The Town Freak
The Town Freak
by lostinamerica
“Damnit,” she swore silently to herself. “Damnit, Damnit, Damnit!”
She immediately ducked behind a nearby tombstone. She waited a few minutes, then risked a quick peek. Some 40 feet away two men and a women stood talking and smoking. Not sure they were vampires, she removed the camouflage print backpack from her shoulders and set it down beside her. Carefully unzipping the bag, she quietly searched through the variety of weapons she’d packed along with some of her t-shirts in order to deaden the sound. She selected a machete and then checked the wooden stakes she had stuck through the back of her black fabric belt, noting there were two left.
She rose up a few inches and peeked around the tombstone again. The group hadn’t moved. She decided there were enough large tombstones and monuments for her to get closer without being seen, and, keeping low to the ground, snuck from one to another until she was close enough to hear them.
"Yeah, this was a big mistake,” one of the men said. “Too much competition. I ain’t never had to fight for food before.”
“I know, I know,” the other man agreed. “I’m ready to go back to L.A.-it’s a hell of a lot easier to feed and hide there.”
“But something’s going to happen here, something big!” the woman insisted. “I can feel it. He will again walk the earth!”
The first man snorted. “You drained another druggie, didn’t you, Delores? Ain’t nothin’ gonna happen here. This is just another crap town in a long line of crap towns. Why stay when we can make all the easy kills we want back home? I say we leave right after. . .” he stopped, having heard the sound of running, and turned his head just in time to have it whacked off.
The girl backhanded the machete and sliced the head off the second man. She pulled up short, wheeled around to face the woman and yanked a stake from her belt. She threw it into the remaining vampire’s heart. The woman, a look of surprise on her face, disappeared into a cloud of dust.
The girl stood still a few moments, holding the machete ready. Satisfied she was alone, she leaned over and plucked the stake from the ground. Shoving it back into her belt, she spoke to the three small piles of dust on the ground.
“Nice of you to come visit us here in Sunnydale,” she said cheerily. “Sorry you couldn’t stay longer, but hey. . .shit happens.” She began making her way back to her pack, the machete glinting in the moonlight.
_____________________
The sound of a key turning in the lock caught the woman’s attention. She put down her book and, leaning her head over the back of the sofa to better see the front door, watched it swing open. The girl walked in, pushing the black hoodie off her head as she did so. She ran her fingers through her spiky, blue-black and purple hair in an effort to get it to stand back up. She tossed the backpack on the floor and called out in her best imitation of a Cuban accent.
“Luuu-cyyy, I’m home!”
The woman on the couch smiled. “Really now, Hope. I don’t know why you continue to announce yourself that way. I can’t help it if I’ve become addicted to that darn show-it’s the only thing on late at night while I wait for you to come back. Well, that and infomercials-would you like it better if I extolled the virtues of the Popeil Veg-O-Matic?”
Hope entered the living room and threw herself into the matching leather chair facing the couch. “Hmmm, let me think.” She placed one pale arm out, palm up. “On one hand, you have classic American escapist entertainment. Given our line of work, a definite thumbs up. “ She did the same with her left. “On the other hand, you have a seemingly wonderful invention that breaks as soon as you get it home.” She pantomimed weighing her two options. “Does the Veg-O-Matic come with a free set Ginsu steak knives? Because I could use an incredibly durable knife that never needs sharpening.” Her hands dropped to the armrest. “Speaking of which, the machete came in very handy tonight-I found another group of vampires.”
Lucy frowned. “Another group? You’ve certainly had your share of vampires lately.” She rose from the couch and went to the window. “What do you have planned for us this time, Sunnydale?” she asked of the still-sleeping town outside.
Hope turned serious. “Before I killed them one of them said something like ‘he will walk.’ You don’t think another vamp is making a bid to become head bloodsucker, do you? We haven’t had to deal with something like that since. . .you know.”
Lucy turned from the window. “Yes, I know,” she said softly. She walked over to the chair and crouched beside it, put her hand on Hope’s cheek and looked into her grey-blue eyes. “But let’s not jump to any conclusions just yet. There has been an increase in vampiric activity, but that could mean anything. I’ll hit the books tomorrow. Why don’t you check out the mood at school-teens are always out late at night, maybe they’ve seen something.”
“Sure,” Hope responded flatly. She abruptly sat up, which forced Lucy to drop her hand. Hope reached over to the Walkman lying on the coffee table and placed it in her lap. She leaned back, propped her feet on the table, pushed the earphones over her head and closed her eyes.
Lucy sighed, realizing their conversation was over and that Hope would soon be asleep in the chair. She’d rather they talk about it, about the last time a vampire had tried to take over Sunnydale, but Hope rarely did. What was it they said while she was growing up in the 60s, “turn on, tune in, drop out?” Kids were always so good at it, weren’t they? She got up and bent over to give Hope a light kiss on the head, even though it meant getting a taste of that awful hair gel, and walked toward the back of the house to the stairs leading to her bedroom.
As soon as Lucy left Hope cranked up the volume on her Walkman and mentally sang along with the music.
“I'm losing ground
you know how this world can beat you down
I'm made of clay
I fear I'm the only one who thinks this way
I'm always falling down the same hill
bamboo puncturing this skin
and nothing comes bleeding out of me just like a waterfall I'm drowning in
2 feet below the surface I can still make out your wavy face
and if I could just reach you maybe I could leave this place
I do not want this
I do not want this
I do not want this
I do not want this. . .”*
____________________
The next morning Hope ran up the stairs toward the main entrance of Sunnydale High School. Nodding to her fellow freaks, the small crowd of stoners and skaters hanging around outside the main doors, the metalheads and emos on the other, she pushed her way in and down the hall to her first class of the day. She noticed a neon pink head in the sea of heads and made her way toward it. She grabbed her friend’s shoulder to slow her progress and pulled alongside her.
“S’up, bitch?”
“Hope! Thank God it’s you!” Sierra squealed. “Can I borrow your brain for a few minutes before biology, I’m so not ready for this test!”
“No problemo. This crap’s not that hard, you know, it’s all memorization.”
“Spoken like a true brainiac. But for the rest of us on planet Earth it’s freakin’ impossible. C’mon, hurry up, I need all the time I can get!”
The two girls attempted to squeeze through as quickly as possible. But in their haste they plowed right into a small group of girls talking near the biology room door.
Cordelia Chase tossed her long, brown hair and stared at the intruders. “Get away, freaks!” she said loudly for the benefit of her friends.
Hope and Sierra glared at Cordelia and moved on, but not before Hope flipped her the bird with both hands. “What a bitch,” she said. “Where does she get off acting like the queen of the school, she’s a fucking freshman!”
“True dat. We can take care of her later. I need that evil brain of yours now!” She dragged Hope into the classroom and over to two chairs in the back of the class so they could cram in some last-minute studying.
____________________
Hope sauntered into the school office and told the receptionist she was here. She slouched into a nearby chair and pulled the hood of her black hoodie over her head, partially shading her eyes. She stuck her long legs out, effectively blocking the passageway to the rear offices, daring anyone to cross her path. If someone so much as nudged her new Vans so help them. . .
“Miss Phillips?” the receptionist called. “Prinicipal Flutie is ready to see you.”
Sighing heavily, she pulled her legs in, stood and walked to his office. The door was already open and she sat down in one of the chairs opposite his desk. She pushed her hood back and attempted to look unconcerned.
“Well, here we are again, Hope.”
“Yes, Bob, here we are again.”
Principal Flutie smiled. “You’re one of the few to call me that, even though I’ve always told my students they could. Purple tips now, is it? That’s different from last month, right?”
Hope was surprised he had noticed. “Uh, yeah, it is.”
