Chapter Three: Green Mist

"All right, Cordelia, let's hear it." Buffy cracked her knuckles. The cute blonde looked casual but tough, like a movie cop giving a criminal the third degree. The sexy, sun-bronzed beauty in the hot seat started spilling her guts at once.

"Well, I went to the spa to relax, and Inga gave me a massage, just like she always does. I guess I fell asleep!" Cordelia looked around the school library in a panic, wishing she could get back to Eternal Rest Spa. She felt safe there. It was dark and cool. Lately the light bothered her. "Anyway, next thing I know I'm standing in the hallway, telling Jonathan to spray paint that horrible poem all over school. That's when you guys found me. And that's all I know!"

"Maybe what made her fall asleep was the whole, you know, blood-letting thing," Willow Rosenberg suggested in a whisper. The red-head turned to Cordelia with big sad eyes. "I was the one who sent you there, Cordelia. It's all my fault if you've become unholy and evil."

"Unholy and evil-er," Xander Harris corrected. "Can I watch while you stake her, Buff? I've always wanted to see Cordelia get stuck with something hard and pointy."

"At least Buffy has a bigger stake than you do," Cordelia told him sweetly.

"Children, children, let's not stray from the point." Giles the librarian took off his glasses, frowning thoughtfully. "The mystery here is not how Cordelia was ensnared, but why the vampires let her live long enough to escape. Why would they allow a victim to alert the Slayer to their presence?"

"Simple," Buffy said, twirling her stake. "They want to die."

Buffy felt strong and confident as she slithered along the dark drainage tunnel that ran below the cemetery. Cordelia had gone all weepy when she started packing her weapons bag. From the way Cordy talked, Edwina and Inga were like her fairy godmothers. Even Giles had mumbled something about waiting until his historical research on the vampires was complete. Supposedly he recognized Edwina's name from some English witch trial way back. As if she cared! Buffy wasn't into history, but she could do the math.

Two vampires. One Slayer. The odds were way in her favor.

Suddenly the lithe, athletic blonde found herself falling into a large, white-tiled chamber. The cool air felt good, and she landed on her feet in a fighting stance. Hello, Eternal Rest.

"You come for massage?" Weird, how vampires could glide into a room silently. Even one that was as fat as an elephant. Buffy felt a little freaked out by the sheer size of the woman. And it was funny how her round, open face looked so . . . friendly. But they all changed when the fighting started.

"Honey, you need to go on a diet. Maybe try some of that new low-cal blood?"

Buffy launched her first kick with incredible speed, following it up with a stake-thrust straight to the heart. The fat woman in the starchy dress moved slower than any vampire she'd ever faced. But when she tried to bury her stake in Inga's heart, Buffy found that all that blubber got in the way. Her stake hit soft flesh and sank right in, but nothing happened.

It was like fighting the Goodyear blimp.

"Dot's not right," Inga scolded. "We no fight you. We help you." Her hurt tone of voice really clashed with her fangs.

"Yeah, right!" Buffy usually made better comebacks, but at this point she was panting so she had to keep it short. Weird how fighting such a slow-moving vamp was wearing her out so quickly. This time she spun in from the opposite side with a high kick, but the fat woman just let it slide over her head. Her flabby arms blocked all of Buffy's punches, which were getting weaker now. And then she moved forward, her fat body closing off all the escape routes, sucking up all the air.

"Stay back," Buffy gasped, feeling panic skitter down her spine. She'd never felt so weak in the knees. Maybe it had something to do with the green mist slowly filling the chamber. She needed to get out of here, and fast. But she felt so tired, amazingly exhausted. Inga caught her when she fell, and as she went beddy-bye in the arms of a vampire Buffy heard her favorite stake fall and clatter across the floor.