Chapter 6
Old Ghosts, New Problems (Part 1)
Buffy, Xander and Dawn had been roaming the streets of Sunnydale for at least an hour now, and they hadn't seen anything, not even a vampire. It was like they were looking in all the wrong places. This was creeping them all out even more, especially Xander and Dawn as none of them had any kind of supernatural powers. They were just about to give up when a form shimmered into existence in front of them. It was Anya.
"I know what you're doing, and I'm not allowed to be here doing this, but I'm here to help," Anya said. Buffy, Dawn and especially Xander were standing there stunned. "What? Is there something in my hair?" Anya asked them all as they were standing there gawking at her.
"We… We just didn't expect this," Buffy said to her. "Expect you to pop in and help us." Buffy saw that Xander was completely stunned and she knew that it would be awkward for him to be in, and she hoped that it wouldn't affect his ability to look out for himself. A few awkward moments passed before the group started moving off again.
"Maybe we should split up," Dawn suggested.
"Safety in numbers," Buffy replied. "We don't want to be caught single handedly against these things," Buffy continued. Something then dawned on her.
"Anya? Do you know anything about these things that have moved into town? Big hooded robes, ability to kill lots of vamps really fast, really scary?" Buffy asked. She looked to Anya, who she could see was considering saying something or not.
"Yes, I do, but I'm not allowed to say anything about it," Anya replied. Buffy was annoyed Anya's inability to cooperate.
"By who?" Buffy asked. Anya just looked at her awkwardly as they walked along. Buffy noticed that Xander and Dawn had dropped back a bit. "Who's making you all secretive?"
"I can't say," Anya replied. "I wish I could, but I can't. I'll get killed if anyone finds out I've spoken, especially to you," Anya said.
"Well, we won't tell anyone," Buffy replied. "Who could find out?"
"Trust me, there are ways," Anya replied. There was another silence between the two, each moderately annoyed with the other. "Look, I just want to help," Anya said again.
"Well, right now, you're not," Buffy said. They continued to walk along for a while, in silence. Dawn and Xander caught up to them after a while. Buffy could feel the tension between Anya and Xander, and thought she'd be able to cut the air with a knife. After a while, she found out that she couldn't do that after trying, but it was worth a shot.
Fifteen minutes later, the long lasting boredom was finally broken as Buffy and Xander as they saw movement ahead in a cemetery. As they approached, they could see that it was the large dark hooded figures that Buffy had told them about. It looked to Buffy as they were looking for something in the cemetery by the way they were slowly moving around, going from grave to grave. Buffy crouched low to the ground, and everyone else took her lead and did the same. Buffy signalled for them to split up and go at the figures from both sides. Xander teamed up with Buffy, and Dawn with Anya. Crouching low to the ground, Buffy and Xander made their way through the graveyard, hiding behind tombstones to be out of view of the hooded figures.
They could see them now, only fifteen metres or so away, and they were still searching for something. Buffy could sense that a vampire was about to rise nearby, and she guessed that that was what they were looking for, but she couldn't guess why. She spent the time waiting for Dawn and Anya to get into position to study the creatures closely. However, when she looked at them, she could feel her insides twisting up into knots. She didn't want dawn near these things, but she couldn't leave her on her own, defenceless either. She was about to get up and change positions to a tombstone she could see nearby when Buffy saw a movement out of the corner of her eye. A figure was coming towards them through the graveyard. What scared Buffy the most was that the figure was glowing, and it knew exactly where they were. Buffy crouched a little higher to get a view of what was coming at them, and when she saw it, her whole body went numb, weapon falling to the ground out of her hand. She barely managed to look over to Xander, but he was staring off into space for some reason. Buffy looked back up, and the figure was now only feet away from them, looking straight at Buffy. There was no mistaking what it was now.
"Mum?" Buffy barely whispered, "Is that really you?" she croaked to the figure of Joyce Summers. The figure just looked back at her and softly spoke,
"Yes honey, it is me." Buffy's eyes started to fill with tears as she looked at her mother.
"But how…" she started to say, but Joyce silenced her by beginning to speak.
"Listen, I don't have much time to explain… things are coming Buffy. You've got to prepare everyone, there's just enough time," Joyce started to say, but then she began to fade.
"Mum? What's coming? What do I have to do? Don't leave!" Buffy said in rapid fire, almost screaming the last part. She reached out to her mother, but her hand went straight through her with no effect.
"I love you," Buffy heard Joyce say before she disappeared completely.
Xander was scared, that much he was absolutely certain of. He looked at those things, and all he felt was a wave of fear sweep over him. He doubted he'd be much use in a fight against those things, but yet he knew that he had to be anyway. He peeked around his tombstone, hoping against all hope that the creatures had gone away and that they wouldn't have to fight against them. When Xander came to think of it, he didn't know why they were going to fight these things. If they could do what Buffy had said they could do, they'd stand no chance of getting out of it alive. They didn't even know what they wanted. For all they knew these things might be on their side, they didn't know at all.
