EXTINCTION

 

 

Name: Chris

E-mail: RealWorldHB@aol.com

Feedback: HELL YES!  Gimme feedback!!!!

Disclaimer: I own nothing here, but certainly if I find you with this story, bad things will happen...

Rating: R/NC-17

Content: Extreme violence, gore, sometimes language and minimal sexual scenes.  But mainly VIOLENCE AND GORE!

Spoiler Warning: Spoiler for all seasons (1-5), this collects pretty much most of the good stuff from those seasons and jams it down your throat.

Summary: This takes place in Season 7.  This is the last season, and in so its going to be big.  Buffy has a new foe on her hands in the shape of a dying vampire coven.  They are trying to raise something called Thamogron, and it is up to Buffy and the Scooby Gang to stop them, even though they have no clue who or what Thamogron is.  Also thrown into the mix of that battle are dozens of side stories, including a male Vampire Slayer (in with the mythology around Thamogron), a vampire/lizard hybrid thanks to the Initiative in Colorado (they moved), a certain Hell Goddess' return from the dead, Faith's return to Sunnydale, and a prophecy dating back to before the first season that Buffy will be the destroyer of the world.  Every storyline ties together eventually into the devastatingly evilness of Thamogron and what it plans on doing to our world and others...

Notes: I have written a 238 page screenplay based on this story (or well, the story is based on this screenplay), but it is just the Thamogron storyline and nothing else (cept the Faith and male Slayer ones).  But I must stress that this is my life's work, and I will be BEYOND pissed off if I see anyone using this.  It is mainly for entertainment value, not for someone to rip off and use it as your own.  If you have to use it, contact me and I just might let you use it but please, for the love of God don't just steal it!  Cuz if I see you've stolen this, hell will be unleashed!

 

 

Chapter 4

Eye of the Storm

 

                “You are dismissed,” the elderly Professor Gregory Babaknia shouted to his class.  The students responded quickly by moving all at once towards the exit.  They appeared to each share the same thought, along with every other student of the world: get out of class.  Professor Babaknia waved good-bye to a sweaty, sickly looking student as he left, “Good-bye Lenny, rest up and get better.”

Lenny nodded and waved good-bye as the Professor moved around his large wood elbow shaped desk, adjusting his red satin tie to align with the buttons of his cream-colored dress shirt.  He putted out his small stool from under the old fashioned desk, sitting down to observe the remaining stragglers of his Ancient Civilization course.  Professor Babaknia eased his thick bifocals off onto his ears from the slick polished desktop, attempting to get a better look at one student in particular.

                Buffy Summers gathered her books into her arms, pressing them against her chest concealed in a pink top.  She moved pass a few desk and turned around, waiting on the steps to the stadium-type classroom for Tara.  Tara gathered her own books, her tight Indian beaded dress barely allowing her to bend as a few strands of her brownish-blonde hair escaped her clip.  Babaknia ran his moist tongue over his dry, coarse lips to dampen them as Buffy and Tara began to descend the massive steps.  Buffy looked to her side at Tara, “I’ve been meaning to thank you.” she said in a conversational whisper.

                Tara gave Buffy an obscure glance, “This would be for what exactly?” she asked.

                Buffy turned her back toward Babaknia, her eyes glaring at Tara’s own pair.  She whispered once more, this time in a stern tone.  “For making me take this class!”  Below on the ground floor, Babaknia leaned forward on his stool to get a good look at Buffy’s round behind.  His face began to soften as a smile grew on his face while his eyes observed Buffy in her tight denim jeans.  Tara took a look behind Buffy as she caught Babaknia checking her friend out.  She almost busted up laughing as she watched Babaknia begin to gather drool at the corner of his mouth.  Tara cleared her throat as she just gave Babaknia a look like he was the most pathetic man on Earth.

                Buffy cocked an eyebrow toward Tara, turning around she barely saw Babaknia looking at her as he straightened his posture and grabbed a book to attempt to fool Buffy.  Her eyes almost appeared to fall from their sockets, Buffy shuddered and quickly grabbed Tara.  She held the poor, defenseless girl infront of her like a shield as she leaned forward toward Tara’s ear.  “Forward,” she whispered, “and step on it!”  Tara seemed to lean backward toward Buffy as she quickly scampered down the staircase.  Buffy’s supernatural strength pressed in on Tara, forcing the poor girl to run at her highest speed as the two bolted out of the classroom and away from the perverted Professor Babaknia.

                Babaknia sighed, throwing his head to the desktop with a horrid sense of humiliation on his mind.  The humiliation swept away from him within a brief moment of silence as someone cleared his throat.  Babaknia raised his head toward the door, expecting to see Buffy returning with a big, muscle bound man who had a fist with his name on it.  He got the big and muscle bound correct but not the with Buffy part, “Reinherst… what do you want?”

                Reinherst stood in the doorway to the classroom, wearing a professional looking suit and tie as his white, baldhead gleamed with sweat from the Autumn heat outside.  The middle-aged meathead smirked at Babaknia awkwardly, “Not in the mood for visitors?” Reinherst said in a thick German accent. 

                Babaknia rose out off his stool and folded his arms across his chest, “Not in the mood to see you.”

                Reinherst just kept his smirk on as he moved closer to Babaknia, striking fear in the wiry old man.  Reinherst lowered his head for a moment as he walked towards Babaknia in large steps, but then raised it to meet the geezers’ eyes in a spine tingling glare.  “The book…” he stated in his inhumanly deep voice.

                Babaknia nodded for a second, but realized he had no clue what Reinherst was talking about.  “Book?  Which book?” Babaknia asked.

                Reinherst roared out, “The Book of Rathon Mah!  What other book old man, where is it!”

                Babaknia gasped, “Why?  Has the vampire found me?” he exclaimed, already trying to flee.

                Reinherst grabbed Babaknia and held his shoulder with a strong grip that made the Professor wail.  The German’s gaze seemed to burn into Babaknia as he screamed out in pain, “Calm yourself…” he hissed.  Reinherst let loose of Babaknia, throwing him back and onto the stool in simple rage.

                The poor Professor shook with fear, “Then why!  Why are you here!  Why did he send you here!”

                “The shaman foresaw the vampire… he says it in fact is planning to raise the plague from Hell.” Reinherst stated.

                Babaknia nodded, rolling his hand around to get Reinherst to keep going.  “Yes, yes we know that already!  Why did he send you!”

                “Because… he also foresaw the book being taken from you… before the rise of the Full Moon it will fall into Blaine’s cold, dead grasp and Thamogron will be released onto this Earth once more!  Genocide’s worst opponent, our sworn enemy reborn, and it is by one of your copies of that cursed book he will rise!” Reinherst preached.

                With a gulp, Babaknia’s eyes widen with fear.  “Dear Genocide… we are doomed…”

                Reinherst closed in on Babaknia, gently placing his bear-like hands on the wounded shoulder of the Professor.  “No we are not… not if you destroy the books!”

                Babaknia slapped away Reinherst’s hand, his wide eyes now glowing with rage.  “Never!” Babaknia snarled at Reinherst.  He rose his hand, extending his bony index finger at Reinherst with threatening intent.  “The Book of Rathon Mah is our most sacred of texts!  I rather Thamogron rise and destroy us all then burn these treasures of mine!”

                Reinherst shook his head in disgust, but he let out a sigh of defeat as well which gave Babaknia hope.  Reinherst turned to the doorway as students began coming in and roared out under his breath, “We finish this later!  We finish this later…”  The giant beast of a man threw himself around and stormed out of the doorway, knocking back a young man as he did.  Babaknia watched as Reinherst made his dramatic exit, and he felt his heart pulsate within his chest.  May Genocide have mercy on us, he thought.

 

 

                A frantic Buffy finally made it away from her classroom, moving quiet quickly down the hallway toward the exit.  Tara followed, struggling to keep up with Buffy’s incredible walking speed.  “Buffy!” she exclaimed, jogging to catch up to her disturbed friend.

                Buffy turned around, her eyes wide and her lower lip trembling.  “Tara… that was…” Buffy said, completely horrified.

                Tara nodded, adjusting her books to keep them in her arms.  “I know…” she stated to comfort Buffy.

                Buffy shook her head, “No… that was the most disgusting thing that has ever happened to me!  He’s so… old!  And not to mention smelly, he’s smelly right?”

                Tara nodded again, a slight smile forming on her face.  “Yeah, he does have a certain musk to him.

                Buffy cackled, the other students in the hall gave her a look as they passed by.  “Not a musk, a stench!” she shouted, shuddering.  “God, what do I do now?  I can’t just go back into to that class, I have to change.”

                “Well… will Administration allow you to change a class this far into the first semester?” Tara asked, her eyes glancing to the other students as they passed.

                “Ha, they can’t stop me!  Even if it isn’t allowed I’ll get that class changed, because there is no way in HELL I’m going back there with that… that…” Buffy trailed off, trying to think of a nasty name to call Babaknia.

                Tara butted in, “Uh, perverted geezer!” The word made Buffy laugh, making Tara a little more comfortable about exclaiming such a word in the midst of others.

                Buffy gave Tara an improving nod, “Perverted geezer fits nicely with the professor…” she said.  Buffy sighed suddenly, trying to get herself out of her weirded out mood.  Buffy tilted her head to the side in a quick, urging motion, “Going to Administration, wanna come with?”

                Tara nodded with a pleasant smile, “Sure… I think I have a break now.  I think…”

                Buffy laughed, the two beginning to make their way toward the exit.  “Well, doesn’t matter now because we are outta here!”  Buffy pushed open the door to the outside, holding it open for Tara as she thanked her.  The two started walking down the cement walkway through the campus’ lush green grass fields.  Buffy noticed it was warmer since she had gotten up this morning, it was actually shaping out to be a beautiful day.  As they walked onward toward the administration office just beyond the thick patch of trees and bushes where most college couples go to make out, Tara turned toward Buffy.

                “How are things?  You know, with everything and all…” Tara asked unsurely.

                Buffy cracked a slight smile, “Good.  Blaine hasn’t reared his ugly head since last week, much like the last time but still a good break had by all.  Oh, the police are having my house completely demolished.”

                Tara expressed some shock over the announcement, “Really?  Wow, why?  I mean besides the massacre and all, why?”

                “Actually I suggested it to them.  Dawn and I got all our stuff back from the cops and I just said you should total the whole thing because we’ll never live there again, so Dawn’s going to be staying with Xander and Anya till whenever.  I can’t stay in the dorm with Dawn out there with no home, and clearly a job is out of the question unless I drop out again…”

                Tara shook her head, “No you can’t drop out again, not after you barely got back on track.”

                “Yeah I realize that, but really it should be fine.  Xander said Dawn can stay there with him and Anya for as long as she has to, but I’m gonna try to get her out of there before she starts wanting to kill Anya.” Buffy stated.

                Tara cocked an eyebrow at Buffy, “Kill Anya?  Why would you say that?” she asked.

                Buffy laughed, “Just… a theory.  But anyway… how’s the magic coming around?”

                Tara shrugged, “Willow and I are getting up there in the higher levels, we’re certainly a powerful force to reckon with more then ever.  Just her spell alone to awaken STOLAS was higher then I think I’ve ever seen anyone get…”

                Buffy looked impressed, nodding her head as they got closer to the patch of trees and bushes.  “Wow… pretty soon I can just kick back and watch you two Slay the demons around here!”

                Tara laughed, “Well we may have the gift but we’ll never get to the level of power a Slayer has.”

                “Damn straight,” Buffy laughed.  An awkward moment of silence passed between Buffy and Tara as they made their way through the shade-ridden path of with the trees and bushes.  Buffy smiled, there seemed to be no couples out sucking face today, thank god.  She looked toward Tara who kept her eyes on the path ahead of them and she sighed, “So how are you and Willow doing… in the girlfriend department I mean…”

                Tara turned toward Buffy, a little bit startled.  She swallowed hard, “Um, fine.  We’re fine.”

                Buffy shook her head at Tara, “Hey I’m ok with it, really.  You should know that by now, so spill the beans on why you’re so quiet.  Something happen?”

                Tara shook her head this time, “No, we’re fine.  I’m just… I’m just trying to keep my mind on the battle ahead of all of us.  My quietness has nothing to do with me and Willow… you should know that by now.”

                “Ok, sorry… just thought I’d be a good friend.  That’s all.” Buffy stated, slightly colder then she meant.

                Tara sighed, “She’s slipping away from me…” she said, lowering her head in sadness.

                Buffy stopped and turned toward Tara, “I knew something wasn’t going good there… what happened?”

                “She’s just gotten too powerful Buffy, and I think Willow’s just going to get to the point where she’s going to stop listening to my warnings and leave.  The power she’s tapping into, its pure and untainted power, it could kill her if she keeps going into it.” Tara warned.

                Buffy took a breath, absorbing the disturbing news.  “But… but she’s used this kind of power before.  I mean sure, wackiness did ensue like usual but we got through it.”

                “But she’s gone way past the stuff she did when Glory was in town, this new magic is millenniums old.  Most of the spells she has researched date back to before Christ, and it has got to the point where I don’t think she takes my warnings seriously.”  A tear gathered in Tara’s eyes, but Buffy quickly reached and wiped it away as it fell. 

                Buffy smiled at Tara, resting a hand on Tara’s.  She looked into Tara’s tearing eyes kindly, “I’ll talk to her, I won’t let her out of my sight without knowing what she’s getting into to I promise.”

                “You will?” Tara said, seeing a new hope on the horizon for Willow at long last.

                Buffy nodded, “Of course, but only if I get my class changed!” Buffy joked. 

Tara laughed, as Buffy just grinned, “It’s a deal…”  The two smiled toward eachother and kept walking on toward the Administrations office as the sun hung high in the sky as the noon hour rolled on.

 

 

            Willow turned the knob to Giles’ house and pressed in gently, trying desperately not to disturb anyone inside.  She stepped in, catching sight of the back of Anya’s head as she sat on the couch.  Willow smiled, she was late but she got in without a scene from Anya.  The door closed silently and gave Willow the upper hand as she walked toward the couch.  “You’re late…” Anya stated, turning back toward Willow.  Willow sighed, her eyes rolled in their sockets as she went closer toward the couch.

                “Sorry, got out of class later then planned… so, start the dig for knowledge yet?” Willow asked cheerfully.

