The hooded figures walked solemnly into the dark conference room and took their
seats around the table. As soon as they were all settled a bell chimed once, signaling
the beginning of the meeting.
The leader of the figures, who was known as
Elisa, wasted no time in getting to the point.
"The Slayer is dead,"
she said simply.
This caused a bit of murmuring from the others at the table.
Finally one of them spoke up.
"It is time to summon Them," he said.
"No!"
a second one argued. "It is too soon! They aren't ready!"
"But
if we summon them too late they won't have time to prepare," the first said
calmly.
"No!" the second one shouted again, standing up and pounding
his fist on the table. "We can't-"
"Silence!" Elisa shouted,
interrupting. Her voice echoed throughout the room.
Everyone fell silent.
"We will put it to a vote," Elisa said quietly.
The vote showed
eight against calling Them and thirteen for it.
"It is settled,"
Elisa said. "We will call Them tonight.
The bell chimed twice and the
meeting was over.
That night Lisa, Josh, Maggie, Rachel, Quiller, Jordy, Tiffany, and Grace went
to bed without suspecting a thing.
*****
Lisa blinked and glanced around
the small room at the seven other people sitting in a circle. She was deeply confused.
Only seconds ago she had been dreaming about Joshua Jackson and suddenly here she
was, in this cold, dark room. She noticed that there were six other girls and a guy.
They all wore monk like robes…. And she hadn't seen any of these people before in
her life. This didn't make any sense. She remembered going to bed… but this didn't
feel like a dream. She pinched herself. It hurt. Okay, this isn't a dream, she thought.
Then what the hell was going on?
Everybody else in the room was just as puzzled
when suddenly, from the spot where there was a gap in the circle, three hooded figures
walked in… right through the wall. Maggie and Grace, who sat on either side of the
gap jumped as they saw this. Everyone else stared in shock.
The first hooded
figure walked to the center of the room. The other two stood next to the area of
the wall they had just walked through. Maggie looked up at the one that stood next
to her. He looked down at her. She peered through the hood at where his face should
be and all she saw was a gray mist. Maggie turned away and shivered.
The one
in the middle of the room finally spoke. "Welcome," she said.
Nobody
spoke.
After a pause, she sighed. "There is much to explain," she
said.
Jordy yawned loudly. All eyes turned to her.
"What?"
she asked. "I'd like to wake up now. This is, by far, the lamest dream I've
ever had."
"You aren't dreaming," The hooded figured in the
middle of the room said.
"Oh, no?" she replied. "I distinctly
remember going to bed, and I haven't woken up, therefore, this is a dream."
"Your
bodies sleep, your minds, your souls are here."
Quiller was still convinced
this was a bizarre dream of hers, but she was willing to play along. "You mind
telling us why?" she asked.
"And who the hell you are." Rachel
added.
"You may call me Elisa. And we-" she gestured at the other
two hooded figures in the room, "- are part of what is known as The Powers That
Be. You are all here because you are the chosen eight."
Maggie and Grace
snickered.
"Chosen for what, exactly?" Josh asked.
"To
slay demons and stop the Apocalypse."
At that the entire room, minus
the hooded people, erupted into laughter.
"Enough!" Elisa shouted.
And they all shut up. The room was silent.
"Okay…" Tiffany said.
"It's been… lovely talking to you… but I'm ready to leave now," she added,
walking across the room to the spot Elisa had entered.
"I'm thinking
the same thing," Rachel said, standing up and following Tiffany. By now Tiffany
had decided this "wall" was just a trick of lights or something and, ignoring
the hooded figures, she walked confidently right into it. There was a loud smack
as she hit a solid surface. She turned around, embarrassed, rubbing her nose. "That
hurt."
"There must be a switch or something," Rachel said,
feeling around the wall for one.
"There is no switch," Elisa said.
"It is sealed off with magic," she added.
"Then un seal it!"
Tiffany shouted. She was beginning to freak out.
