The Dark Lord slipped through the darkness like a panther through the jungle. Silent. Solitary. Deadly. Master of all he surveyed. Fearful of no one and nothing. One with the night.
He heard movement up ahead. A cruel smile twisted his lips as he glided forward to stalk the prey that had dared to enter his cemetery. His hunting ground.
He was startled when a figure suddenly stepped out of the darkness in front of him. A college-aged boy with dark hair and eyes, wearing sturdy work clothes and a leather jacket. He was smirking, but his eyes were cautious and serious as he spoke.
"You're not too good at this yet, buddy. And you're not gonna be around long enough to get better."
The Dark Lord started to reply, but his adversary moved too quickly for him to react. The boy threw water from an open jar into his face. The Dark Lord took a step back, startled and confused. He began to splutter something through the water that had landed in his open mouth, but again the figure in front of him beat him to the punch. Literally this time, as a fist leapt out of nowhere to smash into the Dark Lord's jaw.
The Dark Lord stumbled backwards and fell to the ground, his consciousness claimed by the darkness whose name he bore.
Xander Harris looked down at the vampire on the ground in front of him. The vampire that was covered in holy water but wasn't burning. The vampire he'd knocked out with a single punch.
He looked at the empty holy water jar in his left hand.
He looked back at the vampire.
He looked at his right fist.
He looked back at the vampire.
"Huh."
No other words seemed adequate.
"Will, I'm bored."
Willow Rosenberg turned to look at her friend Buffy Summers. The Slayer. The one girl in all the world with the strength to battle the forces of evil. Make that Evil with a capital E. Buffy did, in fact, look bored.
"You're bored?" Best to make sure.
Buffy nodded and toyed with the zipper on the duffle bag full of weapons she'd brought along. "I'm bored," she confirmed. "Bored, bored, bored. Where the heck are the stupid vampires?" Seeing the look in Willow's eyes, she went on. "Yeah, okay, no news is good news on the vamp front, but in the past week I've come across exactly three vampires." She held up three fingers to illustrate her point. "I'm starting to think they're up to something."
Willow considered this. Buffy had a point. "You have a point," she said, "but we've had dry spells before. None quite this severe, no, but it's probably nothing. Sometimes the vampires just don't come out to play for awhile. We'll probably never know why." She turned to look around the cemetery they were sitting in. "And what the heck, it just gives us more of an opportunity to enjoy the view, right?"
Buffy looked at her scornfully. "The view," she stated flatly.
Willow grinned. "Sure. Isn't the moonlight pretty when it reflects off the headstones?"
That got a chuckle from the Slayer. "You're weird, Will. But I'm still bored. Man, I'd rather be home studying."
Willow's eyes widened. "Wow. You really are bored."
Buffy nodded. "This is what I'm saying, yes." Her head cocked to one side and she listened intently. "But hark. Sounds like something's coming."
Buffy dropped the dufflebag on the ground, and the two girls stood and turned towards the sound of rustling bushes. After a moment, a familiar figure walked into sight. A familiar figure that was carrying an unfamiliar figure on its shoulders.
"Xander!" Willow hurried forward towards her oldest friend, Buffy right behind her. "I thought you said you couldn't make it tonight. And who's that?"
"Hey, Will. Buff. Change of plans. Bob let me off early, so I figured I'd come on over and spend the night patrolling with my two best buds. But as I was trying to find you guys, I noticed this creep sneaking around and doing his Bela Lugosi impression." He knelt down and deposited his burden on the ground.
Buffy and Willow stared at the unconscious figure. He was formally dressed in black velvet, with a white frilly shirt. And, of course, a flowing black cape with a shiny red interior. Not uncommon for a certain type of fledgling vampire, but always a strange sight. "Well, I guess that makes four this week," Buffy said. "How come you haven't staked him yet? And why is he wet?"
Xander nodded sagely. "Two questions, one answer. Kinda. He's wet because I threw some holy water on him to soften him up." Buffy and Willow looked at him, startled. "Yep, that's right. Nada effect. That's one of the reasons I didn't stake him. The other reason would be the fact that he has a pulse."