The principal settled down in his chair and opened a file on his desk. “Seems like we’ve spent a lot of time in my office over the years, haven’t we? The teachers and I, we’ve all been hoping that one day you’d grow out of it, especially given your intellectual abilities. But here you are, involved in another incident with a student. Why, Miss Phillips, why? You have been given a great gift-with your PSAT scores you no doubt will be named a National Merit Scholar candidate next month and if chosen offered a full ride at any college you choose. Yet you continue to act out and still haven’t taken any of your college entrance exams. Again, I ask, why?”
“Because I have been given a great gift,” she answered quietly, knowing he wouldn’t have the faintest idea of the gift she was talking about.
Principal Flutie looked confused. He thought a bit before continuing. “It’s not too late, you know. There are testing dates up until the end of November. You still have plenty of time, even with the earliest college application deadline December 1.”
Hope felt the anger rising and tried to maintain her composure-she’d always liked Principal Flutie, he had always been so nice to her. “I have no intention of going to college,” she said evenly. “My life is in Sunnydale. Always has been, always will be.”
“But there’s a wonderful college right here. . .”
“No!” Hope said a little more strongly than she intended. She willed herself to calm down. It was time to pull out the big guns, the one thing that always worked, she thought. “I’m sorry,” she began. “It’s just that. . .well, I’m still working out a few things in therapy. Maybe I’ll be ready to go to college in a year, maybe not. I don’t know how long it’s supposed to take for someone to get over the. . .the death of their entire family. I don’t know if I’m on track or not. But I’m trying, Principal Flutie, I’m really trying.” She looked appropriately contrite.
She could tell the principal had bought it. He leaned over and patted her hand in a fatherly way. “Hope, we all know you’ve suffered. Don’t think for a moment that we aren’t pulling for you. But while I feel the fact you’re in therapy is a very positive step, as principal of this school I must punish you for your behavior today. The handbook calls for a three-day, at-home suspension. Beginning immediately, unfortunately. I’ve already called your aunt and she’s on her way. Please, Hope, for your sake, use this time to continue working on yourself. I have no doubt that, with your smarts, the schoolwork will be easy to make up. But your personal life-that needs to be your primary focus now, O.K.?” He smiled.
Hope smiled in return. “I know. Believe me, I know.”
Principal Flutie rose. “Well, Hope, you can wait for your aunt in the main office. And please think about what I’ve said, about where your focus needs to be at this point in your life. It would be wonderful for you to finish here on a positive note.”
Hope also rose. “I’d like that too, Bob. Don’t worry, I’ll think about everything you said.”
The principal lightly punched his fist in the air. “That’s the spirit! Now, technically once your aunt arrives you’ll have to immediately leave the school grounds. But I see no problem in the two of you going to your locker and getting any books you may need over the next few days.” He winked. “Just remember, Hope, tomorrow is a new day.”
He escorted her out of his office. Once in the main office Hope returned to her chair and sank down into it. She again pulled her hood over her head and thought about just how fucking clueless the principal and everyone else was about who she was, what had really happened to her family and exactly what was really going on in this lame-ass town.
____________________
Lucy shut the apartment door firmly and followed Hope into the living room. Hope made a move toward the Marilyn Manson and Nine-Inch-Nails CDs that had been left on the coffee table but Lucy quickly walked around her and reached forward. “Oh no you don’t! Not this time!” she said, gathering the discs in her arms.
Hope shrugged and went for the Walkman instead but Lucy was too fast for her. Hope rolled her eyes. “You know, if I really wanted that I’d have it by now.” Shaking her head, she plopped down onto the couch and crossed her arms. Lucy, still holding the discs and Walkman, sat opposite her in the chair. “What you did, Hope, was stupid and immature. But what worries me most is that Mr. Flutie said any more suspensions could mean expulsion. I thought you liked going to school, that it took your mind off your nighttime activities?”
Hope unfolded her arms and pushed herself up. “School is a break from slaying? Are you freakin’ kidding me? I’m reminded of who I am every day at that freakin’ school! You know the story, you made it up! Hope Phillips, such a promising young student, at least before her family sent her elementary school ass to her ‘aunt’ because they could supposedly no longer handle her. What a shock that was-she seemed like such a nice girl! And poor little Hope never seemed the same after that. She became more and more serious and withdrawn, and then, several years later her entire family was killed in a fire! How tragic! At least that’s what Sunnydale’s finest concluded because nobody really wanted to know that by then Hope had become the Slayer and the latest vampire king-wannabe decided to make a big statement and off the Slayer’s family! Can you imagine, such things going on in our little town?”
Hope pointed to her temple and twirled her finger in a counterclockwise motion. “Ever since then Hope has been a little, well, off. And that is what people are thinking every time they look at me. Do I love to learn? Fuck yeah! But I’m tired of being the town freak! Couldn’t I just stay home and study on my own? We both know I’m not going to college, and I think I’ve earned the right to study what I want, when I want. Besides, dropping out my senior year would be the perfect ending to my sad little story. You couldn’t ask for a better cover!”
Lucy broke in. “I know it’s been hard. Terribly hard, in fact. But aren’t there a few moments during the school day where you at least feel like you’re living a normal life? You have some friends, girls and boys you’ve talked about-that means something, doesn’t it?”
Hope considered what Lucy had said. “No, it’s not enough. Not anymore. I want to drop out. I can still hang with my friends after school, just like always. Sounds like a win-win to me.”
Lucy knew Hope had a point, but it seemed wrong to give up on the charade altogether. Yes, she was living a lie at school, but Lucy found it hard to believe she was always aware of who she was and what she had been called to do. Hadn’t there been times she’d forgotten that part of her life, at least for a moment? And wouldn’t those few moments be enough to keep her Slayer sane and focused? She needed more time to decide what would be the best course of action.
“Let me think about it. “
Hope again rolled her eyes and then threw up her hands. “Yeah, right, you’ll think about it. And I’ll be right back there next week.”
“Hold on a minute,” she said, a bit angry. “I said I’ll think about it, and I will. Really. You can’t go back to school for three days anyway, so let’s see how it goes with you home. But I’m keeping this,” she waved the discs and Walkman in front of Hope. “Unless you can come up with a less self-destructive kind of music.”
“Sure, I’ll get right on that,” Hope countered. “Maybe I can borrow some of yours-all that stuff about drugs, sex and rock-and-roll is sure to put me in a good mood.”
Lucy smiled. “Touche. But as you well know that’s not all I have. Why don’t you come up with me and we’ll look for something together.”
Hope groaned. “You’re going to dig up that Monkees CD, aren’t you?”
Lucy laughed. “There’s absolutely nothing wrong with listening to a few harmless pop tunes now and then.” She put down the Walkman and the discs, got up and stepped over to Hope. “Right after we have a little talk about your language-don’t think I haven’t noticed your cursing up a blue streak at home. I shudder to think what you’re saying at school.” She put her hands on her hips to show she meant business.
“I changed my mind. If this is what it’s going to be like I’d rather be back at school. Unless. . .” she looked up at Lucy. “are there cookies involved?”
“Perhaps.” Lucy reached down with both hands, intending to pull her up. “Who knows what will come out of that kitchen in the next few days?”
“Crap, surprises. I hate surprises,” Hope grumbled.
“Sorry, what was that?”
“I mean, gosh darn, I greatly dislike surprises,” Hope corrected herself. Lucy placed her hands on Hope’s and Hope allowed herself to be pulled up.
“See, that wasn’t so bad. For that you get brownie cookies for dessert tonight.”
“Uh, yay?” Hope said, but she smiled a little when she said it. Lucy gently led Hope upstairs to the secret stash of CDs she kept in her room.
