Pre-Fic Comments:
I've found some links with information on Alucard, if people want to have a look. Obviously, I recommend hunting up the DVDs of Hellsing. (Make sure to not listen to the english dub. The translation isn't the greatest, and the voice actor for Alucard is... somewhat badly chosen.)
-Check out the menu's to the side as well for more information.
Blood Rayne -- my first piece of advice is to play the game a bit. The website has a very good overview of Blood Rayne, if you are unable to get the game.
Feedback is always most welcome.
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to almost all the characters in this file, and am just borrowing them for the duration.
Once back at the school library, Giles adjusted his glasses while the gang all grabbed seats.
"Well, this was quite unexpected," the Watcher said. "From everything I've read, Xander and Willow should have changed back as well."
Xander looked up. His red-tinted John Lennon shades had fallen to the tip of his nose, showing eyes with red where brown would normally be.
"I've got an idea on why we're still in trick or treat mode," he said. "It's revenge on us for all those places we egg bombed when we were six, Will."
The Librarian pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to stave off a headache.
"Xander, it has been a long night, I am tired, and have no desire to deal with bad jokes. If you have something to say, say it," Giles said, barely restraining a growl.
"It could have something to do with that magic that Alucard did," Willow suggested.
"Great. Magic," Buffy sighed. "You've got bigger problems than that."
Xander blinked.
"Classes," Giles explained. "You only bear a passing resemblance to Alexander Harris now. Willow is more likely to pass inspection, as she is only a bit taller, her hair is shorter, and... um."
"Yeah, I'm not complaining," Willow smiled. Her bust size had increased with the change.
"Here's an idea," Xander said. "We say that I'm my cousin staying with my parents."
"Ahhh... Xander, your parents will notice," the Slayer pointed out.
The tall vampire grinned. "Not a problem. Now, sunlight. I can tolerate it -- I just don't like it now."
"You... you're a full vampire, and yet can survive sunlight?," the Watcher asked.
Xander nodded.
"Amazing. And you, Willow?"
"I'm fine. I'm only half vampire."
"What, were you only half-killed when they did the whole sucking thing to you?," Buffy asked.
The redhead shook her head. "Rayne's father was an... um. You know."
On the other side of town, a car was arriving in town. It was a beautiful car, in the style of the vintage phaetons of the early 20th century. The wheels had wire spokes, the paint was a glossy black. A long, slightly tapering hood covered a powerful engine. Running boards ran from the front wheel covers to the rear ones, with a silver grille on the front. Two figures, one old and one young, were sitting in the two seats.
"Are you sure that this is a good idea?," the younger asked, leaning on the 'suicide' style door.
"This is a great idea, boy," the elder said. "There's a lot we can do here."
"I just hope all your enemies don't catch up with us here."
"I just hope that your music doesn't finally do me in," the elder snapped.
"I want a ride tomorrow," the younger asked. "I want to play with the Slayer a bit first."
"Fine, fine," the elder sighed. "If I don't, you'll screw with them another way. Just don't antagonize them!"
Xander looked around. On the way in to this club that Buffy's new slash old friend Ford had entered, he and Willow had noticed a man working with a gas torch on the building. Lazy builders? Perhaps.
Looking around, all of the people in this place were goths. He couldn't see a single person in anything as colourful as grey, let alone yellow or green. In his blood red coat, he stood out like a man in a suit at a day care center.
"Boy, we blend right in," Willow said.
"In no way do we stick out like sore thumbs," Xander agreed.
He had dressed in the suit and coat he bought from Ethan's shop, as for some reason he felt most comfortable in it. He kept the gloves in his pocket, though. Willow was in jeans and a brightly striped shirt. Angel, in his all black suit with white shirt, mixed in with the goths well.
The vampire with a soul told them to look downstairs, while he looked upstairs. After talking for awhile on the 'Yay! Vampires!' theme, a girl took pity on them and walked over to talk with them.
"You guys are newbies, I can tell," the girl said.
"Oh, no. We come here all the time," Willow said sarcastically.
"Don't be ashamed! It's cool that you're open to it. We welcome anyone who's interested in the Lonely Ones," the girl explained.
"The lonely ones?," Willow asked. The term was strange -- it sounded like a cult of some sort.
"Vampires," Angel explained.
Xander's eyes tightened, and he drew out his new shades, snapping them open and putting the red tinted shades on.
"The ones who murder to survive, you mean?," Xander said, thinking on Alucard's experience with most vampires.
