Buffy held herself tightly sobbing. She kept shaking her head and whimpering, "No. No." Angelus kept laughing over her. Suddenly his laughter stopped. The Chosen One turned to look at him and gasped. Angel was no longer the same Angelus. He looked...horrible. His hair was all stuck up and it was shock white and his eyes had no pupils. HIs tongue flicked out and she saw that it was forked like a snakes. HIs hands had talons at the edges and his skin took on a faintly green color. But his face was still his face and he still had his fangs. He looked like a vampire-snake. Terrified she turned and ran. Normally she would have brought out her trusty stake and made him dust but she didn't have anything with her and after all she's been through you still think she's in a normal situation? She ran as quickly as she could when she hit something hard.
Angel turned as something hit him in the back. He caught the blonde girl and looked into her face. To his shock it was Buffy. "Buffy! Uh what are you doing here aren't you?" he said. Buffy looked up at him with similar confusion in her eyes. "Angel! But you-you're chasing behidn me you turned into a vampsnake thingie and..." when Angel interrupted her. "Wait a minute? I was chasing after YOU? But you're standing in front of me with Rafe and I've been here...." he turned to show Buffy the "Buffy and Rafe twosome" but all he saw was a blond vampsnake thingie of Buffy's deskription and another dark-haired vampsnake formerly Rafe and Buffy. He got a dazed look and he became even more confused when buffy shrieked in his ear. "Angel! Run! Let's get a little acquainted with our clone dudes much later! Preferably when we have my close friend Mr. Stakey to introduce them too!" Buffy cried out. Taking Buffy's hand Angel took off where he didn't know as long as it was far away from whatever it was the false Buffy and Rafe turned into.
Oz could only stare in horror at Willow and Xander's retreating back when suddenly Willow turned back. Hope surged in him when he saw this but his breath caught when he saw Willow turning into something.....a snake thing he thought at first but then Will bared fangs at him. A vamp snake! he thought his bile rising. His horrified gaze fell on Xander and saw that he had turned into a vamp snake like Willow. He slowly backed away and the two approached him. He heard an AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! behind him but his eyes were trained on the two. "Oh Ozzz I've changed my mind. I want to be with you not Xander. I made a misssstake. I want you back ssssweetie" hissed the female vampsnake. Oz turned and ran off.
AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! Xander yelled as he looked at the two creatures in front of him and moving towards him slowly. It had been Cordy and WIllow but suddenly they transformed into the things. He wanted to hurl looking at them. Instead he sped away as one talon swiped at him. He ran quickly not even bothering to look where he was going and slammed into someone or something and fell on the ground roughly.
Oz was gaining quite a distance when a person hit him. He looked down and saw Xander on the ground. "Man am I glad to see you!" Oz breathed in relief. Instinctively he knew it was the real Xander and not some clone which would turn into one of THEM. Xander got up and cast a look behind him. "Let's get out of here before our nightmares find us." he suggested. Together in one mind they sped aaway from the creatures running after them.
When they gained a safe distance Oz suddenly
punched Xander in the stomach. "Oof what was that for?!"
Xander wheezed out. "That was for taking Willow." Oz
replied his jaw tight. "Taking WIllow? Listen man I love her.
But I love Cordelia too. I don't wanna hurt them. I think it's
time we got to talking about this." Xander said. "Oh I'll
talk with you alright!" Oz cried out swinging his fist at
Xander's jaw at the same time. Xander ducked and launched into Oz
kncoking him down. They immediately began to pound at each other.
"Guys stop!" a female voice cried. Both males turned
and saw it was Willow with Cordy close behind.
Willow looked at Xander laughing at her, when suddenly he did this whole morphing thing and turned into a snake like dude, she looked to Oz for help, but then relized much to her horror, he had turned into one too. "Oh, sh***" She said backing up into a table. Suddly she heard a girl scream behind her. She turned and saw Cordelia tring to fight of a vamp snake with her purse. "Cordilia, run!" Willow called at her, while dodging the vamp snakes in front of her. She caught up with Cordilia and saw to boys fighting on the ground. She yelled, "Guys stop!"