____________________
Jason threw his board on the ground and jumped on. He pushed hard as he traveled down the sidewalk, even though he knew he was still going to miss his curfew. By a lot. Hoping the fresh air would help clear the smell of pot smoke from his clothes and hair he continued on. He concentrated on the sidewalk ahead and noticed a large crack in the pavement coming up fast. He dragged his foot and stopped just before hitting it. Swearing profusely, he got ready to start again when he noticed the iron fence to his left. Crap, he thought to himself, he’d almost passed the cemetery without noticing.
Jason had lived his entire life in Sunnydale and was well aware weird things happened here. Apparently his parents had heard the same stories, though they were most concerned about the town’s cemeteries. For as long as he could remember they had made him promise never to visit any of Sunnydale’s cemeteries at night. Not even on a dare. So whenever Jason passed one he made it a point to be on guard. His buzz now officially over, he flipped the board into his hands and carried it, holding it in both hands in case he needed to swing it as a weapon. As he walked the two blocks that fronted this particular cemetery he constantly looked around and behind him and listened for any strange noises.
He had just reached the second block when he heard a rustling sound over his left shoulder. He stopped and slowly turned, raising the board as he did so. He stared in the direction of the noise, attempting to see into the darkness. He was ready to turn back around when he heard more rustling, this time to his right. He whipped his head around but still saw nothing. Jason decided to walk sideways down the sidewalk so that he could always keep his eyes on the cemetery. After taking only a few steps he watched a figure dressed in black run from one bush to another. He stopped and more black figures ran from other bushes farther away and headed in his direction. He didn’t move until he saw a weird-looking face with lion-like eyes rising out from the nearest bush, which reminded him of a scene in a movie that had scared the hell out of him a few years earlier when he was just in middle school.
Fuck, they’re hunting me down like fucking raptors! His mind screamed at him, and he immediately turned to run. He hoped whatever it was crashing through the bushes behind him wouldn’t cross the fence but figured that was stupid--of course they wouldn’t stop coming. He turned hard right toward the nearest house, chanced a look behind him and saw several men, at least they kind of looked like men, chasing him. He ran faster and made it to the door. He threw himself against it and started shouting and pounding. He turned around again and saw his pursuers had simply stopped as one in the middle of the street. He continued to shout and pound at the door, watching the group as he did so, but they stood there, motionless. Suddenly they wheeled around in unison and ran back toward the cemetery. Shocked, his hand dropped to his side. He leaned heavily against the door, exhausted, and struggled to catch his breath. “Shit,” he whispered to himself between breaths, “Sierra will never believe this! She is gonna freak!”
He waited until his breathing had returned to normal, and, after yelling to the house’s occupants, “Thanks for fuckin’ nothin’!” he threw his board back down and raced down the driveway toward home. He suddenly wanted to be sure his parents were O.K., and hoped his girlfriend was still awake so he could warn her about the wacked-out ninjas in Sunnydale National Cemetery.
____________________
“Hope, please stop that, you’re driving me crazy!”
Hope continued to point and dry-fire the crossbow toward the ceiling as she lay stretched out on the couch. “Just getting a little practice in. You’re always on me about how important it is to train and what happens when I do? You bitch about it.”
Lucy quickly walked in from the kitchen, leaned over the couch and grabbed the crossbow out of Hope’s hands. “You’re darn right I’m complaining,” she said, emphasizing the last word. “You are not training and you know it. You’re just bored, just like earlier today, and the day before that, and the day before that. Thank God you’ll be back in school tomorrow.”
“You got that right,” Hope said, popping up into a sitting position and leaning her head and forearms on the back of the couch. “It sounds so great at first, staying home from school for three days, but it totally sucks.”
“Imagine, your most recent at-home suspension has been just like all the rest. Why in the world did you think it would be any different?” she shook her finger in Hope’s face. “Don’t think I didn’t hear that. I would prefer you use the word “stinks” next time.”
“Yeah, well, I thought it would be different this time, since I am so ready to leave that freakin’ school.” She frowned. “But there’s nothing on TV, nobody to talk to--I guess school’s not so bad.”
Lucy clutched at her chest as if she were in the middle of having a heart attack. “What’s this? Do my ears deceive me? My Slayer is agreeing with me? Quick, where’s a pen, I have to mark this day down for all eternity!
Hope made a face. “Ha ha, sooo funny. Seriously, you’re at work, my friends are at school. . .it’s bad enough I’m all by myself patrolling at night, but during the day too? It’s completely lame.”
Lucy walked around the couch and sat down next to Hope in order to give her a hug. “You like me, you really like me!”
“Yeah, yeah,” Hope said, awkwardly hugging Lucy back.
Lucy pulled away. “Now that you see the value of staying in school, I hope that from this day forward you will use all school lockers for their intended purpose only. I mean it, Hope. Principal Flutie said the next time. . .”
“Could be the last, I know.” Hope finished.
“That goes for duct tape too.”
Hope gave a sly smile. She squeezed her first, second and third fingers together, crossed her pinky over her thumb and held her hand up. “I promise. Scout’s Honor.”
“You were never a scout, Hope.”
Hope held her hand up over her head as if she were holding a stake. “Slayer’s Honor?”
Lucy laughed and did the same. “Slayer’s Honor. Now let me get back to the kitchen to finish dinner. Remember, before you leave tonight I want to go over what your friend said happened over at Sunnydale National Cemetery. I want to be very clear about this-if you do happen to see a group of vampires or demons tonight you are not to engage them. It would be much easier to follow them to wherever they’re hiding and kill them in the morning. If they are vampires, that is.”
Hope nodded. “Got it. Now give me that,” she reached over and grabbed the crossbow back from Lucy. “I may need this tonight.”
“Hope,” Lucy said, a warning tone in her voice. “I’m not kidding.”
“Relax, I heard you. Hey, when’s dinner gonna be ready? I’m beyond hungry!”
“I don’t see how-all you’ve done the past three days is eat.”
Hope smiled and flexed her well-muscled arms. “Yo, I gots to keep up my Slayer strength!”
Lucy shook her head and returned to the kitchen to finish dinner.
____________________
Hope stopped, unshouldered her backpack with one hand and threw it against the nearest tombstone. She sat down and leaned against the pack, looked up at the waning moon and sighed. She knew it had been silly to hope the mystery vamps/demons would show up in the same place they had last been seen, but this was ridiculous. She’d gone through almost all of Sunnydales’ cemeteries by now and had found only a couple of newly-born vampires. Killing them had been simple enough, and she was thoroughly bored. She rechecked the crossbow she’d been carrying the entire evening for what seemed like the millionth time and was about to get up and resume her search when she heard the crunch of a heavy branch cracking well behind her to the right. She immediately leapt up to a crouch and tried to gauge the distance of the sound. Thinking whatever it was was closer than she liked, she pulled the machete from her belt, preferring to use it in close combat. She still had one stake, which she had earlier strapped to the outside of her left thigh since she’d decided to carry the crossbow this evening.
She strained her ears but heard nothing. Hope pulled herself up a bit higher, one hand firmly gripping the crossbow, the other wrapped around the machete, and waited for whatever was in the bushes to make a move. The stalemate continued, and the wind, which had been blowing softly off and on all night, blew across and behind her. “Shit,” she swore to herself, knowing that her scent would be carried back to whatever was there. If it was a vampire or a demon it would now know she was human and in its mind vulnerable. She stood and began to back up, away from the sound. Even though there was plenty of moonlight she still couldn’t see what would now be in front of her. She quickly backed farther and farther away until she ran into a large monument and, silently thanking the gods they had given her a place to hide, slipped behind it.
