Slaying Is War: Part One
Before:
Gangrel looked at the schedule and smiled. Next month there would be some shows in Sunnydale, California. It would give him the chance to catch up with Spike, and old buddy of his. With a growing smile he remembered Spike telling him about Sunnydale being built on a mouth of Hell and how it was the perfect place for evildoing. Putting the schedule down, Gangrel went in search of The Undertaker.
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"Hey did you guys hear?" Xander asked as Buffy and Willow sat down. "The WWF is coming to Sunnydale for some shows in a couple of weeks."
Willow's face lit up. "Really? When? Where? How much? Where can I get tickets and when do they go on sale?" Buffy looked at Willow in surprise. "Will, how can you watch that crap? It's all set up and completely unrealistic. I could kick most of those guys asses."
"Probably." Agreed Xander, nodding. "But a night off would do you good. Spike's been behaving himself, demonic activity is at an all time low, I'm sure Giles and Wes can be persuaded to let you have the night off and let Faith patrol on her own. Besides Buff, it's more entertaining than spending the night in the cemetery moping."
"Besides think of all the toned, sweaty, buffed male bods." Willow grinned. "Hey! I heard that!" warned Oz laughing. Buffy laughed as well.
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Meanwhile, the Undertaker had assembled his Ministry of Darkness together. "I have been informed by a reliable source that a town we shall be visiting in the near future will be the perfect place to absorb the power what is rightfully ours. This place, Sunnydale is built on a Hellmouth, which means at Raw is War we shall be at our most powerful. There are several people I shall be in contact with in order to ensure our strength is at it's maximum. Sunnydale is a town designed for children of darkness like us. Let your true forms run free as you wish. Feed of the fear of your victims, even as you feed from their bodies. This, together with some spells that I shall be casting, will make my Ministry of Darkness a force so powerful, that all - including my own flesh and blood, Kane, the imbecile that owns this company McMahon and the oblivious Steve Austin - shall be powerless to stop us. As a united force we shall overcome all opposition."
The Undertaker paused and looked around at his faithful subjects, The Acolytes, Bradshaw and Farooq knelt respectfully on one knee with their heads bowed. Mideon, the one gifted with the second sight, the one who had accurately predicted many things, including the withdrawal of the Brood and Gangrel's eagerness to rejoin was hunkered down on his heels. Viscera, who's only real use to the Ministry was his size, was standing, head bowed, his right hand resting on Mideon's shoulder.
With regret the Lord of Darkness glanced at the empty spaces left by Edge, Christian and Gangrel. Edge and Christian had so much potential to be truly evil, especially Edge. Christian had shown no real enthusiasm for anything, but seemed content to follow his older brother and Gangrel. Unfortunately for the Ministry, Edge's loyalty to his brother was stronger than his loyalty to The Undertaker. Christian's whipping for revealing the whereabouts of young Stephanie McMahon, Christian having to prove his worth to the Ministry, plus the Undertaker's wrath after Christian caused a loss for Gangrel and Edge by trying to help and being pinned instead, had Edge's protective instincts in overdrive. Edge was the one was convinced Gangrel they should opt out of the Ministry out of concern for Christian's safety. Gangrel had agreed somewhat reluctantly and trio known as the Brood departed. But now that his relationship with Edge and Christian had soured, the vampire had discovered that it was dull life without the adoration of the fans whom, it appeared were fans of Edge and Christian, not of the Brood as a whole and was keen to rejoin the Ministry.
The Phenom continued. "In Sunnydale, we will have the support and backup of the Mayor himself, and his team. As far as I know there will be no major problems. My source will be back with more information. We shall regroup at a date closer to the event." The Undertaker turned without another words and began walking away, Paul Bearer scurrying to keep up. The Ministry of Darkness waited until their leader was swallowed by the shadows then went separate ways to prepare for their arrival in Sunnydale.
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Willy the bartender looked at Gangrel nervously. The vampire had come in alone, but since his arrival had not been alone for more than five minutes. Some who'd gone to sit with him were looking hostile, but the majority was pleased and surprised to see him and greeted Gangrel with a smile. Out of the corner of his eye, Willy saw Spike enter and cringed. Spike was the most powerful vampire in town, even the Mayor's vampire's didn't have the same kind of power that Spike did. Willy wondered how Spike would react to having somebody else move in on his turf. Gangrel was even sitting at Spike's usual table - back in the shadows, but with a clear view of everything.
Gangrel saw Spike and stood up with a grin. Spike did a double take when he saw Gangrel. Laughing, Spike reached his old friend and embraced him. "Gangers! My god it's been a bloody long time!"
Gangrel laughed then made a face at Spike's use of the nickname. The duo sat down facing each other and settled in for a long gossip, beginning with Gangrel's job in the WWF and his marriage to Luna, covering mutual friends and acquaintances, the most important news being about Angel.