His friends looked even more startled at that. "He's human?" Willow asked.
Xander nodded. "Sure seems to be."
"Then why did you knock him out?" Buffy's voice was mildly accusatory.
"Hey," Xander defended himself, "I didn't know he wasn't a vampire. He came out of nowhere, he looked like a vampire. What was I supposed to do? I hit him with the water and a right cross. The ol' one-two. I figured it would soften him up enough so I could get the stake in with no problem. But when he didn't burn and went out like a light I decided to hold off on the stake and check him out. That's when I figured out he's human."
Willow looked down at the figure with a puzzled expression on her face. "Who is he? And what's he doing in the cemetery at," she paused to reach over and lift Xander's wrist to glance at his watch, "one fifteen in the morning?"
Xander pulled a wallet out of his jacket pocket. "I found this inside his cloak. Cape. Whatever that ugly thing he's wearing is." Opening it up, he pulled out two cards. "He's got an Oregon license that says his name is Eugene Dillon, age eighteen. Probably a student at UCS. He also had this." He held the second card out to the girls.
Buffy took the card and held it so both she and Willow could see. It was a business card, of heavier stock than most, with incredibly ornate calligraphy lettering. It proclaimed the bearer to be named The Dark Lord and said he was a member of The Chyldrenne Of The Night. She read that part three times before looking up at Xander.
"Chyldrenne Of The Night?"
Xander shook his head. "Hey, don't look at me. I just knocks 'em out, I don't explains 'em. The whole time walking over here, I was trying to figure it out. I got nothing." Then he reached into his pocket. "Oh yeah, he was wearing these, too." He held out a pair of plastic vampire fangs.
Buffy and Willow looked at the fangs. "He was NOT wearing those," Willow said. It was as much a plea as a statment.
"He most certainly was," Xander said with a gleam in his eye.
Buffy pinched the bridge of her nose. She could feel a headache coming on. "The last thing we need is another vampire wannabe cult. And 'Chyldrenne of the Night?' Bleh."
Willow's brow furrowed in concentration. "Well, forget that for now. What do we do with him?"
Xander raised his hand and waited for Willow to nod her head at him in acknowledgment. "We could stake him anyway. He'd probably like that, actually. Make him feel like we're taking him seriously."
Willow's mouth twisted in a vain attempt to hide a smile. "We are not going to stake him, Xander."
"Are you sure? This guy's friggin' nuts, no telling what he'll do if we let him loose again."
Buffy glared at him. "We're not staking him. It's not his fault he's a moron who thinks vampires are cool." Then she gestured between herself and Willow. "And we're the psychology students here, bucko. We'll thank you not to misuse technical terms like 'friggin' nuts' while we're around."
Xander laughed. "Okay, then, what exactly do we do with Eugene T. Nutball, then?"
Buffy thought for a moment. "I suppose we could wake him up and ask him what he was doing running around the cemetery at one in the morning."
"Dressed like the loser of the Count Floyd look-alike contest, no less," Xander added.
Buffy looked at him curiously. "Who's Count Floyd?"
Xander sighed and looked at Willow. She shook her head in disappointment and said, "Kids these days, no appreciation of the classics."
Buffy stared blankly at the both of them, and Xander chuckled. "Doesn't matter, Buff. Let's wake him up."
Eugene was dreaming. It was a good dream. He was the Dark Lord for real, stalking the night, superior to all the mere mortals he preyed upon. And Melanie was with him. She'd realized how much cooler he was than Tony and had begged to become his Dark Queen. "Eugene," she said, as she took him in her arms and rocked him back and forth. "Eugene. Eugene."
"Eugene!"
He woke up suddenly, like he always did, and soon wished he was still asleep, like he always did. He was lying on the ground, and a pretty blonde girl with a stern look on her face was shaking him and calling his name. When she noticed he was awake, she let go of him and stood up next to her companions. One was a cute redhead who was smiling encouragingly down at him. The other was the dark-haired boy who had punched him earlier. He was not smiling encouragingly.