She was surprised to see seven vampires dressed in black step out from behind various bushes and tombstones. They bent down to sniff her backpack, becoming more agitated after doing so. She was even more surprised to see one of them talk into some kind of speakerphone on his shoulder. What the hell, she thought, who is he talking to? Since when do vampires look and act like a freaking SWAT team? Not liking what she saw, she turned to quietly sneak away and saw a similarly-dressed vampire only a few feet away, watching her. Fuck, I’ve been flanked, she realized. Without hesitating she raised the crossbow and fired. The vampire vanished into dust but the sound of the arrow hitting a nearby tombstone as it fell to the ground alerted the rest of the vampires and they began to run toward her.
Having no time to reload, Hope threw the crossbow in their general direction and turned to run. She heard the sound of brush being trampled behind her but it didn’t seem as if they were gaining. As she ran she tried to get her bearings, confident she would as she’d been patrolling this particular cemetery for years. What she didn’t count on was the six-foot-deep hole that had been dug for a funeral the next day. Thanks to the moonlight she saw it in time to jump but because she had to change her stride midway she stumbled on the other side. She let the machete go flying, not wanting to slice her own leg accidentally, then fell to one leg. As she did so the stake she had strapped there shifted, partially driving it into the top of her knee.
She rolled over on her side. Though the pain was excruciating she pulled the stake out, hoping it wouldn’t bleed too much and she could still run on it. She quickly leaned forward, pulled up her right pantleg and unstrapped the hunting knife strapped to her calf. She pushed herself up and tried to run, but she couldn’t bear any weight on her left leg and the vampires were upon her.
Hope waved the knife in front of her from right to left as they formed a semicircle around her. They became more and more excited at the smell of her blood, Slayer’s blood, and she quickly ran through her options as she pointed and stabbed at them. Seven vampires, one knife, one good leg-she could kill two at best before the rest would set upon her. She thought back to what had happened to her family and knew she would never let them feed off her. Never.
“Fuck it,” she said, and drew the knife hard across her throat.
The vampires howled as one as the rich blood spurted onto the ground, and they rushed forward to bite her and drink what they could. But as they bent over her they suddenly jerked upward as if puppets on a string. They stood motionless as a middle-aged man and woman ran up, huffing and puffing. The two stopped when they saw Hope’s body on the ground.
“My God, Maggie! They killed her, they killed her!” the man exclaimed.
Dr. Maggie Walsh stepped around the vampires to get a better look. She looked over the scene and thought. “This is good, this is very good,” she murmured.
“This is good? What the hell do you mean, this is good? We still can’t control them and now they’ve gone and killed somebody! The top brass is not going to be happy to hear this and. . .” he stopped in mid-sentence and seemed to be mentally counting how many vampires stood in front of him. “Wait a minute, there’s only seven! Where’s the other one? Damn it, Maggie, this is going to hell in a handbasket in a real hurry!”
Dr. Walsh raised her hand to cut him off. “Jack, think. So we’re missing a vampire-we’ll just radio for a team to come out and track it-they’ll find it soon enough. As for the girl--did they really kill her? I see no bite marks on the body.” She pointed to the knife near Hope’s outstretched hand. “This girl. . .this girl obviously came here to kill herself. Look at her, her clothes, her hair-it will be easy to believe she’s just another troubled teen. Her death will be a 30-second spot on the local news, especially since we both know there’s been much worse here in Sunnydale.”
Dr. Angleman stared at her. “You scare me sometimes, Maggie, you really do.” He nervously ran his fingers through his hair and paced as he thought through what she had said. “But you’re right, it could very well play that way, and we’ll be in the clear. . .” He stopped pacing and looked up at the still-motionless vampires and began pointing at them with his control unit. “But I have to tell you, I sure as hell don’t feel comfortable releasing this bunch right now. We can’t seem to figure out why they go wild on us, and I’m afraid if we do we’ll end up just like her. I think we should eliminate them here and start again with another group. Maybe we’ll have better luck next time.”
“How many more years do we have for this project?”
“I believe two.”
“Hmmm, two years. I agree, we should kill them now-they’re too unpredictable. Perhaps more testing in the lab. . .” she paused, crossed one arm under the other and brought her fingers up to her lips, tapping them lightly against her face as she thought. “Though I’m beginning to wonder if it’s too difficult to control vampire soldiers. Maybe we’d have more success with soldier vampires. The discipline would already be in place. . .”
“Hold on, Maggie, one project at a time. We’re in the middle of 313, let’s finish it. Who knows, maybe we’ll get all the glitches worked out.”
“That’s very true,” she agreed. She began backing away from the vampires. “Ready to throw the kill switch?”
“Ready,” he said as he quickly backed up and out of range. “Counting down, five, four, three, two, one. . .” Dr. Angleman pushed down on two of the small buttons on the unit with both thumbs simultaneously. There was a sharp popping sound as the chips exploded in the vampires’ brains and the vampires fell to the ground in a pile. Then a delayed charge detonated, igniting their bodies, which were soon consumed by the fire.
“Well, that should do it,” Dr. Walsh said. “The police may find evidence of a fire, but what of it? For all they know this girl could have been doing drugs before committing suicide.”
“You really do think of everything, don’t you?”
Dr. Walsh smiled tersely. “That’s why I’m here, isn’t it? To think of everything? Let’s go--I believe the van will be a good two kilometers back that way.” She pointed to her right and they set out for the cemetery’s edge.
____________________
Her dream took a terrible turn and Lucy suddenly woke up. She didn’t know why but felt something was just not right. She leaned up off the couch, rubbing her eyes as she did so, and saw that Hope’s backpack wasn’t by the front door. She jumped up and ran through the house, calling Hope’s name, but received no reply. Calm down, calm down, she told herself, she’s been late before, let’s not panic. . .but her heart was heavy as she pulled the old afghan off the cedar chest at the other end of the living room, yanked it open and rummaged around for whatever weapons she could quickly get hold of. She stuffed them in a duffle bag she also kept in the chest, slammed the chest closed and ran to the front door, not knowing where she would start looking but only that she had to find Hope.
____________________
The man pulled up alongside the curb and parked. A few feet from their car a petite blonde came down the front steps of Hemery High to join two other girls. He and Lucy watched as the fashionably-dressed teen gossiped and giggled with her friends.
Lucy sighed. “Is that her? That’s who we’ve been looking for all this time? She certainly doesn’t look like a Slayer.”
The man turned toward her, a sad expression on his face. “She doesn’t look like your Slayer, Lucy,” he said softly.
Lucy looked across to her companion, the pain evident in her eyes. “Yes, you’re right. Of course she doesn’t, does she?” She turned her head back in the girl’s direction and stared off into space.
The two sat in silence for a few minutes. “That’s it, then,” Lucy began in a tired voice. “She’s all yours now. I wish I could stay on and help in some way but. . .” she trailed off.
The man patted her hand. “You’ve done more than enough, Lucy. Thank you for doing as much as you did. I know it hasn’t been easy for you. Do you need anything? Anything at all?”
Lucy smiled weakly. “No, thank you. I suppose I should be off. The Council’s been waiting for me long enough. But if you need me, really, I can. . .”
He interrupted her. “Lucy, I couldn’t ask for anything more. Don’t worry, we’ll be fine.”
“Of course you will,” she said, forcing a false cheery tone in her voice. “I’m off, then.”
She leaned toward the passenger side door but suddenly reversed direction. She threw herself toward the man and hugged him tightly. “Take care of her, take care,” she whispered fiercely into his ear before breaking away and pushing open the car door. Slamming it shut, she looked at the girl again before turning and quickly walking away from the school. She crossed the street, her eyes so blurry with tears she barely noticed the older-model car with painted black windows and the disheveled young man peering out of the driver’s side window as she passed.
Lucy’s companion exited his car and began walking toward the young woman. Now that the moment was finally here, he wondered what exactly he’d gotten himself into and if all those years of training had really prepared him for what was to come.
