Disclaimer: See Chapter 1
Author's Note: The Inuyasha manga wrapped up last week. I'm going to offer fair warning: later chapters of this story will have spoilers so I'm going suggest that you Inuyasha fans either prepare to be spoiled or head over to One Manga and finish out the series.
--
Xander and Willow were walking near a cemetery. Xander was enjoying an ice cream cone, while Willow just seemed to be enjoying the atmosphere…and the alone time with Xander. Being with him felt so right, as if they should spent every night until they died just like this. She knew she was in love.
But something about it also felt fundamentally wrong. Like things should be like that, but at the same time it was like she wasn't looking at it from the right angle. It infuriated her that the answer was dancing around her like some mischievous little faerie just out of her each. If she could catch that faerie everything would fall into place, but she knew, just knew, that it would bite her is she caught it.
Her introspection was interrupted by Xander's voice breaking the silence.
"So, a blonde, a brunette, and a redhead are about to be executed," began Xander, "The brunette is standing in front of the firing squad and they ask her if she has any last words and she yells 'tornado!' While everyone is distracted looking for a tornado, she got away."
"And let me guess, the redhead yells 'tidal wave' and gets away and the blonde yells 'fire' and they shoot her," Willow responded.
Xander gave her an irritated looked.
"No, the redhead yelled out the punch line to an amazingly hilarious joke," he quipped, "and the blonde yelled…vampire!"
"Okay the first part I get, but is the blonde Buffy or something?"
"No, there's a vampire coming right at us!"
"Oh, OH!"
She turned to see a vampire in full game face strolling up to them. The scary smile on his face seemed to signify that he wanted them to run just so could enjoy the chase. She tensed, adrenaline gushed through her body. Her options were narrowed down to the two most primal: fight or flee. That was it.
The first option was definitely not viable. An entire summer without supernatural activity had made them complacent. They walked about at night without stakes, crosses, or even small vials of holy water.
"Run!" Xander yelled at her.
They turned and prepared to run away from the vampire, only to hear the characteristic growl of a vampire being dusted. They looked back to see Buffy wielding a wooden stake.
"Hey guys!" she greeted them with a huge smile.
"Buffy!" Willow and Xander both shouted and ran up to hug her.
"Whoa guys, it's nice to see you, too," she said as they enclosed her in a crushing embrace.
"We missed you!" Willow chimed.
"Yeah, looks like you got sloppy while I was gone. You don't even have a cross on you."
"It's been a slow summer, Buff," Xander replied, "that's the first vamp we've seen since you dusted the Master."
"How was your summer?" Willow inquired.
"Nothing paranormal for me either, just a nice healthy dose of shopping and partying. Did you guys find out anything new about Sesshomaru or Tenseiga while I was gone?"
"Not really, Giles contacted the Watcher's Council about it, but he keeps avoiding telling them exactly why he needs information on them so they keep refusing to send him anything," Willow answered.
Willow thought she noticed Buffy's expression begin to change for an instant, but then that huge smile returned.
"C'mon," she said, "let's go see if Giles is still up having a cup of tea or whatever British people do at night. I missed him, too. Besides I think I'll feel better with my one hit kills vampire sword back."
"Lead the way, mighty Slayer," Xander said, bowing a little and extending his arms.
As they walked toward Giles apartment, Willow mulled Buffy's statement over. Giles was her Watcher and had become almost like a second father to her. In fact, he was becoming more and more like a father figure to all three of them with Willow's distant parents and Xander's alcoholic father and neglectful mother. Still it seemed unusual to her that Buffy would want to go to Giles' place this late after just getting back when it could wait until school started. First thing she wanted when she got back had been that sword, Tenseiga. Willow still remembered how reluctant Buffy had seemed to give it to Giles to research over the summer. She was like a little kid clinging to a security blanket. It worried Willow a little.
She set these worries aside as she walked side by side with her two best friends into the night.
--
A group of vampires sat around Collin the Anointed One in an abandoned warehouse. The young vampire had been seething with rage ever since the Master's defeat. He had hoped to resurrect the Master, but the Slayer had the foresight to destroy his remains. The Slayer, that damnable bitch who had ruined everything. He wanted to violate her in ways that someone who looks like him really shouldn't know about, to slaughter everyone who had ever known her while she watched, and most of all, he just wanted her to die.
"Absalom!" he shouted at his most devoted acolyte.
"Yes, most high Anointed One?" Absalom replied.
"Are you sure, completely positive, that there is no way to bring the Master back without his body?"
