FLASHBACK: SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 8 P.M.: The gym and girls' locker room were the only areas of the school with lights on. The Razorback cheerleading squad had been working for more than an hour already, but, to Cordelia, perfection was not a matter of time spent but precision achieved.
"Try to keep up, Buffy," said Cordelia.
"You're forgetting that I'm not actually on the cheerleading squad," said Buffy. "I'm just here to provide security."
"Well, you're holding the rest of us back," Cordelia complained. "Get with it or step aside."
"Gladly," Buffy said. She began to head for the bleachers.
"Where do you think you're going?" demanded Cordelia.
"Just having a little sit-down," answered Buffy.
"Then we won't have the right number," Cordelia complained.
"Makes no difference to me," replied Buffy.
Suddenly, they heard a scream.
"What was that?" asked Harmony?
"Shhh," said Buffy. She stood still for a moment. "Sounds like it came from the boys' locker room."
"I guess you'd know," giggled Harmony.
"Quiet," ordered Cordelia. "What is it, Buffy?"
"I don't know, but I'm going to check it out. Get everybody into the locker where they keep all the athletic gear. Lock the door behind you, and don't come out until I tell you the coast is clear."
"All right," Cordelia said in a stage whisper, "everyone come with me."
"But I don't want to go into that locker," complained Harmony. "It smells like Coach Haskell in there."
"So that's what that smell is," mused Cordelia. "Oh, never mind, Harmony, let's go."
Trusting Cordelia to herd the cheerleaders into storage, Buffy went out of the gym and into the hallway. All was quiet and dark. Her eyes adjusted to the dimness in a moment. Seeing no one, she pulled on the door to the boys' locker room. It was locked. She gave it a tug with all her might and the entire handle and lock mechanism came away in her hand as splintered wood rained onto her gym shoes. "Sometimes I wish I could say that I don't know my own strength," she said. Tearing a piece of wood from the torn door, she went into the locker room. Turning the corner of a bank of lockers, she saw a girl cowering on a bench, sobbing. Buffy approached her and said, "It's ok, I'm going to get you out of here." But the girl just kept sobbing into her lap.
A vampire left a shadowy corner of the room and approached Buffy from behind. With ease, Buffy staked him without even turning around, and when the girl before her stopped sobbing and arose in full game face, Buffy staked her, as well.
In the showers, two vampires attacked Buffy, and again she slew both of them easily. Buffy explored the locker room until she was satisfied that it as vampire-free.
When she reentered the hallway, she found herself by the stairs leading to the walkway above the courtyard. As she climbed the stairs, two vampires came at her, one from above and one who had been downstairs. Buffy slew the one in front of her before turning on the one behind. "Hiding from me," she said. "That's not fair." She kicked the vampire on the chin and sent him bouncing down the stairs. Bones noisily crunched. The vampire groaned, but then climbed to his feet. "Work through that pain, why doncha," quipped Buffy. She edged up the stairs, looked around and then faced the partially crippled vampire ascending toward her. "Silly vampire," she said. "You don't have a chance."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that," said a voice from behind her. Buffy turned to see Mr. Trick, flanked by five vampires—five on each side of him. Before she turned back to face her crippled opponent, it registered that all eleven of the vampires behind her were standing in a neat row in the same posture, almost like disciplined soldiers at parade rest. They were not about to rush her: they were biding their time.
Then the crippled vampire before her placed his hands around Buffy's throat in a frontal stranglehold. Buffy hesitated for only a moment before bringing her palms together and forcing her arms upward like a wedge between his arms. She then wrapped her arms around his so that she not only broke his stranglehold hold but pinned his arms under her own. Lowering her head, she draw him in and battered his face with the top of her head. Next she let go of him and delivered a kick to his chest, this time sending him all the way to the bottom of the stairs.
From behind her came the sound of applause. It was only two hands clapping, but the echo resounded off of the high ceiling of the walkway and even against the wall across the courtyard. Buffy turned to see that Trick's men had not moved, but Trick himself had taken one step forward and was putting his hands together in slow, rhythmic slaps.
