The Secret Slayer, Chapter 1

NOTES: I have 11 chapters of a WIP.  I hope everybody enjoys it.
TITLE: The Secret Slayer
AUTHOR: maryperk73703
RATING: NC-17 for language at this point
BANNER: by kargrif
BETA:  Tasha
SUMMARY:  Something unexpected happens to Buffy on her first night in Sunnydale.  Something that causes her to change her name and hide from the people that were to be her friends.  What happens when a certain peroxide blond vampire rolls into town?

 

“Hello, Mr. Giles? Are you in here?” A young female voice sounded through the quiet Sunnydale High School library. As the librarian came out of his office, the blonde teenager continued on, “Hi. My name is Cassandra Linnell, but you can call me Cassie. I’m the new Vampire Slayer.”

“The new Slayer? You aren’t Buffy Summers?” the flabbergasted Watcher asked. He whipped off his glasses, and he began to polish them. He was slightly confused since the Council hadn’t felt the urge to call and inform him of this news.

“No, I was only called four days ago, Mr. Giles. The Council rushed me right here to you. I only started my training last month. So, I hadn’t been assigned to a Watcher yet,” Cassie replied as the bell rang for the next class, “I better get to class. I’ll see you after school.”

A perplexed Rupert Giles, school librarian and Watcher, went into his office to make a phone call to the head of the Council. In his preoccupied state, he failed to notice the brunette teenager, Xander Harris, in the upper stacks of the library wearing his own perplexed look.

Xander shook his head back and forth in disbelief. He stayed a few minutes more before he scooted around the libray door and into the hall. “Will and Jesse are so not going to believe this one.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Joyce Summers answered the door to find a very dapper appearing older gentleman standing on the porch. She just stood there in apparent shock when he quickly launched into his explanation of his appearance on her doorstep. If she wasn’t recently divorced, she would consider getting to know the man better.

“Mrs. Summers, my name is Rupert Giles. I am the librarian at the high school, and I wanted to inquire about your daughter. She was supposed to start classes this week.” Giles kept his voice as even as possible, but he hated that this task fell on his shoulders.

“My … my daughter didn’t take well to the idea of moving here and ran away when she found out. I have no idea where she is. I pray nothing has happened to her,” Joyce whispered, and her eyes filled with tears. She quickly grabbed a hankie from her pocket and dabbed her eyes.

Rupert Giles was, for once in his life, at a loss for words. How could he tell this stranger that he knew her daughter was dead? How could it be explained without sounding strange? For whatever else this woman was going through, he owed Joyce Summers the truth.

“I guess between her trying to convince us of some farfetched tale of being a vampire slayer, the divorce and moving here, she just couldn’t handle all the changes. She ran away while we were still living in Los Angeles,” Joyce sobbed. She kept her eye on the librarian to see his reaction to her words and was rewarded with a little start when she said the words, ‘vampire slayer’.

“It wasn’t a tale, Mrs. Summers. Your daughter was a vampire slayer. I believe that your daughter is dead because another slayer has been called,” Rupert informed the distraught woman.

“Vampires are real? Buffy’s dead?” Joyce’s voice grew small and weak as her sobs became more pronounced. “No, that can’t be true. Not my baby girl!” She wept harder.

“I’m afraid so, Mrs. Summers. Vampires are very real. Never invite anyone into your home with words, always use gestures. I was to be your daughter’s Watcher, her mentor, but a new slayer showed up this afternoon. The only way a new slayer can be called is for the old one to die. I am so very sorry to inform you of this,” Rupert expressed his sympathy gently. Even with his stiff British reserve, he longed to draw the distraught woman into his arms to comfort her.

“Oh, Buffy, my beautiful, beautiful daughter,” Joyce cried out while she began to sob in earnest.

Rupert Giles was at a loss of words now, and he had no clue what to do for the poor woman. So, he awkwardly patted her on the shoulder before turning to leave. Most Slayers were discovered and taken away from their families early. This was one of the reasons why. Watchers had very little experience to call upon about how to handle informing families of their daughters’ passing.

