Once again the gang was at Giles', repeating the process they do every week. Different enemies, same research process. Only this time they were having to look more at fiction than fact. Not much was written about Dracula in official demonology books, most of what was written about him was in stories like Bram Stokers Dracula and other books like that.
The group was told of the Counts interest in Eris as well, which made them think that he was going after her to get to the Slayer, which didn't make them feel any better about the situation.
"I think we have Dracula factoids."
"I understand the fact part but what does oids mean?" Eris asked the ginger witch, she may be smart but not Willow level smart.
"It means unreliable information that is reported and repeated so often that it becomes accepted as fact, which is what's happened with Dracula."
Eris nodded in understanding whilst Xander let out a scoff, "like any factoids are enough to fight the Dark Master…Bater."
The group looked at him weirdly but decided it was Xander being, you know…Xander, "a lot of it we already knew," Willow continued, choosing to ignore Xanders isms, "turn-offs: wood, fire, crosses, garlic. Turn-ons: nice duds, minions, long slow bites that last for days."
"Yeah, I did a little research too. Dracula likes to live in style. Which means we can rule out the usual dump's vampires haunt," Riley decided to leave out the part where he asked Spike for the info, "and he likes to take Brides, like in the old stories with the three wives. Buffy is the big prize, and Eris is the extra goodie bag."
"Ah, but he's smart enough to figure that we'd probably already know that. I'm guessin he's layin low."
"Actually Xander, my research backs Riley up, Drac isn't the lay-low type."
"So we can check out the nicer places. Don't you think, Buffy?" the Slayer remained silent, not even realising Giles had asked her a question, he called out to her once more and that was what finally caught her attention."
"Yeah, we'll check all the swanky places first, what else did you guys get?"
"Just to quickly butt in, sorry, but are you ok Buffy?" Eris asked before anyone could answer the Slayer's question, "you've been out of it all day."
"I-I've been in it, just thinking is all," the Blonde woman stood from the couch, not liking everyones eyes on her.
Eris, flicked from her cousin's face to her neck before looking at Riley, "yea huh, right, Riley, take off her scarf."
"What? No!" Buffy shouted but Riley had already caught on to what Eris was implying.
"You're under the thrall of the Dark Prince!" he shouted back.
"Oh, I am not under the thrall of the Dark Prince."
"Then take off the scarf."
"This is ridiculous-" The Slayer had tried to move away but Riley was quick and managed to yank off the scarf, revealing two puncture marks on her neck.
The rest of the gang stood from their chairs and walked closer to Buffy, worry stretched across each of their faces.
"Why didn't she say anything?" Giles asked softly as Buffy sat back down on the couch, head falling into her hands in shame.
"Cause she didn't want to worry us, right, Buffster? It's nothing, just a scratch."
"It's the same reason why I haven't talked to you about my interaction with Dracula," Eris broke the silence, feeling saddned by the wound on her cousin's neck, "Dracula is in our heads."
"Its true," Buffy replied, "there was just this voice, and it was telling me to cover it."
"And what did I tell you? That's thrall," Riley pointed to Buffy before looking at Eris, "can you tell us what happened with you and Dracula?"
"There is a part of me that wants to but there is a stronger part that is physically stopping me, I would if I could."
"Wait wait, you're saying Dracula has some sort of freaky mind control over both of them? You're watching too many creature features man."
The group once again ignored Xander and his strange need to deny everything, "it does seem like he has this control over me, even though a big part of me is resisting."
"No, that's ok Buffy, I…I shouldn't take this personally. I mean, what with Angel, I mean, its understandable that there would be transference. I mean, they're both broody immortals."
"Wrong choice of words Riley…"
"Eris is right, wrong choice of words," Buffy said as she rose from her chair to look Riley dead in the eyes, "I am not transfer-y. I swear to you, I'm your girl, and I'm gonna stay that way."
"Ok, but you are not going anywhere near him again, either of you."
"Uh, Riley's right. You should stay out of sight. Let the rest of us look for Dracula."
"We can't go home Giles, he already got inside once."
"You and Eris can come over to my place. I'll make sure you stay put."
"Good idea Xander. Riley and I can search for Dracula, and Willow, you and Tara could do a protection spell at Buffy's house to prevent him from returning."
"Got it. How'd he get inside anyway?"
Eris and Buffy looked at each other after Willow asked the questions, two words sprung from their mouths at the same time, "Aunt Joyce."
It was a stupid idea to have Xander watch the girls, Eris managed to run away the moment everyone left, and Buffy seemed to be waiting for Dracula to come for her. None one would have ever guessed Xander was under the Dark Lords thrall as he acted the same as he always had, clumsy and spastic.
