Darkness Falls: Part One
by Willow Mallory
Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all related characters DO NOT belong to me (ha, I wish). They belong to Joss Whedon, Fox and Mutant Enemy. If I owned them, I doubt Xander, Oz or Spike would ever be allowed out of the house. And I wouldn't be so depressed. So please don't sue me. I hath done nothing wrong.



***

Buffy Summers walked down the hall of Sunnydale High School, frantically looking for any of her friends. Her life was a hectic one, what with being the slayer and all. Now she had news, bad news. She headed towards the school's library. Surely one of her friends would be in there. As usual, they were. Rupert Giles, the school's librarian and Buffy's watcher, noticed the pained expression on the slayer's face.

Buffy was the chosen one, the vampire slayer. She was designated, who knows how or why, to fight and kill vampires, demons, and anything of the like. It was not a life any teenager should have. Spending all of her time training, hunting or patrolling, she had no time for anything else. Dating, friends, schoolwork, everything took a back seat to being the slayer. Giles was Buffy's watcher, a man who also was chosen, but this time to train and protect the slayer. He tried his best to let her be normal, but who had time for normality.

Now he watched her worried expression, and knew something was wrong, something which probably involved Angelus. Angelus, or Angel, as they had once known him, was a powerful vampire who was intent on killing Buffy. Once not to long ago, though, this wasn't so. Angel had had a soul, placed upon him so that he would suffer after he had killed a gypsy, who was a favorite of her tribe. He had aided Buffy in killing the vampires, and they had fallen in love. But Buffy and Angel had shared a night of passion, and through this Angel's soul was taken away. Now he was "public enemy number one", as Buffy often put it. Giles knew that when Angel was still good, it made Buffy's life easier. She had someone who loved her for who she was, and would help with her duties when she had a particularly rough day.

But now Angel was gone, and the demon that possessed him had returned. He had already killed Jenny Calendar, with whom Giles had been falling in love. Giles had tried to face him and kill him, but his rage had blinded him. Only since Buffy had tracked him down, did he survive that encounter.

Buffy's two best friends, Willow Rosenburg and Xander Harris, also noticed her demeanor. They had known about her powers since she first came to Sunnydale two years ago. Xander had overheard Giles and Buffy talking about it, and Buffy had saved Willow from a hungry vampire. They now looked at her intently, hoping they wouldn't get left out of whatever conversation might ensue.

"Buffy, what's the matter?" Giles asked, his light British accent ringing in the air. "What's troubling you?"

Buffy brushed her blond hair behind her shoulder. "I had another dream." She stated simply.

Willow got up from the table where she and Xander had been sitting. "What about?" Her quiet voice was tinged with concern.

"Angel." Buffy said, her blue eyes sparkling with hate mixed with sorrow. "And Spike and Drusilla."

"Come on, you're killing us here." Xander, too, stood up and gazed into Buffy's sad eyes. "Stop the suspense. What about Angel, Spike and Drusilla?"

"Spike was out of his wheelchair." Buffy told them. "They were in a warehouse, planning something."

"Is there anything more, Buffy?" Giles asked. "That doesn't provide us with much."

Buffy looked into her mentor's brown eyes. "Dreams are vague, Giles. I don't even know if it means anything."

Just then Cordelia Chase, Xander's girlfriend and a used-to-be most popular girl in school, came through the library door. Sometimes she still acted like she owned the whole school, but it was getting better. Buffy sighed. This surely meant complaining about something. Cordy still wasn't on her top five favorite people to have around list, even with her improvements. But right now Buffy didn't mind.

"Ugh, Harmony is so sheepish!" she declared, only to have Buffy roll her eyes and everyone else totally ignore her. "Now she's trying to take head cheerleader. I can't believe how..." It was then that she noticed everyone's somber mood. Even Xander, who was usually bursting with stupid jokes, was quiet. "Hello? Was anyone listening?"

"Cordelia, Buffy had another dream." Giles said quietly. "And we're trying to find it's significance."

The bell chose that time to ring, it's harsh sound echoing through the halls. Xander reached over to his bag and threw it over his shoulder. "Guess we'll just have to ponder in Chemistry."

Willow nodded and picked up her backpack also. She looked to Buffy. "Are you coming?"

Buffy glanced to Giles to read his expression. "No, I'm staying here."

"You're going to miss an exciting day in the life of the elements." Xander said, opening the library door.