Joyce watched Mr. Giles get behind the wheel of his old gray clunker before she closed the door. She turned to watch a petite blonde girl slowly make her way down the stairs from the upper level of the house.

That was an Oscar winning performance, Mom.” Buffy clapped her hands togehter. “Thanks, Mom,” Buffy stood in front of her mother. “I… I don’t think anyone would understand what happened to me.”

“Are you sure, honey?” Joyce and Buffy had been through a lot in the past few weeks. If she hadn’t seen the vampires with her own eyes on their last night in L.A. she would have thought Buffy was hallucinating or acting out. “Shouldn’t that Watcher fellow be more knowledgeable about who’ve become?”

Buffy shook his head sadly. “Somehow I don’t think so.” She inhaled a deep breath that although she didn’t need to breathe, it seemed to relax her. “Merrick was pretty straight forward about vampires. See a vamp… kill a vamp. I don’t think they have room for Slayer vamps.”

Joyce sighed. “I wish there was more I could do.” She moved over to touch her daughter on the cheek. “Well, it looks like you have to make a bit more of a drastic new start than we thought we moved here.”

“Yep, Buffy Anne Summers is dead. Long live the Slayer,” Buffy muttered sarcastically. She moved away from her mother and into the living room. She snapped back around to face her mother with a big grin on her face. “But hey, no more school for me.”

“There is no need for sarcasm, young lady. Just because you’re now a vampire, don’t start thinking you can get out of finishing your education,” Joyce announced as she followed her daughter out of the foyer. “Your options are more limited, but you will need a good education to find something suitable. It’s going to be hard for you to get an adult job when you look underaged.”

That is how Elizabeth Anne Sowle was born. Joyce and her finger picked the new last name from the Sunnydale phonebook. She was the one that found the evening G.E.D. class for the newly nicknamed Beth to attend. Joyce was also the one that dragged Beth to the hairdresser (who promptly ignored that her client lacked a reflection) where the vampiress had her hair trimmed into short curls and returned to its darker honey blonde color.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cassie walked down the darkened street towards the Bronze, eager to join her newly made friends. Before she made it to the nightclub, she sensed someone behind her. Her newly acquired vampire detector tingled, and as soon as she was able to, she ducked into an alley. She started to search for a place to dust the vampire without alerting anyone. Cassie reached inside her coat to pull a stake out of its hiding place just as a dark-haired vampire entered the alley.

“Ah, hey, is there a problem, ma’am?” the vampire asked. He noticed the tightened fist around an object. He assumed that he’d followed too closely, and the Slayer was alerted to his presence. He was willing to bet she clutched a stake.

“Ya, I would say there’s a problem. You’re following me, vampire,” Cassie stated more bravely than she was currently feeling. This would be her first fight as the Slayer. “Not wise thing for a vampire to do to me, I can tell you.”

“I know what you’re thinking. Don’t worry, I don’t bite.” The vampire held his hands up in the air. “I’m not here to hurt you.”

This caused Cassie to back off and study the vampire. He was really quite handsome with his dark hair and his dark puppy dog eyes. His white shirt gaped open at the collar, and Cassie could see the top of his nicely muscled chest.  Too bad he’s a vampire, she thought.

“Buffy Summers,” The vampire regarded the young girl more closely. Somehow I thought…”

“My name isn’t Buffy. It’s Cassie,” she interrupted the vampire before he could go any further.

“What? When did this happen?” Angel asked, his confusion evident in his voice.

“About four days ago. So, what do you want?” Cassie demanded.

“The same thing you do.”

“Okay. What do I want and why would a vampire want the same thing as me?” Cassie asked as she quirked her eyebrow. She let her guard down just a little, but she didn’t totally relax.

“To kill them. To kill them all,” the vampire replied as he took a step closer to her, “We are standing on the Mouth of Hell, and it’s about to open.”

Cassie began to chew on her lower lip before she started to speak again, “That must be what Mr. Giles was talking about. So why is it going to open?”

“The Harvest,” the vampire answered as he threw her a small box, “Here, I was going to give this to Buffy Summers but it looks like you are going to need it instead.” He memorized every feature of the young Slayer. He hoped that he would be seeing her again. Buffy hadn’t been called long, but there was already a replacement for her. He hoped this Slayer would last a lot longer.

