A/N: Well I have a huge, very long chapter for you guys. I wanted to get the ball rolling. The Plot is thickening, and the action is beginning. The major action for Part I will get under way in the next chapter or two. Like I have said before any glaring mistakes or any questions for clarity or confusion please send them my way. On a side note I attempted to include some of the plot from the Buffy Season 8 comics. I have never read them but I have looked up the plot so my story can fit into that universe, but if I am glaringly off just go with what I wrote.
On another note I am so upset that Santa Baby was cut from the Christmas episode. I was looking forward to that scene so much. I wanted the Finn and Santana scene that was talked about. It seems like every scene I look forward to seeing is getting cut from every episode. There better be a lot of deleted scenes on the Season 3 DVD set or I am not going to be a happy fan.
Anyways thank you for reading and your patience.
Happy Reading, RM
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN BUFFY OR GLEE
Someone had just walked into the party, and it made Alex's blood run cold. She knew that energy. She had sensed it for years and fought with it too many times lately to count. Whoever had just entered the party was a vampire and a quick glance at Santana made her realize she was the only one at the party who knew. This night just went from fun to dangerous.
Chapter 10
Santana tended to forget the affect that alcohol had on her. The fact that every time she went to a party and somehow turned into a weepy hysterical mess should give her some warning, some reminder to not drink so much, yet here she was, at Puck's house, with tears streaming down her face and Brittany attempting to make her happy again. There was a huge sense of déjà vu to the whole situation, one that became even stronger when the guest of honor, Matt Rutherford walked in.
When Matt had told everyone at the end of the school year that his family was packing up and moving to LA it reinforced to the New Directions that what they had was not a guarantee. Matt was one of their dozen and he had no choice but to leave them behind. Every member breathed a sigh of relief when they had three people audition for the group this year, because it made the breathing room around that dreaded rule of twelve members a little easier to deal with. They weren't getting by on the skin of their teeth anymore. Still, despite his leaving, Matt was family, so seeing him back in Lima felt right. Having her friend back was just making this night that much better.
Puck had been sitting on the couch talking to Alex. Well Santana could tell by his body language that he was attempting to hit on her, and she was even more pleased when she saw Alex shoot him down. She at least was able to predict one thing about the girl. Then the door opened and people started cheering when the new arrival walked in. Santana watched as Alex's body completely stiffened, like a shock had passed through every muscle. Santana had thought she was the only person who could get that tense that quickly. It was a weird reaction, but Santana decided to attribute it to the fact that there were some weird quirks about this new girl that she was never going to get. She turned to see who had finally walked through the door to cause the party to get so excited and that was when she realized the new party guest was none other then the guest of honor, the man of the hour, Matt Rutherford himself. Yep, her friend was back, and this night was about to get a whole lot better.
Alex just sat on the couch watching as Matt Rutherford walked around the party like he owned the place, catching up with his old friends, making them laugh, sharing memories. She didn't trust him. She wondered why Santana didn't know what he was. She was supposed to be a slayer, why couldn't she see that the guy right in front of her was a vampire.
She ignored the awkward looks people were sending her. Certainly a girl just sitting on a couch staring was weird, but she decided not to pay any attention to them. Her senses were too alert to let herself be distracted. Then, of course, the one person who had the potential to distract her walked over. Lindsay decided to come and say hi, and try as she might Alex quickly lost track of Santana and Matt once they started talking.
Santana was beginning to sober up. She couldn't say the same for her friends however. Quinn was still wasted, Brittany was going crazy with Mike on the dance floor like usual, and Puck and Matt were being their usual dork selves. It was awesome being able to catch up with Matt and hear what he has been up to since he moved. Some of the stories seemed too good to be true (meeting tons of celebrities, concerts, movie-premieres) but it seemed like Matt was enjoying his new life in LA.
It was getting close to two in the morning when Brittany stumbled over to Santana and the rest of the group. She was still really drunk but she was getting sluggish. Time to take her home. When Brittany threw her arm around Santana's shoulders and completely hung all her body weight off of her, Santana turned to the group to get ready to leave. "Hey I think it's time to head out. Brit is about to fall asleep."
The slight nod from the blonde dancer, accompanied by her putting her face into Santana's neck and shoulder seemed to reinforce her point. "Hold on Santana, I'll go home with you." The droopy look on Quinn's face told Santana that she was fast going down the same route as Brittany.
"See you both this weekend. Right guys?" Santana looked from Puck to Matt hoping that see will get to see her friend again before he left.
"You know it S," Puck quickly responded while Matt just nodded and smiled at her.
Santana hoisted Brittany up a bit so she could support her body weight better and began to wind her way through the remaining people in the house towards the front door, while Quinn quickly followed behind her. She noticed Alex sitting on the couch talking to Lindsay, still stiff but seemingly more relaxed then she was when Matt walked into the house. Then she heard her name being called from behind her. "Actually Santana hold up. Let me walk you ladies home." Santana whipped her head to see Matt putting down his drink and making his way over to them.
"Matt you don't have to. It's fine, I got this. We are good."
Matt just ignored Santana's protests and opened the front door for her so she could easily maneuver Brittany out of the house. "I insist. Besides you need someone to protect you ladies. You never know what creatures can be lurking out in the dark."
"Haha. Right, whatever." She noticed Quinn shoot her a weird look (probably because we both know what comes out at night around Lima) and began to walk down the street to head to their houses the long way. When they reached the cemetery and started to walk around it however, Matt seemed to have other ideas.