Eugene lay there looking up at the trio while he searched for something to say. Finally, he asked the question that was uppermost in his mind.
"Who are you?"
The boy and the redhead looked to the blonde. She said, "My name's Buffy. This," indicating the redhead, "is Willow, and this," indicating the boy who was now glowering down at him, "is Xander."
Eugene digested that for a moment as he stood up. He rubbed at his sore jaw and asked, "What happened?"
The redhead's - Willow's - smile widened as she spoke. "Well, it looks like there's been a little accident."
Eugene shook his head and pointed an accusing finger at the boy standing next to her. Xander, Buffy had called him. "It was no accident. He hit me!"
Willow's smile faltered for a moment, but came back even stronger. "Yes, well, it was an honest mistake. Xander, here, thought you were a..." She turned and looked to her companions for help.
"Mugger," Buffy supplied.
Willow nodded. "Yeah, he thought you were a mugger. You could see how that would happen, can't you?"
Eugene considered this. He looked at Xander. "Did you really think I was a mugger?" he asked.
Xander smiled. It was not a particularly nice smile. "Either that, or just some nut who likes to dress up as Dracula and wander around the graveyard in the middle of the night."
Eugene blushed scarlet. "I'm not a nut," he muttered.
Xander's smile grew wider. "I notice you're not disputing the dressing up as Dracula bit." He tossed the plastic fangs onto the ground next to Eugene. "Good thing, too, 'cause I'd say we've got you undead to rights."
Eugene's blush deepened as Buffy and Willow groaned at the pun. He quickly stooped to grab the fangs and thrust them into a pocket. He was about to say something when Willow spoke. She was still smiling, and it made him feel better about this strange situation he found himself in.
"Don't mind Xander, Eugene. He can be like that sometimes." Behind her, Xander rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything. "And I know that he's sorry he hit you. Aren't you, Xander?" she asked over her shoulder.
Xander looked at her in disbelief. "The hell I am."
Willow turned so she was facing Xander. "I said, aren't you, Xander?" Her voice was still kind, but now it held an undertone of menace.
Xander didn't seem intimidated in the least, but he sighed and said, "I'm sorry I hit you, Eugene."
Willow turned back towards Eugene, her smile back in full force. "There. See, I told you he was sorry."
"Uh... Yeah, okay," Eugene said, taken aback by their exchange. "But it still doesn't mean he should've hit me," he grumbled. Xander rolled his eyes again.
Willow paused to think before speaking. "Well, it's complicated, Eugene. You see, we're all members of a..." Again, she looked to her friends for help.
"Neighborhood watch program," offered Buffy, who had been watching the proceedings with ill-concealed impatience.
"Right! A neighborhood watch program!" Willow said, with a grateful smile at Buffy. "We patrol to make sure no one gets hurt," she went on. "There's a lot of, uh, crime in Sunnydale."
"In the cemeteries?" Eugene asked dubiously.
"You'd be surprised," Buffy noted dryly. She looked over at Xander. He gave her a wink. She snorted.
"I still don't think he should've hit me," Eugene grumbled, getting back to what he saw as the important topic. He slumped sullenly against a handy tombstone.
Xander shook his head in disgust and glared at him. "You came out of the shadows dressed up like a psycho killer. What exactly were you planning to do if I *hadn't* hit you?"
"I thought you were someone else," Eugene mumbled in embarrassment. "They're around here somewhere, and I thought you were one of them. I just meant to scare you."
Buffy, Willow and Xander looked at each other in concern. "There're other people out here with you?" Buffy asked, alarmed. "Who? And where are they?" she demanded.
"Well, I..." Eugene stammered, "I'm not sure. They usually head for one of the mausoleums. For, you know, privacy." His face reddened in a blush, and his eyes dropped to the ground.
"Privacy, huh?" Buffy asked with a nasty smirk. "So there's two of them, I take it?"
"Buff," Xander said before Eugene could reply, "look what this nut's wearing. God knows how many of them there are. Goth freaks," he muttered under his breath.