"While we would all be exultant at the chance to return our most unholy Master to this world…"
"Enough!" he declared, standing up "You're all completely useless! The Slayer lives and the Master is dead! We cower in this dank place like vermin waiting for the cat to sniff them out when we should be rejoicing as the world burns and the humans scream in fear and agony! The Order of Aurelius, once feared and respected, is now nothing more than a shade of its former self! Every single one of you is worthless!"
To emphasize his point, he snapped a piece of wood off a crate below him with his small hand and used to stake a random minion. All of the vampires present, most at least twice his size, looked at each other with expressions of definite fear that the Anointed One might decide they weren't worth keeping around.
Collin continued to stare at the dust left from the staked vampire. His right hand was squeezing so tightly around the stake that his hand was bleeding and the piece of wood was breaking.
"Kill her," he ordered, not bothering to look up "I don't care what it takes, I don't care if every single one of you has to die for it to happen, just KILL HER!"
"Your greatness?" Absalom ventured cautiously.
Collin's face flashed to his game face as he quickly turned to him.
"Was something about that unclear?!" he snarled.
"No, Anointed One. I was just going to suggest that we wait until the night of Saint Vigeous when our powers will be at their peak."
Collin mulled this over, then his face returned to its human appearance. The stake fell from his hand and he returned to his seated position.
"Very well," he said, "On the night of Saint Vigeous you will go after the Slayer. If one of you manages to kill her, he will take the Master's place as the leader of the Order of Aurelius. Until then, do not venture far to feed and if you encounter the Slayer, do not try to fight her. We can't spare a single man."
--
So the days passed relatively uneventfully for the Hellmouth. Buffy, Willow and Xander fell back into the usual routine. They got up, went to school, went on patrol, slew the occasional vampire, prevented a classmate from cutting of Cordelia's head and putting it on the body of a girlfriend for his Frankenstein monster-like brother, went to bed, and repeated.
This little cycle was interrupted by a true monster principal Snyder. He was forcing Buffy along with a delinquent named Sheila to prepare the school for Parent-Teacher night to make amends for skipping class. But hey, no big! So she adds manner making and decorating to her schedule, she's got her friends to help her. The cycle kicks back in.
They had no idea that creatures of lust, fear, pain, blood, and love where about to break this routine.
Headlights blurred through the roads to the city of Sunnydale. In the dead of night, while the Slayer and her friends slept snug in their beds the creatures came, by automobile no less. The car, a 1958 Dodge Desoto FireFlite crashed carelessly into the sign bearing the words "Welcome to Sunnydale." Perhaps this was an improvement considering the lies of a happy, normal community it told.
Out of the car came a bleach blond head. Spike in all his bad boy glory emerged from the driver's side. He casually checked his surroundings, retrieved a cigarette from his coat, lit it, and took a deep drag.
"Home, sweet home."
--
Back in the warehouse, Collin is giving a speech to his subordinates. They all sit in wrap attention as he paces back and forth.
"The night of Saint Vigeous is soon. It is of the utmost importance that none of you get yourself killed before then," he said, "therefore none of you will be going anywhere unless it is absolutely necessary. Your brothers who disobeyed my orders found out what it means to do battle with the Slayer. If you grow hungry, sate yourself with the thought of the blood of the Slayer."
The attention of the Aurelius vampires was taken by a stranger entering the building. Spike paid them no heed, instead he just walked in like he owns the place, his iconic coat sweeping behind him.
"You know, you've gotta be careful with Slayer's blood," he sneered, "It's a powerful aphrodisiac. One of your boys here might take a liking to soft little boys like yourself."
Absalom stood up, indignant.
"How dare you speak to the Anointed One in such a way?" he demanded, "I should rip your insolent throat out!"
Spike simply ignored him in favor of the apparent leader.
"So, you're the big bad around here, huh? Well, the name's Spike and I've come to take care of your little Slayer problem."
"You can kill her?" Collin asked.
"I don't like to brag, but I've taken out a couple Slayers in my time," he paused, then laughed, "Who am I kidding? I love to brag! There was this Chinese Slayer back during the Boxer Rebellion, put up one hell of a fight. She even managed to knick me when some magic sword and gave me this scar. Then there was this Slayer in New York…"
He trailed off as he heard footsteps. He quickly turned to see Drusilla entering the doorway. His concern was written all over his face.
"Dru, you shouldn't be out and about. You're too weak," he said as the mad vampire drew close to him.
"Look at all the people," she commented wistfully, then turned her attention to Collin "Such a pretty little boy. He has power."