"Oh, well, you guys can fill me in."

Willow, Xander, and Cordelia promptly left the room, leaving Buffy alone with Giles as she often had been.

Giles patted her on the shoulder. "Well, let's get to work."


* * *
Angel paced around the old warehouse. It was noon, but he couldn't sleep. Something was bothering him. Buffy was bothering him. He wanted her to suffer, and then he wanted her dead. Spike had often taunted him, how he liked to talk, but didn't seem to like any action. Perhaps he was right.

Spike?! Right?! What was he thinking. Spike was confined to a wheelchair after his attempt to kill Buffy. Spike was weak. He had to rely on Angel and Drusilla to even survive. Spike was nothing, just an extra burden. Angel had taunted Spike with Drusilla, always flirting (in the vampire way). Spike had been angry, but could do nothing to prevent it.

Now Drusilla strolled into the main room of the warehouse. She was wearing a long, gothic dress. She tilted her head at Angel's pacing, and spoke.

"Angel?" she spoke with a deep English accent. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, Dru," he said. "Just thinking of ways to kill Buffy."

"Oh."

Angel looked up at Dru. She was shivering, twitching. She looked up at the ceiling with wide eyes. She was having another vision. Angel walked over to her and put his arms around her. Conveiniatly just in time for Spike to see them, as he came rolling in on his wheelchair.

"Dru? Princess? What's wrong?" he asked, his accent matching Dru's. "Are you having another vision?"

"I see.." she mumbled, clutching her black hair. "I see the slayer." Spike and Angel looked on in interest. "No, her friends. Tonight. They will be alone. We can kill them."

"I think you mean, us." Angel smirked. He gave a mock glare of compassion at Spike. "I don't think roller-boy's going to make it."

Spike steamed. He was sick of this crap.


* * *

Buffy was sifting through some old books when the bell rang, marking the end of the school day. She sighed. She would have to stay after. Again.

Willow and Xander walked into the library, toting their bags and Buffy's homework assignments. She quickly snatched the paper out of Xander's hand and sighed as she realized how long tonight was going to be.

"Did you find anything interesting?" Willow asked, always trying to be cheerful.

"No." Buffy said, still reeling from the homework list. "Nothing. I don't think there's anything *to* find."

"Well, are we up for the Bronze?" Xander asked, tossing his bag on the desk.

"Not with all this homework." Buffy replied. The Bronze was the local hang out for teens in Sunnydale. Buffy and her friends spent practically every night there. Xander looked pained.

"Come on, you can do homework any night."

"Not this homework." Buffy replied. "Not if I want to pass 11th grade. But you guys go on." Her face brightened. "It could be a double-date! Xander, you could take Cordy, and Will could take Oz."

"If it's not that time of the month for him." Xander joked, which received a sharp stab in the rib by Willow's elbow. "Oww, I was just kidding."

Oz was a werewolf. Oz was Willow's boyfriend, and really sweet. But when a full moon came, he had to lock himself up.

Sunnydale was just bursting with weird things.


* * *

The night was cold, a typical March night in Sunnydale. The Bronze was bursting at the seams with kids, but that, too, was typical. Xander and Cordelia and Willow and Oz sat down at one of the few remaining tables. They listened to the live band which always seemed present there, drank sodas, and chatted about everything. None of them noticed Angel or Drusilla lurking in the shadows. The Bronze was so crowded, no one would have noticed even if Cindy Crawford herself were there.

Angel lurked close by to were the group of teens were talking. He could hear their conversations, their laughter. For once Xander and Oz were even getting along. That made Willow happy, even downright giddy. The time flied, and soon it was ten o'clock. Time for everyone to leave. The Bronze didn't close until midnight, but homework prevailed. They got their things together and walked out into the night.

Angel and Drusilla had been watching. They followed them into the dark, and closed in slowly. The happy friends were unsuspecting. As always. They strolled into a dark alley- way as Angel planned the attack. They were right in the middle of the alley when he spoke.

"Never go into a dark alley."

They spun around. Fear was evident in all of their faces. Angel. And Buffy wasn't with them. What a night to pick homework over the Bronze, Buff, Xander thought. They were about to run when another voice came from behind them.

"Oh, Angel, look, they're so scared."

Willow and Cordelia again whirled around at the sound of Drusilla's voice. Oz and Xander kept at Angel. Trapped. Without the slayer. Angel advanced towards them.