"It's not like that!" Eugene protested. "It's just Tony and Melanie, okay? We're not perverts or freaks or anything like that."
Xander laughed in derision. "You dress up like a vampire, you wear fake fangs, you hunt each other through the graveyard, and Tony and Melanie like to slip away to a mausoleum for a little 'privacy,' but you're not perverts. Okay, I'll keep that in mind," he finished scornfully.
Eugene looked down at the ground again, so he missed the glare Willow shot at Xander. She walked over and put her hand on Eugene's shoulder. "We know you're not a freak, Eugene. What you do seems strange to us, yeah, but it doesn't make you a bad person. Xander just has his own issues, I guess."
Xander opened his mouth to reply, but Buffy cut him off. "Issues, Will? He's not the only one. I'll give you issues. I have issues with these morons who want to be vampires. We have enough trouble out here, without having to baby-sit a bunch of idiots who are all fired up to get themselves killed and turned into demons!"
She turned to Eugene. He had been about to speak, to say something in his defense, but the sudden fury he saw in her eyes stunned him into silence. He merely stood and listened as she went on.
"If you and your friends want to die, I don't care. I really don't. But this isn't the way to do it. You're just putting a whole lot of innocent people in danger, yourselves included. Vampires aren't cool, dammit. They're not mysterious, or exotic, or any of that crap you read in the books. They're nasty and murderous and evil. I mean, what the hell do you expect to happen when you finally run into a real vampire? Do you think he's going to be nice to you because you're dressed like that? He won't. He'll kill you, and he'll laugh while he does it. And then you'll come back to life and kill everyone you've ever cared about. Unless I kill you first."
Buffy was breathing hard by the time her speech wound down. She'd obviously poured a lot of energy into it, and the scorn and hatred in her voice stung Eugene. He stared at her in amazement for a few seconds, then finally spoke.
"Real vampires? What the hell are you talking about? Vampires aren't real, lady. It's just a game!"
It was Buffy's turn to stare in amazement. Looking at the others, Eugene saw that they wore the same expression.
"You don't believe in vampires?" Buffy asked, after a few moments of silence.
"No!" Eugene shouted. "No one does!"
"Oh," Buffy said, nonplussed. She turned to Willow and Xander and shrugged, as if to say "Now what?"
Eugene looked at all of them suspiciously. "You don't believe in vampires, do you?"
"Of course not!" Willow said quickly, pasting a smile onto her face. "We just had to make sure you didn't."
"Why?" Eugene demanded.
"Well, uh," Willow began, only to be cut off by Buffy.
"We get vampire cults," Buffy said. "People who believe they're real and want to be like them. I thought you were one of them."
Eugene thought about that. "Okay, I've heard of people like that. But why'd you scream at me?"
"Well..." Buffy started.
"Good cop, bad cop." Xander supplied.
"But you're not cops," Eugene pointed out.
"Good neighborhood watch member, bad neighborhood watch member," Willow said, her smile never wavering.
"You guys are weird," Eugene said.
"Said the pot to the kettle," Xander taunted. Then he nodded. "But you do have a point. I suppose we can't lay too many claims to normalcy. But you're not the one to be throwing stones at us on that score, am I right?"
Eugene smiled ruefully. "True enough, I guess. But really, it's just a game."
"You said that before. What game?" Willow asked.
"Vampire the Masquerade," Eugene answered. "We like to do the live-action version. It's called LARPing. Live-Action Role-Playing."
Xander's face twisted into an expression of distaste. "You're LARPers? Vampire LARPers?"
"Yeah," Eugene said. "So?"
Xander shook his head and turned to his friends. "Now can I stake him?" he pleaded.
"No!" Willow and Buffy answered together.
"You don't like LARPers?" Eugene asked. "Why not?"
"'Cause it's sick! Sick and wrong!" Xander shouted.
"Role-playing is not sick and wrong!" Eugene shouted right back. "It's not satanic or anything like that, either! It's just a game!"