"So he and Buffy," Spike spat the name out, "have been going out for roughly a year before doing the wild thang. Next thing we know Angelus is back. Turns out one moment of true happiness means that he loses his soul. He's on this whole 'Let's destroy the world' kick, which I of course have no problem with, except for the fact that it means Dru wants her Angelus back and the feeling seems to be mutual. Anyway Angelus wants to awaken Acathla and suck the world into hell. Buffy decides to put a stop to it, I decide I want my Dru back once and for all, Buffy and I make a deal, Dru and I escape, Buffy sends Angelus back to hell. Dru and I skip town and a few weeks later I heard that Buffy's skipped town and is living in LA. I suggest heading back to Sunnyhell, Dru cracks the shits and leaves for Afghanistan, too many memories of Angelus apparently."
Spike shrugged, looking slightly confused. Gangrel looked slightly sympathetic. "You're better off without her. Dru was completely nuts and not in a good way. So where is everyone now?" Spike laughed. "Dru's in Afghanistan, Angel is in Hell and I am living the good life in Sunnydale while the Slayer's in LA."
"Slayer? This Buffy chick is a Slayer?" Gangrel freaked. "Oh Jesus Christ! Are you sure she's in LA?"
"Sure as you and I are sitting here. Why?" Spike was amused to see the usually serene Gangrel looking so agitated. Gangrel ignored the question and asked one of his own. "Is she just after vampires or a general little miss fix it when it comes to demons and evil stuff?" Spike had a snappy comeback ready, but it died in his throat in the face of Gangrel's blind panic. "Little miss fix it."
The blood drained from Gangrel's already pale face so quickly that Spike began to seriously worry. Gangrel stood up and headed for the door, Spike in hot pursuit. "Gangers, mate, what is it?" Gangrel spun around and snarled. "That Slayer had better be out of town or I am in deep trouble. I don't care how long we've known each other, if I'm going down, then you're coming with me."
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Willow had camped out over night for their tickets. She'd gotten four seats, front row directly opposite the commentator's table. Xander and Oz had spent the last few nights making signs for themselves and the girls to hold up during the show. Now, two hours before the doors opened, they were ready and waiting. Willow was so excited she could barely speak, Oz and Xander were discussing matches for the night, while Buffy asked questions about the wrestlers.
"AAAAIIIIEEEEEEAAAAHHHHH!" Willow's wordless squeal got everyone's attention immediately. "Will, what is it?" Ox asked fairly worried. Silently Willow pointed. Walking through the car park was the McMahon family. Within seconds screaming fans were pressed against the fence, yelling and screaming for Vince, Shane, Stephanie and Linda to come over and sign autographs. With smiles, the McMahon's complied, signing books, bits of paper, signs and posing for photographs. Willow got a photo of Shane and Stephanie and autographs from the whole family. That was only the beginning. By the time the wrestlers had begun arriving, Xander was so excited he couldn't speak, Willow looked like she'd had a religious experience and was almost crying. Oz was sprouting random bits of trivia about each wrestler and even Buffy was having a lot of fun and collecting autographs. Willow had gotten autographs from and photos of DX, including Chyna and her big favourite Test, as well as all the maineventers as well as most of the midcarders while Billy Gunn, Val Venis and Chris Jericho had hit on Buffy. Debra and the puppies had snuck past, while the crowd was distracted by Stone Cold Steve Austin, much to Xander's disgust and Oz surprised everyone by showing excitement when he got Edge & Christian to sign his autograph book. When the other three looked at him in surprise he just shrugged and said. "I'm a fan." In the excitement of meeting the superstars, none of the Slayerettes noticed Gangrel arriving, accompanied by Spike. Spike and Gangrel were so busy plotting for the night, that neither of them noticed Buffy smiling and flirting with Chris Jericho.
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The Undertaker looked at his faithful subjects. Their faces illuminated by fire. "Tonight we are at full strength. Tonight we shall begin to extract our revenge on those who try to stop us - Kane, McMahon and Austin. Tonight McMahon will know what it is to be truly afraid. Tonight we shall illustrate to McMahon that nobody is immune to true terror. Tonight we shall threaten the security of one of the two things he holds nearest in his heart - his family. Tonight, one who previously scorned our purpose will be waiting in the wings. He has been given a chance to prove his usefulness to us and his future with us depends on hiss success. Until then children of darkness, run free and cause havoc."
The Acolytes and Viscera departed, Farooq and Bradshaw to feed their demon side and Viscera to... well feed. However Mideon hesitated. The Undertaker noticed this and after a quiet word that sent Paul Bearer hurrying off, approached Mideon, laying a hand on his shoulder. "What have you seen child?"
Mideon dropped to one knee, his eyes cast downwards. "He will fail the test. Gangrel will lose his match against your brother tonight. He will dominate the entire match until he catches sight of someone in the audience. The sight of this person will fill him with horror and Kane will take control of the match. One like Gangrel will come out and intervene on his behalf. I cannot tell who wins or how, but in the future, this audience member will spell trouble not only for Gangrel, but us as well."
