A Slayer In London
Once outside the Leaky Cauldron, Buffy set off down the street in the direction the vampires had taken. At the first crossroads she stopped, breathing in the cool night air and debating which turning to take. A woman laughed to her left, raucous with a distinct cackle to it. Buffy set off in that direction, following the sound of laughter and jeering calls as the vampires crossed through the London streets.
They were making too much noise to be hunting. Had they fed earlier? Was there a victim lying dead somewhere? Someone who could have been saved if she'd set out earlier? The thought made her uncomfortable, another death on her conscience. She'd memories of patrolling Sunnydale graveyards, picking up emerging vampires before they'd had time to feed. Here, she'd lain in bed getting annoyed about the drunks in the pub below her. Buffy sighed, not happy but knowing it was futile dwelling on what she couldn't undo. Instead, she had to concentrate on what was happening now.
The vampires took a right at a bombed-out building and as she hurried towards it, a thought occurred to her than almost stopped her in her tracks. What if they were vampire wizards? The first vampire she'd come across had been a wizard, she'd used his wand to stake him not realising what it was. He could have used magic against her. Buffy realised how lucky she'd been that night. She needed to be more careful in future.
They entered a section of London with wider and busier roads. Each vehicle that passed her had its headlights covered, shrouded, and slit so that enemy planes wouldn't pinpoint major roads from their lights. The vampires ran across the road. Buffy was forced to wait as a convoy of tarpaulin-covered army trucks rumbled towards her. The tarpaulin fluttered open on the back of the first one that passed, revealing a group of tense-faced men inside. Were they being transported to a camp outside the city or being deployed overseas? Buffy wondered if they were thinking of loved ones or of all the futures battles they'd have to fight. The wizards were also in the middle of a war. Grindelwald was stirring up trouble in Europe and America with his promise of uniting the Wizarding and Muggle worlds – one way or another.
The last truck rolled by and she gave herself a little mental shake. She was supposed to be following vampires, not thinking of the mysterious Grindelwald and the wars that she knew next to nothing about.
On the opposite side of the road, she cut down the short side street the vampires had entered. They'd long gone. As she hurried past a row of shuttered shops, Buffy heard what sounded like the scraping of a shoe on the cobbles behind her. Darting into the next doorway, she waited, listening and watching to see if she was being followed. She heard the creaking of a shop sign and the sounds of traffic, but no footsteps or anything else to signify she was being stalked. Buffy left the doorway and continued onwards.
At the end of the side street she took a right, walked a few blocks, then stopped, turning around to retrace her steps. She paused at the entrance to the street she'd come from. One of the shadows moved, then stilled. Was someone watching her from down there or had shadow's movement been caused by a cloud crossing the moon? Should she investigate? The cackle of laugh came from up ahead and she hurried on, determined not to lose them.
Eventually, she came to a brick wall topped with ornate iron railings and a sign for Hallgate Cemetery set into the heavy gates. Wrapping her hands around the metal bars, Buffy stared at the tree-lined driveway beyond. Large monumental gravestones stood on either side of the gravel drive and, from the overgrown state they were in, the place looked abandoned. Buffy gave the padlocked gate an experimental push. Despite the rust, the lock held firm. She let out a puff of frustration, missing Tom and his super cool lock-picking skills.
She had to get in. How? If she broke the padlock a passing policeman might spot it and come inside to investigate. Climbing over the gates wasn't a problem to her, being spotted while dangling from the top was. She had to find an alternate entrance. If the vampires had done it, so could she.
Moving away from the gates, Buffy continued until she came to an entrance to a path that ran parallel to the side of the cemetery. It was narrow, heavily shadowed by the six-foot high walls on either side and gave out a menacing vibe. It was the sort of place murderers and rapists hung out, waiting for their next victim. Buffy shivered. Martha had told her the police had caught and hung a man for killing and brutally mutilating women in London, the papers had nick-named him the Blackout Ripper. Even though he was dead and Buffy was a Slayer, some of Martha's fear had transferred to her. For the first time that night, her Slaydar was quiet and she had the sudden urge to turn around, forget all about being a Slayer and head back to her warm bed.
But she hadn't followed the vampires all this way for nothing. A serial killer should be afraid of her and not the other way around. Buffy took a deep breath, put her reservations to one side, and turned onto the dark pathway. She'd hardly gone more than ten paces when the atmosphere changed. It felt as if she'd stepped into a freezer. Her breath fogged, and the feeling of dread became stronger. To her left, a grey shape emerged from the cemetery wall and floated towards her, its blurry shape steadily becoming more distinct and recognisable the closer it got to her.