                Anya shook her head, “Giles is still deciding our fates, the thick books or the really thick books…”

                Willow nodded, “Ah, the death by boredom or the death by looking at the book that will cause boredom… or something like that…”

                Anya gave a look at Willow, one that smelled heavily with contempt.  “Your jokes do nothing to credit your being late.  Why are you late?  What, did Tara not want to let you go till you got sex over with?”

                Willow gasped, “How dare you!  And I happen to be late because I got out of class late!” Willow trotted off and into the kitchen, which was surprisingly white and clean, but she shook off her wonder as anger resumed its stay within her.  She poured herself a glass of water and came back out to start round two, “The only reason you are on time is because you don’t have a job!  You officially have no life until the Magic Box re-opens, whenever that is!” Willow screamed.

                Anya rose to her feet, “I’ll have you know I do have a life and his name is Xander!  At least I have a man!”

                Willow’s lips curled into a snarling expression, “I’m a lesbian, I don’t like men!”

                “Didn’t stop you from kissing Xander and breaking up him and Cordelia… or were you just trying to get Cordelia to yourself…” Anya hissed back in response.

                Willow’s eyes widened, “That’s it!”  The red headed Wiccan tackled the blonde ex-vengeance demon to the carpet as Giles quickly bounded down the staircase from the second floor. 

                “Stop it!  Stop it both of you!” Giles ordered as he grabbed the both of them by the shoulders.  With all his might, Giles attempted to separate the two of them with no luck.  Willow dug her fingernails into Anya’s upper arms while Anya returned the pain by pulling on Willow’s hanging red hair.  “Willow, Anya stop this at once!” Giles shouted, finally separating Willow from Anya.  He pulled Willow away from Anya as the blonde quickly attempted to get back up and resume fighting.

                “No fair!  I was winning!” Anya shouted in response to the ending of the brawl.

                Willow laughed scornfully, “Ya right, in your dreams Anya!” she snapped in response.

                Giles looked at both of them as they still itched to keep the fight going, and he shook his head.  “What has gotten into the two of you!  We are here to research the demon that nearly killed Buffy and I, but by all means!  Kill eachother if that’ll help find information on him and this clan of his!” Giles stated, giving up on the both of them.

                Willow watched Giles as he went into the hallway, clearly ashamed of both of their actions.  She sighed, “He’s right… lets just call a truce!”

                Anya nodded, still breathing hard from the tough battle.  “Fine… but I could have taken you…”

                Willow sighed, giving Anya a hateful look.  “Lets just say we could have taken eachother, ok?” she growled.

                “Ok…” Anya said.  Willow walked into the hallway to get Giles back in the room, “But I could have taken you more…” Anya said under her breath.

                Willow returned with Giles as he came out with a stack of five, thick books.  Anya slumped down onto the couch as Willow took the chair, clearly not wanting to be near Anya at all.  Giles took the seat next to Anya as he began distributing the text, two to Willow, two to him and one to Anya.  She looked at her one book and everyone else’s two, “Hey… hey how come she gets two!”

                Giles groaned, “For the love of God… Anya, give it a rest!  She gets two because these books are very rare, almost one of a kind!  Willow has more experience in the field of research then you, I trust her more that is all.”

                Anya’s jaw dropped, “Haven’t I worked for you for two wonderful, fulfilling, great…”

                Willow interrupted, “Nauseating, ear piercing, and not to mention horrible years…”

                Anya got back to her feet as did Willow, but in a quick reflex Giles grabbed the both of them and threw them down into their seats.  The movement caused the surgical wound in his abdomen to howl with pain as Giles sat back down, panting for air from the painful surge.  “Will… will you two STOP it!  Please… research and that will be it, ok?  Then you can do whatever you want, beat and bruise eachother all you want.  But we must research… understand that you two?”

                Giles turned his stone cold gaze to Anya, she nodded quickly as she opened her book.  He turned toward Willow who already had begun reading and she nodded as well.  Giles took a quick breath, calming himself as he opened his book.  Silence was a welcomed like a war hero from a long battle overseas as it roared on in all of their ears.  It was actually calm between the three as they read, searching for any mentioning of Blaine or any kind of clan.  Giles realized something, if they knew the name of the clan then it would possibly be easier to find something on it.  He sighed, they would just have to try and figure something out.

                Like the annoying cry of a baby, a ring came from the phone.  Giles sighed, helping himself up as the two ladies continued on with their research.  He grabbed the phone and almost strangled the neck of the receiver as he put it to his ear, clearly very irritated.  “Hello?” he said with a stern voice.

                A laugh came from the other end, “Well hello Rupert, not interrupting anything am I now?”

                Giles’ face grew pale yet a smile formed on his lips, “Qu-quentin?  Quentin is that you?”

                The door opened, and in walked Quentin Travers, the head of the Watcher’s Council.  Willow and Anya quickly rose to their feet, almost in shock of the surprise arrival of the old British man.  Quentin stood there in his clean pressed suit, a polite smile on his face.  He flipped his cell phone closed, “Thought I’d ring and check if you were home before I dropped in…”

                Giles exchanged the polite smile with Quentin as Anya stepped over toward Willow, grabbing her by the arm in fear.  Willow turned her gaze to the frightened girl beside her, “What’s wrong?”

                Anya almost shook she was so scared, her body like a dry and dead leaf moving in a slight wind as she stood there.  “He-he’s the man… the man that came when we needed info on Glory… the man that kills demons!” Anya stated.

                Willow nodded, “Uh, yeah you kind of have to do that when you’re head of a demon killing agency…”

                Anya shook her head, “No, no!  He can’t do that, last time I barely got out alive with him at the Magic shop!  This time it’s a very more closed in space, and you hate me so of course you’ll throw me to the wolves or well old man.”

                Willow sighed a sigh of complete boredom, “Anya I might think you’re annoying and VERY, very rude but I don’t hate you.  And he doesn’t know about you’re demon days so you’re safe so just calm down!”

                As the two ladies exchanged words, Quentin closed the door behind him and moved in closer to Giles.  Giles was surprised a long line of council members had not followed with their leader; it was unlike Quentin to go anywhere without a complete escort, or even an army.  Giles took a breath; he contemplated on what to say to his boss.  “Um, well what brings you here Quentin?”

                Quentin gave a slight laugh, “Well Rupert, I come because of your request for some knowledge.  It is correct that you sent in a request, right?”

                Giles nodded, taking off his glasses to clean them.  “Yes, yes of course.  We’ve run into a bit of a snag here, our file on this vampire Blaine was stolen.  Or well, so we gather.”  Giles motioned for them all to sit down, following Quentin toward the couch.

                Anya saw the old man coming toward her, a panic swept over her as he came closer.  “Uh, I have to pee!” she shouted, running for the bathroom.  Willow watched Anya flee, then turned and gave a wave to Quentin in hopes to cover the cowards’ tracks.

                He raised an eyebrow toward Willow, but she just laughed nervously.  “Oh, she’s… she had a lot of water…” Willow stated.

                “Ah… I thought it might have been me.” Quentin said taking a seat while Giles sat down next to him.  Quentin grabbed one of the three books on the table and began thumbing through, like a kid in a magazine store.  A few hums and nods came from Quentin as he searched the book, but then he set it down with a sorry look.  “Yes, you do need information I’m afraid.  These texts won’t help you in your search… if in fact this is Blaine we are now dealing with.” Quentin stated.

                “Well it seems so we are dealing with Blaine, he even introduced himself to Buffy personally…” Giles told Quentin.

                The old man nodded, “Yes, yes Rupert but the thing is… Blaine and his clan of miserable vampires were exterminated around the time of the Battle of Britain.  We have records of this, the Watcher’s Council Operations Team caught them attempting to raid our old Headquarters back in 1940.  They were all obliterated…”

                Giles scoffed, “Well I have a feeling you missed a few… Blaine is certainly up and kicking plus has a very specific task…”

                Quentin perked up, “And what would this specific task be exactly Rupert?”

                Willow butted in, “He’s going to raise something named Thamogron… and he needs a book, something called the Book of Rathon Mah.  Do you have any idea what that is or what Thamogron is?”

                Quentin slumped back down into the couch, “Oh good lord…” he gasped.  Quentin turned toward Willow, a bit lost for words.  “Ah, um miss… could you possibly leave us to discuss this by ourselves by any chance?”

                Willow nodded, “Oh of course, I’ll… I’ll just go check and see how Anya’s doing, y’know with the whole… peeing.”  Willow sighed, another failure with the words she thought as she walked away.

                Giles watched Willow depart, once she was a good distance down the hall he turned his attention toward Quentin with an almost angry curiosity.  “You know something, don’t you?  About Thamogron…”

                Quentin nodded, putting a hand to his mouth as he waited a good time to explain.  The hand fell from his mouth as Quentin turned his eyes toward Giles, surprisingly showing a small, distinct glow of fear within them.  He took a breath, attempting to calm his jagged nerves.  “I’m afraid I can’t share this information Rupert…”

                Giles erupted from his seat, almost laughing at the absurdness of Quentin.  He locked his hate filled gaze onto the old man; his lips curled angrily, “You are not shutting us out again!  And you are not going to hold this information that you clearly have over Buffy’s head to make her do tricks like last time either!  But what you are going to do is tell us what you know about this Thamogron!” Giles’ speech hit Quentin like a swift kick in the gut; the old man clearly expressed his discomfort as he sat there before the pissed off Giles.

                Quentin scratched his gray mustache, “You don’t understand.  I came here only to give you information on Blaine, or well whom you think is Blaine.  That is all, nothing more!” he pleaded.

                Giles scoffed, “Oh come on now Quentin!  You show up at my doorstep, no armed escorts, and no boring suits waiting to analyze my work, just you and only you.  Why is that?  Because you know something about Blaine?  No, it is because you’ve known that this day has been coming!  You and me both!”

                Quentin looked up at Giles in silence, almost afraid to speak.  He sighed, seeming like to him all was lost.  “Our sources did come across a band of vampires leaving France a few months back, we feared that it was Blaine, yes.  The vampire that is pestering you is in fact Blaine if they have anything to say about it, but I on the other hand think otherwise… no, I take that back.  I want to think otherwise, because if this is Blaine we are all now dealing with then you have yourself the end of this Slayer at your neck.”

                Giles stepped back, this time it was him wounded from the powerfully spoken words.  “And you came…”

                Quentin interrupted, “I came alone because of two reasons.  One, to keep the others from finding out because if they knew then the entire Council would move into the Hellmouth.  If they were to come here, then your Slayer would undoubtedly be on her worst terms making it easier for her demise to occur.”

                Giles nodded slightly, “Yes of course, you people were here for only a few days and it was her worst time ever.  But what about the second reason?”

                “The second reason is I alone have the knowledge of what few in the Council realize what Blaine is planning.  He is indeed attempting to raise Thamogron, and if I were to bring the only existing texts with me I feared Blaine or any of his lackeys would have stolen them and used them against our cause.” Quentin stated.

                “And what would our cause be exactly?  To save her?  No… you wouldn’t give a damn about her anyway!” Giles snapped.

                Quentin’s eyes raged on, almost burning with fire.  “The Council sees Buffy as nothing more then a lucky Slayer, one that hasn’t come up against anything too powerful yet.”  Giles attempted to butt in and cause a commotion, but Quentin raised a hand to him for silence.  He met eyes with Giles, “We both know that is not the case.  This Slayer has come up against nothing but powerful beings, and over come them all.  It is unfair though, that she will fall victim to this latest one but I hope to change that…”

                Giles’ eyes widen with surprise, “You are going to help Buffy?” he asked in shock.

                Quentin nodded, “Yes, yes I am.  I sent the Council’s best Operative; she is the only one that has made it through all our tests still alive and intact.  She will protect Buffy as well as she possibly can with her skills in magic, demonology, and martial arts.  The girl’s strength is only shadowed by that of the Slayer’s fortunately.”

                “Well that’s just dandy and all, but what about Thamogron?  Tell me what it is!” Giles ordered.

                Quentin shook his head, “I won’t tell you… at least not without the Slayer present…”

                Giles let out a groan; he took off his glasses and rubbed his temples.  He nodded, “Ok… fine.  I’ll call her now.”

                Quentin got up shaking his head, “No, no… I’ve taken up a place at a Hotel for the evening… I’ll come by tomorrow after I figure out just how to tell you.  Make sure the Slayer is here, am I understood?”

                Giles nodded, “Of course.”  Quentin shook hands with Giles and then took his leave out the door.  Shutting the door firmly behind him, he stepped out through the cobblestone courtyard.  As he walked away, something followed him. 

                Back inside the house, Giles sat down gently onto his couch just as Willow came back into the room.  He slipped on his glasses and leaned to the side to observe Anya attempting to hide behind her.  Giles cocked an eyebrow at Anya, “Something the matter?”

                She stood up, checking the room carefully for any sign of Quentin.  “Where’s the old, creepy man?” Anya asked nervously.

                Giles replied with a sigh as well as a smile, “He decided it was time for him to leave…”

                Anya straightened up, taking a cleansing breath of relief as she sat down in the chair where Willow had been sitting.  Willow took advantage of Anya’s rudeness and took a seat next to Giles as she looked at the clearly disturbed man.  “Did he have anything we could use?” she asked.

                Giles tilted his head to and fro, “Yes and no… he’s going to come back when Buffy’s here.  He apparently has some knowledge of Thamogron.”

                Willow’s eyes widened as her jaw dropped, “Giles!  We need to get Buffy here right away, we have to know what this thing is!”

                Giles laughed, placing a hand on Willow’s shoulder to calm her.  “Willow… please.  Just calm yourself, we’ll get Buffy here in due time…”

 

 

                “No, no please!  Let me go!” a young Hispanic woman screamed out as Slash and Valentine drug her through the sickening Carr Avenue tunnel.  She slammed her heels into the thick greenish brown waste settled at the bottom of the tunnel as the two vampires held her with powerful grips by the wrists.  The woman wailed in agony as their strength almost crushed her thin, delicate wrists all together.

