PART ONE - LIGHTNING REFLEXES
The light blinded her for a minute, then it disappeared altogether.
At first, Lara though she was still experiencing after-effects of seeing that bright light and that her vision was still fuzzy, but then she realized that in the world outside her car it was night.
She stepped out of the car and looked at the sky. It was completely dark, at least a few hours later than it had been a few moments ago. She glanced at her watch, but it said 5:03 PM. Must be broken, she thought.
Another lightning bolt flashed across the sky, but none followed, the storm seeming to come to an end.
Lara frowned. Did I pass out? She remembered the larger amount of traffic going down the highway before the lightning struck, and doubted if they would all be able to put on their breaks in time before they smashed into her car, so she should be dead by now.
She glanced around. The street she was on was much smaller than the state highway she'd just been on. The buildings were different, too, and the fallen tree was nowhere to be seen. Where the hell am I? she thought, beginning to panic a little.
She looked at one of the buildings. It's sign read "Sunnydale Tourist Shop."
"Sunnydale?" she asked out loud. Shouldn't it be Sunnyvale, the actual city, not Sunnydale, the town on top of the Hellmouth in Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Assuming, of course, that she wasn't in Los Angeles anymore.
"Hello there, girl," someone said from the shadows.
Lara whirled in that direction and saw a pair of glowing eyes before their owner emerged. Several others stepped out of the shadows and surrounded her. Each one wore the visage of a vampire from Buffy.
Oh, come on, she thought. Not only was she about to get mugged, but it had also been set up to look like she was in a fictional town named Sunnydale and was about to be drained by vampires.
Well, disguised as vampires or not, she did not want to be mugged that day, thank you very much. All of the guys were out of arms reach. Lara jumped into her car, turned the car on, and without even bothering with closing the door, hightailed it out of there. As soon as she was moving, she slammed the door shut.
And into a hand. It yanked back and the owner screamed in pain. Lara realized he was on the roof. These guys are nuts, she thought.
Well, if they wanted to play it that way, she'd join in. She slammed on the brakes, coming to a sudden, jolting stop.
The man holding onto her car rolled off and landed on the road.
Lara looked out of her side mirror and saw him get up. She let out a sigh of relief. Mugger or not, she did not want to kill him.
She realized that they were trying to ambush her car again. She pressed on the gas and drove away before they could even get close.
Leon stepped out of his room into the living room/kitchen. Jake sat on the couch. Both were dressed in formal clothes that would get them into dress-code restaurants.
Leon straightened the tie he was wearing on his date with Lyra. "Where are you going to take Lara? I'm treating Lyra to dinner, then we're going to go to her house to watch Buffy and Angel. That is, if Lara managed to bring the videos over to Lyra's and Kristin's apartment. Then after that, well…" He let the rest of that sentence trail off, knowing it was enough to give anyone a clue. "Do you think my tie's tied correct?" Leon asked, turning to look in the mirror.
"It's fine," Jake said without looking up. He was staring at something he held between his fingers.
Hearing his roommate's distracted tone, Leon turned to look at Jake. He noticed the little band of metal Jake held. "What is it?" he asked, walking over.
Jake looked up at him then back down at the ring. "Do you think it's too soon? I mean, should I wait until her birthday, or maybe next Valentine's Day?"
Leon smiled. "It's not too soon at all. I know she'll say yes. Both of you have got it bad."
Jake smiled uncertainly before looking back down at the ring. Leon was right about the last part. Jake had been in love with Lara ever since they met in their freshman year of high school. It had taken almost two years before Jake had worked up the nerve to ask Lara out, but before he got the chance to, she did it for him. Her boldness had made him fall even more in love with her, and he'd been extremely pleased when she told him she had the same feelings for him. He wasn't sure if Lara wanted to get married, however. It was a subject they'd rarely talked about, and Jake was afraid she was the kind of person who wanted to stay single.
He sighed, stood up, and placed the ring in a box before slipping it into his pocket. "I guess I'll just have to find out from her, won't I?"