A ghost! Buffy's hand reached around her back and tugged out her stake. It wouldn't kill a ghost, but it made her feel a whole lot better having a weapon in her hand.
The ghost of a cavalier halted only a few yards in front of her. He wore the clothes of his era, a long frock coat, bucket boots, and a large hat with a drooping feather set into the hatband. He waved a fine lawn handkerchief in greeting and smiled pleasantly, as if he didn't have an enormous bloody hole in his chest.
"Good evening, fair lady. Hath your swain deserted you? Care for some company on this night?"
Buffy's heart pounded. She swallowed, opened her mouth to reply but found she was unable to speak, her throat constricted.
Her mind drifted... remembering another ghostly encounter from her past.
"... I don't know if it's cloudy or bright
I only have eyes for you, dear
The moon may be high
But I can't see a thing in the sky
I only have eyes for you."
She remembered dancing to that song and then she'd shot her lover...
The vision faded. Buffy shuddered and took a step back in trepidation. Back in Sunnydale, the ghost of a male student had possessed her. It hadn't been a nice experience.
"Uh-no!" She shook her head, still feeling the horror of it. "No way am I letting you do the body possessing thing!"
The ghost's polite smiled dropped, to be replaced by a haughty expression. "Forsooth, Madam, what would I want with your body when I have my own?" He gave an offended sniff. "I shall bid you farewell, for I have manners, even though you do not." Sticking his nose in the air, he strode through the wall and vanished.
Buffy let out a long breath, no wonder the pathway had given her the wiggins, it was haunted. She crept forward, warily skirting the section of wall the ghost had disappeared through and hurried over to an opening in the wall. The gate that had once stood there having long since rusted away, Buffy pushed the overhanging foliage to one side and entered the graveyard.
A pathway wound its way through the graves and she followed it. Buffy's night vision enabling her to see the details on the elaborate Victorian graves bordering the path. There were angels, some weeping and others beseeching heaven, Egyptian obelisks rose into the night sky like sharp jagged teeth, carved faces stared from stone slabs, and a miniature Greek Temple stood beneath the trees.
The path ended at the central driveway, the main gates where Buffy had stood to her left. To her right, the drive continued in an uphill sweep and disappeared from view. She guessed it would lead to a building, a church perhaps were they could hold services. Not wanting anyone to see her, Buffy avoided the driveway and cut through the trees.
Skirting tombs, collapsed graves, and thick patches of brambles and nettles, Buffy eventually came out at the front of the dilapidated church. She stayed hidden in the trees, scanning for signs of life or the undead.
The old church stood empty.
Buffy moved on, stepping over sections of broken cross and slates that had fallen from the church roof and heading towards a small rise of steps that led to the rear graveyard. Green eyes shone from the top of a tomb. It was a dog fox, its eyes reflecting green in the moonlight. With a little yip of surprise, it sprang off and disappeared into the undergrowth. Buffy followed it.
At the statue of a broken-winged weeping angel, she halted to check the area once more. Her spidey-senses reaching out, trying to pinpoint the source of the discord she was feeling. A twig snapped. Buffy spun, dropping into a fighting crouch, her eyes going straight to a pair of identical tombs built in the Grecian Temple style. There, in the snug space lying between them, something moved.
Buffy sprinted over and pulled the lurker out. Throwing him down onto a raised tomb, she held him in place with one hand whilst her other pressed the point of the stake against his throat.
A gossamer fine butterfly net fell from the lurker's hand and a glass collection jar hit the ground with a dull thunk.
"Lovell!?"
"Um, hello Buffy." Her cousin gave her a sheepish smile. "Er, can I get up? I've lost my moth."
"You've lost your moth?" Buffy repeated. She stepped back, letting go of him and hiding the stake behind her back. "What are you doing here?"
"I was following you, of course," he said as if it wasn't a big deal.
Brushing off his coat, he picked the net and the jar. Raising the collection jar to his face, he squinted anxiously at the contents. Inside the jar, a large pale moth fluttered, beating its wings against the glass.
"You followed me here?" Buffy asked. What did he think he was doing, following her? That was dangerous. What if the vampires had caught him? If Lovell had died it would be her fault and she'd never be able to face her uncle again. For his safety, and her sanity, Lovell needed to stay... slay-adjacent.
Her eyes drifted to the moth net and then she shot a narrow look at her cousin. Lovell avoided her gaze and fiddled with the moth jar
"And the net?" she pressed. "You watched me leaving, collected your moth catching kit and trailed me through the streets at the same time hunting out moths? I've heard of multi-tasking, but that's ridiculous. I don't think you followed me from the Leaky Cauldron. I think you were out here already and spotted me."