                Valentine lost his patience with the girl; his time was too valuable to waste by playing tug-o-war with a foolish mortal.  The vampire released the girls’ wrist and kicked Slash away, the fall to the waste below forcing him to release her as well.  Seizing the chance to flee, the Hispanic woman turned to retreat.  Valentine, on the other hand, lunged at her with his vampiric eyes blazing with anger.  Taking his sharp talon-like nails, Valentine dug them into the girls back and lifted her just by his fingers in her skin.  The woman shrieked out, her voice breaking as the pain surged through her very being.  Valentine let out a cackle as he turned around and carried the squirming woman towards the end of the disgusting tunnel passage.  Slash wiped away the waste on his tight leather pants from the fall he took after Valentine’s harsh kick.  He watched the strong yet dimwitted African vampire carry the human away like a Gorilla carrying away some sort of trophy.  He laughed to himself, “Beast…”

                Valentine tossed the girl to the cement floor infront of him as he sloshed out of the waste in the tunnel.  The girl smacked down onto the hard surface, dragging and ripping the skin on her face, arms and legs as she slid from the mighty throw.  Absolutely sobbing now, the girl still tried with all her remaining strength to get up and run.  Valentine didn’t stop her this time, he just folded his arms and waited while Slash crawled out of the tunnel and stood next to him in suspense.  The girl turned to give her kidnappers a quick glance, the glance gave her the million-dollar question: why weren’t they doing anything?  She shook her head, the tears rolling down her cheeks as she got to her feet and began running. 

The girl collided with Lill, throwing her back to the cement.  Lill didn’t even move from the collision, but the girl became dazed as she lay there on the cold, coarse floor.  The blood on her face mixed with her tears as she sobbed, trying to figure her next move before any of them got the energy to come at her.  Lill’s face protruded into that of her vampire form, she hissed toward the Hispanic girl to expose her hideous fangs.  The girl’s scream combined with her sob made an absolutely miserable noise, “Pl-pl-please!  Do-don’t!”

Lill laughed, and before the girl could realize she was up in the vampire’s arms and the hideous fangs were deep within her flesh.  The girl quickly gave in to the demonic power of Lill, going limp in her arms to signal her wish for the deed to be over with.  Lill gratefully accepted the girls surrender as her tongue drew in the precious fluid.  She sucked on the deep wound in the girls’ neck, massaging it with her lips to open it even more.  Lill felt a connection between herself and her victim, an intimate connection.  But unfortunately, the connection faded off as the life of the girl expired just as the final drop of blood exited her now paling, crippled body.  Done with her dinner, Lill dropped the body to the ground and daintily wiped her mouth clean as her human face returned.

Valentine stepped forward with a pleasant smile on his human face, “Are we all better now?”

Lill sneered at Valentine, mocking his words like a three year old.  She resumed her serious face, “Just good enough to fight the Slayer!”

“Not if I have anything to say about it!” a shout came out from behind her.  From over the balcony, Blaine jumped and landed onto the floor with a loud clap of his feet on the cement.  He flashed a smile to Lill, “And oh wait, I do have something to say about it!”

Lill rolled her eyes, “You can’t keep me in here forever Blaine!  My power is returning with every life I take; let me be apart of your revenge toward the Slayer!  Let me at least be there when you strike her down!”

Blaine scoffed, “You will not go out to face the Slayer, not under any circumstances.  Your body is still clearly unadjusted to our raising, by going underground you knew that it may take longer for a fragile one like yourself to get back to one hundred percent.”

“But I am not fragile!  I can fight and you know it Blaine!  My skills are far better then Bella’s and Torn’s, and yet I am forced to stay in this hellhole while everyone gets to have the fun!” Lill said, stomping her foot the ground in displeasure.

A sickening grin spread across Blaine’s blood stained lips, “You won’t win this one Ferris…”

Lill’s eyes widened as the record seemed to skip a beat there in the sewage treatment plant.  The two males in the background took a step forward toward the growing confrontation, as it seemed Lill’s case would now have a chance to be considered due to Blaine’s mistake in words.  Lill’s head moved back as she moved forward, she almost looked afraid to comment upon the delicate topic of Ferris.  She sighed, knowing that she had to say something, “You called me Ferris… Blaine, you don’t think I’m going to end up like Ferris do you?”

Blaine withdrew from the verbal battle, his mix up shedding light on his inner feelings toward the matter at hand.  He shook his head, “No… no it was just a simple mistake…”

Lill shook her head and flashed before Blaine, approaching him at such a fantastical speed his trench coat blew back from the rush of air brought up by the movement.  She grabbed Blaine by the arm and looked deep into his fearful eyes, “You think that I’ll be staked if I go out with you and the others… don’t you?”

                Blaine forced himself to look Lill straight in the eye as he nodded, “You’re too weak… both you and Ferris were too weak…”

                Lill snarled, her vampire face coming out as she backhanded Blaine.  He flew through the air as Lill stepped toward him as he landed hard onto the floor.  Blaine was up in no time, showing off his vampiric features as well as he let out a horrifying roar.  Lill returned the roar with more words, “Did that strike you as weak you fool!”

                Blaine shook off his vampire face and looked at Lill with his crystal blue gem-like eyes, and he actually appeared to be on the verge of tears.  Lill quickly withdrew her demonic face as she softened a bit, watching Blaine express himself.  He looked at Lill sorrowfully, “I don’t want you dead, Lill.  Ferris hid her weakness from all of us and I stupidly allowed her to go out and hunt with Slash and Torn… that mistake cost our clan a member.  I don’t care if you think you have power or that you are ready to face the Slayer!  This is my decision and it is final!  I refuse to loose another to the Slayer!” Blaine screamed out, unable to get the words to a higher volume then they already were. 

                “But I want to help avenge her, Blaine!  I at least get that much, don’t I?” Lill pleaded.  She stepped toward Blaine once more, but this time not out of anger but out of concern.  Her face expressed great worry over Blaine’s emotional state as he unraveled before her; unable to keep hiding the pain Ferris’ loss caused him.  “Blaine… if we are truly a clan, if we are to bring the humans down as one then we must take the Slayer down as one.  I am apart of this clan Blaine, just as apart as you are!  We have no control over life and death anymore then the Slayer does, but we at least can accept what she has done.  Ferris died because she must have been foolish, not because she was weak like you think.  We cannot just waste our time trying to repay the Slayer for what she did, we have to find the book!  I say we let her go… for now.  Let her go until whatever this Thamogron is comes back to this reality and we can set it on the bitch.  Allow me to at least be there when our plan comes into play… let me at least watch the bitch take her last breath, please!” Lill cried out.

                Blaine locked eyes with Lill as his vulnerable state subsided, a sudden rush of excitement for the death of Buffy filling his hollowed, soul less body.  He gave Lill a slight nod, but turned away very suddenly and disappeared from sight.  Lill watched as Blaine vanished, but his rapid footsteps rang in her ears.  Her eyes stayed frozen in their sockets as the shock of Blaine’s agreement to her participating in the Slayer’s demise still overwhelmed her.  She closed her eyes and focused on two words in her mind, hoping that Blaine could pick up on them with his power.  Thank you, she thought.

 

 

                Dawn’s face absolutely glowed as she stepped out of the bathroom at Xander’s in her Homecoming gown.  It was a silvery white, almost like a pearl.  Sleek and stylish as it clung to her body yet gave her enough freedom to move about normally.  Two spaghetti straps held the dress onto Dawn’s shoulders as the back was made up of row after row of finely tied smaller straps.  She wore a pair of silver gloves and silver high heels, her hair done up like a princess.  All she was missing was the tiara.

                Dawn’s best friend, Kayleigh sat on the couch reading a magazine as Dawn put her hands to her waist.  She cleared her throat, looking at the back of Kayleigh’s head waiting for the brunette to turn around and give her complements.  Kayleigh turned and got up in one swift movement, a squeal escaping her as she rushed toward Dawn.  Dawn let out a squeal as well as the two girls shook their arms in excitement.  Kayleigh backed away from Dawn and took in the beauty of the dress, “Oh my god… Dawn!  This is just too gorgeous!”

                Dawn blushed as her dark red lips spread across her entire face, “I know!” she exclaimed.  She sighed, trying to calm herself, “Oh I hope Luke likes this color on me!”

                Kayleigh gasped, “If he doesn’t then he’s gay, girl!  You look THAT good in it!”

                Dawn laughed, “Well then lets really hope he likes this color on me then.”  Dawn did the walkway spin for Kayleigh, she wanted to milk the compliments dry.

                Kayleigh’s face saddened as a tear rolled down her face, “Oh Dawn, its perfect!”  The girl sniffed, wiping away the tear quickly as Dawn stopped in shock at her friend’s tears.  Kayleigh shook her hand at Dawn, “No, no I’m ok!  Its just… look at you!  All pretty and in love!”  She put her hand to her chest as she stood there amazed at Dawn as she herself wore a ragged pair of jeans and a skin tight yellow T-shirt.  “Dawn, you are the luckiest girl I know…”

                Dawn laughed, a part of herself inside gave a twinge at the word “luckiest”, and she knew that that was far from the truth.  But Dawn smiled, and put her gloved hands on Kayleigh’s arms.  She looked the girl straight in the eye, “Thank you…”

                Kayleigh returned the smile as she wiped away the last tear and began waving air at her eyes.  “Oh I hate when things get so emotional!” she shouted, the two bursting into laughter.

                Dawn looked at the clock, it was almost five now and another two hours to go.  “You don’t think I got ready too early, do you?” Dawn asked, almost embarrassed.

                “For Luke?  Hell no!  If I were going with Luke, I’d have already been ready a month in advance!” Kayleigh stated.

                Dawn laughed, “Well you’ve got yourself a great guy too you know!  I mean, Trent is…”

                Kayleigh scoffed, “Well he’s no Luke, that’s for sure!  But yeah… Trent does have his perks…”

                “So when do I get to see your dress?  I’m still bummed you didn’t bring it with you.” Dawn said.

                “Yeah I know, but my dad said I had to leave it at home.  I’m going to go and get ready before four, because I know it’ll take me long as hell to be perfectly happy with the way my hair is.” Kayleigh replied.

                Dawn nodded, “Oh ok… so your brother and his date accompanying us or do they have a ride?”

                Kayleigh groaned, “Skye and Carmen don’t have a ride… do you think Luke will be ok with giving him a ride?”

                Dawn shrugged, “I was gonna call him in a few, so I guess I could ask for you, or well him.”

                Kayleigh took a glance at the clock and grabbed her purse, “Oh thanks Dawn, you’re such a lifesaver!  I can’t even begin to thank you for that one… may dad said if Skye doesn’t go then I don’t go.”

                Dawn smiled, “Well hopefully Luke can fit them in his car…” she pondered.

                “Well if not, we could tie them down onto the roof.  I mean their freshmen!  How heavy and or noticeable could they be?” Kayleigh joked.

                Dawn laughed as Kayleigh began heading for the door, “Well I’ll call you once I get word from Luke, ok?”

                Kayleigh smiled, the sadness coming back to her as she checked Dawn out once more.  “Oh that dress is heaven on you Dawn…” she gasped.  Kayleigh shook off the amazement and opened the door, “Ok I’m leaving before I need a tissue!”

                “Ok, well see ya around eight then!” Dawn shouted as Kayleigh made her way down the hall.  Kayleigh waved as Dawn went back inside and closed the door behind her and rested herself on the big metal door.  She let out a sigh as she looked at the clock; not even a minute had passed.  Dawn groaned as she moved away from the door, how the hell could I pass two hours in record time she thought to herself.  Something dawned on her, she ran as quickly as she could with her heels on toward the phone.  Time to call Luke, she decided with an extremely happy smile.

 

 

                Buffy drove down William Street, next to Central Park at a high speed as she rushed to Xander’s.  Her mind raced, she just had to get to Xander’s before Dawn went to Homecoming; she had to get some pictures!  A stalled began coming into Buffy’s view, but she didn’t totally understand that it was stalled.  Buffy’s heart began to pick up the pace as she slowed down her car’s, she looked carefully at the stalled car and hit her horn a few times to get it moving.  When that failed, Buffy punched her horn; she couldn’t be late!  The harsh blow to the horn locked it in place, causing Buffy to roll her eyes at the current twist of crap to happen to her today.

                She flipped her blinker and began to merge to the right lane as a car rushed past her, blazing its horn as hers kept going no matter what.  Buffy groaned, she punched the horn a few more times hoping to unlock the nescience.  “Damn my powers…” she complained as she pulled over to the side of the road.  An old Nissan pick-up truck honked its horn at her as she put her car into park  Buffy glared at the Nissan, pointing to the steering wheel.  “Yeah, keep honking!  Hear this, this is for you buddy!” she shouted, realizing after her outburst that the driver couldn’t hear her.

                Another sigh left Buffy as she gave a quick jab to the wheel; it didn’t work.  Buffy gave in to the unstoppable horn, slamming her head onto the horn in defeat.  The slight bump of her head to the horn unlocked it, stopping the annoying horn.  Buffy quickly rose in her seat, astounded at the silence, “Thank you, God!”  Buffy looked out her side window as she went to restart the car, and she let out a surprising gasp.  In the shrubs and trees of Central Park, Buffy witnessed the pale face of the lead singer of Desdemona.  She stood there watching Buffy with her cold yet oddly soft brown eyes.  The singer’s dark blackish red lips formed a slight smile as she stood there in her gothic attire, the pentagram hanging from her ears and neck.

                Buffy kept the car’s engine off as she quickly jumped out, keeping her eyes on the singer.  To her surprise, the singer had not disappeared like most mysterious figures in the shadows.  Buffy took it slow, approaching the pale singer very cautiously.  She locked eyes with the girl, “Who are you?”

                The singer smiled, “Desdemona… the name is Desdemona, and yours’ Slayer?”  Desdemona’s voice gave Buffy the notion she was English, the accent too thick to be anything else.

                Buffy’s heart skipped a beat at the mention of “Slayer”, it made her feel vulnerable that the mysterious woman knew her profession.  “I’d rather not…” Buffy stated.

                Desdemona nodded, “Very well then… how are you feeling these days?” she asked.

                “Good, but I guess I have you to thank for that.  Right?” Buffy inquisited, taking a glance at her car as the setting sun’s rays hit the windshield to create a glare. 

                Desdemona laughed slightly, “Yes, yes you can thank me for that if you’d wish, but I was just doing my job.”

                “Job?” Buffy asked, folding her arms across her chest but then moving them to her hips.  She clearly felt uncomfortable being with this strange woman, something about her struck Buffy as odd.

                Desdemona took a few steps toward Buffy, “My job, I was sent to protect you…”

                Buffy gave Desdemona a blank look, “Uh huh… and who would think I need protection?”

                Desdemona’s smile grew a small bit, “The Council…” she stated, blunt and straight to the point.

                Buffy cocked an eyebrow at Desdemona as she laughed due simply to shock.  “The Council?  Want to protect me?” Buffy laughed.

                Desdemona nodded, “They fear that with your new nemesis, or should I say nemeses, that you will not be able to triumph.  So, yes they want to protect you as much as they can.”