Cassie stuck her stake under her arm. She opened the small box and was surprised to see a cross necklace nestled inside. Cassie took the necklace out of the box and threw the box into a nearby garbage can. She put the necklace on, feeling the cool metal slid down her upper chest and settle between her breasts.

“Who are you?” Cassie asked.

“Just a friend,” the vampire replied as he watched the descent of the cross.

“Uh, no, buddy, I am not going to accept that. Who are you?” Cassie demanded.

“My name’s Angel. The Powers That Be sent me to help Buffy Summers,” Angel answered.

“Why would whoever the Powers That Be are, send an evil, soulless vampire to help the vampire slayer?” Cassie questioned the validity of the claim put forth by Angel.

“I have my soul, and I want to help,” Angel replied, “To make amends for past transgressions.”

“Fine, you find out about the Harvest and meet Mr. Giles and I at the high school library tomorrow after dark,” Cassie ordered as she turned to leave the alley. She didn’t look back to see Angel melt into the darkness.

Cassie hurried towards the Bronze searching for a pay phone so she could call the Watcher. She knew she needed to let him know about the mysterious soulled vampire and whatever the Harvest meant. When she found an available phone, she pulled the paper with his number out of her pocket and began dialing. Cassie was glad when he answered on the second ring.

“Giles, here.”

“Um, hi? It’s Cassie. I’m on my way to meet the gang at the Bronze, but I met a vampire,” Cassie announced as she kept an eye on the movement around her.

“Did you dust him?” Giles asked casually.

“No, he said he had his soul and that something called the Powers That Be sent him here to help Buffy Summers. He mentioned The Harvest. Does that sound familiar to you? Oh, his name is Angel, and he’s meeting us after dark in the library tomorrow. I’ll be home at eleven. Gotta scoot. Bye,” Cassie said, quickly hanging up on the Watcher.

Once Cassie entered the Bronze, she noticed Willow sitting at the bar sipping a ginger ale. She went over to join the redheaded girl.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next evening found Cassie, Xander and Willow listening to Giles explain to them about vampires, Slayers, and all the other things that went bump in the night in Sunnydale. The three teens told the Watcher how they couldn’t find their other friend Jesse and that he hadn’t shown up to school that morning. Willow had found out from Cordelia that she had seen him talking to a blond girl in the Bronze and how happy she was he wasn’t trailing her around like a lost puppy.

“The vamp’s here,” Cassie announced. She suddenly sat up straight surprising the other teenagers and the Watcher with her actions.

At the same time the dark haired vampire appeared from the upper stacks of the library, another dark haired person entered the library. He pushed the swinging doors open with wild abandon.

“You should have seen it, guys. I was walking with this pretty blonde girl named Darla, and the next thing I know a figure dressed all in black appeared in front of us. Then, something really weird happened. Darla’s face got strange looking. Then, the figure in black shoved a piece of wood into Darla and she turned into dust,” Jesse babbled. He threw himself down in the chair next to Xander. “It was quite a night!”

“Where were you today, Jesse?” Xander asked.

“Didn’t I tell you?” Jesse’s brow furrowed in concentration. “Mom had an appointment in L.A., and she made me go with her.”

Angel sighed, “I thought I felt something last night. Darla was my sire and the Master’s favorite childe. I found out through some various minions that Luke, the vampire destined to be the Master’s Vessel, was dusted just a few days ago. They said he was killed by the Slayer.”

“What is going on here?” Jesse demanded even as the others ignored him.

“So we don’t have to worry about the Harvest after all?” Giles asked. He was confused by the information the vampire was telling them. Cassie was called only four days ago, so that would mean that Buffy Summers would have been the Slayer. However, Mrs. Summers assured him that her daughter had run away while back in Los Angeles. Something didn’t compute here.

“No, it would appear not. It takes a master vampire to be the Vessel, and I am the oldest Aurelius vampire in the area, outside of the Master. There is no way he would accept me anyway,” replied Angel.