____________________
*excerpt from “I Do Not Want This” by Nine-Inch-Nails
by lostinamerica
“Damnit,” she swore silently to herself. “Damnit, Damnit, Damnit!”
She immediately ducked behind a nearby tombstone. She waited a few minutes, then risked a quick peek. Some 40 feet away two men and a women stood talking and smoking. Not sure they were vampires, she removed the camouflage print backpack from her shoulders and set it down beside her. Carefully unzipping the bag, she quietly searched through the variety of weapons she’d packed along with some of her t-shirts in order to deaden the sound. She selected a machete and then checked the wooden stakes she had stuck through the back of her black fabric belt, noting there were two left.
She rose up a few inches and peeked around the tombstone again. The group hadn’t moved. She decided there were enough large tombstones and monuments for her to get closer without being seen, and, keeping low to the ground, snuck from one to another until she was close enough to hear them.
"Yeah, this was a big mistake,” one of the men said. “Too much competition. I ain’t never had to fight for food before.”
“I know, I know,” the other man agreed. “I’m ready to go back to L.A.-it’s a hell of a lot easier to feed and hide there.”
“But something’s going to happen here, something big!” the woman insisted. “I can feel it. He will again walk the earth!”
The first man snorted. “You drained another druggie, didn’t you, Delores? Ain’t nothin’ gonna happen here. This is just another crap town in a long line of crap towns. Why stay when we can make all the easy kills we want back home? I say we leave right after. . .” he stopped, having heard the sound of running, and turned his head just in time to have it whacked off.
The girl backhanded the machete and sliced the head off the second man. She pulled up short, wheeled around to face the woman and yanked a stake from her belt. She threw it into the remaining vampire’s heart. The woman, a look of surprise on her face, disappeared into a cloud of dust.
The girl stood still a few moments, holding the machete ready. Satisfied she was alone, she leaned over and plucked the stake from the ground. Shoving it back into her belt, she spoke to the three small piles of dust on the ground.
“Nice of you to come visit us here in Sunnydale,” she said cheerily. “Sorry you couldn’t stay longer, but hey. . .shit happens.” She began making her way back to her pack, the machete glinting in the moonlight.
_____________________
The sound of a key turning in the lock caught the woman’s attention. She put down her book and, leaning her head over the back of the sofa to better see the front door, watched it swing open. The girl walked in, pushing the black hoodie off her head as she did so. She ran her fingers through her spiky, blue-black and purple hair in an effort to get it to stand back up. She tossed the backpack on the floor and called out in her best imitation of a Cuban accent.
“Luuu-cyyy, I’m home!”
The woman on the couch smiled. “Really now, Hope. I don’t know why you continue to announce yourself that way. I can’t help it if I’ve become addicted to that darn show-it’s the only thing on late at night while I wait for you to come back. Well, that and infomercials-would you like it better if I extolled the virtues of the Popeil Veg-O-Matic?”
Hope entered the living room and threw herself into the matching leather chair facing the couch. “Hmmm, let me think.” She placed one pale arm out, palm up. “On one hand, you have classic American escapist entertainment. Given our line of work, a definite thumbs up. “ She did the same with her left. “On the other hand, you have a seemingly wonderful invention that breaks as soon as you get it home.” She pantomimed weighing her two options. “Does the Veg-O-Matic come with a free set Ginsu steak knives? Because I could use an incredibly durable knife that never needs sharpening.” Her hands dropped to the armrest. “Speaking of which, the machete came in very handy tonight-I found another group of vampires.”
Lucy frowned. “Another group? You’ve certainly had your share of vampires lately.” She rose from the couch and went to the window. “What do you have planned for us this time, Sunnydale?” she asked of the still-sleeping town outside.
Hope turned serious. “Before I killed them one of them said something like ‘he will walk.’ You don’t think another vamp is making a bid to become head bloodsucker, do you? We haven’t had to deal with something like that since. . .you know.”
Lucy turned from the window. “Yes, I know,” she said softly. She walked over to the chair and crouched beside it, put her hand on Hope’s cheek and looked into her grey-blue eyes. “But let’s not jump to any conclusions just yet. There has been an increase in vampiric activity, but that could mean anything. I’ll hit the books tomorrow. Why don’t you check out the mood at school-teens are always out late at night, maybe they’ve seen something.”
“Sure,” Hope responded flatly. She abruptly sat up, which forced Lucy to drop her hand. Hope reached over to the Walkman lying on the coffee table and placed it in her lap. She leaned back, propped her feet on the table, pushed the earphones over her head and closed her eyes.
Lucy sighed, realizing their conversation was over and that Hope would soon be asleep in the chair. She’d rather they talk about it, about the last time a vampire had tried to take over Sunnydale, but Hope rarely did. What was it they said while she was growing up in the 60s, “turn on, tune in, drop out?” Kids were always so good at it, weren’t they? She got up and bent over to give Hope a light kiss on the head, even though it meant getting a taste of that awful hair gel, and walked toward the back of the house to the stairs leading to her bedroom.
As soon as Lucy left Hope cranked up the volume on her Walkman and mentally sang along with the music.
“I'm losing ground
you know how this world can beat you down
I'm made of clay
I fear I'm the only one who thinks this way
I'm always falling down the same hill
bamboo puncturing this skin
and nothing comes bleeding out of me just like a waterfall I'm drowning in
2 feet below the surface I can still make out your wavy face
and if I could just reach you maybe I could leave this place
I do not want this
I do not want this
I do not want this
I do not want this. . .”*
____________________
The next morning Hope ran up the stairs toward the main entrance of Sunnydale High School. Nodding to her fellow freaks, the small crowd of stoners and skaters hanging around outside the main doors, the metalheads and emos on the other, she pushed her way in and down the hall to her first class of the day. She noticed a neon pink head in the sea of heads and made her way toward it. She grabbed her friend’s shoulder to slow her progress and pulled alongside her.
“S’up, bitch?”
“Hope! Thank God it’s you!” Sierra squealed. “Can I borrow your brain for a few minutes before biology, I’m so not ready for this test!”
“No problemo. This crap’s not that hard, you know, it’s all memorization.”
“Spoken like a true brainiac. But for the rest of us on planet Earth it’s freakin’ impossible. C’mon, hurry up, I need all the time I can get!”
The two girls attempted to squeeze through as quickly as possible. But in their haste they plowed right into a small group of girls talking near the biology room door.
Cordelia Chase tossed her long, brown hair and stared at the intruders. “Get away, freaks!” she said loudly for the benefit of her friends.
Hope and Sierra glared at Cordelia and moved on, but not before Hope flipped her the bird with both hands. “What a bitch,” she said. “Where does she get off acting like the queen of the school, she’s a fucking freshman!”
“True dat. We can take care of her later. I need that evil brain of yours now!” She dragged Hope into the classroom and over to two chairs in the back of the class so they could cram in some last-minute studying.
____________________
Hope sauntered into the school office and told the receptionist she was here. She slouched into a nearby chair and pulled the hood of her black hoodie over her head, partially shading her eyes. She stuck her long legs out, effectively blocking the passageway to the rear offices, daring anyone to cross her path. If someone so much as nudged her new Vans so help them. . .
“Miss Phillips?” the receptionist called. “Prinicipal Flutie is ready to see you.”
Sighing heavily, she pulled her legs in, stood and walked to his office. The door was already open and she sat down in one of the chairs opposite his desk. She pushed her hood back and attempted to look unconcerned.
“Well, here we are again, Hope.”
“Yes, Bob, here we are again.”
Principal Flutie smiled. “You’re one of the few to call me that, even though I’ve always told my students they could. Purple tips now, is it? That’s different from last month, right?”
Hope was surprised he had noticed. “Uh, yeah, it is.”