                Confusion summed up Buffy’s feelings at that moment, her face contorted with her thinking.  “Wait, wait a second… we ARE talking about the same Council here, right?  The Watcher’s Council?”

                Desdemona nodded once again, “What other Council would it be Slayer?” she stated sarcastically. 

                Buffy shrugged, “I don’t know but it sure doesn’t sound like the Council we all know and love.  I mean… they’ve never shown any concern over me before, not even when I was up against a God!”

                “Thamogron isn’t a God, and neither is Blaine… but together they will prove to be the hardest villains to ever come up in this soap opera that is your life.  And as for the Council protecting you, they’ve seen you triumph before and they wish to see you triumph again.  Besides, they don’t want to see their best Slayer die.” Desdemona stated.

                Buffy expressed great shock, she put a hand gently to her chest to ask if Desdemona was talking about her.  “Me?  Best Slayer ever?” she asked.

                Desdemona rolled her eyes, “In their opinions, yes.  I on the other hand think nothing of you.  You’re just another Slayer that has had it easy… no, I’m sorry I take that back…”

                Buffy’s eyes raged as she glared at Desdemona, “For your sake I hope you do… how dare you.  Who do you think you are!  Coming out of nowhere telling me that I’ve had it easy!  I’ve had nothing but hardships and heart ache over my years of Slaying!”

                Desdemona put a hand up to silence Buffy’s raging complaints.  Her dark eyes seeming to burn with anger and resentment toward Buffy as she locked eyes with the Slayer.  “I meant that you’ve had it easy up to this point and time… Glory was a walk in the park to the supreme evil that is Thamogron.  You have no idea what you’re up against if Blaine releases him!”

                Buffy folded her arms across her chest and stood there, angry as hell and waiting for an answer.  “If I have no idea then why don’t you go ahead and give me one.”

                Desdemona sneered at Buffy, “I am not the one to talk to about Thamogron, and I only have minimal…”

                Buffy interrupted, “Minimal is just fine with me, spill it Marilyn…” she hissed.

                Desdemona’s eyes widened, the cheap shot at her gothic style and the insanity that is Marilyn Manson hit her hard.  Buffy noticed the damage taken in by the Marilyn joke, and she almost laughed from extreme pleasure as she stood there in silence.  Desdemona shook off her anger, “All I was told was that Thamogron is not a demon nor anything of that kind.  It is a plague… a sickness of extreme evil, pure and untainted by human or demon…”

                A quick sense of Déjà vu came over Buffy, but she moved past the feeling and listened closely to Desdemona.  “Keep going…” she said.

                Desdemona sighed, “The last thing I know of Thamogron is that it can be contained, inside the body of a vampire.  The soul is what feeds Thamogron, so once the plague infects a vampire host it ceases to spread and will be restricted to that vessel.”

                Buffy made an impressed face, “Good, then we just put Mr. Flu bug inside a vampire and stake it.  Bye, bye baddie.”

                Laughter erupted from Desdemona, “That is how we all got in this mess we are in today!  Thamogron infected a vampire upon its release in 1804 from an Egyptian tomb in the midst of the Sahara, and that was when as you would say, things went bad.”  The gothic girl took a step off toward the side, looking up into the sky at the pale yellow of the vast open space above them.  “The vampire’s power mixed with that of Thamogron’s spawned a super-vampire, something that had enough fire power to obliterate buildings with a single gesture, destroy a civilization just by willing it to happen with its mind.  Thamogron was unstoppable; it slaughtered four Slayers in a row before finally getting its just dessert.  The Powers That Be, they chose a male Slayer.  The man found Thamogron, and staked the monster.  But instead of stopping Thamogron, a portal to the dimension we call Hell was opened and the plague was sucked into it.”

                “Wow, for someone with minimal information you sure did have a lot to tell…” Buffy said with a sarcastic tone.

                Desdemona sighed, sick of Buffy’s lack of respect toward the woman who saved her life.  She overlooked that now, “But now we are facing Blaine, a maniacal vampire bent on human destruction.  We don’t know how he knows of Thamogron or how he can resurrect the plague but we do know it will be done here, at the Hellmouth.”

                “So we just…” Buffy attempted to suggest something, but Desdemona quickly interrupted her.

                “Do not look for an easy way out of this Slayer… we have to just wait for Thamogron to rise again and then we destroy him once and for all…” Desdemona stated.

                Buffy shook her head relentlessly, “That’s not an option.  I have a giant demigod on my ass wanting me to destroy Thamogron or I die!  I will stop at nothing to prevent this thing from rising,” Buffy checked her watch.  “Shit, I’ve got to go.  You want to come with and we can continue fighting in the car, or you just gonna lurk here for awhile?”

                Desdemona stepped back into the shrugs and trees of Central Park, her face very scornful.  “I’ll be in touch Slayer… and if you’re smart you’ll let Thamogron come back…” she warned, quickly slipping out of sight.  Buffy sighed, turning her back on the retreating Desdemona as she too fled to her car very slowly.  It was almost six thirty now; she still had a few minutes to get to Xander’s.  Buffy turned back to check for Desdemona, she could still feel the woman’s creepy presence.  But Buffy didn’t want to miss Dawn’s big night, not even if it meant leaving the only source of information she had in the darkness now beginning to fall on the city.

 

 

                The corridors beneath the sewage treatment plant hissed with steam, like a boiler room.  Water dripped from the rusted over pipes under the plant, mingling the hissing and the dripping into an annoyingly hypnotic sound.  Absolutely no light filled the long hallways as Blaine sulkily tramped through them.  His footsteps fell victim to the noises around him, muting them to his supernatural ears as he went on through.  He could scarcely hear the scampering of a few rats at his feet, but he could feel the heat from their tiny bodies.  It made him hungry.

                Always with the darkness came hunger, it was a sickening cycle he knew all too well.  If he were to stay secluded to the utter blackness of the corridors for more then a few hours the hunger would grow so severe that he would attempt to attack his clan members above for the life giving substance.  It never happened before, but that was his theory though.  Blaine came towards a corner and with the corner a hallway to a twisting column of steel stairs that led up to the top level, where his sarcophagus lay.  “Time for the big decision…” Blaine pondered loudly within his mind.  “Stay here and mope about, waiting for someone to come down and snap me back into a sane frame of mind… or go up and face the music…” Blaine thought with a sigh.  His eyes observed both pathways closely, and the answer began to dawn on him.  Without knowing or willing to move ahead, Blaine’s feet turned him toward the stairs as his body seemed to force himself to face the music.  Blaine sighed once again; he was dreading this moment.

                Something new was up there with his clan; Blaine could hear its gurgling speech as he scaled the staircase.  The others began to hear him approaching, he could hear them coming toward the staircase.  Was it to greet him?  Was it to maim him?  Blaine didn’t know, but he knew he was about to find out.  He stepped up onto the cement on the higher floor as his clan looked at him with fearful and excited gazes.  Bella parted the vampires as Blaine watched on, the new something unveiled to his eyes.

                A moderately tall Utolea demon stood there among the clan, standing up on its thin snake-like body.  Blaine gave the monstrous demon a surprised look; it was such a puny example of an Utolea.  It stood a good six feet in the air, but the usually blubbery body was nothing but skin and bones.  He was amazed at the unique appearance of the low life demon, its skin a pale turquoise instead of the bright cerulean most Utolean skin is.  The thing’s eyes fogged over when it inhaled through its loose, flap-like gills; it began to concern Blaine, more that it would die and smell other then just die.

                The demon made a slight bow to Blaine, its wiry snake body barely able to bring itself back up after the show of respect to his newly arrived host.  Blaine returned the bow, his eyes watching the Utolea and waiting for it to keel over right there.  He gave the demon a look, “Can I help you with something?”  It gave Blaine a nod, gurgling a short response.  Blaine shook his head, puzzled at the alien language, “Uh… does anyone here speak Utolean?”

                Helious stood there behind Lill and Slash as he gave a slight nod, “It wants to make you a deal… it has information on your enemy.”

                Blaine’s lips curled into a joyful smile, “It has info on our dear Slayer does it?”

                Helious sighed, “Quentin Travers, the head of the Watcher’s Council… he’s here in Sunnydale.”

                A gasp, both of shock and of pleasure escaped Blaine, just the notion of the leader of his enemies so close gave him chills down his spine.  Blaine turned and smiled at the sickly Utolea demon, “What do you want in this deal my friend?”

                The Utolea gurgled his response, which Helious relayed to Blaine as his eyes focused mainly on Blaine.  “It wants access to the sewage here… it’s a very civil sewage demon it seems.  It will not feast on the waste here unless you give permission…” Helious stated.

                Blaine shrugged, taking a few steps toward the Utolea.  “What’s mine is yours and what’s yours is mine… if the information is good enough that is…” Blaine said.  He stood right infront of the Utolea and sniffed it curiously, savoring the smell.  Taking in the aroma and holding it in his dead lungs, Blaine determined what was so appealing about the demon’s smell.  “You’re a hybrid… half demon, half human… tainted it seems…” Blaine deducted, absolutely help in rapture from the lovely scent.

                The Utolae’s body contracted, unleashing its human form before Blaine and the clan.  Its skin faded into the whitish crème color of the sickly human student Lenny.  His brown hair an absolute mess on the top of his head as his naked body sweat uncontrollably.  Blaine came towards Lenny with a strange look in his eyes, a look that made Lenny wipe away the dripping sweat from his brow as the vampire approached.  Lenny shook his head; stepping away from Blaine, “Don’t eat me, please!  I’ll tell you what I know and I’ll leave…”

                Blaine laughed, “By the looks of your current state, you’d drop dead within a mile of here.” 

                Blaine grabbed Lenny with his left hand as his right lightly touched Lenny’s frightened face.  His green eyes closed reflexively as the cold, clammy, dead fingers of Blaine’s hand touched his cheek and went through his hair.  Combing the mess of hair into a presentable spiky hairstyle, Blaine watched Lenny squirm with fear.  “Please, I beg you!  Don’t kill me!” Lenny screamed for mercy.

                The vampire face of Blaine showed itself as Blaine opened his mouth and lunged at Lenny as if he were to bite him.  Lenny cried as Blaine stopped the lunge, dabbing his tongue on Larry’s neck and lapping up the salty fluid flowing from the boy’s pores.  Blaine swished the sweat in his mouth before swallowing with a slight chuckle, “I’m not going to kill you, just wanted to… play!”  His human face returned now as Blaine pushed Lenny backward with his index finger.  Walking back towards his clan, Blaine yelled out, “But if you’re lying to me and only want my resources then you are free to leave… I’m not interested in drinking you’re disgusting blood but I wouldn’t mind bashing your pathetic brains in, understood!”

                Lenny took a step forward in protest, his eyes swirling within his head as confusion and fear began to mix.  “It’s the truth, the man is here!  I saw him; he was at the Watcher’s apartment complex earlier today.  He’s staying at the Hyatt on Tenth Street near the  ” Lenny confessed.

                Blaine swung around, his eyes wide and wondrous.  “Your mind maybe weak and certainly unless but today I have found a use for it!  He speaks the truth… the Council’s main man is here in Sunnydale!  And I’m guessing its not just to pay a visit to everyone’s favorite thorn in my side… ha!” Blaine cackled.  He appeared to prance toward Lenny as his grin grew too wide for his face, “My dearest sewage demon!  Feast upon the largest supply of shit you’ll ever lay a finger on…”

                Lenny at once morphed back into his demon form, gurgling and screeching in joy as he slithered over and off the balcony into the sewage pools below.  Blaine at once turned his attention to the clan, their eyes all on their leader as a plan formed within his evil mind.  The blue of his eyes appeared to sparkle as the new task at hand made Blaine giddy, “Torturons, it looks like we’re going to visit Mr. Travers…”

 

 

                As the door to Xander’s apartment opened, Buffy actually screamed with excitement as she saw Dawn in her Homecoming dress.  Buffy caught Dawn in a big, yet not too powerful hug as she twirled her into the apartment.  Dawn was actually laughing; if it were any other time and Buffy did that it would be the end.  Buffy set Dawn down, a big grin on her face as she took a good look at her little sister all dressed up and ready to go.  “Dawn… its breath taking… where’s Luke?” Buffy asked, approaching Xander and Anya.

                Anya held a movie camera as she turned toward Buffy, watching the Slayer in the little screen coming off the side of the camera.  Anya waved, “And look!  It’s Buffy, the Homecoming girl’s sister!  Notice how unattractive and less flashy she is dressed.”

                Buffy took a moment to come up with a clever thing to come back at Anya with, but then switched tracks and smiled at Xander.  He held up a camera and took Buffy’s picture quickly, then put it back down on the coffee table.  “Hey Buffy, man isn’t she hottie?” Xander stated, the oddly gross comment only coming back to him just after he said it.  “Well, what I meant is, well see…” Xander stammered to clear up the disaster he just created.

                Buffy just gave Xander a hug, “Its ok, she really is a hottie…” Buffy confessed, releasing Xander to get another look at Dawn.  “So, like I asked before!  Where’s Luke?”

                Dawn narrowed her gaze at Buffy, her eyes angry and full of resentment.  Dawn let loose a sigh, “He’s running late… Buffy, we need to talk!”  Dawn grabbed Buffy and pulled her away from Xander and Anya and towards the door.  Anya just zoomed in on the two of them as Dawn attempted to have a talk with her bigger, nosey sister.  Dawn glared at Buffy, “Please, for the love of God and everything… well Godly, don’t embarrass me!”

                Buffy laughed, “Oh come on Dawn, I would never…” she quickly stopped, noticing Dawn’s eyes getting so narrow she looked like she would snap Buffy’s neck in one swift movement. 

                “You always come up with something… just please don’t do anything other then stand there, smile, complement how nice he looks, and let us leave.” Dawn stated with a stern, cold tone of voice.

                Buffy cocked an eyebrow, “Wait, I thought I was driving you two?  Oh, are his parents going to drive him… oh god…” Buffy gasped, realizing what was going on.

                Dawn gave Buffy the normal “oh please” look, “He’s got a car Buffy, he’s got a license and he’s a GOOD driver, I know…”

                Buffy interrupted, “You know?  You’ve been in his car!  Dawn, I haven’t even met this guy and you’re already riding in his car!”

                “God Buffy, it’s not like we were having sex in the car, it was just driving!” Dawn countered.

