"So what seems to be the problem?"
Rachel squirmed in the small space of her office. Her office was really a fold-out chair and a nightstand that she'd shoved into one of McKinley High's unused custodial closets. She'd placed one of Finn's bean bag chairs opposite her, where at the moment, Morgan Ru was shifting uncomfortably and the rest of the closet's space was taken up by Dave Karofsky's broad shoulders. It wasn't what Rachel had pictured when she decided to make an official office for her couples' therapy sessions, but everyone's gotta start somewhere.
"He won't kiss me," Morgan whined, throwing an accusing glare at Karofsky, "Even right now he seems to want to be anywhere but with me."
Karofsky groaned and squirmed next to Morgan on the bean bag chair. "Maybe I'm just trying to respect you. Like a gentleman."
"That can't be it," Rachel shook her head, "Sometimes tension and negligence can occur in a relationship when someone is hiding something. David, is there anything you'd like to tell Morgan?"
Karofsky gave a tight head-shake.
"If I find out you're cheating on me, Dave Karofsky..." Morgan's face began to turn slightly red, "You better not be hiding anything."
"I'm not! I swear!" Dave threw up his hands.
"Good! I don't want to have to find out something about you from people like, like... Quinn Fabray, or... Man-Hands Berry!" Morgan cried.
"Hey, I'm right here. Trying to help you," frowned Rachel.
"This is stupid," Dave shook his head, and rose from the bean bag, looking as big as a bear in the small closet space.
"Don't make me look like an idiot, Dave!" cried Morgan, "If I find out that you're hiding something from me, I can make your life Hell! Jocks are second only to cheerleaders. Remember that!"
Dave walked out of the closet, his big shoulders tense.
"Wait!" Morgan cried, and ran after him, "Come back! I love you!"
The door swung closed again and Rachel sighed. "I have a feeling I'll be seeing them again," she said to herself.
The door opened again and Sam stuck his head in. "Hey, Rachel," he said, blinking behind a shaggy blond fringe.
"Hello, Sam," Rachel clasped her hands together and smiled formally, "Would you like to schedule an appointment with my couples' therapy services?"
"Uh, no. No. I just came because I missed the Biology notes," said Sam, walking into the closet and leaving the door open.
"Are you sure?" asked Rachel, "I know that you and Buffy are in an awkward place right now-"
"Really, Rachel, we don't need couples' therapy," Sam leaned against the door frame, "Technically, we're not a couple at all."
"Is that resentment I hear in your tone?" Rachel smirked as she grabbed her backpack and dug through it for Biology notes.
"No," Sam sighed, "It doesn't matter. We'll deal with it."
"The thing about Buffy, Sam, is that she's been through a lot of loss, in terms of people she cares about. Her parents divorce was especially hard on her. As much as she says that it's about being a slayer and protecting her friends, it's more about her fear of commitment. She's afraid to let herself be happy because the rug could be pulled from under her feet at anytime," said Rachel, removing notes from her bag.
"Wow, you've thought about this a lot," said Sam.
"You guys are my friends. I care about you," shrugged Rachel, handing him her notes, "Why don't you try taking it slow with Buffy?"
Sam bit his lip. "Thanks, Rachel."
"Your welcome, Sam!" Rachel beamed.
xxx
"Don't be late? Sheesh," Buffy pouted that night as the moon shone over St. Rita's Medical Centre and Mr. Schuester had yet to show up. She took out her cellphone, ready to demand his whereabouts, when a van pulled up at the side of the hospital, next to the ambulances. Buffy watched from behind a phone booth as two ER doctors came out to greet the driver and carry out boxes of blood bags.
"Since when do doctors take deliveries?" Buffy asked herself.
Just as the medical van drove away, a retro convertible with tinted windows approached from the shadows, and pulled up to the doctors. One doctor took a blood bag out of the box and poured a little into his mouth.
"Hey!" said the driver, as he got out of his car, his face wrinkled like a demon, "No sampling the product."