“Will you be sticking around, Angel?” Cassie asked. She was starting to feel an attraction for the dark vampire, even as she told herself it was very, very wrong.

“The Powers That Be have assigned me to helping the current Slayer,” Angel answered. “That would be you, the Chose One.”

Giles adjusted the glasses on his face.  Perhaps, and perhaps not, he thought to himself. He opened a new notebook and jotted down a few notes for future reference.

~~~~~~~~~~

While Cassie tried out for cheerleading and fought for her life against the witch, Amy, Beth started her evening G.E.D. classes. Beth was happy to discover that there were several other peaceful demons in the class, including a saggy-skinned demon named Clem who told the teacher he had a genetic skin disease.

While Cassie rescued Xander and Jesse from the teacher that was really a gigantic preying mantis, Beth tried to convince Joyce she needed her own apartment. Joyce told her vampiress daughter that if she passed her classes, and could hold down a job then, and only then, would she allow Beth to move out.

While Cassie was busy worrying about The Anointed One and dragging her date through the morgue, Beth was busy applying for evening shift jobs. Beth got lucky when a busboy from The Bronze ended up vamped. She dusted the guy in front of the manager, and he offered her a job right on the spot. The nightlife in Sunnydale was dangerous, and the manager felt safer with the strong little woman working for him.

While Cassie fought off hyena Xander’s rape attempt and the other students ate Principal Flutie, Beth perfected her staking technique. Beth patrolled cautiously, always staying out of the path of the live Slayer. Soon the demons and vampires of Sunnydale called her The Black Specter in reference to her black outfit and the fact that she appeared and disappeared like a ghost on the wind.

While Cassie shared her first kiss with Angel, Beth avoided the dark vampire like the plague. The vampire gave the vamped Slayer the ‘wiggins’. To insure that he didn’t notice her, she engaged her new friend Clem to buy her blood for her at the all night butcher. The cursed vampire was said to shop there as well, but Beth didn’t want to be anywhere near him.

While Cassie battled to save her friends from a demon inadvertently unleashed by Willow scanning the book he was trapped in into the computer, Beth argued with her mother over college courses and normal lives. The vampiress finally gave in and grudgingly told Joyce she would attend college after she passed her G.E.D classes.

While Cassie, the gang and Sid the Puppet did their thing in the high school talent show, Beth and Clem studied hard for the G.E.D. finals coming up. Beth was happy when her new friend got a job at the butcher shop after scaring away some vamps that were terrorizing the owner. Clem brought her blood to her apartment directly after work. He was a great friend to have.

While Cassie battled against her nightmare of being eaten alive, Beth’s nightmare that her father discovered she was a vampire came true. When his apparition attempted to drive a stake through her heart, she spent the evening crying in Joyce’s arms with her mother reassuring the girl that no one knew she was ‘alive’.

While Cassie and the gang dealt with the invisible girl, Marcy, Beth was taking her G.E.D. tests. Beth was elated when she passed them all with high scores. She, Joyce and Clem celebrated by moving Beth into her own loft apartment in one of the warehouses near Joyce’s gallery. Joyce was happy to have her daughter nearby, and Beth was happy to have her freedom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“No one’s gonna go with me to the dance.” Xander banged his head on the table. “Why did Jesse have to move away? At least if he was here the three of us could go stag together.”

“Can’t you just ask Cassie?” Willow asked. She had high hopes that maybe Xander would see her as more than just a friend, but for some reason he disappointed her once again.

“Cassie talked Angel into going with her,” Xander muttered, “I mean, look at them over there whispering to each other. I really hate that guy.”

“They have been spending a lot of time together lately,” Willow said quietly, “What with the Black Specter chick … thing taking care of most of the vamps in town, she has more time on her hands than Giles says a Slayer should.”

In one of the many Sunnydale parks, Cordelia Chase, head cheerleader and rich bitch, made out with her date until the windows fogged up. A thud outside the car caused Cordelia to pull away from the kiss.

“Kevin, what was that?” Cordelia asked in a whisper.

“What was what?” Kevin’s voiced was dazed.  God, Cordelia is hot and a great kisser, too, the boy thought to himself.