"Santana isn't it easier and quicker to go through the cemetery to get to your houses."
"Yeah, well I have a thing about going into cemeteries at night. Trust me long way is better." She once again hoisted Brittany up and began to drag her down the street again. Matt's voice stopped her.
"Trust me. I'm with you guys. You'll be safe." She looked into his eyes wondering why Matt would willingly want to go into a cemetery. Most people in Lima didn't know about the vampires that plagued the streets at night. The one's who did usual barely escaped with their lives so they didn't talk about it. Or they were like the select few around Santana, and were involved in fighting it. Matt was naïve. He didn't know the true dangers that could be in there, but Santana didn't feel like fighting him. The fact was, she was getting more tired the more she sobered up and her girlfriend wasn't getting any lighter. So after a quick look at Quinn, Santana turned and began to drag Brittany towards the cemetery.
Brittany shifted, still sobering up, still exhausted and mumbled into Santana's neck. "You sure we are safe San?"
"Yeah I'm sure Britt. We will be fine. Let's get you home babe." And with that the three girls followed Matt into the cemetery.
It was the fact that she was completely relaxed that made Alex realize that something was different. She was still talking to Lindsay when it clicked that the tension she had been feeling in her body was gone. It could have been attributed to the fact that talking to Lindsay was just making her enjoy her night more, putting her at ease. But knowing her luck, it meant something had changed.
She quickly whipped her head around, realizing that Santana, Brittany and Quinn were gone. Then her heart sank even more when she realized the vampire was gone too. What the hell? She quickly sprang up, cutting Lindsay off and ran to the kitchen to find Puck. "Puck where the hell are they?"
Puck looked up at her, obviously still drunk, like she had grown an extra head. "Who?"
"Santana, Brittany and Quinn. Who else would I be asking about?"
"Oh right. They left about five minutes ago. Matt offered to walk them home."
Alex felt her body weigh down with dread. "Who's Matt?"
Once again she got the look that made her feel like she had two heads. "Our friend from LA. The whole reason I threw this party. Wow Heart you are more out of it then me." But Alex didn't hear him. She was sprinting out the door, heading towards the cemetery hoping she could either catch them or cut them off.
The cemetery was eerily quiet, and that was coming from a slayer. Brittany and Quinn were getting more tired by the second and Brittany was getting more sluggish. The girl may be a stripper drunk but it also caused her to pass out when the alcohol started wearing off. On top of that, the thing that was making the Slayer even more nervous was the fact that Matt was getting more agitated the longer they were walking. She was so focused on Matt and dragging Britt and Quinn she didn't realize they had taken a wrong turn.
"Wait, where the hell are we Matt?" They were in the corner of the cemetery near her house but instead of making the turn towards the exit and her neighborhood they had somehow ended in the corner, between a wall and a mausoleum. "Matt we need to head back. The exit is that way."
"Hold on a second I needed to talk to you." Santana raised her eyebrow at Matt.
"Well can we talk after I get Britt and Quinn home?"
"No we need to do it here." He seemed so agitated. Santana looked at him and then her senses started going haywire. The alcohol was finally starting to wear off.
"Q, Can you take Brittany for a minute?" Brittany was holding herself up but she needed a body to lean on to stay upright. When Brittany decided she wanted to go to sleep there was no stopping her, and Santana was starting to wonder if she would need full use of her own body fairly soon.
"Yeah sure Santana. Come here Britt." Quinn reached her arms out but of course the minute Brittany felt her head leave Santana's shoulder she caught on that something was wrong. Wide awake, and with Quinn's arms around her Brittany looked from Santana to Matt and back. Santana could tell by her face that Britt could feel the tension radiating off of her. The girl always seemed to sense when Santana's moods changed and feeling that much tension, Santana knew it was only a matter of time before she caught on that something was wrong. Santana had no idea what was happening, but the longer she was kept in this corner the crazier her senses were going.
"San," Brittany was quiet, but Santana knew what the question was going to be before she asked it. "What's going on?"
"I don't know Britt. I'm waiting for Matt to tell me." Santana looked at Matt expectantly. He was looking at his watch. "Matt what the fuck is going on?"
"Santana, I will explain everything, I'm just waiting for a few friends to join us. Just trust me. When have I ever given you a reason not to trust me?"
"Friends? Why the hell would you tell your friends to meet in a cemetery? Just have them meet us at her house." Quinn just seemed exasperated.
"Quinn just stay out of this." Matt actually yelled at her. Santana's and Quinn's eyes bulged out of there heads. They had never seen Matt yell at either of them, let alone be angry. It just confirmed that something was not right. Santana senses were still going crazy. She had only been a slayer for a year, she still wasn't that good at figuring out what they were telling her. Then of course Brittany spoke up.
"Matt why are you different?"
Santana and Quinn whipped their heads towards Brittany, their eyebrows raised. Matt just frowned, wondering where she was taking this. While Brittany continued staring at Matt, almost as if she was attempting to read him, Quinn just rubbed Brittany's head trying to get her attention so she could clarify what she means. "Britt, what are you talking about?"
Britt just tore her eyes away from Matt and looked towards Santana. "Do you not feel it? He's different. He feels different. He's not the same."
He eyes met Brittany's and then her mind and senses finally clicked together. "We have to get out of here." Santana felt her body tense and panic flow through her system. She had never sensed this many at one time before.
"Santana what the hell is going on?" Quinn seemed pissed but Santana was panicking too much to care.
