to let you know I might be in danger. Actually, for that matter there's lots of them! You should totally start a vampire hunting team and call it the Dangerous Undead Slaying Team! D.U.S.T. for short. Thank you, come again." She put her hand on the handlebar again.
"I can't really move away from you because then I'd be in the street and playing Dodge-a-Car-mageddon, but if I could, I would be moving away from you. Just thought you should know."
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Bell poured herself a cup of tea and sat on a stool behind the counter in the kitchen, a towel draped over her shoulders. Ceres sat across from her, breathing slowly with the slow effort of someone still tired but recovering. "Probably shouldn't have pushed you so hard." Bell commented. "Now you'll be a little tired tonight."
Ceres drank from his cup of orange juice. "You know, I have so many questions about everything it's not funny. Well, actually, it might be, it just isn't to me."
"They'll be answered in time. This is just the beginning, you realize. You can't find everything out on the first page of a novel."
Ceres paused and frowned. "I kind of wish you could. You know, just so I could figure out what to do. I mean, I can barely handle the fact there ARE vampires out there and they happen to want me dead. Now there's this whole prophecy thing, you're telling me I'm a chosen one and I'm going to kill a vampire master. I should have been in school today and I spent all day training with you instead. My dad doesn't know. Should I tell my dad?"
"It wouldn't be wise. Those who don't know usually have to find out by first hand. Otherwise those who don't know tend to think of us who do know as .. Well, insane."
"I figured."
"You think you're ready to fight a vampire tonight?"
"Readier then last night, at least."
"Good. Now get out of here. It's going to be dark soon." Ceres nodded, and got off the chair, picking up the sword that had been laying beside it and headed out the door. Bell watched him for a moment. "You know, he's a lot easier to convince then I was.. Must be the testosterone." She murmured, pulling the amulet she wore out of her blouse and looking at it.
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Ceres walked out into the streets. The sun had set, and the streetlights were starting to come on. The streets themselves were vacant and empty. He began to walk down the street, holding the sword upright in his hand.
Warren and Nan stopped besides a street corner, Ceres nowhere in sight. Warren looked around hesitantly and almost fearfully, and looked at Nan. Nan looked down a street, then back at Warren, and shrugged. She resumed biking.
Jill watched Ceres from a rooftop, crouched and crawling slowly along the length of it as she did. "Closing time.." She said quietly.
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ACT IV
Ceres stood in the middle of the street, looking around. He gripped his sword nervously and puffed up his chest, looking down the street. "HEY! VAMPIRES! COME ON!" He yelled out loudly, raising his arms and shaking them. When there was no response, he lowered them and looked to the side.
"What the heck am I doing? I'm not a power ranger." He muttered, looking at the sword. "This is insane. I'm going to die. COME ON, VAMPS! FREE FOOD SITTIN OUT HERE!" He yelled again, his face stricken desperate with emotion. Again he was received with silence. After a moment he winced and ran from the street, throwing his sword aside.
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Nan and Warren biked onto the street where Ceres had been. They stopped. Warren spoke, "I could have sworn I heard Ceres yelling from over here. You heard him too, right, Nan?"
"Yeah.. What's that?" She pointed at the sidewalk, near the gutter.
Warren got off his bike and picked up a sword, looking at, then at Nan. It was the same sword Ceres had thrown away. The two looked at the sword again for a minute. "I don't suppose a couple of knights just happened to be riding by and dropped their sword." Warren commented.
"Take it. Come on." Nan began biking again, and Warren had to hurry to get back on his bike and catch up, putting the sword in his backpack.
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Ceres ran through an alleyway, panting and out of breath, stopping and leaning against a brick wall. He wiped his forehead, looking at the ground. A light is shining on his face, and he raises his hand to look up in the air at a sign that says clearly, "Bronze." He was back where he had been last night. He sniffed the air, and recoiled. Something smelled terrible, and he covered his nose as he walked towards the source around a corner. It led him to a dumpster, and after a moment of hesitation he pushed the top open.
Josh's body. Quite drained of blood.
He dropped the top and stumbled backwards for a moment, staring at the dumpster. The shock of last night's events had never quite been done with, but with the confirmation of Josh's death, his body laying in a dumpster not far from where Ceres had nearly been killed, brought it home to Ceres. Josh had died so they could live, and here Ceres was, running like a coward instead of facing his fate.
Ceres stood up again and looked at the body for a moment more. He turned and walked down the alleyway back away from the Bronze.
Jack sniffed the air and walked along the alleyways. "He's close. I can smell it." He grinned, looking over his shoulder at the corner of an alleyway, then turned round it, putting himself in front of a walking Ceres. The two promptly bumped into each other and stumbled backwards, jerking with surprise and holding up their hands to apologize before realizing who they had bumped into.
