Hi guys. Thank you muchly for all the reviews for the last part. One day I promise I will get around to individual thank you's but time always seems to be a factor these days. On that note, I'm coming to the end of my course with the OU and its assignment palooza for the next couple of weeks, so I won't be posting as often this month - sorry. I will try and get this episode finished by the start of October though, fingers crossed.
Act four
Buffy froze as a scream cut through the fresh night air. It wasn't really the best time to freeze, considering where her hand was, and where Faith's hand was, and just how much happy those hands had been bringing right before the scream.
Talk about a mood killer.
"Did you hear that?" she asked, really hoping she had imagined it so they wouldn't have to stop and investigate.
"Yeah." Faith mumbled against her throat. "Just kids mucking about."
"Just kids, lots of candy, sugar rush, perfectly normal." Buffy nodded and sought out Faith's lips again.
It was like a game of pin the Buffy-lips on the Faith-lips every time in the complete darkness. In places the half moon shone through barer trees to illuminate the silver mist rising from the ground, but right here, beneath their tree, every touch had to be fumbled for. Fumbling was underrated, she decided as Faith's soft lips tripped up and over her chin before their mouths connected in another fiery, tongue-heavy kiss.
The scream came again and lasted longer this time. Buffy groaned as she pulled away.
"What if they're not mucking about?" she sighed.
"It's Halloween, B!" Faith twisted them so that Buffy ended up against the tree. "Nothing's gonna be in these woods to hurt them anyway."
"Don't believe everything you read in the Slayer handbook, Faaaith." Her name accidentally came out on a high moan as Buffy's head lolled back against the tree trunk, her mouth open. "Oh God, don't stop."
"Finally we agree on something." Buffy could hear the grin in her voice and it made her smile too.
After so long of waiting to be this close, this connected – especially physically, because she was feeling very physically connected to Faith right now, her smile turned into a grin – this felt so good. No, good wasn't strong enough, and great was equally lacking, it was… okay, fantastic would have to do, because no other word was presenting itself, oh what about magnificent? Tremendously marvellous? Buffy's brain burbled away to itself as she slowly started to lose all sense and reason.
Maybe this would all still backfire on her, maybe Faith was just full of bullshit, maybe this was the biggest mistake of her life, maybe, just in case, she should just shut the hell up and enjoy it.
And do her best to make sure Faith enjoyed it too. "Oh, yeah, Buffy, like that…!"
This time when the scream pierced their ears, it just went on going. Buffy jerked out of the moment, trying to push Faith away.
"No, no, no, no…" Faith murmured, not letting her.
"I know that scream. It's Dawn!" Buffy said urgently.
"Well, she's kid; she's probably just tearing it up with the rest of them." Faith tried to reason.
"I know the difference between happy-Dawn squeals, and her screaming in terror!" Buffy stared into the woods frantically, not having a clue which direction to run in.
"Shit, okay, come on!" Faith grabbed her hand and started running deeper into the trees.
Buffy ran with her, hoping her girlfriend had better sonar than she did.
Dawn had just felt the twin pinpricks of death slide into her neck when the crashing behind her caught up.
At first she assumed it was Buffy running to her rescue, because that's what Buffy did, but it was Kennedy flying out of the trees and landing hard on the Vampire's back, her momentum ripping the fangs painfully from Dawn's skin and leaving her standing there, holding her bleeding neck, shaking, while they both fell to the misty ground fighting.
"A Slayer?" The Count drawled, and sounded far too happy about it for Kennedy's liking. "How so much better than otter blood!"
Nope, definitely not liking the sound of that. Kennedy liked it even less when he floated back up to his feet, laughing at her violent punching and kicking. His body absorbed the blows with no apparent side-effects.
"You are not yet strong, Slayer. Did you only rise tonight?"
"Slayers don't rise!" she grunted angrily, trying to be a little more choosy about where she was landing strikes seeing as her brute strength wasn't doing much but humiliating her. "We get Called!"
"On the contrary. You used to get Called, you used to be special, but now you are as common as the fledgling Vampire and just as easy to destroy. You have spread yourself too thin, Slayer." The Count smiled at her, deflecting hit after hit so fast she barely saw his hands move, just felt them slapping away her own. "But, never mind, you still taste good."
"You have no idea what you're talking about," Kennedy sneered. "There's more of us than ever."
"Exactly. The essence inside you was only ever supposed to be contained by one girl – to make her strong, fast, something of a challenge – now there are many of you, but the essence has not been altered. Your leader turned that opportunity down. Such a shame. The more of your kind that accept the destiny only a few were ever supposed to endure, the easier your army will fall to us; the better we shall dine."
"Can't you stake him already," Dawn asked, not liking the calm, collected, effortless way this well dressed Vampire was beating Kennedy.
"Little hard without a stake!" Kennedy was already cursing herself for not having one, but she'd been going to a party! On Halloween! The night all her elders had said Vampires didn't venture outside of the cosy little crypts! And okay, so she may have been a little bit tipsy… "How do you know all this anyway?" she demanded.