None of the three were in their right minds, and that was why Eris had run away, she needed answers, and she couldn't let Buffy kill him before he could speak. It was why she found herself in a fancy castle, standing before a fireplace and staring at a smirking Dracula, "I knew you would come; I called for you," his voice was as smooth as honey, lulling her back into the trance he so easily put her in the first time.
"I wanted answers, who am I to you?"
He brought himself to Eris, removing any distance between them and creating an atmosphere of intimacy, further delving her mind into his seductive control, "the better question is, who were you to me."
"Please…" she whispered desperately.
"You were my bride when I was prince of Wallachia, Elisabeta was your name…"
"Elisabeta…wasn't that your human wife?"
"Yes, my greatest love…" he brought his hand up to caress her skin which sent shivers down her spine, "you took your life, which brought me down the path of darkness."
"Why did I do that?"
"Another mystery of life, but now I have a chance to have you again, to bring out the darkness you have inside yourself."
"I don't have darkness..."
"Shh, you do, just like your darling cousin, its in your blood."
"Leave her alone."
"Do you want my attention solely on you?"
"Yes…wait, no…" she had no idea why she said yes to his question, and some part of her wanted to pull away from this intimacy, but his eyes, those beautiful jewels pulled her in.
"There is no shame in wanting the darkness…in wanting me…" he stepped back and waved his hand, and soon 3 women appeared and surrounded Eris, gliding their hands across her body, these were his vampire brides, "dress her in the finest silk, I would have her beauty shine before the Slayer arrives." The brides said nothing but agreed to their lover and master words.
Without any fight, Eris allowed herself to be pulled away and dress up like a fragile doll. She was completely under his thrall, which was what he would soon do to Buffy. Two brides for his menagerie.
The Slayer had arrived with Xander not long after Eris was whisked away by the Brides, she was ready to kill the bastard and end his toying. But not everything can go according to plan.
He stood by the fireplace that he once stood with Eris, waiting patiently for his next victim to arrive. He could smell her enchanting scent when she entered the room, sweet yet filled with darkness.
He turned around to look at the two humans right as the annoying one spoke, "so now comes the immortality, right? You do the thing and-"
"Leave us, we must not be interrupted."
"You bet," Xander quickly left the room, leaving Buffy alone with the Dark Prince.
They stared at each other in silence, looking deeply into each others eyes. Buffy was using all her willpower to resist the allure, whilst Dracula knew it was for not, "I knew you'd come."
The Slayer slowly walked forward, her hand coming up to reveal a stake, "why? Because i'm under your thrall? Well guess again pal, now where's Eris?"
"Put the Stake down."
"Okay," she dropped it onto the table with any fight, which unnerved her deeply, she was not free of his spell like she thought she was, "right, that was not you, I did that. I did that because…I wanted to," fear began to settle into her bones, screaming at her to run away as far as she could go, "maybe I should rethink that thrall thing."
Dracula began to slowly walk towards her as she backed up, every step he took towards her she took an equal step back, "stay away from me," she warned but to no avail, he would not leave her when she was so deeply nestled in his cold grasp.
"Are you afraid I will bite you? Slayer, that's why you came."
"No. last night…it's not gonna happen again."
"Stop me. Stake me."
"Uh, any minute now."
"Do you know why you cannot resist?"
"Cause you're famous?"
"Because you do not want to. And why would you, you could be with your cousin…forever, just as she wishes it too…"
"Where is she…"
"She's here, accepting her fate. She is not as strong as you, and fell under my spell quite easily."
"Why do you want her?"
"She is a memory of the past born again, the creator of my darkness returned to me at last…I would have you join her, live in eternity by her side, family in immortality…"
"No, that won't happen…my friends-"
"They're here. But they won't find us, we are alone…always alone," Buffy had stopped completely which let him get so very close to her, creating that intimate atmosphere that he did with Eris, a perfect web to ensnare his prey, "there is so much I have to teach you…your history, your power, what your body is capable of."
"I don't need to know."
"You long to…and you will have eternity to discover yourself…But first…a little taste…"
"I wont let you…"
"I didn't mean for me…"
Buffy was completely unable to move, stuck in her place with fear and magic. What has she gotten herself into?
"I've lived in Sunnydale a couple of years now. And you know what I've never noticed before?"
"Uh, a castle?"
"A big honking castle."
"That would be his cloaking magic," Giles and Riley stopped walking up the steps when they saw Spike walking up behind them.
"What are you doing here Spike?" Giles asked calmly, though not really in the mood to deal with the childish vamp.
"Despite not wanting to deal with Dracula's theatrics, he's decided to target Eris which I have a problem with."