"Well, well, well." Jack said, straightening his jacket. "Look what it is! A sheep, lost." He advanced towards Ceres, who backed up a few steps, and then swung, slugging Jack across the face, forcing Jack to twist to the side.. Jack held his cheek that had been hit with a hand, hiding his face. When he straightened up, his game face was on. "Come on, black sheep. Is that all you've got?" He laughed, then extended his arm and grabbed Ceres by the shirt, hurling him across the alleyway.
Ceres went tumbling across the cement, laying on his back.
Jack began to walk over to Ceres, talking as he did so. "You know, you ought to have shown more respect for your master, little animal. You've been chosen as one that will feed your masters. You're special! And isn't that what everyone wants you to know? You're special?" He chuckled. "Parents, teachers, those little programs on TV. I always liked watching those. Well, looks like they were right." He stopped over Ceres and reached down, pulling him up to his feet. "Food does not hit the people eating it, you know." He raised a hand and punched Ceres in the face, still holding him up. "Oh, and by the way, this one's for the cheap shot last night."
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Nan and Warren stopped biking for a moment. "Nan.." Warren started. "I really don't think we're going to find Ceres."
Ceres flew out from a nearby alleyway, hitting a car and falling to the ground on his knees and feet.
"At least not unless you make a comment that allows for finding him to be ironic." Nan said dryly, getting off her bike as Warren stared in shock, looking at the alleyway and then Ceres. He got off his bike and pulled his backpack off, dropping it to the ground as he moved to Ceres.
Jack walked out of the alleyway, stopping when he saw the other two. "Oh, friends! Goody for me. I get a feast tonight."
"Yeah, I've got friends." Ceres muttered, standing up with Nan's help. "Where are yours?"
Jack sneered in anger and went to make a move, causing Warren to back up in fear, but Nan held up a cross and Jack hissed, backing away. Warren pulled the sword out of the backpack and held it up. "Hah! Now come and get some!" He said.
"Warren, the sword?" Ceres asked, holding his hand open.
"Hey, what? I found it!"
"It's mine."
"But-!"
"Hey, who's the prophesied one here, thank you very much?" Ceres said.
"Oh, fine." Warren handed over the sword and then stayed close to Nan, who kept the cross up without fear on her face.
Ceres held the sword up and looked at Jack, who was recovering from the recoil of the cross. "So the sheep has weapons now. No difference. Even a rat can still bite. Doesn't mean it can kill."
"We'll see about that." Ceres stepped forward, swinging with two hands. The vampire moved out of the way and backhanded Ceres, sending Ceres to the side and into an alleyway wall. As Jack grabbed him by the shoulders, he plunged the sword backwards into Jack's chest, forcing Jack off of him. Jack looked down at the sword plunged neatly through his chest for a moment as Ceres turned around.
"Nice bite." He commented. "Not going to stop me, through." He kicked Ceres back into the wall and pulled the sword out, holding it up with Ceres' hand still holding onto it. "Very sharp. Let's see how it looks-" Ceres punched him in the face.
"I have other limbs, you know." Ceres commented. With that, he pushed Jack backwards and kneed him as hard as he could in the gut. Jack doubled over, groaning.
"Ceres!" Nan snapped. She tossed him a stake. Ceres grabbed it and as Jack stood up again, imbedded it in his chest. Jack looked down at the stake, neatly in his right breast, as Ceres stood back.
"Heart's on the other side. Sorry." He grinned and pulled the weapons out of him, tossing either weapon aside and reached forward, grabbing Ceres by the throat again, holding him up against the wall. Nan ran up and tried to hit him in the back with a stake but he knocked her away before she even got close. Warren ran at him and hit him in the back with his backpack. This caused Jack to grunt and drop Ceres, turning to look at Warren angrily. "What is it WITH you sheep? Can't you leave a master to have his meal in peace!"
A stake point suddenly pushed out of his chest, on the left side this time. He looked down at the stake and groaned, shaking his head in disappointment as his form turned to dust, leaving Ceres staring at Warren, panting slowly as Nan got up at the side, holding her head.
"So.." Ceres began. "Who wants pizza?"
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"So, didja get grounded?" Warren questioned Ceres. It was the next day, in school. The two of them were eating lunch as Nan joined them.
"Nah. Just told him I had hung out at a new friend's house after school and that I had forgotten to call on account of having so much fun. He was happy enough I was making new friends he lessened it to a week of taking out the garbage."
"That's cool. Did you hear about the gang fight yesterday? Apparently two gangs got it on in the Bronze."
"Vampires." Nan said, eating her meal. The two looked at her for a moment, then shrugged in unison.
"Glass ain't too empty after all." Ceres commented. "At least I might pass 10th grade."
"Yeah, if you're not prophesied to fail it or anything." Ceres punched him in the shoulder playfully.
"Maybe we could study Math tonight?" Nan suggested. "My house. Mum's making chocolate milk."
"Ooh, chocolate milk. " Ceres said.