“Five dead,” Barton said, holding up the newspaper. It was late Saturday afternoon. Ally and Lilith were sitting in the Sunnydale High library eating pizza having just finished a training session. “All with bite marks on their neck drained of blood. If any of these people happened to drink the blood of their undead attackers-” “We know,” Lilith said. “We’ll have a brand-new thirsty vampire on our hands.” “Well, I suppose this means we’re not going to the Bronze tonight,” Ally said, trying to hide her disappointment. She’d done her makeup with extra care in the bathroom of the motel room. She’d even picked out a cute dress, which she’d packed in a backpack to change into after the training session. When was the last time Ally had even worn a dress? She didn’t know. Certainly before becoming a slayer. It was stupid. Ally had let herself enjoy the way a pretty girl looked at her, smiled at her, laughed at her horrible joke about coffee. Just for a moment, she’d forgotten that she wasn’
“The Night of Saint Vigeous” Barton said. Lilith and Ally were sitting on either side of him behind the desk of the library, leaning over the massive text he was studying. “The Holy Night of Attacks in vampire tradition.”“Do you believe vampires really have more strength on this day than any other?” Ally asked, giving Barton a curious look. Ally had not decided what her opinion on Barton was. He was her watcher now though, and she did respect him. Just as she had tried to respect her uncle.Barton had spent his entire life studying to be a watcher. As such, Ally trusted him to have knowledge of vampire traditions and powers that she did not. Whether it made sense to have a weak old man train her and Lilith in combat? That was another question.“Yes,” Barton said. “Historically, it is a bloody event. The fact that we are on a Hellmouth gives vampires even more of an advantage. The Night of Saint Vigeous memorializes the bloody crusade led by Vigeous himself. Vampires spend the days le
Rock music blasted as the 1958 Dodge Desoto FireFlite sped along the empty road at a dangerous speed. The car crashed directly into the happy go lucky looking sign reading ‘Welcome to Sunnydale’ in perky gold letters. Beneath that, was a hopeful slogan in jaunty cursive - ‘Enjoy your stay!’ The sign toppled over as the Dodge Desoto crashed into it.Zack climbed from the front seat, lighting a cigarette and looking out at the town, visible from the grassy hillside they’d crashed on. Melanie climbed from the passenger side, and Lexy got out from the back. She was annoyed with Zack for crashing the car apparently just for dramatic effect. Now they were going to have to walk to find somewhere to stay before morning.“Sunnydale,” Zack said, taking a drag of the cigarette. “Welcome to the Hellmouth, girls.”“Great place for vampires,” Melanie said, leaning against the side of the crashed car, her expression bored. Zack passed her the cigarette, and she inhaled, blowing smoke. “Terrible plac
“Ow,” Lilith whined.“What’s wrong?” Jenny asked, flopping back on the bed.“This cream rinse I spent my entire allowance on is neither creamy nor rinsey,” Lilith said. She was sitting at her desk, brushing her hair. She’d decided to go with it down for the night. But the thick tangles were making her start to question that decision.Jenny yelped for some reason, leaping toward the end of the bed. Lilith frowned, looking at Jenny in the mirror. “What?”“Hey babe.”Lilith turned around to see a grinning James. “Hey! I told you we’d meet you at the Bronze.”"The window was unlocked," James said, laughing and nodding to the open window."Because the stairs are just so inconvenient," Jenny said, rolling her eyes."Why didn't you just wait for us?" Lilith asked.“Because it’s just Ally and Yuna there right now and they’re studying French,” James said. “If I wanted to learn French, I’d go back to school myself.”“Why are they studying French?”“Yuna’s struggling in one of her classes.”“Hey
The banners reading ‘A Night of Fun and Productivity’ were hanging across the school with cheerful smiley faces and flowers painted on. The tables were set. Lilith had made homemade baked goods. She told Ally she was determined for tonight to go well. She’d already messed up once this year getting caught skipping. After the disaster in LA and the past three years of incidents such as fighting and property damage – always slaying related – Lilith wanted her father to be proud. Ally supposed she understood the desire for parental approval, she just thought it was misplaced. Ally didn’t want to be suspended either, but Lilith’s stress about tonight seemed to be countering even her stress over Saint Vigeous tomorrow.Teachers were milling about. Alvin, Jenny and Tiffany were in the library with Barton whittling stakes and researching the history of Saint Vigeous for tomorrow. Ally was irritated that she and Lilith had to be here instead of doing last minute training with Barton.“I don’t
Lilith jumped to the floor in the library. Barton yelled in alarm when he saw her. Then he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in for a hug. Lilith pulled away fast, grabbing a satchel of stakes and a crossbow.“Where’s Alvin?” Lilith asked, turning to face Barton. “I thought maybe he ran in here with you."“He was here,” Barton said. “He went to Restfield to get James.”Lilith nodded. “Good idea. There are at least thirty vamps here, all of them strong. We need all the help we can get.”“Why didn’t they wait until Saint Vigeous?” Barton asked.“I have a feeling Ally antagonizing Zack put him in a frenzy,” Lilith said.Barton sighed. “I suppose there’s a chance it's for the best. If the vampire legends of increased strength tomorrow night are true, you have a stronger chance now.”“My father is in the classroom across the hall,” Lilith said. “I’m going to take out the vampires at the South exit.”“I’ll help,” Barton said. “I-”“No,” Lilith said. “Zack brought an army. You’d be de
“So, what do you want me to tell the press?” a police officer asked. “Gang related? PCP?”Snyder nodded. He was standing on the edge of the parking lot, talking to the police. “What did you have in mind?” Snyder asked, glaring. “The truth?”The officer exchanged a look with his partner. They were both writing on clipboards, standing in front of their cars with the flashing lights on. “Right,” the officer said. “Gang related. PCP.”“I don’t need to the mayor getting involved in this mess,” Snyder said, barely resisting a shudder. “No – better to keep the masses ignorant, just like he likes them.”Zack yelled and threw a brick through a glass window separating two of the rooms in the abandoned warehouse. When that did nothing to satiate his anger, he yelled again, throwing another brick at the far wall, causing the brick to crumble. The surviving members of the Order of Aurelius watched, all glaring. There were only a handful of them left – about fifteen.“You failed,” Collin said, givi
The autumn air was cool for California, a light breeze pushing Lilith’s looped braids back as she walked across the quad with Mark. She enjoyed visiting UC Sunnydale. It was fun to imagine attending next year, and it was lovely to see Mark in his element. He’d made the football team, and was enjoying practice, and all of his classes were going fantastic. Also – Mark seemed to have become quite close with Yuna Talyohana, who was walking on Lilith’s other side. Next to Yuna, walked Ally.“Thanks for coming, guys,” Mark said. “I wouldn’t have asked but…”Lilith sighed. “I’ll just have to hope Snyder doesn’t catch us this time.” She and Ally had narrowly avoided suspension thanks to the disaster of parent-teacher night serving as a pretty huge distraction from their supposed delinquency. It had been two weeks and the school was still recovering. Amazingly, no one seemed to be guessing the truth. The rumors flying around were that the school had been invaded by a gang on PCP.“So, what exa