Outside the car, a figure in black laid on the ground. A growling vampire approached the figure.

“Someone’s out there,” Cordelia whispered again.

“That’s silly! Who would be out there?” This question got the boy an incredulous look.

“Obviously you are oblivious to the nightlife in Sunnydale,” Cordelia said haughtily.

Outside, the figure in black rolled in a reverse somersault away from the vampire, and she came to a standing stance ready to fight. When the vampire growled at her, she pulled a stake from behind her back. She twirled it like a baton in her glove clad fingers. This just made the vampire even madder, and he launched himself at her.

“Specter,” the vampire snarled, “I will take great pleasure in removing your mask and revealing your identity to the world.”

The Specter answered by giving the vampire two swift kicks that stunned him. He fell to the ground, and she plunged the stake into his undead heart. The Specter placed the stake back into her belt. She turned towards the car when she heard the door open.

“Who’s out there?”

Across town in the school library, Giles went into his office to make himself a cup a tea. While the tea brewed he took a book down from the shelf, and he laid it on his desk. Giles placed the cup of tea next to the book as he turned the pages. He studied one passage carefully.

“Ho korias phanaytie toutay. Um. Tay nuktee. ‘The Master shall rise…'” Giles muttered, “Yes, this is it. ‘The Master shall rise, and the Slayer … ‘” The Watcher looked up in disbelief. “Oh my God.”

Giles was lost in thought as he considered what he had just translated. He reached for his cup of tea, but it began to jiggle. Giles watched it for a few seconds before he came to the conclusion he was experiencing his first earthquake. Everything began to shake, and his teacup vibrated off the desk. It smashed to the floor along with several of his books.

In the Bronze, the people began to panic. Xander grabbed Willow, and he guided her towards the stairs.

“Wills, under the stairs!” He shouted as loudly as he could. Cassie and Angel soon joined them. The four friends huddled together, and they waited out the quake.

Deep underground in the Master’s Lair, the ancient vampire stood with his hands outstreched above him as he screamed, “Yes! Yes! Shake, Earth! This is a sign! We are in the final days! My time has come! Glory! Glory!” When the quake subsided, the Master looked at the Anointed one. “Whadaya think? 5.1?” he asked the child vamp.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The morning after the quake, Cassie entered the library. She surveyed the damage, and she turned to stare at Giles when he came out of his office. She was surprised to see that he looked tired and disheveled.

“Giles, you didn’t come home last night. I was getting worried,” Cassie declared. She hurried to the Watcher’s side where she studied his face. “What’s going on? I can tell by your face that something’s up.”

“What? No, of course there isn’t.” Giles rushed to reassure the Slayer. He patted her awkwardly on the shoulder. Giles had no idea how he could possibly tell this bright and beautiful girl she was going to die within the next few days.

“Don’t bullshit me, Giles. I can tell by the look on your face. Spill the beans.” Cassie gave Giles a pointed look. There was no way her Watcher was going to hide something from her.

“It’s nothing really. Just a bit of bad news I came across,” Giles replied as mildly as he could muster. He decided to discuss the prophecy with Angel before ‘spilling the beans’, as she put it, to the Slayer.

That night, Cassie was in the locker room when something strange happened. When the Slayer went to wash her hands, she was absentmindedly looking into the mirror when she turned on the faucet. When she looked down, instead of water pouring out of the tap it was blood. Cassie decided this was something that Giles needed to know.

Cassie headed towards the library. She had just entered the library when she heard Giles talking to someone.

“It’s clear. It’s what’s going to happen. It’s happening now!” the Watcher stated emphatically.

Cassie saw Angel move into the light. He held a book in his hands that he was reading. “Angel?” Cassie muttered to herself. She edged closer to the office door.

“It can’t be. You’ve got to be wrong,” Angel exclaimed.

“I’ve checked it against all my other volumes.” Giles swept his hand towards several other books on his desk. “It’s very real.”

“Well, there’s got to be some way around it.” Angel’s voice held a pleading quality.

“Listen to me. Some prophecies are a bit dodgy. They’re mutable,” Giles tried to explain. “Cassie herself has thwarted them time and time again, but this is the Codex. There is nothing in it that does not come to pass. Even with the help of that mysterious Black Specter girl.”