"I receive the family newsletter." The Count, tired of playing with his food, struck Kennedy in such a way she ended up on her back. He went down onto one knee beside her, staring intently into her eyes and holding her down gently with one hand on her shoulder, well he wasn't really holding her down at all; she could get away if she wanted to… when she wanted to… Um?
"What you have received will never be enough, you already know this." He told her softly. "I can give you more. I can see that you receive your true birthright instead of this second-rate mockery of your strength. I can teach you the history of your power, show you the limits and teach you how to overcome them, give you what you need to be true to your ambition!"
"Kennedy!" Dawn shouted at her, trying to get her to move, to do anything but get lost in the Vampire's eyes.
"Not interested," Kennedy told him dreamily.
"Of course you are," he said. "I can feel it rolling off you in waves. The envy you feel, the jealousy, the fear that you will never get what you truly want; what you so greatly desire. The true essence of the Slayer instilled in your soul!"
Kennedy blinked, ripped from the enchantment. "I'm not interested in that."
"Yes, yes you are. I can see the resentment, smell the longing…"
"Yeah, for Willow, you dipshit." Kennedy snapped, her hand groping the mist-covered woodland floor. "I'm already plenty Slayer, thanks."
"I don't understand," The Count's brow furrowed.
"So let me make it simpler."
Kennedy thrust up with the pine branch she'd found. It wasn't the most effective stake, being a little bendy, but the Count didn't stick around to see if it would have worked or not. He dissolved into silver mist, matching what was already laying ankle high from the ground.
"You fool! This is a decision you will soon regret!" His disembodied voice promised her before that too disappeared completely.
Dawn helped her up, both of them looking around at the trees to see where he had gone to, and more importantly, if he was coming back.
"Well, that was…" Kennedy didn't finish her sentence as she brushed debris from her shoulders. "Are you okay?"
"Nothing a band aid won't fix. I hope. What happened to you there? You, like, froze! That's not normal Slayer behaviour."
"I don't know what happened," Kennedy admitted. "I just… didn't really want to fight him."
"What?"
"Well, the stuff he was saying, it was interesting, some of it."
"What?" Dawn asked louder. "He was a blood-sucking fiend! My blood sucking fiend! And I'm pretty sure he was on drugs too. That's not interesting, that's scary."
"Maybe," Kennedy looked back again and then set her sights forward, wherever the hell forward was, "Come on, let's try and find our way to the road."
"Okay, please Kennedy, tell me the only reason you don't seem traumatised by what just happened is because you are so traumatised its like reverse psychology on your brain or something?"
"I'm fine, Dawn. I staked him, didn't it?"
"I guess."
"I just wish I knew what he was talking about. About the essence and birthright and stuff."
"That's what you have a Watcher for," Dawn reminded her.
"Yeah, except I haven't had a Watcher since mine got gutted by Bringers last year," Kennedy reminded her right back.
"Oh yeah," Dawn murmured uncomfortably.
Rona had kept running until she was pretty sure no one was following her, but it was hard to be sure with all the noise coming from the main rooms in the house. What the hell was going on out there? Surely her knocking a picture down hadn't caused this much fuss?
She had a feeling the mysterious group she thought she'd been so stealthily following, had made it out into the party and were causing whatever kind of trouble they'd been planning in the library. Which made her feel like an idiot seeing as she gotten herself trapped inside the walls looking for them.
The tunnel – well it was starting to feel like a tunnel now, pushing in on her with its darkness – had taken a few left and right turns while she'd been running for her life, and now she had no clue whereabouts in the house she might be. Not that she really cared where she popped out now, she just wanted to pop out alive.
And that likelihood got less likely again when the sound of scurrying met her ears once more. She stopped, thinking, 'For Christ sake!' and wondered whether to turn and run the other way again, but she'd had enough now. She was a Slayer, and she might not be much of one yet, but it still had to count for something.
All this running away was starting to seriously dent her pride!
She pulled the wooden spoon out of her pocket and stood her ground, waiting for the scurrying to come closer.
Reece had lost his bearings somewhat inside the house, but he felt like he must have made at least a circuit of it by now with the way the corridor kept twisting and turning.
He'd been steadily following the scampering footsteps for a while, speeding up when they did, and slowing down likewise. The occasional muffled cursing he could hear had convinced him it wasn't Rona he was following, or anyone else American for that matter, and he didn't know why this person, or thing quite possibly, was running around here behind the walls, but he felt it was his duty as a member of the Watcher's Council of England to find out.
He had no weapons on him, but he did have some loose change in his trouser pocket. He scooped it up in his hand and rattled it gently until it was a nice roll in his fist. He didn't know how effective it was, he'd only ever seen it done in films, but it did make his hand feel heavier and hopefully it would pack a punch.
He turned another almost pitch dark corner and realised the scampering footsteps had stopped not far up ahead. He could hear harsh, anxious breathing and the smell of vodka invaded his senses again.