                Buffy sighed, pulled back her hair in total amazement.  “Ok… ok, I’m not going to be out of control.  Dawn, I promise I’ll try to be on my best behavior and not do anything too weird… as long as you do something for me!”

                Dawn folded her arms across her chest, awaiting the unbelievably outrageous compromise that Buffy would undoubtedly bestow upon her.  “Ok, lets here it.”

                Buffy slightly tilted her head to the side as she put a hand to Dawn’s face, sharing a touching moment between eachother.  Buffy looked into Dawn’s blue eyes with a pleasant smile, “Be careful… and if anything happens, if he forces himself on you call me!”

                Dawn groaned, “Buffy!”  Buffy just smiled back at Dawn and kissed her on the forehead, making sure she didn’t mess up Dawn’s makeup. 

                A light knocking sounded off from the door as Anya clapped and turned her camera toward the door.  “Here it is ladies and gentlemen, the moment you’ve all waited an hour and twenty-one minutes for!  Dawn’s date!” she exclaimed.

                Xander looked puzzeledly at Anya, “Um, honey… who are you talking to exactly?”

                Without moving the camera, Anya turned and smiled at Xander, “The hundreds upon hundreds of guests we’ll be showing this to just to bore them into leaving our lovely home.”  Xander just mouthed an “oh” as he put his arm around Anya as they awaited the opening of the door.

                Dawn quickly rushed to the door and turned toward Buffy to get thumbs up on the looks.  Dawn smiled and grabbed the doorknob; she pulled the door open and immediately was swept into the arms of Luke.  Everyone watched in awe as the six-foot something, deep blonde haired, model-like High Schooler twirled Dawn in the air.  They both laughed as they spun around, but quickly Luke caught sight of everyone in the room and dropped Dawn back to her feet.  His face blushed with embarrassment, “Sorry… thought no one was here…”

                Xander and Anya approached the young man as Buffy stood where she was dragged off to by Dawn.  Xander and Anya exchanged handshakes and names with Luke as Buffy stood, watching the commotion from afar.  She folded her arms across her chest and watched Dawn bathe in the glow of love, something she herself had missed from her High School days.  Buffy felt oddly torn between feeling sad about how grown Dawn was becoming and happy that Dawn was in love.  But Buffy pushed the feelings aside and just smiled as she watched everything unravel before her eyes.

                Dawn noticed Buffy off to the side, and realized that maybe her speech before was keeping Buffy from coming over.  Dawn poked Luke in the shoulder and directed his attention to Buffy.  He smiled and walked over to Buffy, making her heart beat faster from the unexpected allowance of her into all of this.  Luke extended his hand to Buffy as their eyes met, and Buffy found herself oddly lost in his brilliantly blue eyes.  She knew she had no feelings for Luke, but his eyes gave her a strange feeling, a feeling of déjà vu.  Buffy shook Luke’s hand, “Hi, I’m Luke… you must be Buffy?”

                Buffy nodded, “Buffy… oh, yes.  I’m Buffy, Dawn’s sister.”  She shook off the déjà vu.

                Luke smiled, “Nice to meet you finally, Dawn’s been raving all about you…”

                Buffy laughed, “And of you too, all she ever talks about anymore, Luke this, Luke that, hard to make conversation…” Dawn quickly entered herself into this conversation, smiling at Luke and giving Buffy a stern “what the hell are you talking about” look.  Buffy looked at her watch, “Oh, you guys have a lot of time before the dance starts…”

                “It starts at eight Buffy, its only two hours.  And anyway, we have to pick up Kayleigh and her brother before hand, so it’ll pass quickly.  Its better to get there early anyway, get the pictures done faster.” Dawn stated.

                Buffy gasped, “Oh, pictures!  Do you need money, I’ve got some…” Buffy attempted to say.

                Dawn interrupted her, “Luke’s got money, he’s going to pay for the pictures Buffy, it’s ok.”

                Buffy calmed herself down, “Well… ok then.  So you guys just going to leave now?”

                Dawn looked at Luke, then back at Buffy as she nodded.  “Yeah, I guess so.  I’ll be home before one,” Dawn stated, turning to give a look at Xander and Anya.  “Is that ok?”

                Xander shrugged, “Yeah sure, guess we’ll just have to find something else to do without the Dawnster around, huh Anya?”

                Anya turned and grabbed Xander’s shoulders excitedly, “Oh, like loud, obnoxious sex!”

                Dawn’s face dropped in horror as Luke turned and looked at Anya in shock, but Buffy knew what to do.  She began pushing the Homecoming bound kids toward the door, “Well you two better be on your way…” she said.  Buffy opened the door and showed Luke the way out as Dawn followed.  She stopped and smiled at Buffy, “Thank you…”

                Buffy exchanged the smile, “You’re welcome… just be safe and careful… oh wait!”  Dawn stopped again and turned around as Luke stood in the hallway waiting, “Dawn, where is Homecoming at, actually?”

                “Oh… oh, I never told you?  Sorry, guess that was one of the things I felt I was forgetting to do… well, it’s at the Hyatt, over on Tenth Street.  Its in the dinning room, should be the big fancy-shmancy.” Dawn stated.

                Buffy nodded in approval, “Ok… well you two have a good time.  Luke, it was nice to meeting you.”

                Luke waved as Dawn walked over to him and he put his arm around her, “Nice meeting you too Buffy.”  Buffy began closing the door, but just before it shut closed she looked through the crack at the two walking down the hallway.  She sighed and closed the door, her eyes moved onto Anya and Xander who stood there in mortal shock at the odd, sickness that had just occurred.  Buffy laughed slightly as she moved away from the door shaking her head, “Anya you really need to get the whole human thing under wraps…”

 

 

                Bewilderment consumed every last drop of Quentin’s thoughts.  “How could I have said I would return,” he thought aloud.  As Quentin sat on his squeaky bed in the not too lavish Hotel room, he held his head in the palms on his hands in shock at his words.  The predicament he found himself suddenly snagged up in was too overwhelming, the news and information he would have to relay to the Slayer would either make or break her.

                It was a little past seven now, by the old, decorative clock standing in Quentin’s room.  He could hear his three bodyguards in the moderately large living room, they seemed to be laughing.  Quentin rolled his eyes, they weren’t worth the money for transportation he paid to get them out to the States.  It passed through his mind that if someone were to attack at this moment and time, the fools would not stand a chance.  The distinguished Englishman stood up from his bed and headed past the dimly lit lamps and the clock toward the polished brass doorknob of his room’s door.

                Quentin grasped the doorknob and twisted it, tugging at the door lightly to open it.  His eyes saw the television first as some American sitcom played, but then as he opened the door wider his pupils narrowed as his eyes widened in horror.  On the floor, the three band members of Desdemona, his bodyguards were in a pile on the floor.  Quentin let loose a hoarse gasp as he watched the blood seep out of their broken bodies and onto the blue-gray carpet.  His eyes searched for an attacker, but found no one.  Retreat seemed the only logical thing to do, he realized he could retreat back into his room and lock himself away from whatever was in the other room.  But that option ceased to exist as the whatever showed themselves.

                Blaine appeared before Quentin like a specter inside of a haunted house, just materializing out of nowhere.  The glow of his demonic eyes faded away as he, himself faded into view.  Not only was Blaine standing in the room, but the entire seven members of the Torturons stood there as well.  The vampire’s lips curled into a maniacal and truly disturbing grin, “I believe we’ve never properly met.”

                Quentin swallowed hard, a bit lost for words as his old eyes examined the six bloodthirsty vampires behind the one infront of him.  “Well then, I guess not… but I do know who you are.” Quentin stated with a strong voice, attempting to overcome his mind numbing fear.

                Blaine put his pale hand to his chest, acting shocked just to rake Quentin’s emotions over the coals just a bit more.  “Really?  Do you like me work?  Some say I have quite a bit of talent for death, but I think they’re just blowing smoke up my ass…” Blaine professed to Quentin, reaching out and adjusting the white collar of Quentin’s dress shirt.

                The old man’s body shook relentlessly.  “Why are you here?  You will not get anything from me vampire!”

                Blaine laughed at Quentin’s bravery for a moment then snatched up his decaying sack of flesh that was Quentin’s body and held it up in the air.  Wrapping his white fingers around Quentin’s scrawny neck, the old man panicked as he frantically reached to release himself.  Blaine’s funny man approach to all of this faded like the morning fog as the sun rose; a new, menacing side of Blaine arrived just in time to tare every inch of skin off Quentin.  His yellow demon eyes seemed to pierce Quentin’s wrinkled flesh and stab at his racing heart.  Blaine’s snarling lips parted as he prepared to speak, exposing his long, milky white fangs.  “Be a good dog…” Blaine stated, throwing his head forward and wrapping his pinkish lips around Quentin’s nose.  Clamping down with his fangs, Blaine shook his head and tore the old man’s nose off.

                Quentin howled in anguish, the blood rushing out of the ripped cartilage hole on his face as Blaine held him off the ground.  Taking in the severed nose of Quentin into his mouth, Blaine swirled it with his tongue as he sucked the blood out of it.  He turned his head and spat the nose to the opposite wall, watching it drop to the couch below.  Blaine returned his attention to Quentin, the evil anger still present in his glaring eyes.  “And fetch!” Blaine snarled, throwing Quentin toward his missing piece.  The elderly Watcher hit the wall and collapsed to the ground, still screaming at the top of his lungs from the unbearable pain.

                Lill took a step forward as she hissed at Blaine, “Shut him up Blaine, someone will hear him!”

                The door flew off its hinges and slid to the blue-gray carpet as the vampires spun around in shock.  Desdemona walked into the room as her eyes blackened like oil.  Blaine went on the defense, charging at the powerful woman.  Desdemona raised her hand while her finger glowed with blue energy, “Here my plea, push back these fiends!” she roared.  The clan of vampires flew backwards and against the wall as she moved toward Quentin.  She knew they’d be up faster then she could get her leader out of there, there would only be enough time if she could remember another spell.  It came to Desdemona quickly, her fingers growing brighter with each step.  “Like the wall of Berlin, build me a barrier!” she commanded.  A blue energy wave exited Desdemona’s hands, creating a wall infront of the vampires.

                Blaine let out a roar like a lion as he got to his feet and glared at Desdemona, her arms gathering the sobbing geezer and running out the broken doorway.  The raging vampire charged forward, the spell throwing him back and into Helious.  He swung around and grabbed Helious by the collar of his heavy leather trench coat as he pulled the vampire closer.  “Break this spell!” Blaine shouted.

                Helious hit Blaine’s hands loose from him, “What do I look like?  Your slave?  Break it yourself, Blaine!”

                The words fed Blaine’s anger like kindle to a flame, the uncontrollable rage within him about to boil to the surface.  Helious stood up to Blaine’s rage, practically begging for him to pop so it would give good reason for taking the bastard down to his knees.  But Blaine backed down, killing Quentin was more important to him then killing his rival, Helious.  It actually amazed him quite a bit that he didn’t take the opportunity presented to him just a few moments before and rip out Helious’ throat.  Turning around to face the barrier infront of him, Blaine actually made a smile-like facial gesture.  “Ok then… I will break it…” he stated, simply.  The cool headed Blaine stepped up to the barrier and gave it a few good punched, each knocking him back a few steps.  Beginning to glow bright blue, much like the bubble that killed his Vargos, the barrier wavered weakly.  Blaine watched the barrier quiver, and he grinned.  “It’s working… everyone!  Punch the living hell out of this thing!” Blaine ordered, his clan quickly approaching the barrier and giving the barrier some quick jabs.

                Meanwhile, Desdemona fled through the long hallway with the injured Quentin Travers in her arms.  A maid appeared out of an upcoming doorway and gave a loud screech as she saw the old man’s injury.  “Oh my god!  Is he alright!” the little lady screamed.

                Desdemona didn’t take the time to reply to the lady, she kept her mind set on escaping before the vampires figured the barrier was weak enough to crack if given enough time.  Her mind conflicted with itself, she should have electrified them with an energy blast or at least thrown them back and held them with a telekinetic gesture.  If Blaine were to escape and kill Quentin, it would be her fault.  Desdemona knew that, and she knew Quentin was thinking that in between dwelling on his gushing nasal wound. 

                “Sl-sl-slayer!” the poor old man muttered out, weakly grabbing onto Desdemona’s pentagram necklace.

                Desdemona quickly tapped Quentin’s hands away from the necklace, but they returned and he tugged harder.  The stress on her neck from the pulling made Desdemona give in, stopping just a few feet away from the elevator as she looked down at Quentin.  She sighed hard, “Sir!  I have to get you out of here, immediately!”

                Quentin shook his head, tears rolling down his red eyes.  Desdemona didn’t know if they were red from the severe crying or because the blood had rolled down into them, but she stopped pondering and listened closely to her leader.  “The-the Slaye-Slayer… go to her…” Quentin moaned out.

                Desdemona shook her head, confused at what Quentin was talking about.  “Go to the Slayer?  You want me to take you to her?”

                “NO!” Quentin screamed, coughing out the blood that was draining down into his throat.  “G-go… leave me, fin-find the b-b-bo-book… the Book o-of, of Rath-Rathon Mah…”

                Desdemona could feel a tear gathering in her eyes as she watched Quentin writhe in agony, the color escaping his face as death quickly approached him.  She shook her head, “No, I won’t leave you!  We can tell the Slayer together!”

                Quentin grabbed and yanked onto Desdemona’s necklace as his eyes burned into her own, “Its at, its at the coll-college… Bab-babaknia…”

                A satisfied grunt came from behind Desdemona.  Before she could turn around she knew what was there; it was Blaine.  The vampire picked her up by her head and shoved her to the carpeted floor as Quentin dropped down, death coming to him.  The old man looked up as his eyes widened, “Too… late…” he mumbled as his body went limp on the carpet.  Blaine looked down on the corpse and smiled at it, “I’ll coop.”  He slowly glanced up and watched as Desdemona got to her feet, shaken badly by the sudden twist in events.  Blaine’s smile faded as his vampiric face exposed itself, a low growl coming out of him as his clan came down the hallway. 

                The maid quickly shut herself away in the room she was cleaning at the sight of the band of demons coming down the hallway.  Desdemona kept her eyes onto Blaine, the tear that built up during Quentin’s last words finally escaping now.  She shook her head, “You’ll get yours…”

                Blaine snarled, “But not from you… and certainly not right now…” he stated. 