That's my cue, thought Buffy. She darted forward and kicked at the kneeling doctor vamp, and spun the other one to the ground. The driver took a punch at her, and missed, only to have Buffy give him a powerful kick to the chest that sent him sprawling to the ground. One of the doctor vamps picked her up from behind and slammed her onto the hood of the car, but she kicked at his shoulder and leapt back up. Someone else darted forward. A girl-
"Santana!" Buffy gasped, almost about to kick at her.
"Buffy, watch it," she said, darting for a vamp that was about to trip Buffy up.
Together, Santana and Buffy finished off the vamp doctors with ease, but the driver got away, speeding off in his convertible.
Buffy kneeled down to the cooler and opened it to examine the packets of blood. "How did you know about this?" she asked Santana.
"It's delivery day," Santana smirked knowingly, "Everyone knows about this... They only got away with one bag."
"Do you think you could make sure that the hospital gets the rest?"
"What am I, your maid?" Santana sneered.
"Come on," Buffy rolled her eyes.
Santana nodded. "Fine."
"Thanks. I'm worried about Mr. Schuester. He forgot to meet me here."
"Maybe he's late," Santana shrugged.
"Maybe. I'm gonna see if he's at home, though."
"'Kay," said Santana as Buffy sprinted away. She almost wanted to tell her about the mysterious stranger she'd bumped into the other night, but a part of her liked having a secret to herself.
xxx
Buffy arrived at Mr. Schuester's third floor apartment in less than fifteen minutes and slammed her fist against the door five times. Not only was she worried, but she was a little mad, an emotion that faded almost as soon as she saw Mr. Schue opening his apartment door to reveal his red-rimmed eyes and stubbly five o'clock shadow.
"Buffy... It's late. Are you okay?" he asked groggily.
Buffy blinked at his messy state. "I was just gonna ask you the same thing."
"I'm fine. I'm, uh... I'm busy, so... I'll see you on Monday. At school."
"Wait, Will... Did you forget? The hospital? The packets of blood?"
"Oh!" said Will, genuinely taken aback, "Yeah... Are you okay? Are you hurt?"
"No. I mean, my feelings a little. What's wrong?"
"Nothing. I'm just in the middle of something important, um... I'm sorry, but I have to say goodnight now."
Will retreated back into his apartment and shut the door on Buffy's face. He walked back into his living room, distracted, and picked up the phone.
"Um, sorry to disturb you," he said into the reciever, "Um, I'm trying to reach Dierdre Page. This is Will Schuester. It's important... Oh. I'm so sorry. I didn't know. When did she... pass away? … Oh. That recently? Um. Yes. We were friends when we were young... My condolences."
Will hung up the phone and ran his fingers through his hair, picking up his legal pad and pen, and running a stroke of ink through the name 'Dierdre Page'. Two names had already been crossed off of the list. Thomas Butcher and Philip Henry. The only two left... Bryan Ryan and William Schuester. Will sighed, distressed, and rolled up the sleeve of his shirt to reveal a mark on the crook of his elbow. It wasn't something he liked to look at. The Mark of Eyghon.
"So... You're back."
xxx
Friday night stakeouts were pretty lame in Lima. All of the action seemed to happen when you didn't want it to. Santana lay on the cemeteries dry grass and waited for something to show up. Anything. She needed a vampire to kill or a demon to attack. Then again, she knew with full clarity what she was really waiting for. Her mysterious visitor. She hadn't thought of much but that handsome stranger since they met. Being a vampire could get boring after a while when your drive to kill and rampage was gone. She liked having a secret. At least it wasn't a shameful secret, like her rendezvous with Finn Hudson, of all people, at her Halloween party. This secret was harmless. So far.
Finally, she could understand why Buffy had been so taken with her last year. It wasn't really about Santana at all. It was about the adventure of having something mysterious and potentially dangerous all to yourself. There was something exciting about it. Lost in her thoughts, Santana didn't even notice when the stranger appeared for the second time.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, wide-eyed.
"I saw you with the slayer," he said.
Santana frowned. "Why do you care about the slayer? I thought you said you weren't here for her."
"I'm not. But that doesn't mean that she's not important."
Santana sighed. "Will you just tell me who you are? Your name, at least?"
The stranger smirked. "Angel."
"Angel?" Santana raised an eyebrow, "Seriously?"
Angel nodded. "It's not my birth name. But it's my name now."