"I don't think it's satanic, and I don't think all role-playing is sick," Xander retorted. "Just the live-action crap. You don't even use dice! If you're gonna game, you should do it as God intended - with your ass firmly seated in a comfy chair, and plenty of junk food and weird-shaped dice within easy reach. And it's not storytelling! It's gaming, dammit!"
"You game?" Eugene asked, shocked.
"You game?" Buffy asked, equally shocked.
"We used to," Willow answered for Xander. "Not this vampire stuff, though. D&D, mostly. Jesse got us started," she went on, for Buffy's benefit. "He ran the first few games, until we got hooked. Then I took over. But all the books were Jesse's. His mom gave them to me after he, uh, died, but we haven't gamed since."
"Yeah," Xander said softly. "It's not the same without him. And it wasn't the same after we started hanging out with you, y'know?"
"Yeah," Buffy agreed. "That makes sense, I guess."
The three of them grew silent, obviously lost in memories. Eugene stood by quietly, loathe to disturb them.
Finally, Xander shook his head and walked over to pick up Buffy's discarded weapons bag. "We'd better grab Eugene's friends and get them back home safe, don't you think?"
"Definitely," Buffy said. "Do you know where they are?" she asked Eugene.
"Somewhere back that way," he told her, gesturing towards the part of the cemetery where Xander had found him. "They shouldn't be hard to find."
"Okay," Buffy ordered. "Let's go, then."
They started off, Eugene leading the way, with Buffy right behind him. Xander hung back, and after a moment Willow slowed down to keep pace with him.
"Hey, you," she said.
"Hey, you," he replied. "God, I miss him."
"Me, too," she agreed, putting her arm around his waist and resting her head on his shoulder as they walked.
Xander put his arm around her shoulders and lowered his head to gently bump against hers.
Together, they followed Eugene and Buffy into the night.
Lady Ravyn Bloodmoon ran her hands through her lover's hair. "This work for you?" she asked, tossing her head to indicate their surroundings, then nipping gently at his neck.
Antoine Darkstalker growled in pleasure as he brought his hands up to her chest. "This is fine," he told her, as he struggled to unbutton her shirt. "Are you ready to consecrate the night?" he asked, pushing her back against the wall of the mausoleum.
"I'm always ready, m'lord," she breathed passionately.
"'Consecrate the night?'" an unfamiliar voice asked incredulously.
Antoine whirled around in panic, ducking half behind Ravyn as he faced the intruder.
Intruders. There were four of them. Eugene he recognized, but the rest were strangers. Two pretty girls, a blonde and a redhead, and one tall, dark-haired boy.
It was the blonde girl who'd spoken. "'Consecrate the night?'" she asked again. "Please tell me you didn't come up with that on your own."
"Eugene, who are these people?" Ravyn demanded as she frantically buttoned her shirt.
Eugene blushed and averted his eyes. "They're a, uh, neighborhood watch group. This is Buffy, Willow and Xander." He indicated each of them with a wave of his hand. "They caught me walking around."
"Lurking around," Xander corrected. "You were definitely lurking. Possibly even skulking."
"With intent," Buffy added. "You two would be Tony and Melanie, I presume?"
"My name is Antoine Darkstalker, and this is Ravyn Bloodmoon!"
"Your name is Tony Smith," Eugene said flatly. "Hers is Melanie Waters. Trust me, these guys aren't into the game." He jerked his head at Willow and Xander. "They're table-toppers. Dungeons and Dragons, no less."
Tony and Melanie recoiled in alarm and disgust. "God, Eugene," Melanie whined, "why'd you bring them here?"
Eugene shrugged. "They say there's a lot of muggers and stuff out here. I was worried about you guys." He said it to both of them, but his eyes never left Melanie's face.
Off to one side, Xander shook his head sadly and bent down to whisper in Willow's ear. "Boy's got it bad, huh?" The redhead giggled softly.
Tony hadn't heard them. "What do you mean, muggers?" he demanded. "In the graveyard?"