The principal settled down in his chair and opened a file on his desk. “Seems like we’ve spent a lot of time in my office over the years, haven’t we? The teachers and I, we’ve all been hoping that one day you’d grow out of it, especially given your intellectual abilities. But here you are, involved in another incident with a student. Why, Miss Phillips, why? You have been given a great gift-with your PSAT scores you no doubt will be named a National Merit Scholar candidate next month and if chosen offered a full ride at any college you choose. Yet you continue to act out and still haven’t taken any of your college entrance exams. Again, I ask, why?”
“Because I have been given a great gift,” she answered quietly, knowing he wouldn’t have the faintest idea of the gift she was talking about.
Principal Flutie looked confused. He thought a bit before continuing. “It’s not too late, you know. There are testing dates up until the end of November. You still have plenty of time, even with the earliest college application deadline December 1.”
Hope felt the anger rising and tried to maintain her composure-she’d always liked Principal Flutie, he had always been so nice to her. “I have no intention of going to college,” she said evenly. “My life is in Sunnydale. Always has been, always will be.”
“But there’s a wonderful college right here. . .”
“No!” Hope said a little more strongly than she intended. She willed herself to calm down. It was time to pull out the big guns, the one thing that always worked, she thought. “I’m sorry,” she began. “It’s just that. . .well, I’m still working out a few things in therapy. Maybe I’ll be ready to go to college in a year, maybe not. I don’t know how long it’s supposed to take for someone to get over the. . .the death of their entire family. I don’t know if I’m on track or not. But I’m trying, Principal Flutie, I’m really trying.” She looked appropriately contrite.
She could tell the principal had bought it. He leaned over and patted her hand in a fatherly way. “Hope, we all know you’ve suffered. Don’t think for a moment that we aren’t pulling for you. But while I feel the fact you’re in therapy is a very positive step, as principal of this school I must punish you for your behavior today. The handbook calls for a three-day, at-home suspension. Beginning immediately, unfortunately. I’ve already called your aunt and she’s on her way. Please, Hope, for your sake, use this time to continue working on yourself. I have no doubt that, with your smarts, the schoolwork will be easy to make up. But your personal life-that needs to be your primary focus now, O.K.?” He smiled.
Hope smiled in return. “I know. Believe me, I know.”
Principal Flutie rose. “Well, Hope, you can wait for your aunt in the main office. And please think about what I’ve said, about where your focus needs to be at this point in your life. It would be wonderful for you to finish here on a positive note.”
Hope also rose. “I’d like that too, Bob. Don’t worry, I’ll think about everything you said.”
The principal lightly punched his fist in the air. “That’s the spirit! Now, technically once your aunt arrives you’ll have to immediately leave the school grounds. But I see no problem in the two of you going to your locker and getting any books you may need over the next few days.” He winked. “Just remember, Hope, tomorrow is a new day.”
He escorted her out of his office. Once in the main office Hope returned to her chair and sank down into it. She again pulled her hood over her head and thought about just how fucking clueless the principal and everyone else was about who she was, what had really happened to her family and exactly what was really going on in this lame-ass town.
____________________
Lucy shut the apartment door firmly and followed Hope into the living room. Hope made a move toward the Marilyn Manson and Nine-Inch-Nails CDs that had been left on the coffee table but Lucy quickly walked around her and reached forward. “Oh no you don’t! Not this time!” she said, gathering the discs in her arms.
Hope shrugged and went for the Walkman instead but Lucy was too fast for her. Hope rolled her eyes. “You know, if I really wanted that I’d have it by now.” Shaking her head, she plopped down onto the couch and crossed her arms. Lucy, still holding the discs and Walkman, sat opposite her in the chair. “What you did, Hope, was stupid and immature. But what worries me most is that Mr. Flutie said any more suspensions could mean expulsion. I thought you liked going to school, that it took your mind off your nighttime activities?”
Hope unfolded her arms and pushed herself up. “School is a break from slaying? Are you freakin’ kidding me? I’m reminded of who I am every day at that freakin’ school! You know the story, you made it up! Hope Phillips, such a promising young student, at least before her family sent her elementary school ass to her ‘aunt’ because they could supposedly no longer handle her. What a shock that was-she seemed like such a nice girl! And poor little Hope never seemed the same after that. She became more and more serious and withdrawn, and then, several years later her entire family was killed in a fire! How tragic! At least that’s what Sunnydale’s finest concluded because nobody really wanted to know that by then Hope had become the Slayer and the latest vampire king-wannabe decided to make a big statement and off the Slayer’s family! Can you imagine, such things going on in our little town?”
Hope pointed to her temple and twirled her finger in a counterclockwise motion. “Ever since then Hope has been a little, well, off. And that is what people are thinking every time they look at me. Do I love to learn? Fuck yeah! But I’m tired of being the town freak! Couldn’t I just stay home and study on my own? We both know I’m not going to college, and I think I’ve earned the right to study what I want, when I want. Besides, dropping out my senior year would be the perfect ending to my sad little story. You couldn’t ask for a better cover!”
Lucy broke in. “I know it’s been hard. Terribly hard, in fact. But aren’t there a few moments during the school day where you at least feel like you’re living a normal life? You have some friends, girls and boys you’ve talked about-that means something, doesn’t it?”
Hope considered what Lucy had said. “No, it’s not enough. Not anymore. I want to drop out. I can still hang with my friends after school, just like always. Sounds like a win-win to me.”
Lucy knew Hope had a point, but it seemed wrong to give up on the charade altogether. Yes, she was living a lie at school, but Lucy found it hard to believe she was always aware of who she was and what she had been called to do. Hadn’t there been times she’d forgotten that part of her life, at least for a moment? And wouldn’t those few moments be enough to keep her Slayer sane and focused? She needed more time to decide what would be the best course of action.
“Let me think about it. “
Hope again rolled her eyes and then threw up her hands. “Yeah, right, you’ll think about it. And I’ll be right back there next week.”
“Hold on a minute,” she said, a bit angry. “I said I’ll think about it, and I will. Really. You can’t go back to school for three days anyway, so let’s see how it goes with you home. But I’m keeping this,” she waved the discs and Walkman in front of Hope. “Unless you can come up with a less self-destructive kind of music.”
“Sure, I’ll get right on that,” Hope countered. “Maybe I can borrow some of yours-all that stuff about drugs, sex and rock-and-roll is sure to put me in a good mood.”
Lucy smiled. “Touche. But as you well know that’s not all I have. Why don’t you come up with me and we’ll look for something together.”
Hope groaned. “You’re going to dig up that Monkees CD, aren’t you?”
Lucy laughed. “There’s absolutely nothing wrong with listening to a few harmless pop tunes now and then.” She put down the Walkman and the discs, got up and stepped over to Hope. “Right after we have a little talk about your language-don’t think I haven’t noticed your cursing up a blue streak at home. I shudder to think what you’re saying at school.” She put her hands on her hips to show she meant business.
“I changed my mind. If this is what it’s going to be like I’d rather be back at school. Unless. . .” she looked up at Lucy. “are there cookies involved?”
“Perhaps.” Lucy reached down with both hands, intending to pull her up. “Who knows what will come out of that kitchen in the next few days?”
“Crap, surprises. I hate surprises,” Hope grumbled.
“Sorry, what was that?”
“I mean, gosh darn, I greatly dislike surprises,” Hope corrected herself. Lucy placed her hands on Hope’s and Hope allowed herself to be pulled up.
“See, that wasn’t so bad. For that you get brownie cookies for dessert tonight.”
“Uh, yay?” Hope said, but she smiled a little when she said it. Lucy gently led Hope upstairs to the secret stash of CDs she kept in her room.