"Um, you might be right." Lovell peered at her through the tangle of curls, a gleam of amusement in his eyes. "What made you sneak out?"
"Sightseeing." Buffy pushed the stake into her waistband and pulled her sweater down to cover it. Best not to mention vampires. Both he and her uncle seemed pretty laidback but she didn't want to dump the whole Chosen-One spiel onto them on the first night. She still wasn't sure if her Mom knew or not, those memories she had were so confusing.
"And the sharpened stake?" Lovell asked.
"Er, that's my make-believe wand." Buffy was glad he couldn't see her blush. Then, to make it worse, her mouth kept on moving on its own, "I was pretending it was a real wand, you know, practising in preparation for going to Ollie Anders."
Oh God, she wanted the ground to open up and swallow her. She sounded like a dork. Why hadn't she come up with something more credible and less embarrassing? She should beat herself up on principle.
"It's Ollivander's," corrected Lovell. "Why would you want to practice with a sharp stick in the middle of a graveyard? You aren't telling me the truth." He chewed at his cheek, regarding her with a mixture of worry and disappointment.
"Hey!" Buffy pointed at the moth fluttering in the jar, hoping to distract him. "You caught the elusive Kensington Cobweb!"
She didn't think he'd forgotten about the stake, but the smile he gave her was a wide and genuine one. It was the sort of smile any teenage girl would find attractive - if only they could get past his initial shyness. 'Willow,' something in her mind whispered. 'He's shy like Willow was.'
"Oh yes," Lovell replied. "I caught him over there." He jabbed his thumb towards the trees and then raised the jar once more so that she could see the moth. "Do you see his antennae?"
Buffy nodded, wondering how he could see so well in the dark and Lovell continued, "The antennae in the male are much shorter than the females. Another sign he's a male are the darker markings along the leading edge of the forewing which I don't think you can see in this light so you'll need to take my word for it. This moth one, Buffy, is definitely a Lace-Winged Kensington Cobweb and not one of the more common Kensington Cobwebs that you find in almost all the green spaces of London. That sub-species is slightly smaller and the wing veins are finer and more -."
A scream, high-pitched and feminine, reverberated around the graveyard. Lovell almost dropped his collection jar and Buffy turned, her eyes wide, ears straining as she tried to pinpoint its origin. The screaming was cut-off sharply and, once more, the graveyard was silent apart from the wind blowing in the treetops.
"Wh-what was that?" stuttered Lovell.
"I'm going to check it out. Stay here."
Without waiting for his agreement, Buffy took off. Sprinting across open stretches, jumping graves, and vaulting tombs in her haste to reach the screamer. When she saw a clearing ahead she slowed, crouched down to remain unobserved and moving from grave to grave. Two vampires held a struggling dark-haired girl. They were the ones Buffy had been following.
"I'm a witch, you fools!" the girl screeched. "Get your filthy hands off me, give me back my wand and stick to the Muggles in future. You rancid smelling, vampire scum!"
The younger of the vampires twisted her long hair around his hand and yanked her head back cruelly. She let out a screech of pain and the older vampire covered her mouth with his hand.
"I don't see no wand," the younger vampire said. He waved a carved wand in front of her face. Speaking to the vampire holding her, he said, "Do you see a wand, Josh?"
"Hmph, hmmph!" mumbled the girl, fury flashed in her eyes.
The older vampire holding her laughed. "I don't see no wand, Gilbert."
"That's what I thought. No wand." Gilbert threw the girl's wand over his shoulder. It sailed through the air and landed in a pile of nettles behind him.
Gilbert's face took on the visage of a demon one. "You aren't a witch," he hissed. Leaning forward, he trailed a grimy finger along the girl's collarbone in the parody of a lover's caress. Buffy saw the girl shudder with revulsion and Gilbert smiled, a predator's smile that was all teeth and sharp fangs. "Not that we're the type who care."
The now terrified girl struggled again but was held in place by the older vampire's arm. He ground his groin against her as she squirmed, saying, "We're the type who likes to play with our food first." He nuzzled her neck."There's hours to go before dawn. Think of all the fun we can have together."
Buffy had seen enough. She jumped onto the slab on a raised grave and cleared her throat. "Sorry for interrupting."
The vampires swung in her direction, shock on their faces.
"I was just wondering... have you seen my Mr Pointy?" Buffy gave a little shrug. "I seem to have misplaced him."
The two vampires exchanged a look.
Seeing the vampires distracted by the newcomer, the girl wriggled harder, trying to free herself. Her captor chuckled. "Keep squirming against me, darlin'. I'm liking it." He bent his head and ran his tongue down her neck.