"So Angel... Who are you? I mean, I know your name, but that's about it. You just show up, saying that the Hellmouth is going to open again, and what? You need help?"
"I'm here to give help," said Angel, "If help is needed."
"That's why you're really here?"
"...No. It's not the only reason."
"What? Are you running from the mob?"
"Sort of," Angel smirked, "That's not important right now. The town is in danger."
"The town is always in danger."
"Look out for the Mark of Eyghon."
"The mark of wha-"
In a blink, Angel had disappeared.
"Great," Santana groaned to herself, secretly pleased. The mystery was getting a little more fun.
xxx
Rachel tsked. None of the boys had shown up to glee club rehearsals on Monday morning, not even Mr. Schuester.
"This is ridiculous," she said, standing up and putting her hands on her hips, "Where are they?"
"Maybe Coach Beiste is making them stay at football practise longer," shrugged Quinn.
"That doesn't explain Kurt," said Tina.
"Or Mr. Schuester," said Buffy, thinking about how distraught Mr. Schue had looked the night before.
"If they don't show up, can we go to Taco Bell?" asked Brittany.
"No," said Rachel, turning to the girls authoritatively, "It's probably for the better. Since the boys are gone, I want to discuss something with you girls. It's about Kurt."
"What about him?" asked Mercedes, folding her arms.
"I think we've all noticed that the Karofsky bullying situation is getting way out of control," said Rachel, "He's miserable. He's barely even fighting me for solos anymore."
"Rachel's right," said Tina, "We've all been teased, but something about what Karofsky's doing is so much worse."
"We're all lucky enough to have athletic boyfriends, ladies. I say that we band together and demand that they confront Karofsky," said Rachel.
"Rachel, some of us don't have boyfriends," Buffy raised an eyebrow.
"What are you talking about? I have Finn, Brittany has Artie, Tina has Mike... Mercedes, you have a new boyfriend, right? Shawn?"
"Shane," Mercedes nodded proudly.
"Even Piper is dating someone on the hockey team," said Rachel.
"It's true. Rick the Stick and I are official," beamed Piper.
Buffy frowned. "No, Rachel, I mean-"
"Quinn!" exclaimed Rachel, "Of course, I'm so sorry. I just figured you and Noah Puckerman are such good friends now that he would listen to you."
Quinn nodded modestly. "I get it."
"No, Rachel, I meant me," Buffy folded her arms, "Sam is not my boyfriend. Besides, it sounds like you just set the feminist movement back, like, fifty years."
"Guys like Karofsky only respond to muscle," said Rachel.
"So we're gonna fight violence with violence?" asked Buffy, "Don't get me wrong, some good old fashioned brute force is what I use to get stuff done ninety nine percent of the time, but there has to be a better way to stop bullying than to bully."
"That's not what I'm saying!" said Rachel, "I'm saying that we need to defend Kurt. There's strength in numbers."
"Puck can't get into a fight with Karofsky, Rachel," said Quinn, "He's on probation. He could get sent back to juvie."
Rachel sighed. "Look... If something bad happened to Kurt and we didn't do anything to stop it, we'll never be able to live with ourselves."
"I agree."
The girls turned to the door frame to see a familiar face clad in black denim and leather walking in with a smirk on his face.
"Jesse," breathed Rachel.
"In the flesh," he smirked, a half-eaten apple gripped in his hand as he strode in.
Quinn glared at him in surprise. "What are you doing here?" she said aloud.
"I can't take my girlfriend to lunch?" he asked, smiling at her with a wicked twinkle in his eye.
"I'm not your- I-" Quinn stammered at him, her face turning red as Rachel looked at her.
"Are you coming, Q-Bear?" he smiled, nauseatingly.
Quinn blushed and grabbed her bag. "I'll see you guys later," she said quietly and rushed out of the choir room as quickly as possible, grabbing Jesse's sleeve and dragging him out with her, all the while trying to forget the hurt on Rachel's face.
"What are you doing?" she hissed venomously as soon as they were at the school parking lot.
"You asked me to bring you to lunch," he said coyly, "So we could discuss everything."
"I told you to text me when you got here and park around the corner!" Quinn fumed.