“Then you’re reading it wrong,” Angel proclaimed loudly.

“I wish to God I were!” Giles shouted in return, “But, it’s very plain. Tomorrow night Cassie will face the Master, and she will die.”

Cassie gasped, and she revealed herself to the two men, “This is what you were trying keep from me, Giles? That I’m going to die?”

Giles had the grace to look ashamed of himself. “I was hoping I wouldn’t have to. That there was some way around it.”

“But there isn’t is there?” Cassie asked dejectedly. She knew she was supposed to die young. She was just hoping that it wouldn’t quite be so soon. “I’ll die, and another Slayer will be called. Will you train her? Or will they send someone else?”

“I doubt I’ll train her, Cassie,” the Watcher answered softly, “They only assigned you to me because my first Slayer died before I ever met her. You’re irreplaceable in my heart, Cassie.”

“I need time to think, Giles,” Cassie murmured, “I’m going to go patrol. See you both later.”

The next night Cassie stood outside the entrance of the Master’s lair waiting for her guide. Her mind was so intent on how to avoid dying that she failed to notice the shadow hiding within the shadows. Cassie had overheard Giles and Miss Calendar earlier when they talked about the Anointed One being a child. She felt bad about deceiving him, but the stubborn Watcher had tried to tell her he would face the Master instead of her, like it was his job instead of hers.

“Help me,” a child’s voice cried.

There’s my cue, Cassie thought to herself. She lowered her crossbow, and she walked over to the little boy she saw standing nearby. “It’s okay. I know who you are,” she said tersely.

The boy held out his hand. He, too, failed to notice the shadow within the shadows. The boy smirked to himself as the Slayer took his hand, and he lead her towards the Master. The pair moved further into the tunnels followed by their shadow.

In the library, Xander and Willow found out from Giles and Miss Calendar about the prophecy and Cassie’s plan to practically sacrifice herself to the master vampire. Xander decided he couldn’t take this laying down, and he decided to go find Angel.

Xander talked Angel into going in search of Cassie. He used the vampire’s obsession with the Slayer against him. The pair exchanged insults the entire journey to the entrance of the Master’s lair.

Down in the tunnels, the Anointed One stopped abruptly, and he caused Cassie to stumble a bit. He pointed down into the buried church. The Anointed One invited her to enter the lair, and then he turned back up the tunnel they had just come down.

Cassie watched the boy leave. Then she turned, and she made her way down into the church where she could see hundreds of candles flickering. Cassie glanced around curiously.

“Welcome.” The voice boomed from all directions.

“Thanks for having me,” Cassie said sarcastically. She raised her crossbow into a more defensive stance. Cassie stared ahead as the ugliest vampire she had ever seen stepped into the light. She continued to make quips. “You know, you really oughtta talk to your contractor. Looks like you have some water damage. Not to mention some electrical problems.”

“Oh good. The feeble banter portion of the fight. Why don’t we cut to the chase,” the Master sneered.

Cassie spun around, and she shot a crossbow arrow in the direction of his voice. She quickly reloaded her weapon as she watched the vampire deflect the arrow. Unfortunately, when he tossed the arrow away from him, it hit one of the candles. The candle fell over, bumping the one next to it, and it caused a domino effect. Soon, half of the candles were lying on their sides. A small fire had started in some old fabric. Smoke started to fill the room.

“Nice shot,” the Master muttered.

In the tunnels, Angel stopped abruptly at an intersection to sniff the air. This caused Xander to bump into the vampire.

“What? Why did you stop?” Xander asked. He sniffed the air, too, but couldn’t smell anything.

“I smell smoke,” Angel growled. He looked down one tunnel and then the other. Angel pointed down the right tunnel. “It’s coming from this way. We have to hurry.”

Cassie circled the lair wary of the flames that were starting to leap higher. She wrinkled her nose in disgust as she came upon a half rotten body, and then she continued her search. “You know, for someone who’s all powerful, you sure do like to hide.”

“I’m waiting for you. I want this moment to last,” the Master’s voice boomed from the darkness.

“Well, I don’t,” Cassie grumbled. She continued to search for a few more minutes. The vampire’s signature was very wonky in the church for some reason. She wasn’t sure if it was because it was a church or if it was because he had been trapped there for so long. Cassie failed to notice the master vampire standing behind her.