"Yeah, he's in charge around those parts. Anointed or some such nonsense," Spike answered.
Drusilla leaned close and put her hand on his cheek.
"Do you like daises? I plant them, but they always die. Everything I put in the ground withers and dies."
She appears to lose interest and stares off.
"Spike, I'm cold."
Spike quickly put his coat on her and drew her close.
"I'm a princess," she declared.
"That you are, love," he replied.
She nicked his cheek with fingernail and licked off the blood. They came together as if to kiss, but then turn to face Collin.
"Drusilla and me are movin' in," he told them, as Drusilla pulled away from him and began moving around, "I'll take care of your little Slayer problem, just keep your little lackeys from trying anything sneaky. Deal?"
Collin nodded, "Fine."
Drusilla bowed her head and put her hands on her temples.
"I can't see her. The Slayer," she said, "It's dark where she is. Kill her. Kill her, Spike. Kill her for princess?"
"I'll tear her to shreds, love."
--
The Scoobies were at the Bronze, trying to unwind a little. When she had first gotten her enhanced senses, this probably would've been an unpleasant experience dealing with all the noise and, to a lesser extent, the smells. However her time in LA had forced her to train herself to just filter all this sensory input out and she had become quite adept at doing so. Giles had warned them that Saturday was the night of Saint Vigeous, some big shot vampire who had caused a whole lot of destruction. Buffy just wanted to make it through Parent-Teacher, then she would worry about the potentially apocalyptic night. Right now she was practicing her French with Willow (and failing spectacularly) while Xander danced awkwardly by himself.
She gripped Tenseiga (sitting discreetly next to her) to give her some comfort. Having it with her always made her feel better, safer, like someone was looking at for her. Really, what did she have to worry about on Saturday? Tenseiga could bring a hundred people back to life in a single swipe, so logically it could kill hundred vampires in a single sweep, vampire holiday or no vampire holiday.
"C'mon guys, I look stupid dancing all by myself out there," Xander interrupted their study session, "You've been studying for like twelve minutes."
"No wonder my brain's fried," Buffy said, "Let's go Willow, it'll be good for us."
Buffy got up, leaving Tenseiga in its spot. She reasoned that as a magic sword it wouldn't allow anyone to steal it. They dragged a reluctant Willow out onto the dance floor. She and Xander danced wildly, while Willow was doing something that could only marginally be described as dancing.
Buffy was having fun, but she really wished Angel had showed up. He had said that he might be here tonight, but even so she had gotten her hopes up. She pushed away all thoughts of potential grounding and fighting supercharged vampires as she lost herself in the music.
"Where's the phone? I need to call the police. There's some big guy out there trying to bite somebody," some said.
Buffy instinctively headed for the door upon hearing this. She spared her friends a quick glance, jerked her head toward the table where she and Willow had been sitting, and then hurried outside.
Outside she found a vampire about to bite a young woman. Buffy quickly grabbed him and pulled him off of her. The young woman just stood there, frozen in shock.
"Get out of here!" Buffy yelled.
The young woman complied, running back into the building.
"Slayer," the vampire spat.
"Slayee," Buffy responded.
"I'll prove to the Anointed One that I don't need Saint Vigeous to kill you."
"That brat's still around? I'll have to pay him a visit after I dust you."
She kicked him in the stomach, only for him to grab her foot. He twisted, but she simply jumped and spun, breaking his grip. She landed on her feet and delivered a few punches. She ducked as he attempted to retaliate.
"Buffy!" came Willow's voice from behind the combatants.
Using the temporary distraction, Buffy delivered a kick to the vampire's "weak point" and did a back flip. Willow tossed Tenseiga to Buffy. The angry vampire charged as she drew the sword from its sheath. When he came close, she slashed the sword at his neck. The blade glowed blue and made contact with his neck. It didn't decapitate him, Tenseiga is a sword that doesn't cut, it just caused him to turn to dust immediately upon making contact with his body.
A blond figure stepped out of the shadows, slowly clapping his hands. Buffy, Willow, and Xander looked in confusion at the black clad stranger.
"Well done, Slayer," he congratulated, "that guys was really getting on my nerves."
Buffy tensed slightly and readied Tenseiga.
"Who are you?" she demanded.
"They call me Spike, the rest you'll find out Saturday."
"What happens Saturday?"
"I kill you."
Buffy was left speechless as he walked off into the shadows. A strange feeling had begun to creep into her. Without realizing what she was doing, she lifted up the sword. It was glowing more brightly than ever before. She swung the sword downward and the alley was filled with a wave of intense blue light.