                Desdemona backed away slowly while Blaine stepped forward with every step she took.  Panic surged through her body, her heart raced as the vampire played with her in this moment of horror.  Thoughts drowned her mind; embryonic plans began forming as Blaine kept coming at her, step by step.  If she fought, she would die.  If she fled, it would risk the chance of Blaine wanting a confrontation, and he would undoubtedly go to the Slayer to do that.  Desdemona took a deep breath, cleansing herself of the mess in her head as a plan finally unfolded. 

                The girl stopped, she could see the elevator out of the corner of her eye.  Blaine stopped as well; his clan stopping along with him as they all eagerly awaited what Desdemona would pull on them next.  Her eyes filled with black once more as Desdemona spread her arms out and lifted from the ground.  Her fingers once again glowed with blue energy as she lowered her gaze, “Burn.”  A wave of blue energy shot out of the carpet, setting fire to it.  Blaine actually managed to gasp as he kicked in a door and jumped into the room, his clan quickly following as the flames shot down the hallway.

                Sprinklers above shot down from the ceiling, releasing cold water to drench the roaring fire.  Desdemona slowly dropped to the ground, watching as the water put an end to her protection.  Blaine exited the room and snarled at Desdemona, the clan not too far behind him as they walked through the soaking hallway.  A sigh escaped her, but all was not as lost as it appeared.  Raising her glowing fingers toward the returning vampires, Desdemona sneered.  “By the power of God and everything Holy… I bless this water…” Desdemona said, a slight laugh in her words. 

                The Torturon’s vampiric faces retreated as their human eyes narrowed in horror.  As the water fell from the ceiling, steam and smoke rose off of their vampire skin.  Wailing in horrible pain, most of the vampires retreated back into the room, but three stayed.  Blaine led Bella and Helious toward Desdemona as she backed away.  They gained speed as they came at Desdemona, attempting to flee the Holy Water and catch their victim in record time.  The British girl waved her hand once in back of her, opening the elevator door as she quickly ran inside.  Blaine flew at her, catching the doors just as they began to close.  Desdemona slammed against the back of the elevator, fear taking its toll on her.  But she put up a strong appearance as she raised her hand and released a bolt of electric energy into Blaine’s chest, throwing the vampire back into the other two as they re-entered the Holy Water.  Another sigh left Desdemona as she watched the elevator doors close and the numbers begin to decline above the door.  Two more floors till she was in the lobby, two more floors till she could escape.

 

 

                Buffy rolled her eyes at herself as she parked across the street from the Hyatt.  “This cannot be happening…” she thought aloud, she couldn’t believe herself.  She was being the best sister ever when she let Dawn go at Xander’s apartment, and now here she was destroying that.  Buffy let out a sigh as she leaned her head back in her seat.  Pulling out the keys and putting them in her pocket, Buffy turned her eyes toward the limousine packed parking lot of the relatively large hotel.  “If she catches me… oh god she better not catch me…” Buffy once again thought aloud.

                Stepping out of the car, Buffy took a quick glance at the Hyatt.  She sighed once more, the calming method apparently failing on her rocky nerves.  “I’ll just go inside… see how things are going…” Buffy stated to herself.  “And kill Luke if he’s got his hands on her, ugh!  No, I can’t do that!  Why am I even here…” she groaned, stepping back into the car.  As she slipped down into her seat, the sight of smoke caught her eye.  Jumping back out of the car, Buffy gasped in horror as she saw that out of a fifth floor window bellowed smoke.  It was black, which meant the fire had been put out.  Still Buffy slammed her car door and clumsily locked it.  Returning to the matter at hand, Buffy bolted across the vacant street and began weaving in and out of the limousine littered parking lot.  Worry slammed against Buffy with each terrifying step she took toward the Hyatt; worry over Dawn and worry over what Dawn would do if she knew that Buffy was about to crash her Homecoming.

 

 

                Dawn and Luke moved off of the dance floor and toward their table, both with wide grins on their faces.  Dawn’s heart raced as her hand touched Luke’s, the night was already was the best night of her life.  Luke lead her toward their table, as Kayleigh and Trent sat there with their arms around one another.  Kayleigh parted from Trent as she saw Luke and Dawn approach, “Hey girl!  How’s the dance floor?”

                Dawn flashed a bright smile, “Crowded, but otherwise fine.  Aren’t you two gonna dive in?”

                Trent cringed, “Uh, bad dancer.  Both of us…” he stated, leaning back in his chair.

                Kayleigh gasped, “Oh please, I can dance!  You just throw me off with your crazy steps.”

                Luke laughed at the both of them, “Come on you guys, you’re acting like old women…”  Dawn laughed at her dates’ joke.

 

 

                The elevator doors slid open; Desdemona ran out of the small compartment and threw a small group of guests as they waited to be let into the elevator.  The girl just kept plowing through people, some more guests and a lot of students attending the dance.  She had to get out of the hotel, she knew just two doors and a few floors worth of dropping wouldn’t keep Blaine or his clan away from silencing her.  It was escape, or certain death now.

                As Desdemona threw open the glass doors of the Hyatt, she came face to face with Buffy.  Horror drained Desdemona’s already pale face of blood, she stood there gaping at Buffy as the Slayer did the same.  “What are you doing here!” they both said in unison.  Desdemona shook her head and proceeded to push Buffy out of the hotel along with her, “No, no you can’t be in there Slayer!  We must part from this place, please run!”

                Buffy knocked away Desdemona’s hands as her eyes widened, “What is in there…?”

                Desdemona turned back, appalled that Buffy would wait and ask questions instead of fleeing.  “You can’t possibly go back in there, Blaine and his crew just murdered Quentin and they’re coming after me!  I prefer we leave now and live to fight another day when we both have weapons!” Desdemona pleaded with Buffy.

                Buffy shook her head slowly, her eyes coldly locking with Desdemona’s.  “You forget something Goth girl…” Buffy said.

                Desdemona sneered, “And what would that be?” she asked, glancing behind Buffy at the elevator.

                “I am a weapon,” Buffy stated, turning back and walking into the hotel.  Desdemona leaped for her, grabbing Buffy by the arm and pulling her back outside.  Buffy turned around and delivered a powerful jab into Desdemona’s face, then returned on her course to save Dawn and destroy Blaine. 

                The golden lights of the lobby shone down on Buffy as she walked through it, the elevator doors opening to unload another batch of guests.  Buffy’s eyes fell upon a group of chairs ahead of her, where some nicely dressed students sat and talked.  None of them looked familiar, but the wood sure did.  As she approached the chairs, Desdemona tackled her to the beautifully designed rug below them.  Landing with a harsh thud, Buffy and Desdemona fought eachother.  Desdemona desperately attempted to land a punch to Buffy’s  face in hopes of rendering the dangerous girl unconscious while Buffy fought to kick Desdemona away from her.  A commotion occurred as the two women wrestled on the ground, students, guests and even staff members gathered in shock as well as excitement for the battle. 

                A desk clerk looked over to a baggage handler, a smile on his perverted face.  “Ten bucks on the blonde…” he offered.

                The baggage handler responded with a grin, “Make it twenty and you’ve got yourself a deal.”

                Buffy blocked a weak punch by Desdemona and managed to free her arms to throw the desperate girl off of her.  Rolling to the carpet, Desdemona sprung back up onto her feet and prepared for another charge.  Buffy’s eyes raged as she held out her index finger to Desdemona, “I warn you… you try anything like that again and I won’t have any problem with breaking your neck… do you hear me?”

                The elevator doors blew apart, the sound of the ripping metal causing everyone to drop to their knees in pain.  Covering their ears, they all screamed out as the smoking metal pieces showered down onto them.  Buffy quickly got to her feet and watched the smoke clear from the elevator shaft as Desdemona turned around and watched with her.  It was clear that Blaine was the reason for the explosion, but she wanted to see it for herself.  Out of the smoke, the master vampire himself stepped out with his demonic face sneering at both Buffy and Desdemona.  “Hey there girls…” he stated.

                Buffy turned around and kicked in a chair, ripping out a hand full of broken wooden pieces.  Buffy glanced at Blaine with a smile, “Hey.”  She turned and threw one to Desdemona as the rest of the clan emerged and began killing off the fleeing humans.  Buffy was tempted to go and defend the innocent humans, but Blaine came at her before the temptation turned into a need.  The vampire shoved Desdemona into the rising baggage handler as the desk clerk fled, only to catch his death in the awaiting arms of Valentine. 

                Buffy didn’t waste anytime with Blaine, she charged at him before he could move with his immortal speed.  Delivering a roundhouse to the vampire, Buffy kept throwing the punches and kicks to Blaine to weaken him.  Seeing the vampire slightly off centered, Buffy uppercutted him and took off before he could hit the ground.  She was running toward the dining room when students began running out, finally taking notice to the danger they were all now in.  Buffy waved her arms, “No!  No, get back in there!”  The students didn’t listen to her and kept running, slowing Buffy down as she entered the dining room.  Screams of pain and moans of death filled her ears, but Buffy didn’t look back to watch the young kids be ripped apart by the blood thirst vampires. 

                A hand grabbed her as Buffy searched the dark dining room for Dawn, it was Desdemona.  Buffy gave her a stern look, “Don’t go pulling the protector shit on me now, I have to find my sister!”

                Desdemona nodded, “Very well, but we must hurry.  They have shock charges…”

                Buffy let out an overwhelming sigh as she turned and began running through the student filled room, “DAWN!” she screamed out at the top of her lungs.

                Across the dance floor, Dawn got up from the table where Luke and Trent had just begun to get up.  Her eyes searched the place, the strobe lights near the dance floor giving only minimal light.  Finally, Dawn saw Buffy approaching as another wave of students fled the room.  “BUFFY!” Dawn responded.

                Buffy caught sight of Dawn and turned toward Desdemona, “I can’t get all these kids out of here safely, you need to help!”

                “Already on it…” Desdemona stated, separating from Buffy.  She began grabbing as many arms of the kids around her as she could, “Follow me!  Out this exit, everyone go!”  Desdemona’s fingers started to glow again as the doors to the kitchen blew off their hinges and the kids rushed towards the new exit.  She turned and pointed to the opening to the dining room, a few tables lifted off the ground and sealed up the exit just as Blaine came towards it.  Another shock charge went off, the shockwave throwing Desdemona and the students to their knees as she looked around and caught something in the corner of her eye.  The kitchen doors, the whole doorway had collapsed.  Desdemona gasped, she held a hand to her mouth in horror as a group of dying as well as dead students lay near the blast site. 

                Buffy saw the horrible tragedy, but kept running toward Dawn as the four students made their way toward the Slayer.  “Buffy!” Dawn exclaimed, wrapping her arms around her sister as they both managed to shed a few tears.

                Buffy put a hand to the back of Dawn’s head as she kissed Dawn’s soft cheek, “Oh Dawn…”

                Two more shock charges went off, one at the sealed doorway and the other at the collapsed doorway.  Rushing inside, minion vampires began attacking the remaining twenty or so students as they crawled over the debry while Blaine led his clan through the other doorway.  Buffy turned to see Desdemona throw back the minion vampires as she herself turned to look at Buffy.  The Slayer shook her head, “Save them… save as many as you can!” she shouted.  Desdemona made a slight nodding gesture, and continued to throw energy bolts at the vampires.

                Buffy, meanwhile turned toward the four students behind her.  She sighed, “Dawn, take your friends and hide!”

                “But…” Dawn tried to object, but Buffy countered her remark.  “No buts Dawn, it may be a failure of a plan but that’s all I’ve got right now…” she stated, turning back to give a look at Blaine.  “Just go… I’ve got some ass kicking to do…” Buffy told them, as Dawn led Luke, Kayleigh and Trent to the back of the dining room.

                Blaine phased out of Buffy’s vision but reappeared to uppercut the Slayer into the air.  She slammed down onto a table, collapsing it as she landed.  Blaine leapt onto the Slayer and applied his powerful grip to her throat, inserting his sharp nails into her flesh.  He slowly moved his face toward Buffy’s as a snarling expression formed on his vampire face.  “Die…” he hissed.

                Buffy quickly knocked Blaine’s arms apart, forcing him to release her throat as she looked into his eyes quickly.  “I’ve done that already…” she hissed back, head butting the vampire off of her.  She flipped to her feet just as Blaine climbed back onto his and spin kicked him in the face.  “Twice, actually!” she countered, jump kicking Blaine back and onto a table.  The vampire slammed through the wooden table with a harsh crack, he lay there absolutely stunned as Buffy approached him with one of the wooden pieces from the chair in the lobby.  “Seeing you’re technically dead right now…” she stated, flipping the stake so the point faced downward.  “Time for you to die twice, too.” Buffy brought down the stake, but Helious tackled her down to the table she fell into before.

                Blaine took the opportunity to get up, dusting himself off as Helious swiftly punched Buffy to hell and back. Smacking the tan skin of Buffy’s face, Helious’ own face was a grimace of both joy and anger.  The Slayer let out a slight scream with each collision of the vampire’s fist and her face.  As the brutal beating commenced, Blaine stepped closer to make sure to be witness to the purple bruises that would rise out of Buffy’s young skin.

                Abruptly as the brawl began it ended as Desdemona’s bolts of blue energy hit Helious directly in the spine.  Sending the powerful essence throughout his entire living dead body, smoke flowed from his pale skin.  As Helious convulsed ontop of Buffy, she threw a right hook to get him off of her.  As she rose herself off the collapsed table Blaine lunged forward with a snarl.  Buffy shook her head at the vampire as she jump kicked him, her foot colliding with Blaine’s head to force his neck to bend backward from the blow.  With him down, Buffy turned her attention to the chaos of the room.

                Desdemona still stood, fighting off Blaine’s idiotic minions as the remaining handful of living students attempted to flee.  She watched as the vampires knocked back each and every student away from the exits, and she sneered at them.  As Buffy ran to join the battle to save the kids, she noticed Desdemona stumble a bit.  She could see the powerful girl was alive, but she could also see that she was far from winning.  The vampires kept coming, and the constant need for power blasts was draining Desdemona; she’d be lucky to conjure enough energy for one last blast, Buffy thought.  As Buffy ran toward Desdemona, something caught her off guard.

                Unexpectedly, Buffy barely realized her body was a good sixteen feet away from Desdemona as she lay dizzily on the slick dance floor.  The strobe lights kept going off in the dark dining room, keeping Buffy from having full visibility as something approached her.  Buffy got to her feet weakly, moaning as the harsh fall finally set in.  She got a look at her attacker finally, it was Lill.  Strutting forward towards the Slayer in a fancy purple and red gown, Lill had a gruesome smile on her demonic face.  She stopped infront of Buffy to shift her silky black hair away from her soft eyes.  Lill laughed, “You’ll die here tonight…”

                Buffy sneered at the cocky vampire, “If it comes down to that, there are worse things…”

                Lill gave Buffy a shocked look, totally caught off guard from the statement.  “Worse then death?”