"Eww," said Buffy under her breath. The girl looked as if she was going to be sick.
"What did you say you'd lost?" the younger vampire left his companion and advanced on Buffy. "I'll help you find it, sweetie."
The Slayer fluttered her eyelashes and gave him one of her best valley girl smiles. "Gee, thanks for that. I so hope-"
"Awww!" howled the older vampire. He shook his hand and sucked his finger. "The witch bit me!"
"Oh, don't be such a baby, Josh." The younger vampire snapped, he took another step closer to Buffy. "What did you say Mr Pointy looks like?"
Buffy whipped out the stake. "Like this!"
She kicked out, her foot caught him in the cheek and sent him staggering away. Jumping from the tomb, she landed next to him and drove the stake downward, but her strike missed by a mile. He'd moved in a blur of speed, and was no longer in the same place. Off-balance from the leap and missed strike, Buffy stumbled.
"Bitch!" the vampire snarled, slamming his fist into the back of her head.
She saw stars. Unable to save herself, she fell, hitting a stone obelisk so hard that the column cracked and broke. Pain radiated from the shoulder that had taken the full brunt of the impact. She gritted her teeth against the pain and cursed her clumsiness. Had she broken something? No time to check - she could sense the vampire above her.
She side rolled away, barely escaping him as he grabbed at her. Flipping to her feet, she blocked the next punch easy enough, the second skimmed her chin and snapped her head back. He let out a mocking laugh, and spotting an opening, Buffy drove her fist into the vampire's cheek. He was either much stronger than she'd estimated or else her punch was weaker than she'd thought as he merely opened his mouth and snarled. His breath smelled like death - hers. Buffy knew she had to get her act together fast; there was no way she was going out like this, not on her second fight. That would be... embarrassing.
This time, she hit him with a series of upper cuts and felt satisfaction when the last sent him sprawling against a stone angel.
"Oi!" yelled the older vampire, not liking the way the fight was going. He half-dragged half-carried the teenage girl towards the fighters. "Don't – Awww!" His words cut off by a knee in the groin by the girl. Releasing the girl, doubled over clutching his groin. The girl ran and didn't look back.
Buffy didn't see her leave, she was too busy dropping to avoid the high-powered haymaker that the vampire had thrown. She felt his arm as it went over her and she came up, swinging her leg around to knock his legs out from under him.
As he fell, Buffy rammed the stake into his chest. "Meet Mr Pointy," she said before tugging the stake free and stepping back to avoid inhaling dust.
"Nooo!" The older vampire wailed. He charged her.
With a slayer speed reflex, Buffy threw the stake. It hit the vampire's chest, piercing his heart and emerging from his back to clatter onto a gravestone. As the dust settled, Buffy looked around her, straining her senses. The trees creaked in the wind and further off she heard the sound of footsteps running down the ghost path. The young witch was running as if her life depended on it. Buffy hoped that she'd make it back home safely without her wand. She was just about to pick the wand up from the patch of nettles when the bushes behind her rustled and Buffy's Slaydar pinged with belated awareness.
"You killed my boys," rasped a new voice.
Buffy turned to face the newcomer. This one, she sensed, had been the brains behind the trio.
A woman emerged from the bushes, her long, waist-length hair streaked with grey and her face that of a demon. "For that, you'll die a thousand deaths and your friend alongside you." She pushed Lovell before her, one claw-like hand wrapped around the boy's neck, the other holding a dagger to his side.
"You're the one who's gonna die tonight," Buffy replied lightly, taking a step towards her newest enemy. Was her cousin alright? Apart from his clothing being askew, she couldn't see any sign of injury. Lovell had lost his butterfly net but had somehow managed to keep hold of his precious moth. He looked terrified. Buffy could see how agitated he was by the way he continually twisted the lid of the collection jar. Even the moth inside seemed frantic to escape.
The vampire snorted contemptuously. "Who do you think you are, girl?"
"I am... me. Let him go," Buffy raised her chin, "and I promise not to kill you."
The woman cackled, revealing long, discoloured fangs. "Don't try dictating terms to me, child. You were lucky with the others, that's all. You're weaponless and I'm the one holding a knife to your friend's side." She prodded the knife into Lovell's side and he winced.
Anger and protectiveness surged through the Slayer. "You hurt a hair on his head and I swear I'll -."
"Yaaaghh!" the vampire screeched, dropping the knife. Lovell had opened the jar and slammed it into the bridge of the vampire's nose. The jar had fallen to the ground but the Lace-Winged Kensington Cobweb still clung to the woman's face.