Buffy nodded briskly. "Like you wouldn't believe. We've got to get you guys home safe." Melanie opened her mouth to argue. Buffy narrowed her eyes and went on. "Let me rephrase that. We're *going* to get you guys home safe."
Melanie thought it best not to argue, but she couldn't resist a jab. "Who put you guys in charge of the graveyard?" she demanded haughtily.
"Sunnydale police department," Xander told her smoothly. "We're special operatives."
"You don't look old enough," Tony said.
"Didn't you ever watch 21 Jump Street?" Buffy asked. Xander laughed. She favored him with a smile before turning back to Tony and Melanie. "Who we are doesn't matter. What matters is that we're all leaving. Together. Now."
In short order, the motley crew started moving towards the exit to the main street. No one spoke for several minutes, but eventually Xander said, "Okay, I just have to know. Why the hell do you guys do this? Play in the graveyard, I mean."
"We're not playing," Tony snapped. "You wouldn't understand."
"Try me."
"Fine," he sniffed. "We come here for the power this place represents. To commune with the spirits of the dead."
"Commune with the spirits of the dead," Xander repeated.
"Yeah," Melanie said eagerly. Eugene just winced. He had an idea what was coming.
"And this communing, it involves being naked near the dead folks?" Buffy asked, drawn in despite herself.
Melanie blushed. "You wouldn't understand. It's very powerful. Primal, even."
"Now can I stake 'em?" Xander asked no one in particular.
"No!" Buffy and Willow said. "Less talk, more walk," Buffy ordered.
Several more minutes passed before Willow spoke up. "There's something I have to know, too. We found your card in Eugene's wallet. Chyldrenne of the Night, right?"
"I came up with that," Melanie said proudly.
"It's very nice," Willow offered. "But why'd you spell it that way? Why not with two Y's instead of that first E? Chyldrynne?"
Melanie stopped and turned to look at the redhead. "That would have been silly," she said, her voice serious.
Xander shot Willow a wicked grin. "She's got ya there, Will. It would, in fact, have been silly." He was silent for a few moments before adding, "And y'know, I think I'm going to change my diagnosis from earlier. These guys aren't friggin' nuts. They're fuckin' nuts."
"No argument here," Buffy muttered. "Keep walking," she growled, cutting off Tony's attempt to argue. He pouted, but obeyed.
Eventually, the streetlights beyond the graveyard's entrance came into view. Willow sighed in relief. "Safe at last," she said cheerfully.
Xander and Buffy stopped and turned to stare at her in horror. Willow looked back at them in confusion for a moment, then clapped her hand over her mouth.
"Will," Xander begged, "tell me you didn't just say that."
Harsh laughter from the darkness was his answer.
"She said it, all right," a deep voice crooned. "Sounds like our cue, boys."
Six leather-clad figures stepped into the cemetery from the street. Five men and one woman. They leered at Buffy as they fanned out to block all escape.
"Slayer, eh?" the biggest and ugliest asked as he slipped into his game face. He shook his arm to swing loose the long chain he had wrapped around it. "I always wanted to bag me a Slayer," he said as he twirled the chain menacingly.
Buffy laughed and dropped into a fighting stance. "Not the best of ideas. Take my word for it." Her eyes were serious, belying her light tone. She glanced around, searching for a way Willow and Xander could get the others out of danger. She noted with satisfaction that Willow's hands were in her pockets, and Xander was poised to rip open the weapons bag. She knew the two of them would protect the non-combatants. For their part, Eugene, Melinda and Tony seemed frozen in fear and horror, staring at the vampire's demonic face.
Savage cheers from the encircling vampires brought Buffy's attention back to their leader just in time to react as he attacked with an overhead swipe of the chain. She danced out of the way of the weapon and brought her foot up to kick the vampire in the chest, sending him sailing into a headstone ten feet away.
The other vampires laughed as their leader leapt to his feet. "That's gonna cost you, little girl," he growled.
Buffy rolled her eyes and motioned him forward. "Can we get on with this? I've got a test tomorrow, and I don't have all night to waste on you morons."