Leon gave him an encouraging smile. "Come on. We'd better pick up our dates before they're angry with us for being late. If we are late, Lara may not marry you at all."
Jake gave him a look. "Ha, ha."
They walked outside, down the second-story balcony stairs and into the fenced-off parking area for their apartment building. Their cars were right next to each other, so both walked in the same direction.
Leon and Jake were unlocking their cars when Leon said, "Good luck."
Jake looked over at him and smiled a little. "Thanks."
Suddenly, lightning struck across the sky, lighting it up.
"There's a storm?" Leon said, worried. "Great. There goes some of my plans for the evening. The table I reserved at the restaurant is outdoors."
Jake frowned up at the sky. "The news didn't mention a storm," he commented.
Suddenly, they heard screams coming from the middle of the parking lot. Jake and Leon turned toward the sounds and walked forward until they were standing next to each other behind Leon's car. Neither of them dared to get closer, because what they could see already shocked them enough.
They saw two women standing apart from the parked cars. A light that got dimmer as the two men watched surrounded both of the women. When the light disappeared, both women stopped screaming and looked around, puzzled.
"Where the hell are we?" the blonde woman asked.
The other was shaking a little. "The shadows, they whisper to me. They say we don't belong. They don't want us to be here." A smiled crossed her face. "Let's make them scream, grandmother. Then they wouldn't be so cruel."
Leon frowned. "They sound familiar."
Jake looked at him, surprised. "You know people that can just appear like that? 'Cause as far as I knew, that sort of thing only happens on Star Trek or on the Tomorrow People."
The blonde woman spotted Leon and Jake and smiled cruelly. Both men took a step back, trying to get as far away as possible from that evil expression.
Leon gasped. "I do know her, and the other person. They're Juliet Landau and Julie Benz. They play Darla and Drusilla on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel!"
"They do?" Jake asked. "How'd they get here, then?"
"I don't know. Why don't you ask them?" Leon asked him in exasperation.
"They know about us, grandmother," the brown-haired woman, whom Leon thought was Juliet Landau, said. "Although our roles may be different in this world."
"Why don't we find out?" Julie Benz asked.
They advanced on Jake and Leon. Their features suddenly changed, replaced by the vampire visage commonly seen on Angel.
"This is not good," Leon stated. Jake, who was just as confused, shocked, and scared as Leon was, could only stare at the advancing women.
"Uh, Jake?"
"Yeah?"
"Can we get out of here?"
"Okay."
Leon turned and ran toward his car door, and Jake raced for the passenger seat. Before Jake could go two feet, however, he felt a hand hit his back and push.
Jake fell on to the ground and rolled over. Looking up, he found himself staring directly up at the vampire visage of Benz, or Darla, or whoever she was. He heard a body collide with the other side of the car, and knew the other woman had pushed Leon against the car.
Jake gazed up at Darla. She smiled hungrily at him.
"Hey! Leave them alone!"
The voice came from behind him, but although the owner had come to help them, it didn't reassure him. He didn't watch Buffy, but he'd recognize Sarah Michelle Gellar's voice anywhere.
What the hell is going on? he wondered
"Well, if it isn't the Slayer," Darla said with disgust.
Jake hastily got to his feet and took a few steps back. Standing about the same place where Darla and Drusilla had just appeared was Sarah Gellar, although he was starting to suspect that these weren't the actors he'd heard about. If they were, there would be cameras everywhere, and Darla and Drusilla would have to put on makeup just to have those vampire visages.
That suspicion was confirmed when Buffy raised her stake. "Hello, Darla. Long time no see."
Ben got up from the floor of his sister's apartment. They'd just switched places, so he was still wearing what she wore last: a red and gold dress. Ben sighed. Did his sister have to wear red dresses all the time?
After he changed into some pants and a shirt, lightning flashed outside. Ben staggered to his knees and stayed there. Everytime another lightning bolt struck outside the window, he would shiver uncontrollably.
Thankfully, the storm lasted only a few minutes. Ben stood up from the floor, relieved. He hadn't felt that way in a long time. That was no ordinary lightning. It was filled with negative magic that made any God or relative to a God want to curl up into a ball until it was over.