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During:
The first match was Edge & Christian against the Roaddogg Jesse James, the Bad Ass Billy Gunn, the New Age Outlaws for the Tag Team titles. Buffy and Xander had NAO signs reading "Actually I did know" and "I'm down with the Outlaws" respectively. The four of them waved the signs and screamed as Roaddogg did his spiel, earning them a grin and a point from Billy and a few seconds on the Titantron. Edge and Christian came out to a pop almost as a big as the Outlaws. Oz had a sign reading "I'm just a puppet" and Willow's simply said "Edge" and was decorated in the same pattern as Edge's wrestling pants.
The highlight of the match was when Christian was thrown out of the ring, landing next to the barrier and right in front of the Scooby Gang. Billy came up and started pounding Christian's face into the barrier. "Cool signs" Billy panted as Christian put his hand between his face and the barrier so he wouldn't get hurt. Oz grinned. "Thanks man." Billy stopped, pulled Christian's head up by the hair, turned him around and hit him. Christian landed on the barrier, almost ending up in Buffy's lap. Meanwhile Edge and Roaddogg had stopped fighting, so the Ref came over and started yelling at Billy to get Christian back in the ring. Christian hauled himself up into a standing position. "Sorry about that miss." He stood up and collapsed back to the ground, buying a little more time to chat. "So are there any decent clubs around town?" he asked. "Yeah, the Bronze." Xander answered quickly as Christian stood up. " The Bronze huh? Cool."
Christian turned back to the fight and pulled Billy into the ring post, causing the Scooby Gang to cheer or boo, depending on their bias. Not long after, Christian tagged in Edge and Billy tagged in Roaddogg. Roaddogg got clotheslined over the top rope and lay on the ground for a second before getting up unsteadily. Edge did a suicide leap over the top rope and landed on Roaddogg, hooking the leg and going for a pin. Three seconds later it was all over and Edge and Christian were the new Tag Team Champions. They slapped each other high five's, then Edge jumped on his little brothers back, holding both belts aloft. Christian did a lap of the ring, saying the "The Bronze hey? Thanks for that." as he passed Buffy and the others. They joined in the cheers as Christian piggybacked Edge up the ramp.
"Are we going to the Bronze tonight?" Willow asked eagerly. "Oh hell yeah!" was the enthusiastic response from the boys. Buffy sat quietly, a small from on her face. Xander nudged her. "Fess up. What's wrong?"
"Slayer sense." Buffy shrugged. Those two aren't vampires, but they're not human either. I'm not sure what's going on." The other three shot her concerned looks, which she cheerfully ignored. " However it is my night off, I shall worry about it later."
Just then a deep voice purred "Hello Ladies" and she forgot about the mysterious duo. Buffy had a sign reading "I'm a lady" while Willow's read "I can pass the TEST." Leaning over to Oz, Buffy asked "How long did you two spend on these signs anyway?"
"A long time. We didn't know who would be on tonight and we wanted different signs for each wrestler. It was Xander's idea, because we got such good seats, we'll be on TV a fair bit. There was some logic to it, but I can't remember what it was now." The Test/Val Venis match was fairly short, Test winning with an inside cradle. As he was leaving the ring, he saw Willow's sign and smiled at her also giving her a thumbs up. It took all of Willow's will power not to jump the barrier and pounce on Test. Oz frowned, he didn't like this turn of events.
The next match was for the Women’s Belt, Ivory vs Debra. Xander yelled and whistled as Debra came down to the ring, madly waving his sign, which had on one side “Puppies 3:16 – twice as nice” and “Here puppies, here puppies” on the other. Debra and Ivory were waiting for the match to start when Shawn Michaels, who was doing colour commentary jumped into the ring, gesturing for the microphone. “Now it’s been brought to my attention that a lot of people use the women’s matches to go and buy merchandise, or a drink or what ever. Now I’m not saying I don’t find the women’s matches-” he looked Debra up and down – “damned entertaining, but it’s not about what I want, it’s what the fans want to see.” At this stage a “We want Puppies” chant began to echo through the arena. Shawn smiled. “Besides those two purebreds belonging to the lovely Debra, I think a four corners match could be a little more exciting than a typical match.”
Unfortunately, it wasn’t. After a large amount of bitch slapping and cat fighting, Luna won the title by pinning Tori. As Oz said “The only good thing about that match was the end of it.”
There were some promos and a lovely in ring speech from Mankind, which ended with him challenging the British Bulldog for a match later that night. The next match was Chyna v Chris Jericho.