"Matt you can tell me whatever you need to at my house. Let's get out of here now. Come on Matt." She had grabbed Quinn's hand and started to drag her and Brittany away when Alex came out of nowhere. Santana was about to ask her what the hurry was when the girl ran full force into Matt and slammed him into the mausoleum wall. She just held him there right arm against his throat, left arm across his chest holding him against the wall.
"Alex what the hell?" Santana was yelling at her. What they all needed to do was get out of the cemetery as fast as possible. What she did not need was the new girl freaking out and attacking her friend. She ran over and grabbed Alex's shoulder but Alex threw her arm off. That was when she noticed Alex's face. There was a look of pure fury that Santana had never seen on the girl's face before. It was so intense that Santana backed away. Then Alex spoke.
"Where the hell are they?" Santana felt lost, all she could sense was that there were a lot of vampires nearby. This was no time for games.
"I was wondering when you were going to show up." Santana thought her neck was going to snap with how quick she turned to look at Matt when he spoke up. What shocked her was that he seemed completely calm.
"Well you found me. Where are your friends?" Alex just seemed to increase her pressure on Matt's throat. When he winced in pain Santana attempted to step in again. She did not have time for this. She moved forward intent on throwing Alex off. "Don't even think about it Santana."
Alex seemed so calm but the tension in her body and the fury in her face told a different story. "Alex you are hurting him. Let him go and once we get out of here we can discuss everything I'm sure of it."
The incredulous look Alex shot at her in response made Santana freeze for a second. "Can you not see that we are not getting out of here? Sober up Santana. How can you not sense what's going on?" Matt began to struggle so Alex just re-slammed him into the wall. "Where do you think you're going?" Matt winced once again but when he opened his eyes Santana saw pure hatred there. It was an emotion that seemed so foreign on her friends face. Santana looked back at Quinn and Brittany trying to see if they saw it too. Brittany was just observing everything going on while Quinn's face was slowing turning paler.
"I knew that I would draw you out slayer. I just needed to wait and bring enough reinforcements." Santana turned back to Matt, shock written on her face. How did Matt know she was the slayer? But Matt wasn't talking to her. No, Matt's gaze was fixed on Alex.
"Wait, how did you-"
"Shut up, Santana!" Alex's eyes flicked towards her. They were filled with warning.
"Alex, what the fuck is going on?" Santana looked between Alex and Matt, and then towards Quinn and Brittany. She was so confused.
"I'll tell you later Santana, I promise. Just trust me." Oh, she been hearing that phrase a lot tonight. Alex looked back at Matt and re-slammed him into the wall. "How many are there?" Matt just looked at her, his face beginning to show pain. Santana still felt the need to step in and intercede for him.
"Alex how can I trust you when you are slamming my friend into a wall?"
She expected Matt to look at her in thanks. She expected Alex to maybe turn around and start giving her an explanation. What she didn't expect was Matt to smirk at Alex and say, "You haven't told your friends yet?"
Alex's left hand pressed harder into his chest while her arm pushed against his throat has far as she could go. Santana began to wonder why Matt wasn't choking yet. "Look, all I want to hear from you is how many there are." Alex's voice was cold and defensive.
"All I have been hearing for months since you disappeared from LA is the underworld panicking. The great Alexandria Heart, the most promising up and coming slayer anyone has seen since Buffy, disappeared from the front lines of LA and we have been scrambling to figure out where you were. Imagine my surprise when you turn up in Lima. Of course they pick me because of my knowledge of the area to track you down. Didn't think it would be this easy."
Santana just felt like she had been slapped across the face. "Alex, you're a slayer?"
Alex's shoulders slumped for a second. "I will explain everything I promise." She turned her attention back to Matt. "So who you sent you to find me?"
"You realize when Marcus's killer is relocated it just tells us that the Scoobies are preparing another front. The entire underworld started fixing there sights here the second you left LA. You probably just made your life worse. Everyone is beginning to think this is the next Sunnydale. They want to know why this place is so important, so expect us to come in droves from now on. I hope you have help Slayer."
"Matt, what are you talking about?" Santana was just absorbing everything that was being said. "Who convinced you to do this? Let me help you. I can get you out of whatever trouble you are in."
Matt just laughed. Alex looked at Santana, a look of pity on her face. "You can't help him Santana." Alex went to move her hand, Santana had no idea what she was going to do, but Matt's voice once again drew all of their attention.
"I hope they kill you all. I hope you die and that we discover whatever you are trying to prevent. Lima will have no more protection." He spit in Alex's face, "I hope you die slayer."
"Well it's a good thing there are two of us then." Alex didn't give Santana a chance to comprehend everything. Her voice was calm but her body moved so quick that if Santana wasn't a Slayer herself she would have missed it. Matt's eyes flickered to Santana, a look of understanding flashed across his face. Then Alex's left arm seemed to twitch. Matt's eye's turned to the mustard yellow that Santana was so used to seeing in her enemies, and a second later he disappeared into dust.
Both Quinn and Santana seemed to step forward screaming "Matt!" But he was gone. He had turned to dust. Their friend had been a vampire, and Santana hadn't sensed it. Who the hell was Alex Heart?
Santana was still in shock. Matt had been a vampire. Quinn and Brittany stood there watching, waiting to find out what was going on. Alex gave them no time to mourn or react. She brushed the dust off her clothes, wooden stake still held tightly in her left hand. She had been twisting it in his chest just next to his heart the whole time. She had been torturing him, and all it took was a twitch to drive the stake into the heart and end him.