"Wow Buffy!" Xander exclaimed, "What was that?!"
She blinked and then regained her senses.
"I have no idea," she answered, wondering what had come over her just then.
"Looks like you took care of him!" Willow said.
"Maybe. I think I might've heard him jump onto on of the rooftops. At least we know his name so we can research him in case he did get away."
--
The dreaded Parent-Teacher night had finally arrived. Buffy fidgeted over the lemonade she made. She just had to keep her mom away from Snyder and everything would be all right. The thought of that troll tell her mom about what a "delinquent" she was terrified her more than this Spike, even if, according to Giles, he had already killed two other Slayers.
She had sent her mom off with Willow to talk to her teachers. Buffy herself had tried to divert Snyder by "accidentally" spilling lemonade on him and then trying to convince him she didn't speak either. It didn't appear like either tactic had worked.
To top things off, Queen C had begun lecturing her about her inability to properly utilize cosmetics.
However her spirits lifted as she saw Willow and her mother approaching the punch table.
"Well," said Joyce, "I think I've seen every one of your classrooms and all of your teachers seemed to have stepped out just before I got to each of them."
Behind Joyce Willow was smiling, clearly proud of what a good job she had done. Buffy's heart sinks as she sees Snyder coming.
"Uh, you should definitely go see the boiler room, that's where all the interesting stuff is," Buffy suggested.
Unfortunately Snyder arrived before Willow can whisk Joyce off. This time Buffy's heart didn't sink, it fell out of body completely. Joyce politely extended her hand to him, but he ignored the gesture.
"Hi, I'm Joyce Summers, Buffy's mom," she greeted.
"Principal Snyder," he stated brusquely, "We need to talk. My office is right this way."
As he carted Joyce off, Buffy felt like she just might track down some vampires and see if they felt like a Snyder snack.
"He didn't look happy," Buffy commented, as if that man ever looked happy.
"But we did such a good job," Willow whined.
"My guess," snarked the smirking Cordelia, "You'll still be grounded at our ten year reunion."
Maybe the vampires would like a nice side of Queen C, too.
"Cordelia," said Willow, "why don't you go have some lemonade."
After Cordy walked off, Buffy and Willow spent what felt like an eternity in strained silence, waiting. Joyce emerged with Snyder from his office and walked up to her daughter.
"In the car, now," she ordered.
Buffy and Willow exchange a look and then Buffy followed after her mother. Just as they're about to leave the room, Buffy heard the sound of breaking glass. She turned to see vampires jumping into the school through the windows. The vampires began to line themselves up. Out in front of them was Spike.
"What can I say? I couldn't wait," he announced.
Acting on instinct Buffy grabbed her mother's hand and began pulling her. She knew she had to get to the library and get Tenseiga. Willow, Cordelia, Snyder and several others followed them. Meanwhile other people were running all around in panic. As she got to the hallway she could hear Spike giving orders.
"Nobody gets out! Especially not the girl! And look out for her sword!"
She didn't have time to think about this as she ran toward the library. She looked back to see a couple of vampires giving chase, but it didn't matter as the library doors came into sight. Giles, Xander, and Ms. Calendar emerged from the door to see what all the commotion was about.
"What's going on?" demanded Giles.
"Spike and he brought an army. I need Tenseiga," Buffy replied
She herded the group into the library and then rushed in to retrieve her sword. Just as she grabbed it, two vampires came in through the double doors. They smirked at the apparently cornered humans.
Buffy quickly drew Tenseiga and tossed the sheath aside. The sword glowed blue as she charged. She pushed on one of them out into the hallway and stabbed at his stomach and dusted him. The other attempted to sneak up and grab her from behind, but she simply spun and hit it with him with the blade, sending him to join his friend.
She returned to the library and looked at the small crowd of people.
"I, uh, chased them off," she lied for the benefit of those out of the loop, "Barricade the doors and don't let anyone in. I'll take care of the rest."
As if to set the mood, the power went out, but the emergency lights kicked on.
"Buffy, you can't go out there. It's too dangerous!" Joyce declared.
"Mom, I have to. I'm the only one who can stop them. You have to trust me on this" Buffy answered.
"I'll come with you," Giles offered valiantly.
"No, you'll be in my way if I have to protect you. Just stay here and protect these people."
Her mother and father-figure both looked unhappy about this, but she ignored it.
"Just trust me, both of you. I can do this," she said.