Lovell backed away, Buffy hurrying over to him. The vampire batted the moth away and now Buffy saw the demon's yellow eyes were red and blistering. A gelatinous fluid bubbled out of the blisters and the vampire dabbed at her eyes with the hem of her sleeve and whimpered.
"The moth produces cyanide as a defence against predators," Lovell explained, tugging on Buffy's arm and trying to lead her back towards the church. "It creates blisters on exposed flesh."
"That's totally cool," Buffy replied, refusing to move. "I'd never have thought of doing that."
Lovell lowered his voice,"We need to go now, while she can't see us. I don't know how long the toxin will last on a vampire." He tugged her arm harder.
Buffy pulled her arm away. "I need to kill her. I know what vampires are like. She'll come after us seeking revenge and others will die."
"Buffy!" Lovell hissed and tried stopping her, but she'd slipped out of reach.
Without bothering to hide her Slayer speed, Buffy snatched up her stake from where it lay and slammed it into the blinded vampire's chest. The creature let out an unearthly shriek, fell to her knees, and exploded into a shower of black ash. Like a gunslinger, Buffy spun the stake before placing it back into her waistband and turning back to Lovell.
He kept his face averted as he picked up the collection jar. "You came out tonight to hunt vampires, didn't you?"
It wasn't really a question, he knew she had.
"Maybe..." Buffy swallowed, feeling uncomfortable Was this about her lying to him before? She hadn't wanted to lie, she just had to keep her job a secret. "I'm sorry, I'm not supposed to tell anyone. I think I'm The Slayer."
"Slayer?!" His face wrinkled in confusion.
"The Vampire Slayer." Buffy knew she shouldn't expect him to accept it easily. She'd been a potential, and even she'd been in the dark about slayers until Merrick had shown up. Even now, her memories of it all were pretty fuzzy.
"It's like a thing." She waved a hand, not sure how to explain. "A secret identity type thing. Look, I'm not good with the 'splainy and the amnesia isn't helping. I think there should be a Watcher here to do all this, but I'll give it a go." Hoping she'd remember it correctly, she cleared her throat and recited the words that continually invaded her dreams, "Into every generation a slayer is born. One girl in all the world, a chosen one. She alone wields the strength and skill to fight vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness. Stopping the spreading of evil and curtailing their number. She is the Slayer."
Feeling self-conscious, Buffy picked the wand up from the nettles and waited for his reaction. Most likely there'd be shock, vehement denial, and lots of confusion. She wasn't prepared for Lovell's reaction.
He sniffed, looking anything but impressed and said sternly, "Well, I can't see that excuse holding much water with the Ministry of Magic. Vampires have been protected under paragraph twelve, in guidelines for the treatment of non-humans under Magical law for well over a century. We studied it in DADA class last year. I've never heard of a slayer. If the Ministry finds out you're hunting vampires without prior authority you'll face trial. Murdering magical beings is a crime punishable by a term in Azkaban, that's a prison."
It didn't happen often, but Buffy was stunned into silence.
Using his foot, Lovell poked the ash pile that had once been a vampire. "If someone makes a missing persons report, the Aurors will check their last known hang-out and this could turn into a crime scene." He pursed his lips, scanning the dark graveyard thoughtfully. "We didn't use magic so nothing leads back to us. We need to clean away the ash and hope no one turns up to question us."
…...
A/N;
I hate writing fight scenes. I know what I want and what I see in my head but getting it down on paper is hard.
I also cut over a thousand words as I didn't like them. Anyway, more on the laws regarding hunting vampires in the Wizarding World later on in the story. Yes, I do know that they can use self-defence against vampires, werewolves etc, but Buffy would have her wand taken off her (she's not even got one yet!) and be suspended from Hogwarts (she hasn't started yet!) whilst she faced trial.
Lovell is protecting her.
More about where the Watchers Council is later. She needs to do her homework on that one. Sit tight. All part of the plot.
So her slaying activity is curtailed, she won't be happy. There is also a witch out there who might or might not have seen her face and seen her attack the vampires. Hmm, wonder who she could be. ;)
Oh, the Blackout Ripper was a real person. I had an elderly aunt who as a girl got lost once in the London blackout and was terrified the ripper would get her. I remembered her telling me the story so threw him in.
Thank you for all the reviews.
Only two last time! :-(
to the guest who asked if the vampires are the Buffy type of HP type. I am going for a cross. They explode into dust as Buffy's do and have the vamp face. JKR didn't really write much about vampires in her world. They existed, some seemed to be magical.
To the guest who asked what Walburga is up to... Let's just say she wants some fun. More to be revealed.