“I understand,” the Master said quietly.

Cassie whirled around, but the Master knocked her crossbow out of her hand. He grabbed her around the neck, and she tried to swing her arm to knock his hand away. The Master used his thrall on the Slayer, and she couldn’t move. He swung her around so that her back was flush with his front.

“You tried,” the Master crooned in her ear, “It was noble of you. You heard of the prophecy that I was about to break free, and you came to stop me. But prophecies are tricky creatures. They don’t tell you everything.” The Master’s voice dropped to a whisper, and his voice became gloating, “You’re the one that sets me free. If you hadn’t of come, I couldn’t go. Think about that.”

Cassie froze in fear while the Master waited a few more moments before he bent over, and he sunk his teeth into her throat. He drank a few sips, and he let her go.

“Oh God! The Power,” the Master screamed. Cassie fell to her knees.

“And by the way,” the Master said softly. He gave the Slayer a little push. Cassie fell forward into pool of water. “I like your dress.”

The Master stepped over the Slayer, and he pushed against the field of his confinement. He forced his hand through the barrier. The barrier fell with a burst of light, and he started out of his lair. The Master was so intent on gaining his freedom, that he failed to notice the black shadow that followed him out of his lair.

The Specter looked from the fallen Slayer to the escaping vampire as she tried to decide what to do. When she heard the quiet footfalls of the Slayer’s friends approaching, she made the decision to follow the vampire.

“Cassie,” Xander cried. He rushed to the fallen girl’s side, and he pulled her from the water. “She’s not breathing.”

“She’s dead,” Angel said morosely.

“No, she’s not breathing. If she drowned, there’s a shot. CPR,” the teenage boy announced. He quickly took off his jacket, and he laid it over Cassie. He opened the girl’s mouth to clear her airway. With one hand he pinched off her nose while the other tilted her head back to unblock her throat. Xander looked at his friend for a moment before he put his mouth over hers, and he began to blow air into her lungs. After several deep breaths into her lungs, he compressed her chest.

“C’mon, Cassie. Breathe.” Xander continued to breathe into the Slayer’s lungs and pump on her chest. He shook Angel off when the vampire attempted to pull the boy away from the young girl’s body. “C’mon.”

A few seconds later, Cassie opened her eyes, and she inhaled deeply. She stared up at her rescuers dazedly. After a few moments she looked around the lair, and she noticed the fire was getting bigger.

“Fire,” Cassie croaked.

“Cassie,” Xander cried. He and Angel helped the Slayer to her feet, and the three of them hobbled out of the lair to escape the encroaching flames.

In the parking lot of the high school Miss Calendar and Willow were trying to avoid being captured by the amassing vampires that advanced on them. The two females looked around the lot wildly as they searched for an escape. They heard a car screech to stop behind them.

“Get in,” Cordelia screamed at the teacher and fellow classmate. “Where the fuck are they coming from? I was sitting in my car where Kevin and I liked to go park, and the next thing I know they are swarming the car.”

“What do we do now?” Miss Calendar screamed when a vampire jumped on the top of the car.

“We’ve gotta get to the library!” Willow yelled.

“Library! Great!,” Cordelia snarked, “Just how do you expect us to do that?” Cordelia swung her car around in a U-turn, and she headed directly for the school building. She gunned the motor.

“We generally walk there, Cordy,” Willow cried when she realized what the cheerleader was going to do.

“Do you really want to get out right now?” Cordy asked. She looked at Willow, who considered the question before shaking her head negatively. “That’s what I thought. Hang on, ladies, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride.”

Inside the library, Giles looked up suddenly when he heard a loud crash. In a few moments he was surprised to see a car go by the library door windows. Giles watched in amazement as Miss Calender, Willow and Cordelia slammed into the library, and they leaned back against the swinging doors.

“What’s happening?” Giles asked in a dazed voice.

“Guess!” Miss Calendar snarled. A vampire punched through one of the small windows above the girl’s head, and tried to grab a hold of their hair. Giles hurried to grab a bookcase to carry towards the door, while Willow grabbed a nearby sign, and she hit the vampire’s arm. Miss Calendar and Cordelia moved out of Giles’s way as he positioned the bookcase in front of the door, and he dragged the nearby copier to hold the bookcase.