The vampire leader screamed in rage and charged, swinging the chain in a wide arc aimed at the Slayer's head.
Buffy ducked her head under the chain and brought her left arm up to block it, wincing when the links cut into her flesh as it wound around her forearm. Her left hand gripped the chain tightly and she pulled with all her strength, tearing the weapon out of the vampire's hands and forcing him off balance to sprawl in the dirt.
She whirled around and yelled, "Now!" to Xander and Willow, then snapped the chain like a whip across the eyes of the vampire closest to her friends. He screamed and fell back, but Buffy was already turning and looking for new targets.
The leader's thick arms engulfed her in a crushing bear hug from behind. He leaned down to hiss into her ear, "Now you die hard, bitch," but his words turned into a shriek as Buffy simultaneously smashed her head backwards into his nose and slammed her heel into his instep. His grip loosened as the pain hit him.
That was all Buffy needed. She turned around in his embrace and brought her knee up into his crotch. His hands let go of her and shot down to cradle his injured groin. Buffy snapped her wrist outward and caught the stake that slid out of her sleeve, then brought it up through the vampire's heart in one smooth motion. She ignored his final scream as she yanked the stake out and looked around to assess the situation.
She watched as Willow plunged a stake into the heart of the vampire Buffy had blinded. Xander was struggling with another vamp, a stake in each of his hands and the weapons bag at his feet.
<That leaves three,> Buffy thought. She could hear two charging up from behind her, but she couldn't see the third. She also couldn't see Melanie, Eugene or Tony.
A shriek from behind a nearby mausoleum turned out to be Melanie in full flight. Tony was right behind her. He tripped and grabbed at Melanie, sending them both tumbling to the ground. The female vampire pursuing them laughed and closed in.
"Not me! Take her!" Tony pleaded, pushing Melanie towards the demon and scrabbling away on all fours. Melanie screamed and clutched at her ankle, unable to run.
Buffy cursed and started to run towards them, only to be brought low by a tackle from behind. The last thing she saw as she fell was Eugene, with a stake in one hand and a berserker glint in his eyes, as he leapt from the darkness onto the female vamp's back.
The vampire who'd tackled Buffy wasted no time in trying to kill her as they rolled on the ground. It held her right wrist in an iron grip, keeping her stake out of play, then lunged in to bite her. She managed to twist in its grasp so its fangs tore into her shoulder rather than her neck. Grimacing in pain, she snapped three quick punches into its abdomen, then wrenched her hand out of its loosened grip. She plunged the stake through the vampire's heart and closed her eyes and mouth against the cloud of dust that suddenly enveloped her.
Buffy opened her eyes to see the last vampire almost on top of her. She desperately twisted her body into a backwards somersault, then sprang forward into the charging demon, skewering its heart with her stake and sending them both crashing to the earth. The vampire dissolved just before they hit the ground, causing Buffy to slam painfully into the dirt.
She sprang right back up, favoring her wounded shoulder, and started to run towards where she'd last seen Eugene and Melanie. As she looked and took in the situation, she slowed to a walk and smiled.
The female vampire had apparently thrown Eugene from its back. He'd landed on top of Melanie and was shielding her with his body as they both watched the demon slowly advance on them.
None of them noticed Xander and Willow running up until they were in position. The relief on Eugene's face tipped off the demon, and she whirled towards the new threat.
Just in time to catch Willow's flung holy water full in the face. The vampire screamed and clutched at her burning flesh. Xander caught her in the jaw with a vicious uppercut that lifted her into the air and knocked her down to the ground next to Eugene and Melanie. Melanie's screams got even louder.
For a moment, Eugene seemed paralyzed. Then, with one spasmodic lurch, he lunged forward to bury his stake in the screaming vampire's heart. He watched in terror and fascination as the demon dissolved into dust.
For a long moment, everyone was silent. Then Xander nodded in satisfaction.
"And that," he proclaimed, "is how you do the ol' one-two."