Giles held the lifeless body of Jenny Calendar. He looked around for Angelus but suddenly he had vanished. He bent his head again to look at her beloved face when he suddenly shrank back in terror. Jenny's face was morphing into something quite inhuman....but it was neither dead either... that could only leave one thing.....the undead! He pulled away from Jenny and watched paralyzed as she rose her skin turning a scaly green, her forked tongue flicking at her fangs and taking experimental slashes with her talons. She turned a malevolent gaze on Giles who was still sitting. He got up unsteadily and held up his hands. "Back evil demon!" he declared loudly if a bit waveringly. Moving away from Jenny/vamp/snake he glanced behind him and saw to his relief Buffy running. Then he spotted Angel with her. "Giles!" she called out joyfully. She reached him and stepped in front of him blocking the vampsnake with her body. "Hey it's another fanged phenomenon!" Buffy said. She looked at Giles sharply. "Who was this?" she asked. Giles looked a bit confused but managed to utter, "Jenny." Buffy nodded as if it explained everything. "Buffy WHAT is going on?" he asked. "I'll explain later. Angel and I figured this out." A noise made them all turn and tense. They gave a collective sigh of relief when they saw that it was only Willow, Oz, Cordy and Xander. "Hey guys are we having a Slayer gang convention or something?" Xander said. "No but we have do have to be a gang snd think of a way to get rid of those vamp snakes." Buffy said. "Vampsnakes? Well if their vampsnakes do your Chosen one thing. You're the Vampire Slayer so.....slay." Cordelia spoke up. "I don't think my job description included overly mutated pointy wonders here." Buffy snapped. She sighted the other vamps which had been coming after her and Angel and saw the vamps who had been chasing the foursome. She began to get really worried. "I don't have any weapons to slay with too okay?" she added.
Morgraine clutched at Rafe's hand. "Rafe you have to wake them up!" she said fearfully.
Rafe looked into Morgraine's face, the fear their mirroring his own. He quickly looked down at Buffy again. "I-I can't. I dont' know how." He said sheepishly. "When I was taught the spell, they said they would wake-up like it was a normal sleep." He started shaking Buffy harder.
Morgraine took her cue from rafe and began shaking the other Scoobies. She started to shake Xander he started to moan a little.
Buffy felt an insistent shaking. She looked at her friends and they began to blur then the darkness sucked her up. She heard Rafe calling her name and shaking her. She stirred and opened her eyes. "Rafe?" she asked. Her gaze settled on the pretty girl shaking Xander. "Is that.....?" Rafe nodded reading her thoughts. "Yes that's Morgraine." Morgraine moved on to Willow when she saw Xander sitrring. Then she went around to Oz. Buffy stood up and ran to Giles and shook him. He opene dhis eyes and said, "Buffy? What?" She turned and saw Angel's form outlined in the darkness. She walked slowly to the vampire she loved and brushed her lips across his lightly. "Wake up Sleeping Studly" she said. He opened his eyes and looked straight into hers. Giles stood and looked around as the rest of the Slayer gang stretched and yawned. Suddenly a strange sound a whining descended over them and darkness covered their sight. A loud thumping crash resounded and when the darkness cleared, Giles gasped when he saw the awful vampiresnake creatures on the floor of the Bronze. "Buffy, everyone!" he shouted.
Rafe whirled around at the sound of Giles's voice. "What the hell!!" He said when he saw the vamp snakes.
Willow was just sitting up when she heard the crash. "Vamp snakes!!!" She yelled running to Oz. Cordilia stood up and tried to hide behind Xander. "Please don't let them get me. Please." She whined.
Morgraine stood next to Rafe. "What are those?" She whispered in his ear. Rafe swallowed with great difficultly and shrugged his shoulders.
Giles suddenly remembered that he had brought one of Buffy's bag o' tricks with him. He turned and ran out of the Bronze and retrieved it. he ran back in and unzipped it and tossed a few stakes at Buffy. "Buffy! Catch!" he said. Buffy caught the stakes and whirled back to face to vampsnakes. He flung a ew crosses Xander's way and a couple of stakes to the rest of the Slayerettes. For himself he uncapped a bottle of holy water and moved to face one of them. Buffy snarled and threw herself on one them when she saw it case out Willow. Cordelia picked up a stake for her own and held it out in front of her. As one creature swiped at Cordy she blocked it with the stake and kicked it back. As it was distracted she rushed in and shoved the stake through it's chest. Morgraine stood transfixed at all the action around her., Out of the corner of her eye she saw Giles fling holy water into the face of one creature and watched the creature's face smoke. She became wide-eyed when she spotted Buffy stake a creature and it exploded into dust.