Xander and Buffy held up a sign reading “I got kicked out of Jericholics Anonymous” and Oz and Willow had one reading “ Y2J will NEVER break down the great wall of CHYNA.” While Chris was standing on the ropes, pumping up the crowd, he saw Buffy and the sign and grinned at her, giving her a wink. After a long tirade from Chris, Chyna started the match and dominated the whole way through, winning after DX came out and HHH distracted the ref and Jericho.
There was a slight intermission before the next match. Willow turned to Buffy, “Are you having fun?” Buffy thought for a second before replying. “Yeah. Yeah I am. I’m having a lot of fun.”
“Well you should be. Chris Jericho just winked at you!” Willow was fairly impressed. Buffy laughed. “Well you got a thumbs up from Test!”
While the girls giggled. The boys held a conference of their own. “Was it just me or was Test hitting on my Will?” Oz asked worriedly. Xander thought for a second. “He did seem to like what he saw. But they’re never gonna see each other again so I wouldn’t worry about it.” Oz was unconvinced and was about to continue the discussion when the lights went out for Kane’s entrance. After such a huge pop for the big red machine, Buffy was amazed by the half hearted cheering for Kane’s opponent and a little shocked at the height of Gangrel compared to Kane. “Can they do that? Put such a little guy against such a tall one?”
Xander laughed. “That ‘little guy’ is over six foot. And if you think Kane is tall you should see the Big- oh check this out.”
Buffy looked up in time to see Gangrel doing his rematch ritual. The crowd cheered as he drank from the chalice, raised his head and spat it out again. Buffy felt a cold chill run through her as Gangrel grinning from ear to ear climbed down. The match started and to everyone’s surprise Gangrel took control early on. Gangrel had already made several attempts to pin Kane and the crowd had gotten behind him in a way that hadn’t been seen since The Brood. The audience were really enjoying the match – except for one bottle blonde slayer in the front row who was having trouble convincing herself that slaying Gangrel in the middle of a sold out sports arena wasn’t the smartest thing to do and that he was really a vampire, he was just acting. She’d just convinced herself of this when, across the gap, they made eye contact. In a split second she knew that her instincts had been right and Gangrel knew that the girl not 10 feet away from him was a slayer.
Gangrel panicked, freezing on the spot. Kane mad at himself for letting Gangrel get the upper hand, took advantage of the opportunity by pushing Gangrel into the ropes, and downing the ref who was between Gangrel and the ropes. Kane suplexed Gangrel and when the shorter of the two got up, he was grabbed around the neck for a chokeslam.
Suddenly, a blonde male with short hair and wearing a white hockey mask, bolted down to the ring, belted Kane over the head with a steel chair, shook the ref and vanished again. Gangrel made the pin and won the match, while the audience was buzzing with speculation of who saved Gangrel. Some thought it was Christian with a new haircut, others thought it was Crash or Hardcore Holly and still others thought it could have even been Billy Gunn. All were wrong. Nobody – except for Buffy and Gangrel - knew that it was Spike helping out an old friend in a time of need, as Gangrel had helped Spike many times before.
For the second time that night the lights dimmed and the Undertaker’s theme played. He strolled down the ramp followed by Paul, Bradshaw, Farooq, Viscera and Mideon. By the time the lights had come back on, Kane had left and Gangrel was facing the Undertaker with the rest of the Ministry surrounding the ring. Taker spoke. “Gangrel. After leaving my Ministry of Darkness with you companions, who have since deserted you, you expressed a desire to return to us. What did I tell you?”
“That I needed to prove myself worthy to be part of the Ministry.” Gangrel bowed his head.
“And have you?”
“No.” Gangrel’s voice was soft. The Undertaker laughed. “No? You won the match didn’t you? You held your own in an uneven match up. You had someone watching your back, prepared to put himself on the line for you. Stand tall Gangrel and become part of the Ministry of Darkness once more. Welcome back, Gangrel, welcome back. Now the Ministry is complete and there shall be nothing that will stop us from taking over the WWF”
Vince quickly came out, followed by the rest of the Corporation. “Undertaker, I’ve said it before and I shall say it again. You have no chance in hell of getting control of the WWF.”
“Tell me Vince, is Stephanie enjoying her vacation? When was the last time she called home?” The Undertaker laughed, the sound booming through the arena. “A young heiress should be a little more careful about whom she spends her time with.”
Buffy felt sick. There was something about the Undertaker that scared her. He was definitely a demon although she wasn’t sure what kind. The evil aura surrounding him and the evil radiating from Bradshaw and Farooq was making her feel ill. She brought her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, shaking. It wasn’t until the exchange between the Undertaker and Vince and Shane ended in setting a handicap match of Vince and Shane against the Undertaker was set that any of her friends noticed. “Jeez, Buff are you ok?”
“I don’t feel so good. I’m gonna go outside, it’s just too much…” Buffy got up and stumbled towards the exit. A security guard helped her out and got her a glass of water. She thanked the guard, who then left Buffy alone to think over the things she’d seen tonight.