"Mm-hm! That was some fightin'," he said. "Let's see what else you got." Trick glanced at the first vampire to his immediate left. The vampire assumed game face and rushed forward. Buffy blocked a kick and a punch before beginning her own barrage of punches that forced the vampire to stagger backward. Buffy drew her stake and finished him.
No sooner had she done this when a male and female pair of vampires rushed Buffy simultaneously. The dark-haired, dark-clad female was more skilled than the male and survived him. Buffy was feeling tired now, though. And as she squared off against the female, suddenly three additional vampires surrounded her. Deftly moving between two of them, she placed herself outside of their circle. One vampire rushed her only to be impaled on her stake.
"You see that, people?" called Trick. "Don't get careless so close to victory. Time is on our side. Use it. Wear her down."
"I don't see you taking any of the risks they are," said Buffy breathlessly. "Are you going to talk me to death?"
"Oh I'll get involved when I'm good and ready," said Trick. At that moment, the black-clad female moved in. Buffy went to stake her; the vampire parried, then deftly kicked the stake from Buffy's hand. Buffy had only enough time to see it sail over the balustrade before she had to dodge another vampire's attack. The stake made a faint clatter when it landed in the courtyard.
"Now, what have you got left?" asked Trick.
"I still have me," replied Buffy defiantly.
"Yeah," said Trick, "but I got you outnumbered." To the others he added, "Wear her down."
And they did. Trick sent in another and another vampire until he alone stood outside the fray.
Buffy was nearly out of breathe—something vampires never were. She was able to land an occasional blow, but she was not slaying any now. The fight went on for more than an hour. In the end, Buffy fell and could no longer get up. Only one of the vampires on the landing was similarly prostrate.
"Well, I have got to step in and finish the job now," said Trick. The other vampires parted for their leader, and he strode in. He leaned over Buffy who, with one last effort kicked him in the groin. "Ooh, that is what ya call determination. You don't think we are going to just kill that, do you?" he said to the others. "No, we need that kind of skill on our side. We are going to turn this one. When we do, things are gonna get better. The Mayor will be happy, and, more importantly, we'll be happy. You dig?"
None of the vampires said anything, but Buffy said, "No."
"Don't worry," said Trick. "You'll thank me later."
As hours drew by, Cordelia and the other cheerleaders became increasingly restless. Cordelia herself wanted to get out of that smelly closet, but she understood better than the rest of them how dangerous it was out there. She was running out of lame explanations to keep her girls in line.
"Don't be such a wuss, Aphrodesia," said Cordelia. "If we stay in here, we'll be safe. Why do you think I invited Buffy tonight? She's pretty good at bodyguard stuff, even if she is déclassé, hanging out with the geek squad and all."
"Oh, I thought it was because you date one of her geek friends," said Sarah.
"I need to pee," said Harmony.
"Well, welcome to the club," snapped Cordelia. "I've been a charter member for the past hour."
"What's keeping her?" complained Aphrodesia.
"I don't know, but if she doesn't come back it's because there are bad people out there," said Cordelia. "And, believe me, I'd rather be in here than face those, ah, people."
"What people?" complained Harmony. "I don't care anymore. I'm going to open this door."
"No you're not!" warned Cordelia.
"Shh," said Aphrodesia. "I think I hear someone coming."
"Cordelia, the coast is clear," said Buffy's voice.
"Really?" asked Cordelia.
"No," said Harmony, "she's making it up. Now will you open the friggin' door?"
Cordelia and Harmony undid the chain on the inside of the door together, but as soon as they did, it was pulled open from outside by half a dozen figures with hideously bumpy faces. Two were female and one of these resembled Buffy down to the cheerleader outfit she had been wearing. As these monsters closed in on them, the cheerleaders began to scream. Only one, the youngest vampire hung back.
"What are you waiting for?" Trick asked him. "Get in there."
"But it smells like coach Haskell in there," she complained.
"You'll smell worse than that if you don't get in there!"
The cheerleaders were dragged out and some were unceremoniously drained of their blood. Clothing was removed from the rest so that they could be passed at leisure from diner to diner. The black-clad female took a particular interest in Harmony who sobbed and wept copiously. The vampiress grabbed Harmony by the hair; pulled her head back. She nibbled her neck and face and then licked the blood and tears away.