"What's wrong, Quinn? Are you ashamed of me?" he smirked.
"Yes!" Quinn shouted, and took a few steps back from the boy to gather her breath.
Jesse had a way of getting under her skin like no-one else. Noah and even Rachel had a way of irritating her that made her only like them more. Jesse, on the other hand, enraged her like nothing else. He always brought out the worst in her.
"I don't know if I can do this," she said calmly, as her face finally reached a normal shade of pink.
"What do you mean, Fabray? You can't back out now. This is your daughter we're talking about. I told you all about Shelby's plan. Do you want your child to be subjected to that kind of power? Have a legacy of Wiccan shoes to fill?"
"I don't care," said Quinn, "I can't deal with you messing with my head. It won't be worth it. Things are better with you out of my life."
Jesse looked genuinely hurt a moment before he flashed another grin. "I didn't think you liked Rachel Berry."
"I don't," Quinn said too quickly, "But that little stunt to make her jealous was... childish. At the least."
"Fine," Jesse smirked and folded his arms, "I won't mess with your head."
"What?" Quinn raised an eyebrow, skeptical.
"I won't. I promise," said Jesse, "I want this as much as you do, remember. I don't want to ruin my chance at happiness just because I wanted to have a little fun. No, we're in this together, Quinn Fabray."
Quinn pursed her lips. "How am I supposed to trust you?"
Jesse sighed. "I don't know," he said honestly, "But you were once my friend. My best friend. Despite having grown apart, I still care about you."
"Oh, really?"
"Yes. I want to help you in any way I can. I love you, Quinn Fabray."
Quinn furrowed her brow. "Love me? You don't even respect me. You barely like me. You don't know how to love me."
xxx
Kurt pushed open the door of the nurse's office, knowing that she wouldn't hear him knock. Nurse Delmonico - Mr. Schuester's ex-wife, as he informed the scooby gang - was never alert, her mini TV set always playing the latest episode of The Real Housewives of Somewhere, and she was glued to it.
"Nurse Terri?" Kurt raised an eyebrow as he waved a hand in front of her face to get her attention.
"What do you want?" she said quickly, muting the TV.
"I just need an ice pack," Kurt said coldly, holding his elbow in his hand.
"What happened?" she asked, mildly concerned as she fetched a cold ice pack.
"You don't have to pretend to care," sighed Kurt, "I know that you were the one behind all that stuff that happened on Halloween. You almost got Buffy killed."
Terri sighed. "I was just doing a favor for a friend. Not that I have to justify myself to you. Kerr, is it? Chris?"
Kurt rolled his eyes. "Just give me the ice pack."
"Show me the wound," said Terri, folding her arms with the ice pack tucked inside.
Kurt clenched his jaw and folded up the sleeves of his cardigan to show a bruise along his elbow, turned a bright, fleshy purple.
"I bumped into a locker," he shrugged.
"Bumped into a locker?" Terri raised her eyebrow, "Yeah. Or collided with a jock's fist?"
Kurt sighed. "It doesn't matter."
"Of course it does. You're being abused every day and no-one's doing anything about it. Don't you just wish something bad would happen to those meatheads that bully you?"
"I'm done wishing," Kurt said, heatedly, "I'm going to do something about this."
xxx
"Buffy," exclaimed Emma Pillsbury as she looked up from her office desk, "Can I help you?"
Buffy hovered in Ms. Pillsbury's doorway, noticing Sam's tufts of blond hair over the seat opposite her. "Sam?" she said, not expecting the boy to be here.
Sam sighed, and turned to face Buffy, the side of his eyes swollen and flushed pink, turning a light purple.
"Oh my God," she said breathlessly, "What happened?"
"I got into a fight with Karofsky," he said reluctantly, "He pushed Mike into Artie and I kind of... lost it."
"Sam and I were just discussing the benefits of verbal confrontation as opposed to physical," nodded Emma, "But I can see that Sam has learned his lesson. There are better ways to stick up for your friends."
"Right," Sam said, annoyed, "We were just trying to help Kurt."
Buffy wrinkled her brow sympathetically. "That means a lot."