“Who says I’m a nice girl?” Buffy replied automatically, before looking to see who was talking to her. Her heart flipped over as she recognised Chris Jericho, now dressed in street clothes, grinning down at her. He sat down next to her. “Not enjoying the show?”
“I was.” Buffy answered. She shrugged. “I’m not much of a fan, some of my friends dragged me along. All of them, especially my best friend are mad fans. This is the first show I’ve ever seen, live or on TV.”
“Really?” Jericho was amazed. A thought occurred to him. “But what about all those signs you’ve been holding up? Did your friends make those?”
“Yeah.” Buffy felt no further need for explanations. Chris smiled. “You four have attracted a lot of attention from the wrestlers. Your friend with the red hair has caught Test’s eye and Terri Runnels has fallen back into cradle snatching mode and thinks that the brunette sitting at the opposite end to you is pretty drool worthy quote, unquote.”
Buffy laughed. “And what about me? Has anyone noticed me?” Chris pretended to think for a minute. “Well after his match, Gangrel was ranting and raving to some friend of his about ‘the blonde in the front row.’ I assume he was talking about you. And Edge and Christian were pretty worried about you too. They were holding frantic discussions with Gangrel and aforementioned friend and the brothers have barely spoken to Gangrel since the split of The Brood.”
“Wonderful.” Buffy muttered. It appeared they could sense a Slayer the way a Slayer could sense them. Chris continued, knowing that wasn’t what she wanted to hear. “Well I noticed you before Raw even started remember? And I couldn’t help but notice the huge sign proclaiming ‘I got kicked out of Jericholics Anonymous’ and then when I saw the gorgeous blonde holding it, well it was no wonder I couldn’t concentrate on the match.”
“Oh so I’m the reason you lost to Chyna?” laughed Buffy. “It had nothing to do with the fact that she’s simply too good for you?”
“Nothing at all. Your fault completely.” Jericho said softly. He leaned towards Buffy. “And I may just have to punish you for that.”
He was kissing her before Buffy had a chance to reply. Ignoring an uneasy feeling in her stomach she responded eagerly. It had been a long time since she’d kissed anyone.
“Told ya he’d do it. Pay up guys.” A laughing female voice cut into ‘the moment’ and the couple sprang apart guiltily to see DX looking down at them. X-Pac, Chyna and Hunter were holding their hands out as Roaddogg and Billy Gunn fished in their wallets. Chris stood up and helped Buffy up, putting an arm around her waist. “What’s doin?”
“Chyna here told us about the chick that kept your mind off the match.” Replied Roaddogg “My moronic tag partner –“ here he elbowed Billy in the ribs - “replied something along the lines that you’d never be able to get her, I forget why.” Roadie handed a note to Hunter. “OK here it is! Are you friggin happy now?”
“Certainly am.” Hunter stuffed the note down the front of Chyna’s halter-top and continued the story. “Now I know you pretty well, and if my girl says that you plan to get the gal, then you will. So we made a little wager on it.”
“Thanks.” Replied Chris dryly. Chyna ignored the fact that Billy and X-Pac had started arguing in the background. She held out a hand to Buffy. “I’m Chyna.”
“Obviously.” Commented Hunter. The girls ignored him. “I’m Buffy.”
“Buffy?” The DX guys couldn’t have gotten the timing more perfect if they’d tried. Chyna started laughing, but quickly smothered it at a look from Hunter. X-Pac looked confused. “What kinda name is Buffy?”
“Well it’s better than sounding like a porno version of a video game.” Buffy answered tartly. Chyna laughed, ignoring the looks from the guys. “Good one.”
They chatted a while longer, then Buffy realised what the time was. “I’d better get back inside, my friends’ll be worried. It was nice to meet you.”
“Are you going to the Bronze later?” asked Jericho. Buffy shrugged. “Maybe.” Then darted off before he could answer. She was just in time for the handicap match between Vince, Shane and The Undertaker. Undertaker was dominating most of the match, before Test, The Rock and the rest of the Corporation ran out to defend their boss. They were followed seconds later by the Ministry of Darkness, including Gangrel and excluding Spike. Within minutes, it had turned into an all in brawl with the rest of the WWF roster coming out as well, some in their wrestling outfits, but with most of them in street clothes. Seemed this bit hadn’t been booked. They brawled up the ramp and backstage and the show was over.
The Slayerettes waited a bit before leaving. Buffy used to the time to explain the note that had been dropped in her lap as Chris Jericho had joined the brawling. Willow listened open mouthed. “You lucky bitch. Please tell me we’ll be going to The Bronze next.”
Buffy laughed. “We’re going to The Bronze.”
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Post 5
After:
“Hell no. It’s Chris and Hunter that can’t stand each other. Chris and I get along quite well. He does believe that the WWF is no place for women, but he has also told me that I’m good at what I do. Which I already knew.” Laughed Chyna. Buffy laughed with her. Chyna eyed Buffy. “So... you and Chris?”