"What to do without Buffy," he said, twiddling his thumbs. "What a night to pick homework over the Bronze, huh?"

Xander looked at him in disbelief. Those were his very thoughts. He shivered at the thought of he and Angel being on the same thought-chain. Willow grabbed Oz in desperation. No one knew what to do. Oz just glared at Angel, as Willow hung on to him. Xander stood, trying to think of a way out of this mess. Cordelia trembled. It was like time had stopped. Nothing happened. Until Drusilla grabbed Cordelia. Cordy screamed, and Xander jumped on Drusilla. With all of that distraction, Angel took hold of Willow.

"Willow!" Oz cried, but he couldn't jump Angel. He took a step forward, but when Angel grabbed Willow's neck, he stopped. He could kill her at any instant.

Xander had wrestled Cordy out of Drusilla's hold, but now stood still at the sight of his best friend at a monster's mercy. And Angel wasn't one to be merciful.

"Okay, what do you want?" Xander said, trying his best not to sound as terrified as he was. He wasn't doing a very good job.

"What do I want?" Angel asked. He looked into the night sky, as if trying to figure it out. "I want you all dead. I want Buffy to suffer. And what better way than to kill all of her friends?"

Willow gasped and looked up at Angel. His menacing yellow eyes reflected only hate. She wiggled, trying to free herself, but Angel only shook her and strengthened his grip around her neck. Xander walked up to him and looked him in the eye.

"Then kill me, instead."

Cordelia gasped at this out of character show of bravery. Or maybe in wasn't out of character. Xander did love Willow.

Angel smiled at this offer. "Thanks for offering, but I think Willow will do."

"Come on!" Xander said. "I'm the one who hated you so much! Wouldn't you rather kill me?"

Angel thought for a second, then looked into Xander's earnest brown eyes. "Actually, I think you're right." And with that he released Willow and grabbed Xander.

"No!" Cordelia screamed. "Xander! This isn't a good time to be brave!"

Xander tried to shrug, but to no avail. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.

Suddenly the whole alley filled with vampires. They attacked Willow, Oz and Cordelia. They struggled to get free.

"Don't lose sight of Xander!" Oz yelled.

But they did lose sight of Xander. And after a couple of minutes of confusion, the vampires were gone. As were Angel, Drusilla, and Xander.

Willow looked around with tears in her eyes. Xander had given up everything for her. Her Xander. Oz put his arms around Willow's sobbing shoulders. He tried to comfort her, but she fell to the ground in sorrow. Sobs racked her little body.

Cordelia just stared dumbfounded at the last place she had seen her boyfriend. She didn't cry, for the sole reason that she couldn't breathe. She walked over to where Willow and Oz sat on the concrete. She slowly sat down. She was in shock.

Oz still sat with his arms around Willow. The whole group stayed that way for an hour, until their senses finally came back. Oz looked at Cordelia, and then to his still crying girlfriend.

"We should get Buffy," he suggested. He was surprised when Willow nodded her head in agreement.


* * *

Buffy sat in her room, trying in vain to concentrate on her homework. She glanced at the clock. Eleven o'clock. She looked down at her homework again. She had the worst feeling. It had started an hour ago, and then she had just shrugged it off. But it wasn't going away. She closed her book and walked to the window. A cool night breeze blew in the curtain. It seemed so calm and tranquil. Something that didn't happen often in Sunnydale. She startled when she heard voices. Buffy strained to hear. She soon made out Willow's voice, followed by Cordelia's. Oz's quiet voice was much harder to hear, but it, too, was audible. But Xander's voice was not present. And he was the most talkative one of them all.

Buffy's arms covered with goosebumps at the implications. No Xander. Why would they be coming there so late, and talking so loudly? Something had to have happened to Xander.

She quietly walked out of her room, down the stairs, and out the front door. The breeze blew her hair into tangles. She didn't care. When Willow saw her, she ran towards her.

"Where's Xander? What happened?" Buffy was the first to speak. The terrified look on Willow's face said it all. She might as well have not asked.

"Buffy, Angel came. And Drusilla. And they ambushed us and they were going to kill me, but they took Xander instead and, and," Willow's words came out a jumbled mess. Buffy never thought she could talk so fast.

"They took Xander." Cordelia said tearfully. She had finally started to cry on the way to Buffy's house. She never thought she would ever cry over Xander. Now here she was, biting her lip, trying to keep the tears from falling.