Willow laughed. Eugene nodded absently. Melanie stopped screaming. All in all, Buffy decided, things were looking up.
"Let's go, people," she said. "There may be more of them. Has anyone seen that twit Tony?" She looked around but couldn't see him.
"He... he left me. He left me to die," Melanie whimpered.
"He sure did," Xander told her happily. "Good thing Eugene here didn't, huh?"
"Matchmaker," Willow accused in a whisper. Xander just smiled.
Neither Melanie nor Eugene noticed. They were staring at each other. Eugene was blushing furiously. Melanie was wearing a thoughtful expression.
"Yep," Buffy muttered to herself. "Definitely looking up." She turned and cupped her hands around her mouth. "Tony! The big, bad monsters are gone! C'mon out! It's time to go home!"
After a moment, Tony emerged from behind a crypt. He walked slowly up to the group, his eyes never leaving the ground. Melanie stared daggers at him for a moment, then turned back to Eugene when he reached down to offer her a hand up. She took it and let him pull her upright, then kept her hand in his as everyone walked off towards the cemetery exit.
Eugene spoke up as the group achieved the comparative safety of the street. "Those were real vampires, weren't they?" he asked slowly.
"Yeah," Buffy told him. "Vampires are real."
"They're ugly," Melanie said. Buffy rolled her eyes.
"And nasty," Willow informed her. "Evil, even."
"Not to be emulated in any way, shape or form," Xander put in, just to be sure.
"We get it," Eugene assured him. "I do, anyway, and I think I can speak for Melanie and Tony, as well." Tony nodded meekly, still not meeting anyone's eyes. Melanie shrugged, but she was obviously still shaken by the night's events.
Buffy, Xander and Willow looked at each other. Buffy gave a shrug of her own. "That'll have to do, I guess." Turning back to the others, she said, "Where do you guys live? We'll get you home."
"It's okay," Eugene said, pointing. "I've got a car around the corner, there." He started walking and everyone joined him.
Once all three of the LARPers were in the car -Eugene and Melanie in the front, Tony in the back -Eugene rolled down the window and said, "Can I give you guys a lift anywhere? We owe you at least that much."
Buffy shook her head. "No, we're good. Thanks, though."
Eugene nodded. "Thank you," he said, quietly but fervently. He turned to Xander. "And no more Vampire games, I promise. We'll find something else to play. Werewolf, maybe?" Seeing the expression on his rescuer's faces, he chuckled and went on, "Okay, scratch that, too. Maybe I'll dig out my old Call of Cthulhu books instead. After tonight, Elder Things and sanity-sucking horror seem pretty safe."
"That sounds like your best bet," Xander agreed with a smile.
Eugene nodded again, then drove off.
The gang watched until the car was out of sight.
"He'll be all right," Buffy said. "I'm not so sure about Melanie and Tony, though."
Willow sighed in agreement. "Not much more we can do, though."
"Nope," Buffy said. "What do you think, Xander?"
"I think," Xander said, "that we should go the hell home and get some sleep."
"He always was the smart one," Willow told Buffy.
Buffy snorted in derision. "He has his moments," she conceded, "I'll give him that. Let's get home."
"Hey, Xander," Willow said as they walked along, "maybe I should dig out Jesse's D&D books and dice this weekend. What do you think?"
Xander thought that one over for awhile, then said, "Only if I can play Muklukk."
"Who, and I hate to get involved in this, but who is Muklukk?" Buffy asked.
"Muklukk the Destroyer," Xander informed her proudly. "Meanest damned dwarf barbarian you'll ever meet."
"I can but hope," Buffy said.
"Do you want to play?" Willow asked her.
"Why not?" Buffy decided. "But only if I can sit my ass in a comfy chair with plenty of junk food around. Also, I want to play a princess. A figure-skating princess."
"You're not giving this subject the respect it deserves, Buff." Xander groused.
"You're probably right," she conceded. "What if I promised to bring the cheesy chips? Then can I play a figure-skating princess?"
"Deal," Willow and Xander said in unison, and all three friends laughed as they walked off into the night.