“I don’t know.” Confessed Buffy. She shrugged. “I mean he seems pretty cool and nice and he’s pretty hot, but we only just met. Plus you guys’ll be leaving in a few days anyway and I don’t need a long distance relationship to add to my worries.”
“Well it’s up to you. But I’ll warn you now; Y2J can be a chauvinistic pig. He can also be a real asshole. Be careful Buffy with him. He has a violent temper.”
“I can hold my own. My, uh, line of work is a lot more dangerous than you’d think. As a result I have a lot of hidden strengths and abilities.” Buffy explained. The brunette nodded. “Of course. You’re a Slayer aren’t you?”
“Is nothing a secret around here?” exclaimed Buffy, throwing her arms in the air. Chyna shook her head. “Not really. Example: Say you tell me something. I tell Hunter, he tells X-Pac, he tells Billy, who tells Roaddogg. If you’re lucky we’ll be the only ones who find out. However, Billy could also tell Val Venis, who is a drinking buddy of his, Val tells Test, who tells Edge who tells Christian. Despite a lot of appearances most of us get along pretty well and gossip flies. Besides Gangrel and a vampire friend of his were having a public brawl about you backstage and Edge and Christian were actually talking to Gangrel which hasn’t happened –“
“Since the split of The Brood.” Finished Buffy. Just then Chyna nudged her. “Someone’s looking for you.”
Buffy glanced in the direction Chyna had indicated and smiled. Chris Jericho was standing in the doorway, scanning the room for her. With a smile, Buffy excused herself and went up to him, saying hello and putting her arm around his wait while he talked to D-lo Brown about something. Scanning the room she bit her lip. Oz and Willow were fighting in a corner about Test’s behaviour towards Willow and Willow’s reaction while Xander was missing, presumably in a dark corner with Terri Runnels. Buffy watched the brothers, Edge and Christian as well as the two Acolytes, Farooq and Bradshaw. Those four were definitely not human, although the demon was more obvious in Farooq and Bradshaw. The brothers seemed safe enough as they competed in the pool tournament against Matt and Jeff Hardy. Farooq was playing poker against Bubba Ray Dudley and getting more agitated with every second. Buffy sighed.
“What’s wrong?” Chris asked, looking down at her. Buffy smiled. “Nothing serious.”
“Good. Then come dance with me.” They talked as they danced, mainly asking questions about each other. Buffy learnt a lot more about Jericho than he learnt about her, mainly because Buffy was reluctant to talk about herself and Y2J loved to brag.
Things were starting to get wild – Chyna, Hunter, X-Pac, Billy Gunn, Roaddogg, The Rock, The Big Bossman, Ken Shamrock, The Big Show, Christian, Val Venis, D-Lo, Mark Henry, The Godfather, Ivory, Jacqueline, Tori, BB, Luna, The Kat, and Debra were involved in a rather enthusiastic game of ‘I never’ – when all went silent. Chris broke off the kiss with Buffy. “Shit. The it’s the boss.”
Vince looked at the wrestlers who silently finished their drinks and what they were doing and shuffled out. Chris looked at Buffy. “Want me to walk you home? This place can be dangerous at night.”
“You have no idea.” Laughed Buffy. “I’ll walk you lot back to your hotel.”
Xander emerged from the dark corner readjusting his clothes hastily. Terri followed close behind, smirking. She put an arm around his waist and whispered something in his ear. Xander went bright red, while those who were watching cracked up laughing. Test, who had been comforting Willow about her break up with Oz, walked out with a protective arm around her shoulders. Buffy and Willow exchanged smiles as they walked with Test and Jericho, as well as Val, D-lo, Ken Shamrock, X-Pac, The Outlaws, Hunter, Chyna, Ivory, Jacqueline, Tori, Edge and Christian. The brothers walked a little way behind everyone else, talking quietly.
They were almost at the hotel when a group of vampires surrounded them. Buffy recognised them as the Mayor’s flunkeys. With a suppressed groan of irritation, she dropped Chris’s hand, noticing out of the corner of her eyes that Edge and Christian had pushed their way to the front of the group, one standing on each side of her. The three blondes looked at each other and Buffy instantly that no matter what the brothers would back her up. She could feel the fury radiating from Edge, while she could sense that Christian was holding in his fear. She hoped the vampires couldn’t sense it as well. The vampire in charge pointed first at Christian than at Edge. “We just want them. If they come now, nobody else will get hurt. If not, then we will not hesitate to hurt you. We only want them.”
“Well you can’t have them.” Buffy answered. Christian flashed a grateful look in her direction. Edge spoke. “Who sent you?”
“You know very well who sent us.” The head vampire laughed. “It’s time to return home. This insolence has been tolerated long enough.”
“We are home. And we are not coming with you.” Edge replied. “Hey Test?”