Riley snorted and looked at Spike with a smirk, "you just hate that Dracula so easily seduced Eris when it took you ages."
"Shut up, soldier boy, he used magic, I used natural talent."
"You're using Eris for sex, she shouldn't matter to you."
"She doesn't, but she's the only thing in this boring town that's entertaining, and this is not the first time Dracula has gone for the ladies he knows I'm with."
"Is your ego so big you think he picked Eris just to piss you off?"
"Yes, that's exactly what I think."
"Can we focus more on the task at hand," Giles interjected with a frustrated tone, all of them, they're all children, "we need to kill Dracula before he gets either girl."
"Then Spike should go home so we can do just that."
"I'm not leaving."
"No he should stay, it would make our odds better," Riley and Spike glared at each other for a few more seconds before they all walked through the front door.
Inside was the fanciest décor any of them had seen, everything was medieval art and furniture that seemed to be from the actual time period. It was very vampire inspired, and just spooky enough to put them all on edge.
They decided to split up, with Spike walking up a flight of stairs to a room at the end of a short hall. Figuring that Dracula would most likely put himself in a fancy room up high to watch all his human subjects, Spike got out the crossbow he carried and headed inside, ready to end the drama queen once and for all.
"Alright you twat, time to turn you to dust…" he trailed off when he saw a barren bedroom with no Dracula in sight. He was almost about to turn around and head back downstairs but a figure on the large bed made him stop.
Stalking closer, he raised his crossbow thinking it was one of the brides, but once he reached the end of the bed and pulled back the curtains that covered all sides he saw it was not a bride, but Eris.
"Eris…" he was not expecting her to be here, and certainly not asleep on Dracula's bed. She had been dressed in a white silk dress that made her chest and neck completely bare, most likely for Dracula's ease when biting her. She seemed peaceful in her slumber, but he knew it wasn't her choice to be this way. Dracula had her under his thrall and had her laying here, waiting for his arrival, "what sort of weird romance thing was he planning," he began shaking her strongly, thinking maybe a good shake would wake her up but it did nothing.
"This isn't sleeping beauty, I'm not kissing her," he huffed and raised his hand in the air, "this better work," with a quick swing of his arm he slapped her on the cheek as hard as he could.
She yelped loudly and quickly pushed herself up into a sleeping position, "the fuck Spike!? That really hurt!" she shoved him hard and made him trip and fall onto the ground.
"It worked to wake you up, didn't it!" he shouted back as he got back onto his feet and glared at her, "I came all this way to make sure Dracula didn't turn you into one of his weird, slutty girls and this is the thanks I get!?"
She slid herself off the bed and poked him in the chest, "you're a liar, you're only here because you hate that Dracula got me all giddy like a school girl."
"Well if you weren't so easily led then I wouldn't have gotten so annoyed!"
"Easily led!? He used weird mind powers, its not my fault!"
"Yea, sure, use that as the excuse, not because you have a huge crush on him."
"I do not!"
"Do so!"
"Do not! Oh this is pointless," she threw her hands in the air and gave up arguing with him, "could you not have found any other way to wake me up other than slapping me?"
"Like what?"
"Oh I dunno, like throwing water on my face?"
"….that's a good point."
Eris sighed and rubbed a hand through her hair, "no point dwelling on it now, you already woke me up, thanks by the way."
"You're very welcome, can we go beat up Dracula now?"
"Yes please," they both hurried down the stairs and over to the room where she remembered he was last in.
They arrived just in time to see Buffy jam a stake through Dracula's heart, "how do you like my darkness now?" they heard her taunt as he turned into dust.
"Oh my god, Buffy!" Eris shouted as she ran to her cousin's side, "are you ok, he didn't hurt you did he?"
"No, he didn't I-what the hell are you wearing?"
"This would be my turning into a vampire dress, do you like it?" she did a little twirl before scoffing, "Dracula had me in his bedroom in a forced slumber, what a weirdo."
"How did you wake up?"
"Spike slapped the shit out of me," she motioned to the vampire behind her who was rummaging through Dracula's things to find something he could sell.
"Couldn't he have thrown water on your or something?"
"I didn't think of it, ok! You guys are so related…" Spike grumbled and returned to his pilfering.
"Can we get out of here, please? This dress makes me feel really cold."
Buffy nodded and followed Eris out of the room, though a nagging thought kept entering her mind, "why did he want you, he said you were his darkness but never said how."
"Apparently I am his reincarnated dead wife."
"Oh, that makes sense."
"Really?"
"No, it sounds like something Dawn would write in one of her fanficitons."
"Dawn?"