Sam looked back at Buffy again, his face softening as he returned a smile.
"Anyways, Buffy, is there something I can help you with?" asked Ms. Pillsbury.
"Uh, yeah," said Buffy, "Can I talk to you... alone?"
"Of course. Sam, why don't you go back to class? I'll check in with you later," nodded Emma.
Sam slid off of his seat and passed Buffy with a tight smile.
"Is something wrong?" asked Emma, as Buffy took a tentative seat across from her.
"It's Will."
"Will? He's okay, isn't he?"
"I don't know. He didn't show up when he was supposed to last night and then when I went over to his place he was acting... well, very anti-Will. He wouldn't let me in and he looked really bad. I think he was drinking."
Emma raised an eyebrow. "That's so... odd."
"Have you noticed anything different lately?"
"No. Not really. Well, actually..."
"What?"
"I went by his office the other day and I saw him talking to the police."
"About what?"
"I don't know, Buffy. I'm sorry. I thought it would have something to do with this... business you two are in."
"No," Buffy shook her head, "We never get the police involved. They complicate things. I'm gonna go call him."
Without another word, Buffy rushed out of Emma's office and took her cellphone out of her pocket, ready to call Will as soon as she found somewhere private. She headed for his office, which was sure to be empty, only to find that it wasn't. She gasped when she walked in to find Bryan Ryan hunched over a mound of books. He jumped up quick when he saw her, and clenched his jaw as she blocked the entrance. Her eyes widened and she rushed over to him and twisted his arm behind his back before he could do anything sneaky.
"I know you!" said Buffy, "You're that costume shop guy! Mr. Ryan!"
"You've got quite the memory," he smirked.
"You nearly got us all killed on Halloween!"
"But you looked great!"
Buffy gave Bryan Ryan a quick punch to the face, and he reeled back, and held his jaw in his hand.
"Whoa," sighed Bryan, "So... Now we're even?"
"I'll let you know when we're even. What are you doing here?"
"Snooping around."
"Honesty? Nice touch."
"It's one of my virtues... Not really."
"I've got a great idea. Why don't I just call the police and have you arrested and then I can get back to my boring school day?"
"Yeah, the police. See, they tend to have all these questions and they'd really need William to answer them all."
"You know Will?"
"We go back. Way back. You don't happen to know where he is, do you?"
Buffy sighed and picked up her cellphone. "I'll call him." Buffy dialed his number and waited until he picked up on the fourth ring.
"Hello?" he said groggily on the other line, sounding like he'd just woken up.
"Will? It's me."
"Buffy?... Unless this is an emergency, I'll see you on Monday."
"It is Monday," Buffy said, agitated, "Look, that's not the point. I'm in your office with someone who claims to be an old friend. Bryan Ryan?"
Will paused a moment on the other line. "He's there with you? Listen, Buffy, you're in grave danger while Bryan's there. I want you to put the phone down and get out of the library as soon as possible."
"I'm not going anywhere until you give me some answers," said Buffy, when suddenly, a guy burst through the office door, looking more corpse than man.
Buffy dropped her cellphone as the growling man bounded forward and she punched him back and threw him over the office desk. As Buffy whipped around, she noticed her friends coming towards the office with confused faces. Sam held an ice pack to his face, but dropped it as soon as he saw the commotion.
"Don't let him get away," she called as she dealt with the attacking man.
Sam tried to back Bryan Ryan into the office, but Bryan knocked him to the side and tried to push past Rachel, Tina and Mike. Sam bounced back up and punched Bryan Ryan square in the jaw, knocking him to the ground. Buffy knocked out the John Doe, and the next thing the scooby gang knew, they were dragging Bryan Ryan and Mr. Doe to behind the auditorium, where they locked the nameless guy in the costume locker and watched him wake up from behind a cage wall.
"I'm not going to get close enough to feel his pulse, but he looks dead," said Tina, nodding the angry corpse pacing in the costume cage.
Bryan Ryan sat at a vanity table and held his head in hand.
"Except for the walking and attacking Buffy part," said Sam, through gritted teeth, as he held another ice pack to his face.
"He's dead," said Bryan, "Sorry, Phillip. Really, I am."