“Yeah?”
“Get the girls outta harms way.”
The vampires charged. After a short scuffle, which involved Buffy staking all, bar two, of the vampires, the wrestlers and remaining Slayerettes were left alone. They made it back to the hotel without incident. The girls were shaken and some of the guys were a little confused as to what happened, but aside from a few scrapes and bruises, everyone was fine. As Ken Shamrock said “ We get hurt worse in the ring.”
After making sure that that everyone was ok and asking Chyna and Hunter to keep an eye on Willow and Test, Buffy went in search of Edge and Christian.
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Post 6
“We are not vampires.” Edge insisted. Buffy rolled her eyes and sighed. “But you’re not humans, are you?”
“I don’t see what it matters.” Edge threw his coat over the back of a chair. Buffy hit the table. “It matters because *I* say it matters.”
Edge stalked over to where Buffy was standing and looked down at her. “You wanna start something little girl?” She laughed in his face. “Just try it pretty boy. Just try it.”
“Cut it out, both of you.” Christian shouted suddenly. They both turned to face Christian. “Edge sit down and shut up. I wanna talk to Buffy and if I hear one more word out of you - ”
“Yeah I know.” Edge sat down and shut up, but was sulking about it. Christian rolled his eyes at his older brother’s behaviour and gestured for Buffy to sit down opposite him at the table. “Please excuse my brother, he meant no harm. Edge sometimes gets a little over protective of me-”
“Yeah well don’t go telling me you don’t need looking after.” Muttered Edge. “Getting mixed up with that frickin vampire, hell Christian I warned you about him, but -”
“For god’s sake! I’m trying to stop Buffy from killing us and all you can do is bitch and moan. Besides, I’d never listened to anything you said before, did you actually believe I’d start then? Just another case of ‘do as I say, not as I do.’ Retorted Christian. Edge laughed, showing his grin and Buffy understood why he was so popular with the female fans. “More a case of monkey see, monkey do. Face it bro, you always had to exactly what I did, no matter what it cost you.”
Christian smiled at Buffy. “Excuse me.” He leant across to the phone, picking it up and dialling a number. “Hey it’s me. Yeah he’s being a pain in the ass again. Can you send – thanks Tor.” Less than a minute later the door flew open and Kane strode in. He was dressed in street clothes, but a plain black mask covered his face. He gave Buffy the once over, then walked across the room, grabbed Edge by the scruff of the neck, lifted him into the air and carried him out. With a smile, Christian called “I’ll come and get him. Thanks Kane.”
By now Buffy was in hysterics. “Does that happen often?”
“Depends on how much he’s pissing me off. The first time it happened, Kane ran into DX coming back from a night on the town. They all thought they were hallucinating.” Christian smiled. “We fight like crazy, but we’re also very close.” His tone turned serious. “Is it true? Are you a Slayer?”
“Yes.”
“Shit.” Christian kicked the couch. Buffy decided to jump in before he decided to trash the room. “If you’re not vampires and you’re not human, then just what the hell are you?”
“We’re something in between. Many years ago, when we were both young and foolish, Edge and I were seduced by Gangrel. Not in a sexual way, but his aura, the power… it got us in. Gangrel caught Edge and I at a bad time in our lives, we were vulnerable to be, how can I put it, corrupted by him. Much to my disgust, Gangrel chose Edge over me for companionship, but came back for me after Edge left him.”
“Why did Edge leave?”
“He saw Gangrel at his worst and didn’t like it. When he came home he tried to warn me off, but I wouldn’t listen. When Gangrel came back for me, I ignored Edge and went with him. It wasn’t much later after that, when Gangrel showed me just how cruel he could be. I’m not as strong as Edge and I didn’t have the balls to leave him after seeing what he could do. Besides I wanted to prove something to my older brother, I’m not sure what. I didn’t see Edge for years until Gangrel and I were employed by Vince.” Christian explained. Sighing he continued, as Buffy listened. “I know now that the only reason Edge joined forces with Gangrel and I was to lure me away from him. I also know that Edge only had my best interests at heart, and wanted to stop me from coming what he became.”
“Which was?”
“And here I come to the point of this little tale. While we were with him, Gangrel had us drink red wine, what he called ‘A family recipe.’ But it wasn’t wine, it was his blood. As a result of that, my brother and I are physically dead. Our hearts don’t beat, we don’t need to breathe, and we don’t bleed. We will remain in this type of suspended animation until we feed from a human. But neither of us intend to do that – ever, so that’s one thing you don’t have to worry about.”
Buffy stretched and cracked her knuckles. “That’s good to hear. Not what happened, just that you two are safe.”
“So you’re not gonna slay us?” Christian asked. When Buffy shook her head, he sighed with relief. “Thank god.” He checked his watch. “You’d better get outta here, before Edge escapes from Kane. It’s funny, but not pretty.”