"Yeah, or I'll kick
your sorry-" Rachel started in. Elisa nodded to her and her mouth snapped shut,
against her will. Then she and Tiffany floated back to their seats, kicking all the
way.
"It is critical that you listen to what I'm about to say,"
Elisa told them.
Lisa glared at her and crossed her arms. "We're listening.
So talk," she said.
Elisa started talking and spent the next half hour
explaining everything about demons and the Slayer. At first, everyone was skeptical,
but by the end of the explanation nobody could deny that this was real.
"If
all Slayers are girls, why was I chosen?" Josh asked
"There was
a glitch," Elisa replied simply. "Even The Powers That Be make mistakes.
It's no matter. You will make an excellent Slayer," she added.
"Okay,
so if there's one Slayer called every generation… why are there eight of us here?"
Quiller asked.
"It was prophesized that we would send eight when the
time came. Evil is getting stronger, good must do the same," Elisa answered.
"So
you guys were thinking 'hey, instead of sending a stronger Slayer, let's send an
extra seven to die?" Lisa asked, very bothered.
"You are not separate
Slayers, you are one Slayer with eight times the strength"
"Funny,
I see eight people here," Rachel replied.
"You are all connected
now," Elisa answered.
There was silence for a moment and then Tiffany
asked the question everyone was thinking; "Why us?"
"It is
your destiny," Elisa answered, as if it was that simple.
"What if…"
Maggie started. Then she stopped. She took a breath and started again. "What
if I don't want this destiny? Can't you find someone else?"
"No.
If you walk away from this… the world will be destroyed. Demons will take over and
every last human will die," Elisa said gravely.
Everyone looked at each
other as they absorbed all this. Not one of them could think of a thing to say.
It had been two months since Buffy's death. She had died during a routine patrol.
It had been a stupid, weak vampire. Nothing special. But somehow Buffy had ended
up on the wrong end of her own stake. Only days after Buffy's death Faith had died
in a car accident. Two young women with such life and hope and strength… gone in
a matter of days. Such a waste. Joyce and her now fully human daughter, Dawn had
recently moved out of Sunnydale. They couldn't stand living there anymore. Anya and
Tara had both moved away a long time ago and Willow and Xander had gotten together.
They still met with Giles and tried to keep the demon population down, but it was
never the same.
~*~Giles' Apartment~*~
Willow, Xander and Giles
had been discussing last night's patrol and recent suspicious deaths when they noticed
the vampire population seemed to have nearly doubled.
Giles sighed and put
his head in his hands. "They must all know Buffy is dead," he said.
"We
need a Slayer," Xander said quietly.
They were all silent for a moment.
"Will
the next one be sent to Sunnydale?" Willow asked.
"Honestly? I don't
know," Giles replied.
*****
A few blocks away Bus 52 pulled up
to the bus stop and screeched to a halt. The door opened and Josh was the first to
step off. He looked down at the address in his hands and glanced up at the house
in front of him. The seven girls all filed off the bus, each carrying a small bag
of their belongings.
Grace stretched and yawned. "Can't we get our hotel
room first?" she asked. "That trip was exhausting."
Tiffany
stared at her, amazed. "You slept practically the whole way here," she
pointed out.
"So?" Grace said.
Tiffany rolled her eyes.
Quiller
was holding the map and she and Josh seemed to have figured out where to go.
"This
way, guys," Josh said. Everyone followed him, marching two by two.
"So,
does he know we're coming?" Jordy asked
"I don't think so,"
Rachel responded.
Lisa groaned. "So we'll have to explain the whole thing
to him?"
"Looks that way," Tiffany replied.
"That
could take a while," Quiller said.
"Hey, anybody mind if I sing
something?" Maggie asked.
"Yes," they responded, in unison.
Maggie
ignored them and started singing something from Rent just as they passed a house
with a family of four sitting out on the front porch, staring at them.
"What're
you lookin' at?" Rachel shouted to them, much louder than necessary.
The
family hurriedly turned away.