From the very faint light coming through the slit of a window at the far end of the corridor, Reece could see a silhouette. The figure was taller than he would have given the footsteps credit for, but not as tall as he was. They appeared to be waiting for him, but there was a chance, as he was in the deeper darkness, they didn't know how close he was.
This was it then. Holding his breath he inched closer, raising his money clenching fist in the air in case he was attacked before he was ready to attack.
'This is it then," he repeated to himself. 'Time to see if I've got what it takes.'
"This is stupid!" Buffy dug her heels in and pulled on Faith's hand to get her to stop running. "For all we know we're going around in circles. We're never going to find Dawn this way."
"Well at least the screaming's stopped," Faith tried to reassure her. "That's… probably a good thing."
Okay, so she wasn't very good at the reassuring thing, but Buffy would give her points for effort later, when she wasn't so worried about her little sister.
"What if it's not a good thing?" Buffy spun around, but in the dark every way looked the same. They all had trees and mist and stupid amounts of obscurity. "What if she's…?"
"Hey," Faith cut her off soothingly. "No point thinking like that. Don't you have your phone on you?"
"Huh? What? My phone?" Buffy worked through the problem as quickly as possible. "My phone! I do! It's in your pocket!"
Faith wisely didn't waste time asking how it had ended up in her pocket – because Buffy hadn't brought a handbag and there was only room in her cleavage for her money – and just dug it out. Buffy took it almost before Faith could hand it over and pressed the speed dial button for her sister's number.
"Come on!" she muttered urgently, pacing between the trees.
"Hello?"
"Dawn! Dawn, is that you?" Buffy shouted into the phone, not caring about her sister's attachment to her hearing.
"Whoa, Buffy? Yeah it's me. Of course it's me. It's my phone. What's wrong?"
"I heard you screaming. Are you okay? What happened?"
"How did you hear me screaming? Where are you?"
"I'm in the woods… somewhere." Buffy looked around as if that would tell her. "Where are you?"
"Also in the woods somewhere."
"But you're okay? Why were you screaming?"
"Uh, the woods are scary at night and, uh, there was this bat and it made me scream, but I'm okay now."
Dawn was hiding something, Buffy just knew it.
"Well, what are you doing in the woods alone?"
"I'm not alone; I'm with Kennedy."
Buffy frowned. "Okay, what are you doing in the woods with Kennedy? You shouldn't be in the woods at this time of night, Dawn. Kenny knows you're not supposed to go patrolling unless I agree to it first."
"We weren't patrolling. We were running, uh, walking, uh, taking a shortcut home from the party."
"Through the thick woods over a mile from Boudenver?" Buffy's frown deepened. "Where exactly was this party?"
"Uh…"
As Dawn hesitated, Buffy saw Faith grinning at her and rolled her eyes.
"Okay, let me make this simple for you. I'm supposed to be on a date tonight, a date that was going very well until ten minutes ago when I heard you screaming your head off. Now you have two choices: Tell me the truth about this party and all you'll get is me being pissed off when I finally get out of these woods and home. Or don't tell me the truth and you're grounded until Christmas."
"You can't ground me; I'm nearly seventeen!"
"I beg to differ baby-sister. Mom was still grounding me when I was eighteen. And if you refuse to do as you are told, I'll just get Giles to stop paying you research money, and I'll make sure no one gives you a ride anywhere and if you even thinking about getting your friends to pick you up, I'll get Xander to lay bear traps on the drive – front and back."
As there was a deep sigh from the other end of the phone, Faith nuzzled her neck from behind, whispering, "I take it back, you getting your guardian on is hot!"
Buffy giggled and shushed Faith so she could listen to Dawn's fantastical tale about her night. Except not that fantastical, because she should have really known something like what Dawn was describing would happen, because when on Halloween didn't it?
It hadn't taken long for every teenager in the house to figure out something they hadn't signed up for was going on. From 'ghosts' in the wall to panthers and wolves running around and Mummies and bats and foreign dudes trying to electrocute them.
They'd all fled as fast as their little legs could take them and as Owen was joined in the centre of the ballroom by his sheepish friends, all that was left of them was the squealing of tires on the gravel drive outside.
"Well…" Owen began looking around at them all.
Zeke's tail gently thumped the floor in embarrassment. Ptah held his bandages above his downcast eyes. Victor fiddled with his sleeves and fidgeted in his guilt and his friend just stared at the far wall, not meeting anyone's eyes. The Count whistled casually between his fangs to hide his smile.
Igor finished his tune with a discordant thump of the keys, left the piano and jumped cheerfully off of the stage.
"Well," he called, gambolling jovially over to them. "I think tonight wath a roaring thucceth for human/thupernatural relationth everywhere, don't you think?"
The shamefaced tension broke on his joke and even Owen found himself laughing.
"Come," he said, still smiling. "The monsters left us a little food. Let us take some though to the drawing room and have a drink."
As they all grabbed dishes and bowls and bottles, the Count asked casually,
"So where is Paddy? Is he still chasing the humans off?"
Owen looked around, realising he hadn't seen him all night. "Oh dear."
Tbc... thanks for reading.