She headed quickly through out the doors and immediately spotted three vampires heading her way. They charged at her and held Tenseiga out in front of her, the blade glowing intensely. When they got close she thrust the sword forward at the middle vampire. He predictably ducked and she quickly brought her sword down. It made contact with his head and he was dust. She spun around in a circle to take out the other two.
She stopped for a second to see if she could hear (or smell) any more vampires. Distantly she could hear Spike's voice.
"Here, Slayer, kitty, kitty, kitty. Why don't you come out and play?"
She immediately headed in the direction of the voice.
As she passed the lounge she noticed Sheila, the delinquent who hadn't helped her prepare for Parent-Teacher night at all, standing there.
"Buffy, what's going on? There are all these weird guys!" she said.
"Sheila, are you okay? Where have you been?"
"Sorry I'm late."
As Sheila approached her, Buffy noticed something about her. She smelled wrong, like…a vampire.
"And I'm sorry, too" Buffy responded.
Sheila paused.
"For what?"
"For not being able to protect you."
"What are you…"
She's cut off, literally, by the Slayer rushing at her and pushing the glowing blade of Tenseiga into her abdomen. Buffy was about to leave to find Spike when she noticed the body of a dead man. Tenseiga immediately began giving off a pulse like a heartbeat. The beat grew more intense as she walked over to the body.
As she stared at the body, she noticed that she could see small, almost reptilian creatures on the body. She lifted the sword and swiped it at these creatures, causing them to dissolve. Immediately the man sat up, his broken neck completely healed. He looked very confused.
"Go hide," Buffy said to him "I won't be able to do that again."
She hurried off after Spike before he could ask any questions. She just hoped the vampires were killing rather than turning if they got their hands on humans. Not even Tenseiga could bring back vampires.
After a few wrong turns she found him. He was flanked by several minions.
"Well, the Slayer shows herself! Ready to die, girlie?" Spike said, "I'll make it quick."
Buffy could feel the same feeling she got the night she met Spike. Tenseiga was shining brightly enough to illuminate the gloomy hall. Spike's eye widened a little bit at seeing that attack which had almost killed him.
"Sorry, Spikey, but I didn't put myself through the hell of putting together Parent-Teacher night to let some low life vampire scum like you kill me," she retorted, lifting her blade "those other two Slayers were probably just not very good at their jobs. I'm very good at my job, so I guess that means the only who's going to die tonight is you."
"Get 'er," he shouted at his minions.
They came at her as he made a prudent getaway.
"Coward!" she yelled after him.
She brought Tenseiga down, filling the hallway with blue light. All of the vampires turned to dust just as Spike rounded the corner, narrowly escaping death again. She briefly thought about giving chase, but decided it would be better to look for people who needed to be resurrected and any vampires still lurking around the school.
--
Spike was angry, very angry. This Slayer didn't fight like the other two. There was no trading of blows, nothing to get the blood going, just that sword. The Chinese Slayer had a magic sword, too, but not of the variety that killed a vampire on contact or create a giant wave of vampire killing energy.
Drusilla was snuggled up close to him, listening to him recount the night's events.
"I guess I should go make nice with the annoying one," he said.
"He doesn't like to play," she replied.
Spike approached to vampire boy and fell to his knees. The rage was written on the Anointed One's face.
"You failed!" he said, "And not once, but twice you disobeyed my orders and went after her prematurely!"
"I, uh, offer penance," he replied.
"Penance? Penance?!" Collin asked indignantly, "You should offer your miserable life! You've ruined everything!"
"If I had to it over again…know what? I'd it all the same except first I'd do this!"
He stood up and grabbed Collin.
"Put me down, you bastard! One of you stop him!"
One of the minions attempted to do just that, but Spike easily knocked him out of they way.
He tossed Collin unceremoniously into a cage and locked it.
"From now on, I'm in charge," he announced, grabbing the chain to hoist up the cage, "We're going to be doing a lot less ritual, and a lot more fun."
The Anointed One was screaming "NO!" over and over again as Spike pulled the cage up toward a beam of sunlight entering the warehouse. When it finally reached the light filtering in, Collin screamed as his body catches on fire.
Spike and Drusilla just laugh as the Anointed One turns to ashes.
--
Author's Notes
I hope you like what I did with the Anointed One, I wanted to give him a bit more personality than he had in canon. Even if you didn't like it, he's dead now, so it doesn't matter.
I hope I did all right on the fight scenes, I'm not so good with those.
Thanks for reading. Constructive criticism is appreciated.
Next Chapter: Halloween and another crossover