Buffy looked from Willow to Cordelia to Oz. "Where did they take him?"

Oz looked up at Buffy. Even he was about to break down. He hadn't known about all of Sunnydale's wonderful secrets as long as the rest of them, and this was the first person he had actually seen lost to the vampires. He took a deep breath. "Some other vampires attacked us to draw our attention away from him. Before we knew it, they disappeared."

Buffy gazed up to the starry night sky. "Let's get Giles."

* * *

Xander struggled to free himself of Angel's grip, but to no avail. Angel's vampire strength held him right in place the whole trip. Xander tried to keep track of where they were going, but they soon left any familiar sight. When they finally got to where they were going, Xander sighed with relief, although he knew the worst was sure to come. The warehouse was of medium size, trashy like any warehouse should look. Angel roughly pulled Xander in side. Drusilla hopped with glee. She ran to a back room. Xander could hear her excited voice telling Spike that they caught one. Soon Spike came out on his wheelchair, with Drusilla following close behind.

"So you finally caught one of her friends?" Spike asked, looking from Xander to Angel. "Thought the day would never come."

"Ya' know, wheelchair bound is a good look for you, Spike."

Spike turned to look at Xander. How much did he want to get up out of this wheelchair and kill that kid. But no. Not yet. Soon.

Drusilla pulled around Spike and took Xander by the throat. "You don't talk to Spike like that." She brought up her fingers to gorge his eyes out. Xander squirmed.

"Don't do it, pet." Spike told her. "We need him alive for now. When the time comes, you can kill him."

Drusilla dropped her fingers. Xander was about to breathe a sigh of relief when she brought up her hand and slashed his face with her fingernails. He gasped and fell back onto the hard concrete. He brought his hand up to his cheek, then drew it back in pain. He stared at the blood on his fingertips.

But Angel snickered at Xander's joke. "At least he's got a sense of humor."

"He won't when I kill him." Spike said.

"Sure." Angel grabbed Xander and drug him to a back room. He threw him in and locked the door. Xander slid across the ground and into the wall. The room was bare, and everything was concrete. No windows, either. He rubbed his arm which had taken a double beating from Angel's grip and the hard wall. There was no way out and nothing he could do. Except to pray.

* * *

Giles awoke from his deep sleep to the sound of frantic banging on his door and shouts of his name. He slowly rose from his bed, trying to get a grip on his surroundings. Now he recognized the shouting voice to belong to Willow, and he quickly put on his robe. Rushing downstairs, he searched for a key as Buffy shouted threats of breaking his door down. When he finally found the key amid the genuine mess of his junk drawer, he raced to unlock his front door. Buffy wasn't bluffing, and he opened the door just as she was motioning for the rest of the group to stand back. He looked at Buffy quizzically with puffy, red eyes.

"Buffy, what are you doing here at this hour?"

"They've got Xander." Buffy said simply. She marched into the main room of Giles' apartment to stand by the staircase.

Giles was still half asleep as Willow frantically recalled the whole experiance. When she was finished, Giles was fully awake.

"Where do you think they could of taken him?" Giles asked, adjusting his lop-sided glasses. "It is of the utmost importance that we find him as soon as possible. Who knows what they might..."

He stopped as he noticed Willow's body begin to tremble again, and the tears begin to fall. Oz again held onto her, and led her to a couch. She collapsed into it, and she wept. Giles couldn't bear to see Willow in so much pain, so he motioned to Buffy to come into the kitchen, leaving Oz and Cordelia to comfort Willow.

"What do you think they'll do?" he spoke in a harsh whisper.

"I think that they'll change him." Buffy looked pained to even say it, and even Giles winced at the thought. Xander had never been a favorite, but he was still part of the group, and Giles couldn't imagine it without him. Buffy swallowed. "We have to find him before they do it."

"You think they'll kill him?"

Cordelia had silently wandered into the conversation. Buffy looked at the ground, and back up at Cordelia. "No."

Cordelia sighed with relief. "So you think they'll just hold him hostage or something?"

"No." Buffy said again, this time not looking into Cordelia's eyes. "I think they'll turn him into a vampire."

Cordelia gasped. "Vampire? Xander...a vampire?!"

"That's what I think." Buffy could barely say the words. Saying this made it seem like she had lost all hope. And maybe she had.


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