____________________
Jason threw his board on the ground and jumped on. He pushed hard as he traveled down the sidewalk, even though he knew he was still going to miss his curfew. By a lot. Hoping the fresh air would help clear the smell of pot smoke from his clothes and hair he continued on. He concentrated on the sidewalk ahead and noticed a large crack in the pavement coming up fast. He dragged his foot and stopped just before hitting it. Swearing profusely, he got ready to start again when he noticed the iron fence to his left. Crap, he thought to himself, he’d almost passed the cemetery without noticing.
Jason had lived his entire life in Sunnydale and was well aware weird things happened here. Apparently his parents had heard the same stories, though they were most concerned about the town’s cemeteries. For as long as he could remember they had made him promise never to visit any of Sunnydale’s cemeteries at night. Not even on a dare. So whenever Jason passed one he made it a point to be on guard. His buzz now officially over, he flipped the board into his hands and carried it, holding it in both hands in case he needed to swing it as a weapon. As he walked the two blocks that fronted this particular cemetery he constantly looked around and behind him and listened for any strange noises.
He had just reached the second block when he heard a rustling sound over his left shoulder. He stopped and slowly turned, raising the board as he did so. He stared in the direction of the noise, attempting to see into the darkness. He was ready to turn back around when he heard more rustling, this time to his right. He whipped his head around but still saw nothing. Jason decided to walk sideways down the sidewalk so that he could always keep his eyes on the cemetery. After taking only a few steps he watched a figure dressed in black run from one bush to another. He stopped and more black figures ran from other bushes farther away and headed in his direction. He didn’t move until he saw a weird-looking face with lion-like eyes rising out from the nearest bush, which reminded him of a scene in a movie that had scared the hell out of him a few years earlier when he was just in middle school.
Fuck, they’re hunting me down like fucking raptors! His mind screamed at him, and he immediately turned to run. He hoped whatever it was crashing through the bushes behind him wouldn’t cross the fence but figured that was stupid--of course they wouldn’t stop coming. He turned hard right toward the nearest house, chanced a look behind him and saw several men, at least they kind of looked like men, chasing him. He ran faster and made it to the door. He threw himself against it and started shouting and pounding. He turned around again and saw his pursuers had simply stopped as one in the middle of the street. He continued to shout and pound at the door, watching the group as he did so, but they stood there, motionless. Suddenly they wheeled around in unison and ran back toward the cemetery. Shocked, his hand dropped to his side. He leaned heavily against the door, exhausted, and struggled to catch his breath. “Shit,” he whispered to himself between breaths, “Sierra will never believe this! She is gonna freak!”
He waited until his breathing had returned to normal, and, after yelling to the house’s occupants, “Thanks for fuckin’ nothin’!” he threw his board back down and raced down the driveway toward home. He suddenly wanted to be sure his parents were O.K., and hoped his girlfriend was still awake so he could warn her about the wacked-out ninjas in Sunnydale National Cemetery.
____________________
“Hope, please stop that, you’re driving me crazy!”
Hope continued to point and dry-fire the crossbow toward the ceiling as she lay stretched out on the couch. “Just getting a little practice in. You’re always on me about how important it is to train and what happens when I do? You bitch about it.”
Lucy quickly walked in from the kitchen, leaned over the couch and grabbed the crossbow out of Hope’s hands. “You’re darn right I’m complaining,” she said, emphasizing the last word. “You are not training and you know it. You’re just bored, just like earlier today, and the day before that, and the day before that. Thank God you’ll be back in school tomorrow.”
“You got that right,” Hope said, popping up into a sitting position and leaning her head and forearms on the back of the couch. “It sounds so great at first, staying home from school for three days, but it totally sucks.”
“Imagine, your most recent at-home suspension has been just like all the rest. Why in the world did you think it would be any different?” she shook her finger in Hope’s face. “Don’t think I didn’t hear that. I would prefer you use the word “stinks” next time.”
“Yeah, well, I thought it would be different this time, since I am so ready to leave that freakin’ school.” She frowned. “But there’s nothing on TV, nobody to talk to--I guess school’s not so bad.”
Lucy clutched at her chest as if she were in the middle of having a heart attack. “What’s this? Do my ears deceive me? My Slayer is agreeing with me? Quick, where’s a pen, I have to mark this day down for all eternity!
Hope made a face. “Ha ha, sooo funny. Seriously, you’re at work, my friends are at school. . .it’s bad enough I’m all by myself patrolling at night, but during the day too? It’s completely lame.”
Lucy walked around the couch and sat down next to Hope in order to give her a hug. “You like me, you really like me!”
“Yeah, yeah,” Hope said, awkwardly hugging Lucy back.
Lucy pulled away. “Now that you see the value of staying in school, I hope that from this day forward you will use all school lockers for their intended purpose only. I mean it, Hope. Principal Flutie said the next time. . .”
“Could be the last, I know.” Hope finished.
“That goes for duct tape too.”
Hope gave a sly smile. She squeezed her first, second and third fingers together, crossed her pinky over her thumb and held her hand up. “I promise. Scout’s Honor.”
“You were never a scout, Hope.”
Hope held her hand up over her head as if she were holding a stake. “Slayer’s Honor?”
Lucy laughed and did the same. “Slayer’s Honor. Now let me get back to the kitchen to finish dinner. Remember, before you leave tonight I want to go over what your friend said happened over at Sunnydale National Cemetery. I want to be very clear about this-if you do happen to see a group of vampires or demons tonight you are not to engage them. It would be much easier to follow them to wherever they’re hiding and kill them in the morning. If they are vampires, that is.”
Hope nodded. “Got it. Now give me that,” she reached over and grabbed the crossbow back from Lucy. “I may need this tonight.”
“Hope,” Lucy said, a warning tone in her voice. “I’m not kidding.”
“Relax, I heard you. Hey, when’s dinner gonna be ready? I’m beyond hungry!”
“I don’t see how-all you’ve done the past three days is eat.”
Hope smiled and flexed her well-muscled arms. “Yo, I gots to keep up my Slayer strength!”
Lucy shook her head and returned to the kitchen to finish dinner.
____________________
Hope stopped, unshouldered her backpack with one hand and threw it against the nearest tombstone. She sat down and leaned against the pack, looked up at the waning moon and sighed. She knew it had been silly to hope the mystery vamps/demons would show up in the same place they had last been seen, but this was ridiculous. She’d gone through almost all of Sunnydales’ cemeteries by now and had found only a couple of newly-born vampires. Killing them had been simple enough, and she was thoroughly bored. She rechecked the crossbow she’d been carrying the entire evening for what seemed like the millionth time and was about to get up and resume her search when she heard the crunch of a heavy branch cracking well behind her to the right. She immediately leapt up to a crouch and tried to gauge the distance of the sound. Thinking whatever it was was closer than she liked, she pulled the machete from her belt, preferring to use it in close combat. She still had one stake, which she had earlier strapped to the outside of her left thigh since she’d decided to carry the crossbow this evening.
She strained her ears but heard nothing. Hope pulled herself up a bit higher, one hand firmly gripping the crossbow, the other wrapped around the machete, and waited for whatever was in the bushes to make a move. The stalemate continued, and the wind, which had been blowing softly off and on all night, blew across and behind her. “Shit,” she swore to herself, knowing that her scent would be carried back to whatever was there. If it was a vampire or a demon it would now know she was human and in its mind vulnerable. She stood and began to back up, away from the sound. Even though there was plenty of moonlight she still couldn’t see what would now be in front of her. She quickly backed farther and farther away until she ran into a large monument and, silently thanking the gods they had given her a place to hide, slipped behind it.