"You know," said the vampiress, speaking for the first time. "We need to replace some of our losses."
"So what, Malicia?" said Trick. "You want to replace them all with Miss Waterworks? She's probably worth about ten men." The other vampires laughed.
"We've already eaten most of them," said Malicia. "We should consider turning those who remain."
"This one has got to be the prettiest," said a tall vampire who dressed like a leather cowboy but spoke with a European accent. He held Cordelia's nude body by the shoulders and presented her to the others. "What should we do with her." Cordelia futilely tried to cover herself as she whimpered, "Please don't kill me."
"WE aren't doing anything with her," said Buffy. "I am." She stepped forward and took Cordelia's arm, glaring at the tall vampire until he let her go.
"Seems the new girl's awful uppity," said Trick. "As your official sire, I might have somethin' to say about this."
"'Official' is right," snarled Buffy. "I've got more skill and experience than you'll ever have. You took me when you had all your friends, and I had the disadvantage of being human, but do you want to go mano a mano right now?"
Trick hesitated, then looked around at his people—who were watching him. "What do you want her for?" Trick asked finally.
"Let's just say I have some unfinished business with this bitch. First I'm going to make her into my own special toy, and then, if I'm not too bored, I'll turn her." Buffy pressed Cordelia by the shoulder, making the frightened girl sink to her knees.
"Want your own protegee already?" asked Trick.
"More than that. I'll be recruiting my own army. If anybody's interested, meet me back here in an hour." Buffy glanced down at Cordelia who was crumpled in a quivering heap at Buffy's feet. "Make that two hours."
"We have to get out of here by dawn," said Trick. "In case you forgot: things are different now."
"It's Sunday, Trick. No one will be here all day. And are you forgetting I already know all the tunnels connecting to the school—maybe even a couple you don't know about?" With that, Buffy took Cordelia by the hair and dragged her away as is if she were as light as a lunch box.
"Don't you want no help?" Trick lamely called after her.
"No," Buffy said without turning around, "This is a private party."
When Buffy and Cordelia had disappeared from their view, the rest of the vampires—excepting Malicia who busied herself making Harmony a vampire—amused themselves by redressing the dead cheerleaders and arranging them in the pattern of a horizontal pyramid on the floor of the gymnasium.
"Buffy is out of control," Trick was telling Spike. "Too good for her sire now. She an' that head cheerleader went off on their own, taking half my crew with 'em! No respect for their elders among young people these days!"
"So you pretty much bolloxed up," Spike observed dryly.
"Listen, you can still be dust," warned Trick.
"No need to go bonkers, now," said Spike. "Just makin' an observation."
"It's the kind of observation I don't need anybody makin'."
The Mayor was about to swing his miniature-golf club when he looked around and saw Spike and Trick at his office door. "Well, well. More surprise visits," said Wilkins. "I have to admit, Mr. Trick, I didn't expect you to fulfill your promise by bringing him back alive. I hope you still intend to kill him."
"Hear him out, Mr. Mayor," said Trick. "He didn't do it, but he knows who did."
"Be that as it may, when I say to eliminate someone, I generally don't want them standing in the middle of my office an hour later."
"See, here, Wilkins," said Spike. "Before you have me eliminated, you need to know I've seen the Slayer, and she ain't completely dead, if you get my meaning."
"That's impossible. It's been confirmed."
"Ah, but you don't 'ave the corpse, do you?" said Spike. "I've seen her."
"Are you two telling me Buffy Summers is a vampire?"
"I haven't seen her myself," lied Trick, "but I have heard from our people that she is out there, and she's the one that's been doing all the killin', not Spike. Not only that, but...well, Mr. Mayor, you know how we've been a little shorthanded lately...?"
"Yes, that's the next item that I was planning to bring to your attention," said Wilkins.
"Well, It turns out Buffy has been recruitin' her own army."
Wilkins leaned wearily against his desk. "This is certainly an upsetting turn of affairs."
"And there's another reason your man here didn't off me right away," said Spike. "I got a plan you might want to hear—a plan to kill 'er."