                Buffy nodded as she kicked Lill in the chest, “For starters I could be wearing something like you.”  Lill snarled and returned to take the Slayer down, but Buffy pivoted on her left leg and high kicked Lill straight in her ugly mug of a face.  “I mean please, I know you’re a vampire and only come out at night… but lets try to wear something a little less formal!” Buffy shouted, delivering a roundhouse to Lill’s hip, dropping the vampire to the dance floor.  With her immortal speed, Lill was up in no time and suddenly ontop of Buffy, her long red nails slashing at Buffy.

                Lill roared as Buffy kicked her off and got back up, rolling to the side as Lill dove at her.  The seriousness of her current attacker finally set in on Buffy as Lill jumped and spun in the air.  The vampire landed a powerful backhand to Buffy, throwing the Slayer into another table.  Lill was ontop of Buffy in no time, and with a quick slash she cut into Buffy’s face.  Buffy knocked Lill’s hands away from her face as the blood began seeping through the neat tears in her flesh.  Giving the bitch of a vampire a weak uppercut, Buffy bought enough room for her to flip backward and onto her feet again.  She delicately touched her face and felt the blood with a gasp.  Very bluntly, Buffy slugged the approaching Lill straight in the face.  The vampire’s eyes rolled into the back of her head as she collapsed to the dance floor for one last time.  Across the room, Buffy noticed Bella leading Slash, Torn and Valentine in slaughtering the live band of the dance as well as another handful of students.  She quickly bent down and picked up one of her fallen wooden shards and plunged it into Lill’s heart.  Her body all at once busted into dust, covering the dance floor with the brownish substance.

                A scream shot out like a shockwave throughout the dining room, throwing Buffy off guard and towards the scream.  She turned around abruptly and watch as Desdemona fell to her knees.  Brilliantly red blood flowed from her lips as she held her hands to the sky.  The blue lights of her fingertips died out as Desdemona, stripped of all her straight, fell to the floor.  Without a second of consideration, Buffy threw her stake down into the dust heap and ran toward her fallen protector.

                Her eyes widened at the sigh of the death surrounding Desdemona, the cowering students no more then broken corpses with pale faces and bleeding necks.  Buffy watched in horror as the last ten students fought against the last two vampires, one of them snatched up a student and sank its filthy fangs into the poor boys flesh.  A tear dropped from her eyes as she found herself frozen, watching the students die and not able to do anything about it.  Something was coming towards her, not running but definitely not walking.  She forced herself to turn and look, seeing the remaining four Torturons coming at her with snarling expressions on their vampiric faces.  The remorse over the students faded as a burning rage consumed Buffy’s heart; she turned and faced her challengers with a face of stone. 

                Bella was leading them, blood staining her lips as a few droplets rolled and dried to her chin.  Behind her were Valentine, Torn and Slash, not all of them totally familiar to Buffy.  She knew Bella, too well quite frankly.  The vampire was a savage fighter with a few street skills; a bitch through and through.  As the vampires approached Buffy, she realized she did not have a stake in supply.  A word crossed through her mind, shit.

                Bella was the first to attack, no surprise to Buffy there.  The vampire flipped forward and landed right infront of Buffy, giving the Slayer a quick jab to the ribs as Valentine jump kicked her down.  Buffy fell to the floor, but not before she tripped Valentine.  Before he could get up, she was on her feet and delivering a swift kick to the groin to the strong, muscular black vampire.  He was down for the count, Buffy knew that as a high-pitched cry escaped his curled lips.  Bella was back for more, she let out a horrid scream as the vampire shot dozens of quick yet weak jabs into Buffy’s chest.  With each hit, Buffy shuffled backward and gave Bella the impression she was winning.  Like pulling a rug out from under the nasty little vampire, Buffy clamped her hands onto Bella’s small head and slammed her own skull into hers’. 

                The blow threw Bella off kilter, she wobbled back as Slash and Torn jumped forward and delivered unison uppercuts to Buffy.  The Slayer flew back and landed next to a dead student; seeing the young girl next to her, no longer living and striving to achieve whatever she could have if she was alive gave Buffy the ammo she needed.  Front flipping back to her feet, Buffy stood in a fighting stance as Slash and Torn raced toward her with lightning speed.  She stood there strong and confidant, very professional looking as the vampires snarled and roared like the low life demons they are.  Without warning, Buffy’s professional façade lifted off her and she grabbed the couple by the sides of their heads and rammed their heads together, stunning them for the time being.

                With those two dealt with for now, Buffy ran toward Bella as she just began to regain her balance.  Like a locomotive, Buffy came at Bella with her cold, anger filled eyes focused on the villain infront of her.  Bella came back into the game as she snarled and jumped into the air.  Buffy grinned as she did the same, the vampire fell into her plan perfectly.  In the air, Buffy twirled toward Bella and wrapped her legs around the vampire’s neck.  Bella grabbed and bit at Buffy’s legs, panicking at the sudden predicament she found herself wrapped in.  But Buffy didn’t let go as she fell forward toward the floor and brought Bella to the hard carpeted floor with a powerful slam.  As Buffy lay there on the floor, she watched as Bella’s eyes fluttered closed and her body fell limp like a noodle. 

                As Buffy prepared to release Bella and get to her feet, the newly recovered Slash and Torn grabbed the Slayer by her arms and threw her out the exit.  Rolling to a stop, Buffy quickly scrambled to her feet to jump kick Slash back and backhand Torn.  Police sirens began to fill Buffy’s ears, there were three different ones it seemed.  Her mind raced as the vampire got back up for another helping of Buffy’s powers.  If the police were to storm the place, these monsters would slaughter them.  And as she thought about this, the images of all the young people within the dining room lying dead in the same place they had been dancing and having fun in just a few minutes prior.  Buffy fell to the ground and swung her leg underneath Slash and Torn, tripping them as her decision dawned on her.  She needed to keep the police away from this place, she needed to save as many lives as she could now.

                The vampires got back to their feet as their yellow demonic eyes burned with resentment toward the Slayer.  Slash and Torn shared a look, and both disappeared from Buffy’s sight.  She let out a sigh, “Not this aga…” Buffy couldn’t finish her pun as Slash and Torn quickly appeared and delivered unison jabs to Buffy’s face.  The Slayer flew back and right through the glass doors of the Hyatt’s entrance.  Glass shards flew onto the black, all weather matting outside the entrance as Buffy slid onto it.  She could hear officers beginning to run up as she tried to get to her feet.  Buffy turned and suddenly gasped at the sight of a S.W.A.T. van unloading over two dozen heavily armored officers into the packed parking lot.  Fear raced through Buffy’s body, she jumped from the sound of breaking glass as Slash and Torn leapt through the two remaining glass doors of the Hyatt.

                The S.W.A.T. officers proceeded to aim their weapons at the vampires, who stopped at their sudden misfortune, “FIRE!”  The call rang out among the league of officers, and Buffy quickly dove to the matting and rolled forward toward a limousine.  Flashes of white lights and smoke flew from the barrels of the officer’s riffles and automatics as the bullet bombarded Slash and Torn.  Despite their multiplying wounds, the vampire dove off to the side and disappeared.  “CEASE FIRE!” another call came out as Buffy’s eyes raced, unsure whether to get up as well as unsure if her foes were having pig for dinner.  Buffy’s answer soon fell upon her ears.

                Screams and the wet sound out blood gushing out of ripping wounds shot out through the air just like the real shots being fired by the officers.  Buffy forced herself to rise, she dodged the bullets of the officers as Slash and Torn dug their fists and fangs into all of them.  The Slayer found Torn first, and quickly roundhoused the vampire down to the ground as a frightened officer cowered before her.  Buffy swung her hand, “Get out of here, go!”  The officer scrambled to his feet as Torn tackled Buffy and slammed her against the trunk of a limo. 

                Buffy kicked back Torn and flipped onto the trunk and gave the vampire another quick kick, this time to the face.  Meanwhile, the last five officers fled back to the van as it took off, leaving Buffy alone with the dozen plus corpse pile and the two majorly ticked off vampires.  Without time to even blink, Buffy flew off the trunk and into the hood of another limo as Slash pounded her face in.  Punch after punch, Slash eagerly awaited that all too familiar crack that would be music to his sick and twisted ears.  Before that moment arrived, though, Buffy rammed the palm of her hand to Slash’s forehead, which threw the vampire back a few feet.  Buffy got off of the hood of the limo but quickly found herself once more against the cold metal of the long car as she hit the door panel. 

                Moaning from the harsh blow, Buffy tried to regain her focus.  Torn suddenly appeared infront of Buffy, sending a chill down her spine from the sight of the white haired demon.  Torn tilted her head to the side sympathetically, “Aw… did that hurt?”  Without a word, Buffy delivered a powerful right hook to Torn, knocking her out cold.  Buffy sneered at the fallen vampire, “No, but I bet that did.”  As she stood up and smirked over her clever come back, Buffy hit the windshield and her face pressed into the cracking glass.  Slash straddled the Slayer as his hands pressed her face down into the windshield with all his immortal strength.  His demonic face expressed great anger and yet joy as well as the horrible act of torturing the Slayer to death commenced.

 

 

                The commotion of the bloody battle began to settle, the cries of the students and snarls of the vampires no longer hanging in the air.  Dawn poked her head out from under the table she and her friends found themselves hidden under, all the way in the back of the dining room.  “No, there’s still three!  I-I can see them!” she whispered harshly as she went back under the table.

                Underneath the table, Trent held a severely shaking Kayleigh as Luke moved closer to Dawn.  “No way out?” he asked her.

                Dawn looked at Kayleigh who shook like a leaf; she kept her eyes on her friend as she sighed.  “Not until Buffy stakes those three…”

                “Well, is she in the process of doing so?” Luke asked, settling down next to his date.

                Dawn’s face froze in a horrified expression as she slightly shook her head.  “Sh-she wasn’t out there,” she gasped.

                Luke quickly gathered Dawn into his arms and held her tightly, attempting to comfort her.  As she clung to his strong arms, Dawn couldn’t help but think of her saddest memories in this moment of total hopelessness.  Flashes of her mother Joyce laying on the autopsy table as white as a ghost.  Flashes of Tara sitting on the bed with Willow, Buffy and her just after Glory sucked out her sanity.  Flashes of Glory ripping Dawn from Anya’s grasp as Buffy ran to rescue her but failed.  And finally, the memory of Buffy leaping into the portal Glory opened to return to her Hell dimension in order to save her and the world.  Dawn closed and held her eyes shut tightly, tears rolled down her cheeks as she cried harder and harder until she shook as much as Kayleigh did.

                Luke gently kissed Dawn’s cheeks as he held her head in his hands, wiping away the tears as his brilliantly blue eyes narrowed into her regular blue eyes.  At that dramatic moment, as the two found themselves lost in eachother’s eyes, Kayleigh snapped.  She started to freak while Trent desperately tried to keep her still and quiet.  “Shh!  Girl, it’s ok.  It’ll be all right, calm down,” he whispered to her.

                Kayleigh’s panicked eyes met with Trent’s, as she shook her head frantically, “No!  No, we’re going to die!  We’re going to just sit here until they come and kill us!” the girl screamed.

                Luke let go of Dawn and checked on the vampires, giving a gasp as he witnessed them slowly and very stealthily approached them.  He went back under the table, his heart racing as he tried to catch his breath.  “They’re coming!” he whispered sharply. 

                Kayleigh grabbed onto Trent as she began to sob, “No… NO!”  Trent held onto Kayleigh tightly, kissing the top of her head as his eyes raced around with worry.  “Shh… baby, we’ll be safe… someone will come, someone will come…” he seemed to chant softly.

                Dawn raised to her knees and moved toward one of the fancy chairs.  “Someone’s already here…” she said as she grabbed the chair by the leg.

                Luke cocked an eyebrow at Dawn as he shuffled closer to her, “What do you mean, what are you going to do?”

                Dawn turned and gave Luke a determined look, “I’m going to save us.  Help me break the leg off, and make it pointy.”

                The light turned on in Luke’s head, Dawn’s plan finally making sense to him.  “Do you think we can take these things by ourselves?” he asked, unsurely at best.

                She shrugged, “Well we can’t sit here… I can’t take doing nothing anymore, we either fight or we die.  I choose fight…”

                Luke gave Dawn a nod and grabbed the leg; in an easy twist he had the leg broken into his hand.  Hardly a good point on the broken leg, Luke handed it to Dawn.  She looked at it, then back to Luke and then back to the leg again in a sort of awe.  “How’d you do that so easily?” she asked him.

                Luke shrugged this time, “I work out.  Is that a good enough of a point?  I can…”

                Dawn got to her feet and headed out from under the table, “We’re about to find out” she said under her breath.  Luke followed her lead, but gave Trent a look as he exited.  As if understanding something unsaid, Trent nodded and Luke came out from under the table.  Immediately the couple found themselves in trouble as the three vampires advanced upon them with great speed.  Dawn went to stake one vampire only to find it had moved out of the way and tackled Luke down.  She panicked as the other two, both males in Gap attire walked towards her with their white fangs hanging from their drooling mouths.  Dawn apparently squeaked in fear as she raised the primitive stake nervously, causing the vampires to burst into a fit of laughter.  “Check the kid out, she thinks she’s the Slayer!” one said to the other, almost unable to speak as he laughed so hard.

                Dawn’s confidence returned with a friend, a powerful anger.  She snarled as she plunged the stake into one of the vampires.  His face dropped in horror as the demon shifted into dust and fell apart onto the floor.  Dawn managed to also stake the other vampire as he stood there amazed and shocked.  She stood proudly at her kills as the second vampire added his dust to the now visible pile collecting on the carpeting.  Meanwhile, Luke grabbed his female attacker by the head and shoved her back.  The vampire took flight, soaring across the room to finally land on the leg of a chair.  The leg punctured her undead heart and her gruesome demonic face shattered into dust as did the rest of her body. 