"What do you think you're doing young man?" A strange but familiar voice said behind Xander. He spun around looked up at who was speaking to him, and his mouth gaped open. In front of him now stood his school's principal, who had been eaten by a giant snake that used to be the Mayor of Sunnydale.
"Wha, wha, wha," Xander stuttered. Xander saw movement behind the short bald headed man called Principal Snyder. A hand came down on Snyder's shoulder, and another familiar face popped into view. It was the principal before Snyder; Principal Flutie.
"The youth of today, rampaging the streets late at night. Back in my day we weren't even allowed out at night," Flutie said.
"But this one's trouble," Principal Snyder said to Flutie.
"Oh, that's right. He's got alcoholic parents, must be a bad type," Flutie said.
"And, don't forget, he's associating with her," Snyder said while turning to look at Buffy. Xander was still on the ground, half awe stricken, half terrified, not knowing what was going on. Xander looked over to Buffy, who looked like she was talking to herself. He looked back to Principal Flutie and Snyder.
"Also, don't forget, he ate me," Principal Flutie said, looking Xander directly in the eyes. The simple action of that brought back memories that Xander didn't even want to think about: the time he was infused with the personality of a hyena and he and a couple of other of his classmates went and ate the principal.
"She's bad news that Summers girl. She'll end up getting him killed… I've seen it," Snyder said to Flutie.
"She'll end up getting everyone killed," Flutie replied to him. They both turned to Xander now, and actually acknowledged that he was there.
"Watch out about her, be careful. She might seem like she's trying to do the right thing, but she won't be," Snyder said to him quietly. "Watch out for her."
Buffy didn't know how long she had been standing there, stunned, but when she looked over to Xander, she saw a sight she didn't believe. Xander was on his back, on the ground, staring up in terror at nothing. She guessed that he was seeing ghosts of his own. She picked up her knife that she had dropped and raced over to him grabbing his hand as she went. She lifted him to his feet and looked around for the hooded figures, but they were no where to be found. She turned back to Xander to ask what he had been doing, but she saw that he was completely in shock.
"Xander!" She exclaimed to him as he was standing there. "Xander!" she shouted this time bringing him around.
"Buffy," he stammered. She grabbed his hand and led him away from the spot that they were standing.
"But, but," he stammered again, pointing back towards where they had been standing.
"Come on Xander, we have to go… now," Buffy said while tightening her grip on his hand and starting to run towards where Anya and Dawn would be. She saw them come out of their hiding places, coming towards them with distressed looks on their faces. "Come on, we have to go!" Buffy shouted to both of them. They quickly got the idea and started to go with Buffy and Xander
Xander was still being dragged along by Buffy while trying to look back to where they were standing before; where he had seen Principal Flutie and Snyder. They got to the gate of the cemetery, and Xander looked back and saw them still standing there.
"Be careful about her," they both shouted to him. He kept looking at them, ignoring everyone else. Principal Flutie grew in height, and started to change form. Black robes came around him, and he shifted his appearance into that of the large hooded figure they were meant to attack. He looked to Principal Snyder, and the same was happening to him, but differently. The colour of his skin changed from the colour of humans to a dark colour that Xander couldn't see from the distance he was standing. Black hooded robes seemed to shimmer into existence from nowhere and wrap themselves around the figure, so it looked exactly like the one he had seen Principal Flutie morph into. The two dark hooded figures stood there, seeming to be the same things they had been out hunting for. They both turned away and glided off into the depths of the cemetery.
Buffy was looking into the cemetery, trying to see what Xander was looking at, but she couldn't see anything. Then, out of the darkness, one of the hooded figures shimmered into existence, right in the direction Xander had been looking. Next to it, Buffy saw a creature with dark skin and reddish-orange eyes shimmer into existence and hooded robes shimmer around it. She watched as the two hooded figures turned and seemed to glide over the grass in the opposite direction to Buffy and the rest of the group.
"Come on, we have to go," Buffy said to them all. She didn't want to let on how much her encounter with her mother had shaken her up. Even though none of the group knew what had happened to her, she didn't want any of them to see her vulnerable like she was. She just wanted to get home, and be safe for the rest of the night.
When they arrived back at the Summers' House, they were all met with a surprise that no one could have seen coming. Three girls, all about Dawn's age, maybe a little older were standing on the front porch, all with a little bit of luggage, and all looking worse for wear. They were all covered in bruises and looked exhausted.
"Buffy Summers?" One of them asked the group. She was sitting on the front step and got up when the group approached. Buffy drew her knife out of her pants and stood in a fighting position.
"That's me," she replied carefully.
"We were told to come to you," the girl said to her, offering her hand in friendship. Buffy relaxed a little, but was still on guard as she shook the girl's hand.