"Brittany can you please get Santana to snap out of it. We are not out of the woods yet. I need her help."
It was true. Santana could tell that she was in shock. She had too many questions running through her brain, too many emotions trying to take the forefront. And even worse, her senses were going crazy. There were a lot of vampires nearby. So she sensed Brittany's hand at the back of her neck, and quickly Brittany began massaging the tension out of it. She loved when Brittany did this. For some reason every time her body can completely relax, and the tension would leave her body no matter how she was feeling right before. Brittany pulled Santana into a hug and began whispering into her ear to calm her down. "Baby, I'm sorry we didn't tell you that Alex was a slayer too. But there is something not good going on right now. I need you to calm down and listen to her. Can you do that for me baby?"
Santana felt her heart drop a bit. Brittany had lied to her. She opened her eyes and began to watch Alex and Quinn talking over Brittany's shoulder. "You knew?"
"I'm so sorry San. Coach Sylvester told Quinn and me that we couldn't breathe a word of this to you."
"Quinn knew too?"
"I'm sorry baby. Please just help Alex. Are you ok?"
Santana shrugged Brittany's hand off her neck. She saw the flash of hurt across Brittany's face but she could tell that Brittany understood the anger. She had just admitted to lying. Santana was a person who didn't trust easily, especially after everything that had happened over the last year. If they got out of this she knew they were in for an argument. Santana just moved away from Brittany, and looked at Alex waiting for her to give them directions.
"Ok Q, Brittany. Please get behind us in the corner. It will be a lot easier for us to defend you both if we are keeping them out of an area then us chasing them down to protect you." Alex seemed serious and calm. She wasn't full on panicked like Santana, (or if she was she was doing amazing at hiding it) but they could all see that she was definitely worried. "Santana can you get a clear read on, or at least sense how many vampires are around."
"Wait, we can do that? We can sense how many there are?" Despite her anger, Santana was amazed. She didn't know that she could possibly do that. Alex just looked annoyed.
"What have your watchers been teaching you? Look, focus your senses. It will help us if we figure out how many are coming."
Santana attempted to focus. "I can't tell how many. I just know that there are a lot. I started sensing them when Ma-" the name caught in her throat. She still couldn't believe her friend had been a vampire, "he stopped us."
"Ok well I'm sensing at least five vampires heading this way maybe as many as ten." Santana's face paled a bit. She had never faced more then three vampires at a time. How was she supposed to handle five to ten. Alex looked over at her. "Do you have any weapons on you?"
Santana shook her head. "It was supposed to be my night off."
"We never have a night off. Here." Alex handed over the stake she had used to kill Matt. When Santana grabbed it from her, she kneeled down a pulled another much skinnier stake from out of her boot. She stood up to see three pairs of eyebrows raised at her. "What? I'm an overly cautious slayer. I bet you are all appreciating this right now."
"If we survive this, I will thank you." Quinn, ever the realist, still had a tongue on her even in the face of danger.
"Whatever Q. Ok Santana here is the plan, keep Quinn and Brittany to your back at all times. It will allow them to watch our backs and not let any of them sneak up on us. Santana just go for the heart. The faster you dust them the easier the numbers will be. Just Breath Santana."
Santana sucked in a huge breath of air, held it in as she felt her body relax and her senses clear and then released it. The second the breath had left her body, she was hit by something from above. A huge, heavy body jumped right on top of her. She felt herself get slammed into the ground. She heard Brittany scream in shock, probably already worried for her. The fight had begun.
Santana looked up to see yellow eyes, demon face and bared teeth. She could hear that Alex had been attacked already too. The male vampire had probably jumped on her from the mausoleum roof. She didn't give him a chance to attack her. Alex's warning of attacking quick kept repeating in her mind so she felt her instincts take over and her arm thrust the stake through the vampire's heart. He dusted above her, and she was finally able to see what was going on.
Santana looked up to see a vampire get dusted by Alex. Alex was crouch defensively, Brittany and Quinn protected behind her, and her gaze fixed out at five more vampires heading their way. Santana threw herself off the ground just in time to face the two closest one. One vampire was a small redhead dressed all in leather. The other was an older brunette male, hair flecked with grey. Both were in full on vamp mode, and it took seconds for the redhead to just charge at her. She was fast and before she knew it Santana was on the ground again. She was able to kick the female off of her but as she got to her feet again the male tackled her back down. That was when Santana's heart dropped from her chest.
She was able to see the female began to charge full speed at Quinn and Brittany. Alex was fighting two vampires, there was no way she could stop her. Or at least Santana knew if she was in Alex's position she couldn't do anything about it. Santana twisted with cat like speed, and drove her stake through the male's heart and before he even dusted she began scrambling to help Brittany and Quinn. She heard Brittany scream, "Santana!" when she felt a hand grab her ankle.
The fifth vampire she had seen had finally made it to the fray. She kicked his hand off her foot, kicked him across the face and while he was stunned finished him off. She scrambled to her feet, hating the fact that she seemed to have spent more time on the ground during this fight then actually standing. She was relieved to see that there were no more vamps. She turned to see Alex hunched over hands on her knees breathing deeply. And then she saw that Brittany was on the floor, head in Quinn's lap, not moving. Santana's eyes went red and then she started charging at Alex.
She tackled Alex to the ground, grabbing her shirt, completely upset and angered. "You were supposed to protect her. They weren't supposed to get hurt. What the fuck happened?" Alex opened her mouth to respond when she heard Quinn's voice.