Whoever had cast the spell to make the lightning bolts had used powerful magic, and he was willing to bet his sister, Glory, was behind it.
PART TWO - NEW WORLDS
Lara stared at the teen nightclub's sign only a few yards away from her car. This has got to be some big joke, she thought. Someone with money set up the town, or something. She started to suspect that wasn't it, but she still tried to deny it. After all, she may be the fan of a supernatural show but her everyday life was based in science.
There's only one way to find out if this is real or not, she decided.
Lara stepped out of her car and walked toward the entrance to the Bronze. If they were in there, she'd know then if she had been the first person to travel to an alternate universe from her world.
Inside the Bronze, Xander, Willow, Tara, and Anya sat at a table near the stage. The band on the stage had been performing for a week, and it drew a crowd. The four of them could care less about the band at that moment, because they were scanning the crowd for Buffy. Willow tried to see the door, but with a crowd this big, it was hard to pick anyone out.
"Where is she?" she asked for the tenth time. Buffy should have shown up by now.
"Yeah, I'm wondering that myself," Xander said.
He tried to see the door again. Suddenly, it opened, letting in light from street lamps outside. Xander hoped it was Buffy, because he was really worried for her, and was slightly disappointed when he saw it was another girl.
He found he couldn't take his eyes off of her, however. There was something different about her. Maybe it was because she stared at everything in the Bronze with wide eyes. She must be visiting Sunnydale, Xander decided. He didn't really think that was the wisest choice she could have made, though.
"Xander. Xander!" Anya yelled impatiently.
"Huh?" Xander said, reverting his attention back to his girlfriend.
"Why are you staring at that girl? Don't you like me anymore?" Anya asked, anger and hurt in her expression.
"Of course I like you, sweetie," Xander said, pulling her close. Reassured, Anya smiled.
"Hey, guys, that girl is coming over here," Tara said.
Xander and Anya looked over and saw that Tara was right. The girl who seemed to be incredulous of everything in the Bronze had spotted them, and was making her way through the crowd to their table.
"I wonder what she wants," Willow said.
"You think she knows where Buffy is?" Xander asked, suspicious.
"She doesn't look like a vampire," Tara observed.
"She certainly isn't acting like one," Xander said. Vampires were usually confident, and she didn't look that way at all.
Anya looked from Xander to the approaching girl and crossed her arms.
The girl reached their table and stopped. She cleared her throat and said, "Hi. I'm new here. Can anyone point me to where I can buy an expresso?"
Xander cleared his throat and the girl looked at him. He could have sworn that he saw recognition there, although it could have just been the lighting. "Um, it's over there." He pointed to the counter.
The girl smiled at him. "Thanks," she said before walking over to the counter.
As soon as Lara reached the counter, she sat down on one of the stools and burried her face in her hands. She somehow got transported to an alternate universe, where Buffy Summers, her friends, vampires, and demons are real, and the first thing she could think of to say was where she could get some coffee. Well, at least one good thing had come out of that. She did find the counter, after all, and she felt like ordering something heavier than an expresso.
She paused in the middle of calling the bartender. She couldn't get drunk now. She had to figure out how the hell any of this could possibly be happening, and how she was going to get home. To do that, she should talk to Giles and the others. To do that, she needed to work up the courage, and stop repeating to herself a mantra of four words that had been going through her head for a while now: this is not real, this is not real, this is not real…
Buffy launched herself onto the top of the car. Seemingly in the same swift motion, she kicked Drusilla in the face, knocking the vampire away from Leon.
Darla abandoned Jake and opted to jump onto the hood of the car instead. She threw a roundhouse punch at Buffy, but the Slayer ducked.
Jake saw Leon on the other side of the car. "Leon, let's move!"
Leon said, "Yeah."
The two started to run, but Drusilla caught Leon by the back of his collar. "Not so fast, little boy," she said.