The others turned to the shaking stage curtains as Will slipped through them, looking more alert than when Buffy had seen him last.
"Is everyone okay?" he asked, followed closely by Ms. Pillsbury, whose eyes were at their widest.
"We're fine," said Buffy, as Corpsey Phil slammed himself against the costume cage door.
Will walked forward, his jaw dropped. "It can't be," he said to himself.
"Yes, it can," smirked Bryan Ryan, catching Will's attention, "Hello, Billy."
"I thought I told you to leave town," Will clenched his jaw.
"You did. I didn't. Sorry, my lease is paid until the end of the month."
Without warning, Will loomed forward to Bryan and grabbed him by his sandy hair.
"You should have left when I told you to," said Will, a deadly look in his eyes.
"Will!" gasped Buffy.
"You put these people in danger. People I care about," hissed Will.
"If you cared so much about them, why didn't you leave town?" Bryan asked angrily and pushed Will off of him, "You're having the dreams. I know. I am, too. We both know what's coming."
"What dreams? What is going on here?" demanded Buffy.
"Tell her, Billy," said Bryan.
"Will..." said Buffy.
The door on the costume locker bust open and Phillip stormed out, lunging for Will. Buffy kicked him back in the chest several times until he fell back and slumped against the wall. Phillip started to sieze, and fell to the ground, his decrepit body turning to a gelatinous blob on the floor.
"That's something you don't see every day," sighed Mike.
"I'm gonna be in therapy til I'm thirty," said Rachel, shaken.
"Where's Bryan?" Buffy suddenly asked as Ms. Pillsbury fainted and fell to Will's side, terrified.
"Are you okay, Emma?" asked Will, putting his arms over her as Buffy ran off to find Bryan Ryan.
Her eyes fluttered back open. "Did any of it get on me?" she asked, "Did it?
"No, not it's okay. It's okay," he repeated to her as he embraced her and smoothed down her hair.
Buffy came back through the curtains to backstage, frowning deeply. "I lost Bryan. Will, what's going on?"
"It's complicated, Buffy," he said as he held Emma, "And frankly, it's private."
"I don't care if it's private," Buffy fumed, "I care about dead guys attacking us. I care about you losing time in your apartment."
"I was... I was just trying to find a solution."
"Will, share! What is the Mark of Eyghon?"
"This is not your battle, Buffy. I'm your watcher and I am telling you to stay out of it!" he snapped, "Come on, Emma. I'm gonna take you home."
Buffy watched with a clenched jaw as Will left with Emma. "Okay," Buffy sighed and looked at her friend, "We have work to do. Tina, I want you to find out anything and everything you can about the Mark of Eyghon."
"I'll look online, but the Mark of Eyghon sounds like a book thing," shrugged Tina.
"Then hit the books," said Buffy, "Rachel, how do you feel about searching through Will's personal files and seeing what you can find?"
"I feel pretty good about it," said Rachel, "What does that say about me? Never mind, I'm on it."
"Mike, can you get online? Search for symbols?"
"Sure," said Mike.
"What can I do?" asked Sam.
Buffy thought for a moment. "You can... help Rachel."
"Come on, Buffy," Sam rolled his eyes. "I don't need busy work. I want to do something that will actually help Mr. Schuester. I can help you."
"Sam..." Buffy sighed, "Just go help Rachel, okay? I don't need one more thing to worry about."
Sam frowned and walked off to follow Rachel.
xxx
"Thanks for bringing me here," said Emma, sifting through junk mail that Will had abandoned beside his front door, "I'm not ready to be home alone just yet."
"Why don't you sit down?" asked Will, taking the flyers out of her hands.
"Oh. Yes, well... okay," said Emma, finding her way to the living room and taking a careful seat on the edge of the couch.
"Emma, I'm so sorry about all of this," he sighed, "I never meant for you to be involved in any of this."
"I have to be honest, Will, I kind of expected that at some point I would end up getting involved. That's what happens when two people... get involved," she said, and edged in closer.
Will leaned into her, and sighed, melancholy. "I really should get you home... I'm not a very safe person to be around at the moment."
Emma sighed. "Nothing in the world is safe, Will. I know that by now. Don't you?"