"Santana! Get off of her. Brittany is fine, it's just a scratch."
Santana looked over to see Brittany sitting up on her own. Sure enough there was a bloody scratch on her cheek marring her otherwise perfect face. "I'm fine babe. I was just catching my breath."
Santana released Alex's shirt and got off of her so she could stand up. She then walked over and hugged Brittany while Alex explained what happened. "The red head got through and tackled Brittany to the ground. I tried to get to her but I was otherwise engaged. Brittany was able to get her legs under the vamp and kicked her off. It gave me enough time to get over and finish her off. You are lucky your girlfriend's a dancer."
"We are just lucky that we survived that." Once again Quinn the realist had to pipe in. "You realize you guys just fought nine vampires."
Everyone was catching their breath, the adrenaline from the fight slowly leaving everyone's system. That was when Santana mind cleared enough for her to remember what Matt had said. She let go of Brittany and whipped towards Alex facing her. "Wait, you are a slayer?"
"Yes."
"And how did you know that I was a slayer?"
"I was told about you before I even moved here."
"Wait, you were told about me. You knew who I was the whole time and you just pretended to have no clue about it?"
"Yes."
"Were you just trying to befriend me to get close to me?"
Alex was looking at her feet. Santana knew that her anger was steadily growing, and the fact that Alex was beginning to look guilty was only going to set her off more. "Initially that was the assignment they asked me to do, yes."
"Is anything you told me over the past few week true?" Santana hated being lied to, and as grateful as she was to Alex for helping them a few minutes ago, right now she felt used and betrayed. This stranger had purposefully used information about her to get close to her and gain her trust. How was she supposed to be friends with someone like that?
"I told you as much of the truth as I could but I have left out a lot of information from you and have hidden some stuff from you. I'm so sorry Santana but I had no choice." Santana looked at Alex's face, and even though she did see how sincere Alex was it didn't change the fact that she felt used. Santana then remembered what Brittany said.
"You two knew and you didn't tell me? I thought you were on my side."
Brittany seemed to be on the verge of tears because she was seeing how hurt Santana was getting. Quinn just shook her head. "Coach Sylvester said we shouldn't tell you anything until she deemed it was the best time."
"I don't care what Coach said. I am the slayer. I am the chosen one. I am the one who is putting my life on the line to protect everyone in this god-forsaken, backwards town. I should have been the first to know." The more she spoke the louder she was getting. She could feel the anger bubbling through her system. And as much as she hated herself for it, the anger was quickly turning to panic.
So Santana continued her rant. "I don't care who sent you here or what your mission is, I want you gone." Her finger was right in Alex's face, she was yelling at her, and to make her even more mad, Alex was just taking the abuse. "I had everything under control and you just made it worse. You heard Matt. Evil is coming here because you showed up, so I want you gone. I want you out of Lima and I don't want to see your face again." She shoved Alex hard against the wall, and to Quinn and Brittany it seemed like déjà vu from what they had witnessed earlier. "I am not going to risk my friends and family to help with a war that you seemed to have brought with you to my door step Alex. So you better leave and move all these targets that are on your back somewhere else."
Santana turned and began to walk away leaving a dejected but understanding Alex, and a stunned Quinn and Brittany. Brittany still had guilty tears in her eyes. "Do you want me to walk home with you, San?" The hope in her voice practically killed Santana. Brittany wanted everything between them to be fine, hoped that they could talk this out and move past it quickly. But Santana was too pissed to be with anyone right now, including Brittany. She just needed some time alone.
So she looked at Brittany, just mumbled, "Not tonight Britt," and continued walking away from her three "friends".
Then she heard Alex shout, "Santana!" and her anger boiled over again. She turned yelling "Just shut the Fuck up Alex!" to see that she had a huge vampire towering over her. He just smiled his evil grin and slammed his fist into Santana's head. Santana knew it was a bad hit before she even hit the ground. Her world started going blurry, and her last thought before she blacked out was that Alex was right. There were ten vampires.
He watched from afar. He watched as the slayer in red spent most of the fight on the ground, while the other girl fought like a seasoned professional, constantly on her feet and taking care of the ambush with apparent ease. He felt his heart speed up in excitement when a vampire made it past the fighters and jumped on the two blondes they were protecting, but she was somehow kicked off and dusted before anyone was seriously damaged. He was disappointed at the failed attempt, but he knew it was just luck the group had survived. The whole group of girls was lucky that the vampires attacked in waves instead of all at one time. Alex would not have been able to handle the fight if the vampires all attacked at once. He knew that for certain.
Alexandria Heart had improved since he had fought her last. Unfortunately this meant his enemy would be much harder to kill, but, it also brought a heightened sense of danger to his personal vendetta.
He watched as the girls fought amongst themselves, the Latina girl attacked Alex and then walked off away from the group. He saw one last vampire sneak up and knock her out, then a second later join his comrades when Alex Heart had her stake in his back. Yes she had definitely improved. He waited and watched as Alex picked the Latina off the ground and carried her out of the cemetery with the two blondes closely following. Then he came out of the shadows and his companion started to speak.
"Are you sure that's the slayer you've been looking for?"
The man just turned his head and glared at the man. He just nodded his head and then quickly walked away to begin his plans.
Santana's head was throbbing. God this was the worst hang over ever. "I am never drinking again," she moaned as she rolled over in bed and moved her pillow over her head to block out the sunlight.
"You say that after every party babe." Brittany was in her bed, sitting up and leaning against the headboard.