The goth girl who had wandered over to them looked at them sadly, like a teacher whose student had just said 'Books is for those what can't 'member.' "So many people have that misconception. But they who walk with the night are not interested in harming anyone. They are creatures above us. Exalted!"
"You're a fool," Angel spat.
The next day, Buffy was around at the school gates when an incredibly old looking car pulled up. It looked about a million years old in her eyes. A leather hood was pulled over it, with tinted glass composing the windows. Seeing inside the thing was impossible.
"Wow," Xander said from behind her. "That car must be worth at least a hundred grand."
"I don't know," Willow mused. "My old stuff isn't worth much."
"No one drives cars like that," Buffy said. "No one normal."
A figure got out of the passenger side of the car, opening the suicide door with a black glove. The figure, obviously male from his apparel, had a black pair of jeans, heavy boots and a long sleeved black shirt on. A wide red hat was perched on top of his head. In no way was he in any danger of contact with sunlight.
"Vamp alert, twelve o'clock," Xander joked.
"I don't get it," Buffy said. "My Slayer-sense isn't getting anything."
The small group stopped talking as the figure walked up to them. Behind him, the car pulled away.
"Are you Buffy Summers? I'm Tim Arkhangel," the figure said. "I hope to see more of you later. Perhaps with a watcher as well."
Later that day, Willow caught up with Buffy in the hallway. After some apologies from the two for investigating Buffy's old friend Ford behind her back, Buffy walked off abruptly.
"Wait a moment -- Angel was in your bedroom the other night?," Xander asked, as something Willow mentioned in her apology 'clicked'.
"Ours is a forbidden love," Willow said solemnly, with a slight smile.
"Y'know, Will, it's pretty creepy how we've adjusted so well," Xander mused.
Willow sighed. "It isn't easy. I can't really take baths now."
"What?," the male vampire blinked.
"I'm only half vampire, so it won't kill me, but pools of water are bad for Rayne's breed of vampire," the redhead explained.
"I see," Xander said. "I kinda remember something about that from Alucard's memories. He encountered something similar in his life."
"I've been reading about that spell that Ethan Rayne did," Willow began. "And--"
"I've got to get to class, Will," Xander interrupted. "Can we talk about this later?"
"Sure! You know, I'm pretty sure that our English teacher is a demon..."
Ford checked his watch. Buffy shouldn't be turning up for another few hours.
A pulse of pain shot through his head as he learnt that some of her friends had been asking questions at the club he had organised. Did he have to do *everything*?
"I'm sorry, Ford! I just couldn't wait 'till tonight. If you had to put up with my new neighbours, you'd understand. Impatience is like a real flaw of mine too, you know?"
Great. The source of his headache had turned up. He watched as Buffy walked down the stairs to his little group.
"We all have flaws," Ford said as he dry-swallowed a couple of painkillers.
"I know," Xander said from the top of the stairs. He was dressed in Alucard's suit and coat again. Willow was besides him with her arm-blades attached. She was in normal clothing, however. "Mine is that I don't trust people."
"I think that Ford's has to do with that he's a lying scumbag," Buffy chirpily deadpanned.
The vampire and the half-vampire watched from the top of the stairs as Buffy and Ford argued. It turned out that Ford was going to sacrifice Buffy to a vampire so that he could become a vampire. Xander and Willow moved down to the bottom floor of the dark club, Xander pulling out his shades and gloves.
SLAM!
The good guys jumped as Ford's friend, Diego, closed the heavy door. Ford explained that no one was getting out of the ex-bunker alive.
Spike finished giving orders to his minions as they approached the Sunset Club. Ford had made a deal with him; all of Ford's 'friends' in exchange for turning Ford.
"When we get there, everybody spread out. Two men on the door, first priority's the Slayer, everything else is fair game, and let's remember to share, people," the bleached Brit commanded.
"Are you sure you're up for this?," he asked Drusilla.
The thin undead seer looked up at Spike from under her long hair. "I want a treat. I need a treat."
"And a special one you'll have," Spike said indulgently. He dangled his keys in the air. "Lucius! Bring the car around."
Back at the sealed club, Buffy kicked the door again.
"Xander, Willow, help me!," she pleaded.
The two vampires sat in a pair of armchairs.
"Why? We'll have to dust Spike sooner or later," Xander pointed out. "And I'd rather do it sooner."
"It makes sense," Willow agreed.
"Hey, you never give up, do you?," realised Ford.