                Luke turned and let loose a sigh of relief as he saw Dawn helping Trent and Kayleigh out from under the table.  Kayleigh kept her body close to Trent’s as she scanned the area for vampires very cautiously.  Dawn ran and wrapped her arms around Luke as the two embraced, exchanging kisses as well.  As Luke showered Dawn with kisses, Trent came up to them with Kayleigh attached to his side.  Dawn quickly broke the embrace as she smiled at Luke, “Come on… let’s find Buffy and get out of here.”  He nodded and the two couples proceeded to search for Dawn’s big sister.  As they made their way across the dance floor, a loud groan exited something infront of them.  A few feet ahead, a body rose off the glossy dance floor and rubbed its neck with an uncomfortable moan.  It was Valentine.

                The strong African vampire watched as the four students infront of him shook with terror.  Vamping out with a roar, Valentine charged forward to unleash his anger.  Kayleigh screamed as she hid her face in Trent’s suit while Dawn shut her eyes tightly and held out the stake in minor defense.  With a surprised gasp, Valentine himself impaled with the awkward wooden object.  His eyes widened as he looked at the cowering four infront of him, “Defeated… by mere toddlers…” he sighed as his body shifted into dust and dropped onto the dance floor.

                Every last one in the group let out a gasp of air, relieving themselves of the stress built up during the short encounter with the giant vampire.  It seemed the horror was over at last.  Without a second’s notice, Blaine appeared next to Trent and Kayleigh with an evil vampiric sneer on his face.  “Oh look, they deliver now!” he exclaimed, grabbing Trent’s head and twisted it completely off to get to Kayleigh.

                Dawn and Luke jumped back, their faces pale with utter panic and terror.  Dawn dropped the stake as her hands clamped to her mouth to repress her screams.  Kayleigh hadn’t moved, she stood before the rage filled and not to mention hungry vampire as Trent’s decapitated body fell to the floor with an eerie thud.  Dawn shook with every last beat of her racing heart, she had to get Kayleigh away from Blaine and make a run for it.  Blaine just stood there, his body tingling with the joyous sensation of scaring the living daylights out of Kayleigh and the other two.

                Streams of tears fell from Kayleigh’s eyes, she slowly turned them toward Dawn and Luke as they watched the horrendous scene unfold before them.  Luke was torn between protecting Kayleigh and getting out alive with Dawn.  But as his thoughts ripped him apart, Blaine walked away.  Time appeared to stand still as they witnessed their surprise attacker walk off and toward where they had been hiding, as if he was bored.  At once, Dawn lunged to grab Kayleigh.

                As if the standstill was switched to fast forward callously, Dawn barely saw Blaine return and sink his glistening fangs into Kayleigh’s young, tender flesh; it was that quick.  The blood rushed out of the girl and into the monster, giving him a more pink, human-like tone to his skin.  Finished with the brutal act, Blaine ripped Kayleigh from his mouth and threw the corpse to the dance floor.  His gaze now fell upon Dawn as a droplet of blood slowly flowed down his reddened lips.  Blaine reached for Dawn, but Luke had the vampire by the throat before he could hurt Dawn.  Stunned by the act of bravery, Dawn backed away as Luke simply raised Blaine off the ground with one powerful hand.  The vampire swung his foot and kicked Luke in the stomach, forcing the strong boy to release him.  Now free, Blaine backhanded as well as uppercutted Luke with hardly any effect on the boy.  Dawn’s eyes widened, awe no longer reigned in her mind as it bore fear now.  Blaine stood absolutely dumbfounded at Luke, but the feeling faded as Luke slugged the vampire.  Blaine flew across the room and hit the back wall and fell to his knees.  Still conscious, Blaine managed on good look at his amazingly strong opponent fled with Dawn’s hand in his through the damaged Kitchen exit.

 

 

                Buffy spit glass from her lips while Slash still grinded her face into the windshield.  Applying more pressure to Buffy’s head, the glass at last shattered and allowed Buffy to roll onto the dashboard and onto the seat.  Quickly and yet at the same time very weakly, Buffy exited the car.  Slash slid off the hood of the limo and roundhoused Buffy in the chest.  The Slayer fell to the pavement as Slash grabbed her by the head and threw her like a discuss back onto the all weather matting. 

                The Slayer slammed onto the matting with a painful smack, the blow definitely taking a toll on her over all strength.  She stood though, showing Slash that she was a force to be reckoned with.  Buffy wobbled a bit to the side but caught herself as she brought her fists up in a fighting stance.  She managed a blood-chilling sneer on her battered face as Slash stood there before her with an impressed grin on his demonic face.  “If you weren’t the Slayer you’d be dead by now.  No mere mortal can withstand such a beating, you’re lucky.” Slash simply stated. 

                Before she could utter a single word of her undoubtedly clever comeback, something slammed into her upper back.  “Ugh!” she gasped, her knees giving way to her collapsing body.  As Buffy dropped to the matting once more, Slash laughed and raised his attention to Blaine.  He stood there with his hands at his sides grinning, “Bring her inside…” he ordered with an evil laugh in his voice.

 

 

                The night sky twinkled with thousands upon thousands of stars as Luke and Dawn fled down the alleyway next to the Hyatt and toward their car.  Dawn stopped suddenly to take off her shoes, sweat beginning to form on her pale face.  “Luke…” she said, standing in the middle of the dark as well as damp alley.  Luke turned around as Dawn continued, “Luke, we have to go back for Buffy.  I think she’s still in there!”

                Luke sighed, “Dawn, she wasn’t in there.  She’s probably safe, she can handle herself and I know she’d want me to protect you so that’s what I’m doing.”

                “But where was she Luke?  If not in there, then where?  She wasn’t anywhere inside, something must have gone wrong… we have to go back.” Dawn stated firmly.

                “Maybe she got out and went for help?” Luke said, clearly running out of reasons for fleeing.

                Dawn groaned, “She wouldn’t have just left us there!  Luke, I’m going back…” Dawn turned around and walked back down the long alleyway.  Luke gave a quick groan and ran to catch up with her.

 

 

                Flashing, spinning blurs of light invaded Buffy’s sight.  She felt as if her body was magically floating above the ground, like her spirit was leaving her body for a third time.  “Am I dead?” she thought, a heavenly tune beginning to play, wherever she was it was like a dream, some great invisionment of the afterlife.  Her eyes opened a bit more and took in the flashing lights as they began to slow their spinning.  At last she knew where she was, she was on the dance floor… dancing.

                Buffy moaned and went to pull herself away from her unknown dance partner.  Her arms were restrained, only adding to her complete frustration with the unusual scene she found herself drowning in.  A soft, repressed laughter shot into Buffy’s ears as the music raised in volume.  The song was “Wild Horses” by The Sundays, and instead of bring back memories, it brought forward Déjà vu as well as the horror of now.

                She forced herself to open her eyes; they were severely bruised and almost swelled completely shut as she spun around gracefully on the dance floor.  She got them open and saw the thrashed dining room slowly spin around her, and she cried out.  The dead bodies of the students were sitting at the tables, all in almost perfectly life-like poses.  Buffy witnessed their wide-open eyes watching and immediately hid her face in the strong chest of the dancing partner.  Tears flowed freely as Buffy felt the dead eyes on her, watching her dance with whoever she was dancing with.  “You dance like an angel…” a familiar voice whispered softly to her.

                Buffy’s racing heart almost leapt straight from her rib cage at the sound of the voice.  Deathly afraid to look at the face of her dance partner yet knowing full well she had to face him, Buffy slowly moved her head off his chest and looked into Blaine’s cold gaze.  Blaine’s blood stained lips curled into a courteous smile, “Hey there.”

                The fear within Buffy surged into an overpowering anger.  She struggled with her restraints as Blaine’s arms crushed her in a tight embrace.  “Oh settle down Buffy, enjoy our time together,” Blaine said with a calming sigh.

                “Not a chance!” Buffy hissed, her eyes burning into Blaine’s own eyes as she struggled once more to free herself.

                Blaine’s hand came up behind Buffy’s head and slammed into her with a great, bone-shattering blow.  Buffy’s head lurched forward and back into Blaine’s chest as he gently pressed his hand to her new wound.  “Oh, poor Slayer…” he taunted her.  Blaine slow danced in a complete circle until he faced the DJ of his dance from Hell, Slash.  The vampire stood there messing with the lights and music as Bella, Torn and Helious sat propped up against the turntable.  Blaine dipped Buffy, letting her tied up feet touch the dance floor as his eyes caught Slash’s, “Play me something a bit more lively, please?”

                Slash grinned evilly as he switched the records and put “Living Dead Girl” by Rob Zombie on.  It began to blast through the speakers while Blaine bobbed his head to the song, forcing Buffy to follow his lead.  He grabbed Buffy by her long blonde hair and looked into her focusing eyes and gave the Slayer a swift, unjust head butt to throw her back into the limbo between consciousness and unconsciousness.  Blaine chuckled to himself as he held Buffy in his arms, “Slayer, you’re just too much fun!”  A low mumble exited Buffy while Blaine pressed his ear closer to the battered young girl.  “What was that?” he asked, grabbing her hair once more to get Buffy to look him in the eye.

                Buffy looked as if she were to vomit at any moment as she wobbled to and fro in Blaine’s sinister embrace.  “Is that why you haven’t killed me?” the Slayer asked in a harsh yet low whisper.

                Blaine released Buffy’s hair, allowing her head to collapse back against his chest.  A wide grin stretched across Blaine’s face, “Ah, no you aren’t alive just because you’re so much fun.  But I’m not quite sure of that, I haven’t really spent a lot of time explaining to myself why I’m letting you live while three of my brethren are roasting with all the others in the deepest fissures of Hell.  I do, however, believe it is fair to allow you to live.”

                Another mumble escaped Buffy, forcing Blaine to pull her head back with a rough tug to her hair.  “WHY!” she shrieked, tears rolling down her swelled up face. 

                Blaine snarled and brought his fist down atop of Buffy’s head, causing a miserable moan of agony to release from her.  The vampire laughed, “Sorry, you just sounded a bit too coherent for my tastes.  Anyway, I think its fair to keep you alive so you can live and witness the Hell my people are now roasting in consume all that you know, all that you love… Slash?” Blaine asked, turned around as Buffy began to go limp in his arms.  The vampire adjusted Buffy like a doll in a child’s arms as his eyes focused on Slash, “We’re tuckering the poor girl out… put back that first song.”  Slash nodded and put back on “Wild Horses” by The Sundays as the hero and the villain resumed their slow dance.

                Blaine let loose a sigh, “So as I was saying!  I know where that damned book is now, so it is only a matter of time until this Thamogron walks, crawls, floats, whatever it does back on Earth!  And with it will come the Hell fires that’ll lick your flesh and sere your soul!  So no, I will not kill you.  Your sins require a far worse punishment then death…” he hissed at Buffy.

                The monster’s words burned into Buffy’s mind, scaring every last nerve within her.  Blaine just laughed as his feet shuffled in a romantic slow dance with his foe, enjoying every step they had together.  Buffy adjusted her head once again as she fought her restraints, and she caught sight of the slaughtered children.  A chill of remorse fled down Buffy’s back as her eyes filled with rageful tears.  Blaine could sense her burning emotions, he rested his head against hers’ while softly stroking his cold fingers through her messy hair.  “You hate me… don’t you?  You want to break free from your ties and make me pay for my crimes, your entire being aches to drive the stake deep into my standstill heart, doesn’t it?” Blaine softly asked Buffy, not expecting an answer.  “Oh, but you and I both know that you won’t do a damn thing to harm the chances of Thamogron’s resurrection.  Curiosity keeps your taste for my end at bay for the time being.”

                Buffy shivered in Blaine’s strong, uncomfortable arms, and he just applied more pressure on her as he nuzzled his face against her warm head.  “Destiny brought us together Buffy, both our destinies are entangled in more ways then one.  Mine, to bring back Thamogron and restore Hell’s claim on this plane of reality… yours, to do everything in your power to stop me, but ultimately fail.”

                The words crept into Buffy and bore a heavy and horrible burden into her mind.  He knew her destiny, or what Genocide said was her destiny.  Did this mean he was right?  Were they both right?  Her mind didn’t know, the answer was there but it would not reveal itself to her.

                Blaine closed his eyes tight, seeming like he was cherishing the moment.  “With every beat of your heart, with every throb of your veins… you yearn to see your destiny.  Your soul burns with curiosity, for the knowledge of Thamogron.  You have to see it… you have to fight it… you don’t know why, but you just do.  Because… it is your destiny.  As is mine… Thamogron is our destiny…” Blaine said as softly as he could without making any sound at all.

                Buffy felt awkward in his arms for a moment, but finally her sub consciousness allowed her to close her eyes.  As her eyes shut tightly, she stopped thinking of a way to escape and allowed herself to just be in the arms of her enemy.  He was speaking every word she could never begin to imagine to.  Blaine was evil, every inch of his demonic body was infested with evil.  And yet, as he danced with her there amongst his victims, Buffy was free.  Free of fighting her constraints, free of fighting him, free of being the Slayer.  For the first moment since the late August night when Genocide gave her the ultimatum of destroy Thamogron or be destroyed, Buffy was free of every thought and or action she was required to do.  It scared her to be so free in such evil arms, but she overruled the feeling and allowed herself her moment of being free.  There were no words for what she felt because she felt nothing as her body rocked back and forth in Blaine’s arms.  A tear seeped through Buffy’s eyelids and gathered on her lashes, appearing to dance on the very tips of the tiny hairs it flirted with plummeting to its end.

                Quite abruptly, Buffy felt herself drop along with her tear.  The quick release of her restraints allowed her to sprawl out onto the ice-cold dance floor.  Her eyes looked up to see Blaine, but he was gone.  The other vampires were missing as well as the music stopped.  Confusion tried to attack her, but utter grief hit first as she burst into tears.  The sudden release from her worries snatched away from her sent Buffy over the edge.  Not only the cheated feeling she had, she was absolutely sick with herself at how she felt in Blaine’s arms.  He violated her consciousness, and she allowed it.  She was a fool.

                A faint whisper teased her ears, “I want you to remember that dance… remember our brief moment of understanding because when we meet again it will be back to the fighting.” Blaine whispered to her.

                Buffy’s tears dried from her eyes as the rage began to fill her once more.  Something was running toward her and she knew already that it was Blaine coming back to give her one last hit.  But as Buffy got to her feet to counter his attack, she found Dawn coming at her with tears flowing freely to the dance floor.  Buffy quickly gathered Dawn into her arms as they both began to sob, while Luke came running up behind them.  The two Summers’ girls collapsed to their knees as they had their happy reunion amongst the grim scene of the dead corpses.

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