"I think this time I agree with her. We look like hell." With that Santana sat up a little too quick. Quinn was sitting in the corner, on Santana's desk chair reading. "S are you feeling ok? How's your head?"
"My head fucking hurts. What the hell happened last night?" Santana's head was hurting to much to attempt to remember. She saw Quinn and Brittany give each other a worried glance and then Brittany grabbed Santana's hand and began explaining.
"You remember we went to Puck's party last night?"
"Yeah of course, I made Alex go and he was throwing it for Matt."
Brittany nodded, and so Quinn decided to step in. "Do you remember what happened when we went home?"
Santana tried to clear her mind. "Matt walked us home, made us cut through the cemetery. Her started acting weird, Alex showed up out of nowhere…" Brittany and Quinn flinched as they watched Santana's eyes bulge out of her head as she remembered the night before.
Santana leaped out of bed throwing on clothes as she dialed a number on her phone that she was planning to delete soon. Alex picked up after two rings. Santana didn't give her a chance for a greeting. "Where the fuck are you right now?"
She heard Alex exhale. "I'm at school."
"Fine I will be at the choir room in twenty minutes," and with that she hung up and continued throwing on clothes. Brittany and Quinn followed suit, wanting to stop Santana from killing anyone as well as hoping they will get some answers soon. Alex may have told them about being a slayer, but there was a lot more to the puzzle that they had yet to find out.
Santana stopped talking to both of them the minute she remembered. She just finished getting ready in silence, then the three of them got into her car and headed to school.
Santana hadn't walked this fast in a while. Quinn and Brittany were doing their best to keep up, but in her mind they weren't even there. She hadn't decided if she wanted to reinforce her threat from last night or get the answers to the questions that had begun running through her mind since last night. She turned the corner to see Alex leaning against the wall waiting. She was wearing a very large workout shirt, the collar big enough to go over a shoulder and show off the strap of a sports bra. She also had black sweat pants and running shoes. Her hair was up in a messy pony tail, and she was sweaty.
The fact that she looked like she had been working out was not what surprised Santana the most. In fact it was that she was leaning there talking to Puck. She felt the anger from last night surge again and before she knew it she was yelling. "Puck you knew too?" Before Puck could even respond Santana was attacking Alex, pushing her against the wall, shoving her by the shoulders. "What? Did you tell all of my friends but me Alex? Huh? Was this all part of your freakin' master plan to befriend me or something?" She felt Puck grab her by her stomach and he began pulling her off Alex.
"Santana, calm down. I have no idea what you are talking about. You should know better then anybody that I have detention every Saturday until I graduate. So stop struggling and tell me what's going on." Santana stopped moving so Puck slowly let her go.
"You better start explaining real quick Heart?" Santana was pissed, but she wanted her answers.
The eye roll should have warned Santana that Alex was not that happy this morning. "Oh really. Now you want answers. I thought you wanted me out of town." Puck was quick enough to stop Santana from attacking her again.
"Lopez stop trying to go Lima Heights on the girl and tell me what the hell is going on." Puck was looking around confused wondering why Quinn and Britt looked guilty, and why Santana was trying to kill the new girl.
Santana just stopped fighting, shot a glare at Alex, and then decided to answer Puck. "Did you know Alex is a Slayer?"
"Wait, what? How is that possible? How did you figure this out? Last time I saw you Matt was walking you home."
"Oh yeah, she killed him."
It was Puck's turn to go ballistic, as Alex desperately tried to defend herself. "He was a vampire! I'm sorry I had no choice."
Of course with all the yelling they were bound to attract a teacher. Luckily for them it was Mr. Schuester. He ran out of the choir room attempting to get them to shut up. "What the hell is going on out here? Keep your voices down."
"Oh hi Mr. Schuester. Did you know that Alex was a slayer?" Santana knew she was just doing this out of anger but she wanted to see Alex squirm and she felt the need to know that she wasn't the only one who was in the dark. If Mr. Schuester's gob-smacked expression was any indication, she and Puck weren't the only ones who didn't know.
"And she killed Matt apparently." Puck was extremely hurt by the fact that his friend was a vampire. He didn't want to believe it.
Mr. Schuester just looked at Alex, and took in her guilty expression. "Alex is this true?"
Santana watched as Alex seemed to debate in her head for a second and then she stood up from the wall and looked out at the group. "Let's get out of the hallway. Come with me and I will attempt to answer everything. Then I guess you can decide whether you can forgive me and attempt to work with me. Come on." And with that she walked past them and led them down the hall.
It didn't take long for Santana to register that Alex was leading them to the library. She had just followed Alex in this direction yesterday when she invited her to the party, so she knew the girl spent a lot of time here. But she still wasn't getting why Alex was taking them there now. She followed as Alex led them through the double doors and once everyone was inside she locked them. She then led them behind the main reception desk through a door marked Reference, and began to lead them past shelves and shelves of books. The small group seemed to come to a dead end, and Santana was about to release her frustration again when she saw Alex reach over and pull out a book. Straight out of a science fiction novel the wall actually slid open to reveal a whole other room behind it. Santana felt her mouth drop open and could see the Puck and Mr. Schuester were doing the same. Quinn raised her eyebrows in shock and Brittany just stood there dejected because Santana still had yet to acknowledge or speak to her since this morning.