“Why are they coming here?”

The four of them failed to notice the green tentacle worming its way up through the cracks in the floor as they piled more stuff in front of the library doors.

“They’re coming through the stacks,” Giles pointed towards the back of the library, “Grab the bookshelves. I’ll secure my office.” The girls scurried to comply with the Watcher’s wishes.

On the roof of the school, the Master looked around at the view, and he smiled. It felt so good to be out of the ground after so many years. He walked to the edge of the roof, held out his arms and surveyed the scene. Below he could see his vampires swarming the school. “My world! Oh, my beautiful world.”

The Master heard a snarl behind him, and he whirled around to find a small girl dressed all in black standing behind him. She tilted her head to one side, and she said something to him in a language that he didn’t understand.

“You’re that Black Specter that my minions grumble about,” the Master growled. He advanced towards the girl. The Master extended his senses towards the girl, and he was confused by the different auras coming off of her. Before he had time to process the feelings, she attacked him.

The Specter kicked the Master’s feet out from underneath him, and he fell heavily to the roof. She snarled at him again, and she repeated her unrecognizable words. The Specter jumped backwards when the Master leapt to his feet. She kicked him in the jaw on his way up.

The Master stumbled just a bit, but not before he sliced the Specter with his fingernails. The scent of the blood confused him even more. It said Slayer, vampire and family, and his own words came back to haunt him.  But prophecies are tricky creatures. They don’t tell you everything. The Master remembered a prophecy he had heard over 250 years before about how his grandchilde would be the one to finally dust him. It was the reason he had been so wary of Angelus for all these years, but it appeared that he had been leery of the wrong family member. The Master silently cursed whichever family member created the Slayer/vampire grandchilde

The Specter punched the older vampire in the kidney, and he retaliated by punching her in the jaw. She tried to punch him again, but he blocked her. The next thing she knew she flew into the wall behind her.

Below them in the library, Giles and the girls were fighting off both the vampires and the creature attempting to emerge from the Hellmouth. Giles swung his axe to hit the creature, but he overextended himself. This caused him to fall off the upper level of the library onto the research table. It broke under the weight of the Watcher. This caused a huge wooden spike to point upwards towards the skylight.

Xander, Angel, and Cassie were fighting their way into the school towards the library. The trio dusted vampires left and right. Xander was feeling quite pleased with himself for not running and screaming in the other direction like his instincts told him to.

On the roof, the Master was ready to continue the fight. He hid his fear from the small female he was fighting. The Master attempted to thrall the girl like he had the Slayer just a short time before, but for some reason it didn’t work on the Specter. This confused the older vampire, because he knew the other vampire was just a fledgling.

The Specter launched herself into a front tuck over the Master’s head, and she landed between him and the skylight. She kicked him in the side, but he quickly turned to grab her by the neck. The Specter looked down into the library via the skylight where she noticed the large wooden spike that the Watcher had made earlier.

“Who are you?” the Master growled.

The Specter hissed at him, and she lifted him up into the air. She flipped him over her body and through the skylight. The Specter stood at the edge of the window, and she watched him fall through the air unable to catch himself.

Xander, Angel and Cassie made it into the library just in time to watch the master vampire make his descent. The other fighters stopped to watch as the Master became impaled on the big wooden spike, and he slowly turned to ash until the only thing left was his skeleton. All eyes turned upwards. The group caught a glimpse of the figure in black before she disappeared from view.

The Hellmouth creature disappeared back into the floor, and the vampires either disappeared or ran away when they felt their master die. The group stood and stared at the body of the Master for a few minutes. Each one of them lost in their own thoughts.

 

Originally posted at http://seasonal-spuffy.livejournal.com/140102.html