Rafe looked at Morgraine staring, paralized at everything that was going on around her. "Buffy, toss me a stake!" He yelled. Buffy tossed him two and went back to fighting. He stuck one in the waist line of his pants and used the other one to battle a way to get Morgraine to safty. He hid her in the alcove of the stage and went back out to help Buffy. Suddenly out of no where a vamp snake lashed out and struck Rafe on the side of the head, knocking him unconcious. Morgraine screamed as the vamp snake moved in to kill Rafe.
Morgraine leapt to Rafe's side and shoved the creature away. "Get back!!!!" she yelled angrily fixing has flashing eyes on the creature which turned back to face her. She swiped up a stake and positioned it in front of her. It ran at her and she stuck her foot out and tripped it. the creature flew forward and crashed into another vampsnake. It got up and charged at her unfuriated. She stepped to the side again and swung the stake and bruied it into the creature's chest and she turned her face away and closed her eyes as the creature exploded into dust. Then she gave a shriek as one creature came up behind her and grabbed her.
Buffy drop kicked one creature and pushed it down then thrust the stake into the chest. She saw Willow waving a cross and Oz came up behind a creature and shoved it forward and it impaled itself on the stake Cordelia was holding. Xander had found a crossbow in the bag Giles had brought and was whooping like a maniac while firing at two creatures with deadly accuracy. Soon the Bronze was covered with dust and there were only four remaining. A vampsnaked lomed behind her as she was getting up and it was about to attack her when Angel yanked it backwards. It savagely shoved a stake through the chest and didn't even flinched as it became dust. And then there were three. Willow, Oz and Cordy ganged up on one vampire and then that one too was dust. Buffy took the last one out with a roundhouse knocking it into unconsciousness then staking it. The last remaining vampire was the one who was holding Morgraine.
Rafe regined conciousness just in time to see, the second to last vamp snake get toasted. He looked up and saw the last vamp snake baring his fangs to bite Morgraine. Rafe swung out his leg and knocked the vamp snake to the ground. He lunged at it, trying to get the stake out of his waistband, and it was just then that he realized it had fallen out. "Buffy, help me!" Rafe called out to her.
Buffy tossed a stake at Rafe and kicked a cross. The cross skidded across the floor and stopped beside the vampsnake's head to stun it enough so Rafe can dust it. The others looked on quietly.
Rafe grabbed the stake and plunged it into the chest of the last vamp snake. It died with a scream and a burst of dust. Rafe looked down at the pile of dust, not really sure what to say. He stood up shakily and turned to face Buffy and Angel. "Buffy...I..." Rafe trailed off.
Buffy tilted her head. "What is it Rafe?" she asked quietly.
Rafe lowered his head, "I-I'm sorry Buffy." He whispered. "I didn't know it would turn out this way. Please forgive me. I never ment to hurt you, any of you." He said looking directly at Angel, for fear of what the vampire might do.
Buffy smiled. "Is that all Rafe? Of course I forgive you." Buffy saw his gaze directed to Angel and she looked at her love softly. "Do you forgive him?" she said in a soft voice. Angel nodded and she turned back to Rafe and gave him a smile. "In a way I understand. And you can make-up for all you've done to us by being happy with Morgraine." she continued. Morgraine gave Buffy a hesitant smile. Suddenly all around them the Bronze began to bustle with life again. The kids trooped back in and began to dance. Music started up again and everyone began to dance. The Scooby Gang gathered together.
Rafe led Morgraine back to the gang's table and
pulled out her chair. He leaned over and gave Buffy a very quick
kiss on the cheek.
"What was that for?" Buffy asked putting her hand over
the spot he kissed her.
Rafe smiled. "For a great date." He wrapped his arm
around Morgraine who was talking with Willow. Rafe looked around
at his new friends, it was wierd, but he felt like he had always
belonged here. Just then some one else's thoughts invaided his
own, and he looked at Morgraine who had stop talking. "Morgraine!!!
Stop thinking such dirty thoughts." Rafe exclaimed. The rest
of the Scooby gang looked around at each other and then laughed
as Morgraine turned bright red.