Disclaimer: All characters from the show belong to Joss Whedon. Ralph Johnson belongs to me. If anyone out there is thinking of suing me, don't bother. I have no money.
Setting: This starts while "Prophecy Girl" is taking place.
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Part One
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Ralph thought. He stood looking out the window. Fog billowed outside, but he could still make out people lurching through the mist. He could also see that their faces were distorted, twisted into feral snarls.
He thought back. He had walked into the room, totally unaware of the book propping the door open. As he walked through, he had kicked the book. The door closed and locked. And of course, after the fact, he had seen the note posted for the janitor to replace the lock. The good old Ralph Johnson luck at work again.
Suddenly a crashing sound echoed through the building, and he heard what sounded like a car engine. "What the hell is going on?"
He was distracted, and thus didn't notice when a small tentacle like thing began to stretch through the air vent, bending the bars around it.. A tiny mouth, filled with fangs, sprouted from the end of the tendril. Actually, it was a small part of a large demon which had just made it's big appearance in the library. It sensed fresh meat in another branch of the school, and reached through the ventilation system after it.
Now something else was happening. Ralph could hear someone, possibly several someones, on the roof. He could hear voices, but he was unable to distinguish words. It sounded like they were throwing things around up there, or maybe fighting.
That's as far as that train of thought got. Pain exploded from his ankle. He looked down. The tiny mouth was clamped tightly around his wrist. Ralph screamed.
Suddenly his scream was drowned out. The tiny mouth opened and let out a blood curdling scream for the briefest of moments. Then it was jerked backwards. It was yanked back through the vent. Things got very quiet. Ralph was shocked. He stared down at the wound the creature had inflicted. It was glowing. "Oh shit."
* * *
"Hey Willow, you have any plans tonight?"
"No, why?"
"Well, there's that unpassable Math test tomorrow. I thought maybe you could help me study for it. Besides, I need something to take my mind off vampires."
"Any particular reason you would rather discuss Trigonometry than hunt the walking dead?"
"I'm getting sort of worried. For the past couple of nights there have been more vamps than normal."
"At this point, I'd just like to point out that ANY vampires is more than normal."
"Yeah, but you know what I mean. Three or four a night, no big. But last night I had to waste nine. The night before that there were eleven. I thought that was pretty weird, considering I iced the Master. I'm gonna tell Giles about it later. I'm sure when I do he'll drag out some dusty old doomsday prophecy I'll have to kick the butt of."
They were interrupted by a small cough. There was a large, rather heavyset boy standing in front of them.
Willow spoke first. "Hi, Ralph. How's it going?"
"Er, um, fine. I uh ... was wondering if.. uhhmm... never mind. It isn't important." Recriminations bounced around in his brain. He beat a hasty retreat down the hall.
Buffy looked confused. "Well, that was one of the all time shortest conversations in the history of Sunnydale."
Willow looked embarrassed. "That was Ralph. That's the third time he's done that. I'm pretty sure he wants to go on a date. He's really shy."
Buffy was incredulous. Willow saying someone ELSE was shy? Just how repressed was this guy? "I don't think I've seen him around."
"That's because he's usually not around. I don't know if he has any friends. He's hardly ever at the Bronze."
The bell rang. Buffy and Willow went off to class. They were still talking, and didn't notice Ralph. He stood in the corner. He was holding his wrist. His face was twisted in a grimace of pain. His mouth was moving, as if he were having a silent conversation. Beads of sweat stood out on his brow. His eyes were tightly closed. The bell rang again. He looked up. His eyes glowed brilliant red.
* * *
Giles was worried. He had talked to Buffy, and was increasingly disturbed by the increase in supernatural activity. The Hellmouth had been closed. Things should be dropping off, not getting worse. Willow had done some surfing around on the internet, and there were a startling number of unexplained phenomena. Missing people. Pets going insane. A man who claimed he had seen the future, and this had allowed him to save his life. And then there was the high rate of vampires out and about. "I think", he said to himself, "there may be something very important we're missing here."
"Talking to yourself again, Giles?" Xander grinned. "Could it be that the combined efforts of Ms. Calendar and Czar Snyder have caused you to lose that calm, cool, sanity-in-the-face-of-the-apocalypse we've all come to know and be annoyed by?"
Buffy, Xander, and Willow had come in while he wasn't paying attention. "Buffy. Was there any change in the frequency of vampires last night?" Ever since she had told him about this yesterday, he had been hoping the increased amount was just a fluke. He hadn't been able to find anything about this in his tomes.
"No, Giles. And I think Sunnydale has attracted some foreign undead clienteles. Last night there was a vampire speaking German. Now, that could just be a coincidence, but I don't like the idea that vamps in other countries are getting pulled here."
"Well, you see, I-"
He was cut off as the library door opened. The worst part of trying to be a Watcher in a library is that people often came in search of books. Although, not as often as he thought they should. He was coming to the increasing impression that there no more than ten students in the school who actually read.
Ralph walked in. He saw that there were people there, and his face paled. "Er, I'll come back another time. I didn't know you were busy."
Giles stood up. "Nonsense. How may I help you?"
"Ok, um, do you have any books on occult?"
"Boy," Xander exclaimed. "Have you come to the right place."
Giles frowned at Xander. "Yes, we have several books on that subject. They are over on that shelf." He pointed. "Is there any particular reason why you want that particular category of book?"
Ralph stammered out, "Uhh. no, I just, er... have a project to do." He quickly walked over to the shelf and began to thumb through the texts.
Xander spoke suddenly, with a touch of fear in his voice. "Hey Giles, do your books normally do that?"
A pile of books on Giles' desk were vibrating. The top book opened, and the pages began to flip. Suddenly the book went shooting off his desk. Another, flew off, and then another. They heard a scream from the stacks. Buffy was up and running in a flash. Giles, Willow, and Xander were right behind her.
The sight that greeted Buffy when she ran around the corner and saw Ralph dumbfounded her. Ralph was kneeling on the floor, holding his hands to his face and moaning. He was surrounded by a cyclone of volumes. They whirled around in a blur, and Buffy was unable to get through them to him. He took his hands from his face, and Buffy was shocked yet again. His eyes were glowing. Blood red light shined out from them.
A voice came front his throught that shouldn't have come from human vocal chords. It sounded like gravel grinding against itself. It also seemed to be speaking inside her head.
"OH GOD. HELP ME."
With this, the light in his eyes went out. He collapsed like a puppet that has had it's strings cut. A second later, the books fell in a circle around him.
Buffy looked up at Giles. "What the hell was that?"
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