Jake came around the car and saw the bag of supplies Buffy had dropped on the ground. He dug through it quickly and took out a cross. Hoping it would work, he ran over to Leon and stuck the cross in Drusilla's face.
Drusilla growled, let go of Leon, and took a few steps back. Jake couldn't believe it. She was a real vampire. Leon couldn't believe it had worked either.
On top of the car, they heard Buffy say, "Run!"
Startled out of their reverie, the two took off. They ran to the other end of the parking lot, where they stopped to watch. Neither of them wanted to stop watching.
When the two guys ran off, Buffy punched Darla in the stomach, causing the vampire to double over, and used the opportunity to kick Drusilla in the face. Distracted by the two departing young men, Drusilla didn’t see it coming until it was too late to stop from falling to the ground. Drusilla then turned to Buffy and jumped onto the car to help Darla.
Great, Buffy thought as she ducked another punch from Darla and another one from Drusilla. She almost wished the two guys would come back to provide a distraction. Why did that law firm have to bring Darla back anyway? She'd heard about that from Cordelia earlier that year, about the same time Buffy found out about Dawn's true origins. Now, not only did she have to deal with Angel's sire and childe, but she had to figure out how she was going to get home, and if she didn't kill these two, she had to figure out how she would get these two to come with her. Buffy didn't know if there were vampires in this reality, but she wasn't about to give them two more.
Darla threw another punch at her. Buffy was unable to prevent it, and it knocked her down. She immediately kicked upwards, catching both vampires in the face, then snap-kicked back onto her feet.
Another lightning bolt flashed across the sky. The three women ignored it and kept fighting. In the same moment that Buffy got back on her feet, Darla rushed her, pushing both of them to the ground. Buffy pushed Darla off of her forcefully, sending the blonde vampire flying backwards and into the apartment building wall.
Darla slid to the ground and got up unsteadily. Blood ran from her nose and her mouth, but she snarled and tried to jump back onto the car hood, which was at least eight feet away…
…and succeeded in hopping less than a foot.
Buffy, Drusilla, and Darla stared. All three knew that a vampire could jump an unheard of distance easily. So could the Slayer.
Buffy looked up at the sky when another lightning bolt flashed across the sky. It was further away now, indicating the storm had ended in this region. Buffy looked back at the vampires. It's this world, she decided. It's effecting their vampiric powers. She wondered if it would effect her the same way.
Suddenly, crossbow bolts flew past her. One hit Drusilla in the shoulder because she twisted just in time to avoid getting stabbed in the heart, and the other missed Darla's head by less than an inch.
Buffy looked and saw the two men she'd saved. They'd come back to help, although it was a little late.
More bolts flew, and the two vampires ran out of the parking lot.
Buffy considered going after them, but decided not to. This place was unfamiliar to her, and she could get lost. She needed answers, too. The two guys were taking this all pretty well, so they were as good as anyone to ask.
She turned and jumped easily off the top of the car. My powers aren't gone yet, she observed, relieved. She'd been freaked enough when the Watchers had done that to her. Maybe it only worked on vampires. That would be a very big help while she was here.
"Um," one of the guys said. Buffy looked at them. "Are you Sarah Gellar or Buffy Summers?"
"Who's Sarah Gellar? And how do you know my name?"
The two guys just looked at each other. Buffy wondered what kind of world this was. "Well?" she asked.
"We'd better go to Lyra's and Kristin's," one of the guys, who had blonde hair, decided. "She'd be a big help."
"Yeah, and we'd better call Lara while we're there," the red-head said. "In case she starts to wonder where I am. Besides, I think she'd want to know about this, too. So would the rest of their friends."
"Know about what?" Buffy was still confused. "And how come you guys aren't even asking about the vampires?"
"Darla and Drusilla?" the redhead asked. "We know them the same way we know you."
She was beginning to lose her patience. "How?"
"Well," the blonde said, "you just happen to be the star of a TV show called Buffy the Vampire Slayer."
Buffy stared at them. That bit of news made her mind work overtime. A million questions came to mind, but in the end the only word she could form was, "Huh?"
Part Three