"No, I don't," the Slayer snapped.
"That's a good quality in a person. Too many people, they just lay back and take it, but us...," Ford trailed off. A smile tugged at his mouth, not touching his eyes.
Buffy paused in her barrage for a moment. "Us? We have something in common now?"
"More than you think."
"Yeah, well, let me explain something to you. You're what we call the bad guy," Buffy pointed out.
"I guess I am!," her old ex-friend chuckled.
The Slayer looked down towards the lower level, where the club-goers were. "These people aren't gonna get changed, are they? The rest of them, they're just fodder."
"Technically, yes. But I'm in. I will become immortal," Ford assured her.
Buffy then tried to explain to Ford that that wasn't how it worked; that a demon took up residence in your corpse. But he wasn't having any of that.
"I look good, don't I? Well, let me tell you something - I've got maybe six months left, and by then what they bury won't even *look* like me. It'll be bald and shriveled and it'll smell bad. No, I'm not going out that way," the youth snapped.
After a bit of further argueing, Ford backhanded Buffy, sending her rolling down the metal stairs in surprise. The noise of the outer door opening grated, sending a visible shiver of anticipation down the girl Chantarelle's back.
As Spike marched in, game face visible, she only then realised the truth, and started to cry.
"Okay, showtime," Xander said, getting up from the chair and pulling on the gloves. The complex magical designs on them flared briefly.
"Who're you?," Spike said. He could feel that the stranger in the long red coat was a vampire, and an old one, but he didn't recognise him or his breed.
Xander grinned, showing his new long fangs. Behind Spike, Buffy took the opportunity to grab the weakened Drusilla.
"Spike!," the Vampire Slayer shouted.
Blinking in horror at his love being used as a hostage, Spike yelled at his minions (or what remained of them) "Everybody STOP!"
"Good idea. Now you let everyone out, or your girlfriend fits in an ashtray," Buffy snarled.
"Spike?," the child-like Drusilla quavered.
The British undead made a snap decision. Some meals over Dru's life... no. "It's gonna be alright, baby. Let them go!"
The lesser vampires retreated from their victims and fighting Willow, letting the frightened humans run out of the building.
"Xander, Willow, come up here," Buffy commanded. "Spike, down the stairs."
As the three moved, Buffy pushed the crazy vampiress down the stairs to Spike. Next, Buffy and her two friends ran out, shutting the one-way door behind them.
"Uh, where's the doorknob?," Spike asked.
Spike looked at Ford. Ford looked at Spike.
The next night, Buffy sat on a gravestone, waiting for Ford to rise as she chatted to Giles.
"I wish we could hate him," Buffy complained. "He wanted to be the villain. But he was just scared, in the end."
"Yes, I suppose he was," Giles agreed.
"Nothing's ever simple anymore. I'm constantly trying to work it out. I mean, Xander and Willow are like vampires too, now, as well as Angel. Ford was alive and, well... I don't know who to love or hate. Who to trust. The more I know, the more confused I get."
"I believe it's called growing up," Giles dryly observed.
"I'd like to stop, then, okay?"
"I know the feeling," Giles soothed. A look of sorrow passed over his face for a fleeting second.
"Does it ever get easy?," Buffy asked.
Before Giles could answer, Ford clawed his way out of his grave. His face was mutilated in the usual Sunnydale-vampire fashion. As he attacked Buffy instinctively, seeking blood, the Slayer staked the fledgeling vampire with the ease of practice.
"You mean life?," Giles asked, used to these interruptions at nights.
"Yeah," Buffy agreed. "Does it get easy?"
"What do you want me to say?," Giles asked carefully.
The Slayer looked up at her Watcher. "Lie to me."
Giles considered it for a moment, before coming up with an answer. "Yes, it's terribly simple."
They started walking out of the cemetery to patrol the other areas of town.
"The good guys are always stalwart and true, the bad guys are easily distinguished by their pointy horns or black hats, and, uh, we always defeat them and save the day. No one ever dies, and everybody lives happily ever after," Giles declared. It was obvious that he did not believe what he was saying.
"Liar."
Post-Fic Comments:
For an idea on what the car looks like, google for 'phaeton horch' or 'phaeton rolls royce'.
Yes, Alucard can survive sunlight fine. While the anime does not mention this, the manga (comic book original version) does, in the trip overseas.
I know that there's a lot of pretty much transcript conversation in here. I couldn't very well leave gaping holes, could I?