She was surprised to see seven vampires dressed in black step out from behind various bushes and tombstones. They bent down to sniff her backpack, becoming more agitated after doing so. She was even more surprised to see one of them talk into some kind of speakerphone on his shoulder. What the hell, she thought, who is he talking to? Since when do vampires look and act like a freaking SWAT team? Not liking what she saw, she turned to quietly sneak away and saw a similarly-dressed vampire only a few feet away, watching her. Fuck, I’ve been flanked, she realized. Without hesitating she raised the crossbow and fired. The vampire vanished into dust but the sound of the arrow hitting a nearby tombstone as it fell to the ground alerted the rest of the vampires and they began to run toward her.
Having no time to reload, Hope threw the crossbow in their general direction and turned to run. She heard the sound of brush being trampled behind her but it didn’t seem as if they were gaining. As she ran she tried to get her bearings, confident she would as she’d been patrolling this particular cemetery for years. What she didn’t count on was the six-foot-deep hole that had been dug for a funeral the next day. Thanks to the moonlight she saw it in time to jump but because she had to change her stride midway she stumbled on the other side. She let the machete go flying, not wanting to slice her own leg accidentally, then fell to one leg. As she did so the stake she had strapped there shifted, partially driving it into the top of her knee.
She rolled over on her side. Though the pain was excruciating she pulled the stake out, hoping it wouldn’t bleed too much and she could still run on it. She quickly leaned forward, pulled up her right pantleg and unstrapped the hunting knife strapped to her calf. She pushed herself up and tried to run, but she couldn’t bear any weight on her left leg and the vampires were upon her.
Hope waved the knife in front of her from right to left as they formed a semicircle around her. They became more and more excited at the smell of her blood, Slayer’s blood, and she quickly ran through her options as she pointed and stabbed at them. Seven vampires, one knife, one good leg-she could kill two at best before the rest would set upon her. She thought back to what had happened to her family and knew she would never let them feed off her. Never.
“Fuck it,” she said, and drew the knife hard across her throat.
The vampires howled as one as the rich blood spurted onto the ground, and they rushed forward to bite her and drink what they could. But as they bent over her they suddenly jerked upward as if puppets on a string. They stood motionless as a middle-aged man and woman ran up, huffing and puffing. The two stopped when they saw Hope’s body on the ground.
“My God, Maggie! They killed her, they killed her!” the man exclaimed.
Dr. Maggie Walsh stepped around the vampires to get a better look. She looked over the scene and thought. “This is good, this is very good,” she murmured.
“This is good? What the hell do you mean, this is good? We still can’t control them and now they’ve gone and killed somebody! The top brass is not going to be happy to hear this and. . .” he stopped in mid-sentence and seemed to be mentally counting how many vampires stood in front of him. “Wait a minute, there’s only seven! Where’s the other one? Damn it, Maggie, this is going to hell in a handbasket in a real hurry!”
Dr. Walsh raised her hand to cut him off. “Jack, think. So we’re missing a vampire-we’ll just radio for a team to come out and track it-they’ll find it soon enough. As for the girl--did they really kill her? I see no bite marks on the body.” She pointed to the knife near Hope’s outstretched hand. “This girl. . .this girl obviously came here to kill herself. Look at her, her clothes, her hair-it will be easy to believe she’s just another troubled teen. Her death will be a 30-second spot on the local news, especially since we both know there’s been much worse here in Sunnydale.”
Dr. Angleman stared at her. “You scare me sometimes, Maggie, you really do.” He nervously ran his fingers through his hair and paced as he thought through what she had said. “But you’re right, it could very well play that way, and we’ll be in the clear. . .” He stopped pacing and looked up at the still-motionless vampires and began pointing at them with his control unit. “But I have to tell you, I sure as hell don’t feel comfortable releasing this bunch right now. We can’t seem to figure out why they go wild on us, and I’m afraid if we do we’ll end up just like her. I think we should eliminate them here and start again with another group. Maybe we’ll have better luck next time.”
“How many more years do we have for this project?”
“I believe two.”
“Hmmm, two years. I agree, we should kill them now-they’re too unpredictable. Perhaps more testing in the lab. . .” she paused, crossed one arm under the other and brought her fingers up to her lips, tapping them lightly against her face as she thought. “Though I’m beginning to wonder if it’s too difficult to control vampire soldiers. Maybe we’d have more success with soldier vampires. The discipline would already be in place. . .”
“Hold on, Maggie, one project at a time. We’re in the middle of 313, let’s finish it. Who knows, maybe we’ll get all the glitches worked out.”
“That’s very true,” she agreed. She began backing away from the vampires. “Ready to throw the kill switch?”
“Ready,” he said as he quickly backed up and out of range. “Counting down, five, four, three, two, one. . .” Dr. Angleman pushed down on two of the small buttons on the unit with both thumbs simultaneously. There was a sharp popping sound as the chips exploded in the vampires’ brains and the vampires fell to the ground in a pile. Then a delayed charge detonated, igniting their bodies, which were soon consumed by the fire.
“Well, that should do it,” Dr. Walsh said. “The police may find evidence of a fire, but what of it? For all they know this girl could have been doing drugs before committing suicide.”
“You really do think of everything, don’t you?”
Dr. Walsh smiled tersely. “That’s why I’m here, isn’t it? To think of everything? Let’s go--I believe the van will be a good two kilometers back that way.” She pointed to her right and they set out for the cemetery’s edge.
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Her dream took a terrible turn and Lucy suddenly woke up. She didn’t know why but felt something was just not right. She leaned up off the couch, rubbing her eyes as she did so, and saw that Hope’s backpack wasn’t by the front door. She jumped up and ran through the house, calling Hope’s name, but received no reply. Calm down, calm down, she told herself, she’s been late before, let’s not panic. . .but her heart was heavy as she pulled the old afghan off the cedar chest at the other end of the living room, yanked it open and rummaged around for whatever weapons she could quickly get hold of. She stuffed them in a duffle bag she also kept in the chest, slammed the chest closed and ran to the front door, not knowing where she would start looking but only that she had to find Hope.
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The man pulled up alongside the curb and parked. A few feet from their car a petite blonde came down the front steps of Hemery High to join two other girls. He and Lucy watched as the fashionably-dressed teen gossiped and giggled with her friends.
Lucy sighed. “Is that her? That’s who we’ve been looking for all this time? She certainly doesn’t look like a Slayer.”
The man turned toward her, a sad expression on his face. “She doesn’t look like your Slayer, Lucy,” he said softly.
Lucy looked across to her companion, the pain evident in her eyes. “Yes, you’re right. Of course she doesn’t, does she?” She turned her head back in the girl’s direction and stared off into space.
The two sat in silence for a few minutes. “That’s it, then,” Lucy began in a tired voice. “She’s all yours now. I wish I could stay on and help in some way but. . .” she trailed off.
The man patted her hand. “You’ve done more than enough, Lucy. Thank you for doing as much as you did. I know it hasn’t been easy for you. Do you need anything? Anything at all?”
Lucy smiled weakly. “No, thank you. I suppose I should be off. The Council’s been waiting for me long enough. But if you need me, really, I can. . .”
He interrupted her. “Lucy, I couldn’t ask for anything more. Don’t worry, we’ll be fine.”
“Of course you will,” she said, forcing a false cheery tone in her voice. “I’m off, then.”
She leaned toward the passenger side door but suddenly reversed direction. She threw herself toward the man and hugged him tightly. “Take care of her, take care,” she whispered fiercely into his ear before breaking away and pushing open the car door. Slamming it shut, she looked at the girl again before turning and quickly walking away from the school. She crossed the street, her eyes so blurry with tears she barely noticed the older-model car with painted black windows and the disheveled young man peering out of the driver’s side window as she passed.
Lucy’s companion exited his car and began walking toward the young woman. Now that the moment was finally here, he wondered what exactly he’d gotten himself into and if all those years of training had really prepared him for what was to come.
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*excerpt from “I Do Not Want This” by Nine-Inch-Nails