When Alex walked inside, not even looking behind her to see their faces, Santana expected to follow her into an empty room. But before she could even set foot in the place she heard a male voice with a thick British accent start talking from the room. "I said you could have a ten minute break thirty minutes ago Alex. How the hell are we supposed to get the training done if you aren't even going to be here when I ask you?"
Alex just ignored the voice and continued to walk across the room to the opposite wall and leaned against it, crossing her arms over her chest. She looked up at Santana, practically telling her to come in with her eyes as she spoke up, "We have visitors Liam."
Santana decided to take Alex's cue and walked in. The room was impressive. If Alex had been training here it was no wonder she had been able to take down seven vampires last night compared to her three (yes her brain had cleared enough to remember the whole fight). There was every weapon and training machinery available, plus lots of space to fight and move in. If there were mirrors Brittany would have loved to dance in this place. There were also tons of old books and manuscripts that seemed to be the same age and style as the books Mr. Schuester and Coach Sylvester kept in their offices for their training.
Santana then saw there were two other people in the room besides Alex. The male, who Alex had named Liam looked like the perfect, young, dapper British librarian complete with glasses and all. But what shocked her more was that the other person in the room was non-other then Coach Sylvester. Both of them were looking up to see who was entering the room. Finally Sue spoke up. "Well Schuester it's about time you took the blinders off and figured out what was going on. Heart, if I knew you were this bad at keeping secrets I wouldn't have put all this work in to help you."
Alex just glared at the woman, and for a second, Santana appreciated the fact that the girl seemed to despise Sue Sylvester as much as everybody else. "We were ambushed last night. I had no choice but to tell her."
That seemed to get the British man's attention. "Wait you were ambushed. Why didn't you say that when you got here. How many?"
Santana watched as Alex made eye contact with her and then answered, "I believe it was ten after all was said and done. The one that initiated it said that it was specifically set up to look for me, so after working together for a month I am hoping you two have answers because I am tired of doing this blind. Where's the hellmouth?"
Alex had lost her there. What the hell was a hellmouth? And why the hell are the British guy and Coach Sylvester spending their time looking for it? So Santana decided she was going to get her answers first. "Ok. Wait a minute! Hold Up. I am going to go Lima Heights on all your asses unless someone tells me what is going on. How the hell are there two slayers in this room right now? I was told there this is a chosen one. Not two. And what the hell is a hellmouth?"
The British man seemed to look at her, gauging if she was serious or not, and then he walked over with his hand outstretched. "Ok then we will answer your questions. I'm Liam. I am her watcher." He nodded towards Alex like a parent would to their child. She couldn't tell if Alex was the pride and joy of the man or the trouble maker though. "Alex and I were sent here to try and help you because of how fast the fighting was escalating here. We believe this could be the location of a new hellmouth."
Santana just shook his hand and looked around at her friends. Mr. Schuester, although watching and listening attentively looked like he was deep in thought. Puck was still looking in amazement at all the weapons, Quinn seemed to be on the same page as Santana, and Brittany was just watching Santana attentively. "Ok that's fine but you still didn't answer my question. How are there two of us?"
"Oh there are hundreds of you." Santana's eyes widened in shock. She had not expected that answer. "You have heard of Buffy, right?"
Santana suddenly felt like she was being given a pop quiz. "Of course. She was the slayer before me. We had assumed she had been killed when I got my powers."
"Actually she's still alive," Santana turned to see it was Alex that spoke up. "I haven't met her but last I heard she was holding up a front in Italy. Could be completely false though."
Liam just waited for Alex to stop and then continued his questions. "Ok have you also heard of the Sunnydale Gas Line explosion?"
Santana chanced a glance at Quinn who was mirroring the same raised eyebrow expression she was. Where the hell was British guy going with this? "Well I was five when it happened so I don't remember much but wasn't that when an entire town in California was blown up because of an explosion."
That was when Mr. Schuester's head shot up, and he gasped in realization. "Wait so the legend is true? I thought that was just a possibility. I didn't realize it had already been accomplished."
Liam just nodded his head to Mr. Schuster and then fixed his attention back on Santana. "Sunnydale was the first hellmouth that was actually found and defended by a Slayer. There had been plenty of rumours of one existing, but that was the first time it had been found. It was thought to be the only one, so when a major apocalypse was happening, the Slayer at the time found a way to bypass the chosen "one" clause of Slayers and activated any potentials who were going through emotional duress at that moment. There is no longer one slayer defending the world. There are hundreds. You and Alex just happen to be two of them."
As much as the explanation made sense there was one thing that wasn't sitting right. "Hold on. But I wasn't activated when I was younger. I got my powers a year ago."
"We have noticed that the death clause in the Slayer curse still seems to be in effect. When a Slayer dies, a potential that wasn't in the emotional mindset during Sunnydale is activated to replace them. I think that is what happened to you."
Santana just nodded her head. "Ok so if Sunnydale was the hellmouth, why are you looking for one here? And what is a hellmouth?"
"A hellmouth is a direct gateway, a portal, into hell itself. Sunnydale was believed to be the only hellmouth, but after it was destroyed the Slayers at the time discovered that was not the case. Very soon after, a hellmouth was discovered in Scotland."
"And in Italy," Sue cut in this time.
"And I heard of one rumored in China," Mr. Schuester may not have been privy to what had been going on but he had heard whisperings of Buffy and her armies.
"And there is still a major front in LA because we are not sure if the evil there is truly finished. There is a lot of demon activity there." Santana looked at Alex and she looked so much older as she spoke of what was happening there. It was so weird to be hearing about all of this now when she had been involved in this war for the past year.