Lisa and Grace giggled.
"Rachel!"
Tiffany whispered, suppressing her laughter. "I thought The PTB told us to be
discreet."
"How discreet can a group of eight singing teenagers
be?"
"She has a point," Lisa said.
Tiffany sighed and
gave up.
Josh, up front, stopped walking, so did everyone else. The singing
stopped.
"What is it Josh? A vampire?" Lisa asked, excited and ready
to fight.
Quiller poked her on the shoulder and pointed at the sky. It was
still daytime.
"Oh," Lisa said, visibly disappointed.
Josh
looked up at the apartment complex they stood in front of. "This is the place,"
he said.
Nobody moved closer.
Maggie pulled a cricket out of her pouch,
popped it in her mouth, and munched on it nervously. Lisa watched Maggie and looked
like she was going to throw up.
Tiffany took a deep breath. "So are we
going in or what?"
And they all moved towards the apartments.
*****
~*~Giles'
apartment~*~
"There are places all over the world that will need
the next Slayer's assistance," Giles said.
The doorbell rang and Xander
moved to get it.
There's no telling who it will be or where she'll be sent,"
Giles added, just as Xander opened the door. Josh stood there, in front, with all
the girls behind him.
"Rupert Giles?" Josh asked.
Giles stood
up and faced the door. "Yes?"
Josh stepped over the threshold and
into Giles' apartment. "We're the new Slayers," he said.
"Okay, if there's one thing I know, it's that there's only one Slayer
at a time," Xander said as the group walked into the living room.
"Uh…
except when there were two," Willow reminded him.
"Well yeah, but…"
Xander made a quick head count, "Seven?" he asked, disbelieving.
"Actually
eight," Jordy said, as she stepped into the apartment.
"Eight?!"
Xander asked, shocked.
Tiffany and Lisa nodded.
"Aren't all Slayers
supposed to be girls," Willow asked, looking at Josh.
"I know this
is confusing and you probably have a lot of questions," Quiller said, "but
just give us a minute and we'll explain everything."
20 minutes later
"So
that's pretty much it," Grace finished.
There was silence for a moment.
"If
you were all called when the last Slayer died, where've you been for the past two
months?" Willow asked.
"Learning spells and thing, preparing,"
Lisa answered.
"Oh yeah, and we each have some sort of… special powers…"
Tiffany started.
"But all that can wait for tomorrow," Josh said,
noticing the bewildered looks on their faces. "You have enough to think about
for now," he added, standing up.
Grace's eyes lit up. "Rest time
now?" she asked.
"Yeah, rest time," Lisa said
"We'll
answer all your questions in the morning," Tiffany added, as they picked up
their bags and headed for the door.
"One thing," Giles said. "Why
did you come to me?" he asked.
"They sent us to you," Quiller
answered. "For guidance and training… if you're up for it"
"Of
course," he replied, with a small smile.
As the door shut behind them
Willow turned to Giles.
"You didn't know this would happen?" she
asked, shocked.
"Well I-" Giles started.
"I can't believe
this," Xander said. "You're supposed to know stuff!"
"I'm
very disappointed in you Giles," Willow scolded.
*****
The eight
teenagers walked the streets of Sunnydale towards the motel they would stay at. It
was beginning to get dark. The street lamps had gone on, casting eerie shadows every
which way. They were all quiet, each one thinking and watching for anything that
should come their way. They were walking by one of Sunnydale's many cemeteries when
a blood-curdling scream broke the night's silence. Without a word to one another
they dropped their bags and raced through the cemetery in the direction of the scream.
They burst through the bushes to see the door to a shop across the street slam shut.
They jumped over the low wall surrounding the cemetery and rushed across the street
to the shop. They tried the knob, it was locked. Quiller and Josh slammed their sides
into the door a few times until they heard a splintering noise. They moved out of
the way and Lisa kicked down the door. All eight of them rushed into the room and
saw… nothing.
"Where'd they go?" Maggie whispered.
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