"Wait and now you think one of those hellmouth things is in Lima? That's pretty unlikely don't you think? We are in the middle of freakin' nowhere."
"Yeah I'm with Santana. It seems very unlikely for a gateway to hell to be placed in the middle of rural America." Of course Quinn had to give her two cents in. Santana appreciated that she had her back, but it still didn't excuse the fact that she was mad at her.
"Where a place just happens to fall on the map does not determine where a hellmouth will turn up. There could be one in the middle of the ocean for all we know. There just needs to be a strong concentration of evil and it will appear." Liam turned around and moved back to the desk with Sue, and began to look over the papers in front of him again.
Santana still felt that she was behind the curve on the whole situation. "What makes you think that there is a hellmouth here?"
Liam looked up again. "Well, there was the fact that vampire and demon activity was escalating at a very rapid pace. Plus we were hearing rumors of some major players possibly heading this way. And our suspicions were even more solidified when Alex found the map."
"Map? What Map?" Santana had whipped her head towards the girl in question.
Alex was looking at her shoes. "Do you remember when you and Puck saw me in the cemetery like a month back?"
"Yeah?" It was Puck who spoke first. That fact that he was a part of this story had captured his interest.
"Well I was patrolling and I happened to surprise three vamps who were having some sort of meeting. I ended up having to chase one and while he was running he burned most of what they were looking at, but I was able save a bit of it. Liam and Coach Sylvester have been trying to analyze it to see if they can get the hellmouth's location. It appeared to be a part of a map."
"Can I see it?" Santana held out her had. Liam shot a look to Coach Sylvester and when she nodded Liam handed over a plastic bag with a piece of paper in it. The minute her had touched it she felt Mr. Schuester, Puck, Quinn, and Brittany gather around behind her. It didn't look anything like she recognized but it was nice to feel like she wasn't in the dark anymore. "Ok Alex, How did Coach Quinn and Britt find out about you?"
"They caught me using the Cheerios ice bath one night after training. When Coach Sue saw my vamp bite she assumed the worst and tried to kill me. My reaction wasn't exactly what she had been expecting. She made Quinn and Britt promise not to tell you, and she began coming up here every afternoon to work with Liam and to see my training regimen."
"Wait a second, so you have been hiding this from me for a month?" Santana had thought it was a couple of days, maybe a week. She hadn't imagined that Quinn and Britt would keep this from her for a month.
Brittany flinched. She hated when Santana was mad, but when it was aimed at her it was so much worse. "I'm so sorry hun. I wanted to tell you I really did." Santana just lifted her had off to silence her. She was going to end this.
"Look this is how I see it." Everyone in the room watch Santana as she glared at Quinn, Britt, Coach Sue, and finally Alex. Alex just stood there against the wall wondering if her life was about to get so much simpler because the truth was out, or ten times harder because she was going to have to deal with a pissed off Santana for even longer. "If you all truly needed me to help you find a fight against this hellmouth then you would have told me a lot sooner. You wouldn't have had me be one of the last to find out if I was going to be one of the main players in this battle. So as far as I can tell, Alex has been doing a fine job without me and I am not needed anymore."
Alex attempted to cut her off, "Santana, hold on that's not what we were trying to do at all."
"Just let me finish," Santana was attempting to hide her inner panic attack. She was just going to quit. "Obviously Alex is very qualified to handle everything here. She has been practically doing it on her own since she showed up so I am not needed. You don't need two of us."
"Sandbags," it was Sue cutting in this time. "Don't be ridiculous. We need both of you for this, if we are right it is only going to get worse."
"The only reason it's getting worse is because she came here." Santana was full on pointing at Alex now. "I heard what Matt said."
Alex was shaking her head. "S, he was just trying to get in your head."
"No shut up, you are not my friend. You don't get to call me that, and you killed Matt so how am I supposed to know he wasn't telling the truth. All I know is that once you showed up things started getting crazier. And as far as I can tell it is going to get worse because you are here. You are the problem so why should I help you?"
"Santana, I can't fight this on my own. I need your help."
Santana just looked down at the floor, and shook her head. "This isn't my war. I don't want to be a part of it. I will defend who I love, but I am not going to go out of my way to help you. I'm sorry." And with that, Santana walked out of the dojo and the library without looking back at anyone.
Alex just stood there and watched Santana leave. She felt the weight on her shoulders increase just that little bit. Liam voice broke the silence. "Well if you all will excuse us, I need to train my slayer."
Puck, Schuster, Quinn, and Brittany all whipped their heads towards the voice in shock, but Alex was absolutely incredulous. "Are you fucking kidding me? I am done for the day."
They all watched the look of shock flash across Liam's face. Obviously he wasn't used to his slayer talking back. "Santana will come around. You can work on convincing her again tomorrow."
"Seriously? Why couldn't we tell her everything when we first showed up Liam? I have wasted so much time and energy hiding and lying to her when we were supposed to be partners. And instead of having good solid information for her when she finally gets read-in, we still have theories and guesses. That's not good enough."
Liam just looked at Alex, his face blank of emotion. "Alex, we are working as hard as we can. You need to train."
"No, I will train when you have answers for me or when I can convince Santana to help me. I have no idea what I'm preparing for and that is not good enough. I can't do this all my own. Find me answers. I will not fight this war blind." And with that Alex left the room, followed closely by the other teens in the room. When the three Watchers were the only ones left, they looked at each other, all with the same question on their mind.
What the hell was going on? And how were they going to stop it?