Buffy collected Willow from Test’s arms and left a message at the desk for Xander. As Test was making plans with Willow for the next day, Chris Jericho reappeared. “Leaving already?”
“Already? It’s 3:30am! I’m already three and a half hours late.” Buffy chided. Chris laughed. “Well then you can’t leave without a goodbye kiss.”
“I had no intention of it.”
*****************************************************************************
Post 7
The next night Mayor Wilkins paced back and forth angrily, ranting and raving. The Undertaker stood silently in the background, an imposing figure with arms crossed and disapproval radiating from every pore. Spike and Gangrel sat in two armchairs, looking like two schoolboys who’d been caught smoking. Spike looked at Gangrel and they burst out laughing. Mayor Wilkins turned on them in a fury. “This is no laughing matter! How can you be so stupid Spike? After all I’ve done for you!”
‘All he’s done for you?’ mouthed Gangrel. Spike shrugged, and mouthed back ‘Beats me.’ Not seeing this exchange, the Mayor continued. “You go and replay everything by getting 10 of my best vampires killed.”
Spike and Gangrel tried unsuccessfully to stop smirking.
“Gangrel, although your motives were decent, you made several fundamental errors. The brothers must be lured back if they are to return at all. I appreciate the thought… the Ministry is complete without Christian and Edge, you can feel it, but they must return of their own accord. It was a mistake to go after them with outsiders there. Vince is tolerant, but not that tolerant. He will only put up with so much, can only be pushed so far. If we push the line he will not cover for us any more and then what will we do? How will you feed? Are you willing to face the wrath of Farooq and Bradshaw if they can’t feed their demons? Can you imagine what I will do to you if I am unable to run free in my true form? Immortality will be hell for you if I have to suffer. There’s another thing…” The Undertaker trailed off and looked at Wilkins. The Mayor picked up where the Lord of Darkness had left off. “How could you be so stupid? Why get the Slayer involved? We would have been fine… well, a lot less annoyed if Buffy hadn’t been there to witness it.”
Vince burst into the office in a fury. “I should’ve known. Damn you Gangrel the last thing the Federation needs is a Slayer poking around asking questions. If she decides to take matters into her own hands I can kiss at least two of the most popular drawcards goodbye – I’m warning you this is the last time. One more stunt like this and all those even remotely involved will not only lose the protection I pay for, but will find themselves unemployed. Is that clear? Mark?”
“Yes Vince.” The Undertaker was pissed about getting called by his mortal name. . Vince’s voice was ice cold. “David?”
“Yes boss, perfectly clear.” Gangrel muttered, smarting at Vince using the name he hadn’t been called since he was human – many decades ago. Vince’s cell phone rang, it was Shane, demanding that his father come and see something immediately. Vince left, but with a parting shot. “This isn’t over, not by a long shot.”
*****************************************************************************
“Shane this is amazing.” Vince exclaimed. Shane grinned. “I know Dad. Look here – she’s blocking the moves perfectly, without even looking. And watch now – she’s flipping this vampire with ease, even as she defends herself from this one. It’s amazing.”
Father and son watched the screen avidly. They were watching a security video from a shop half way between their hotel and the Bronze. The skills they were marvelling at belonged to one bottle blonde Jericholic Slayer.
“Dad, she could really spice up the women’s division.” Shane said excitedly. Vince shook his head. “Forget the women’s division. I want her competing against the guys. If Chyna can do it…”
“But Buffy’s so small!” Protested Shane. Vince didn’t react. “I bet she has a lot of hidden strength. Pros?”
“She wouldn’t have to go through that much training. She’s young. She’s cute. She can watch over Gangrel and the Ministry.” Shane replied. Vince mulled it over. “Cons?”
“She’s young. I doubt she’d have finished school yet. We may have trouble convincing her not to kill the Undertaker. He’s one of our biggest stars. Same for Gangrel, minus the last part.” Shane sighed. Vince looked at Shane. “Overall?”
Shane grinned. “Let’s do it. What’s the worst that could happen?”
*****************************************************************************
“Buffy?” called Giles from his office. “There are some gentlemen here to see you.”
“Coming.” Buffy was feeling rather happy. She’d spent the past couple of days with Chris and liked him quite a bit. She was hoping they’d keep in touch when he left Sunnydale. She strolled into Giles’ office and stopped in surprise. “Uhhhh…. Hi.”
“Good morning Miss Summers.” Smiled Vince McMahon. “I’ll make this short, since I’m sure you’re a very busy young lady. First of all, I want to thank you for your intervention on behalf of two of my employees. I apologise for Gangrel’s behaviour, and I assure you he will be dealt with accordingly. Unfortunately, he wasn’t acting alone, so I cannot – as much as I’d like to – promise it will happen again.”
“Gangrel’s the vampire right? I thought the characters were fake.” Buffy asked. Shane handled this one. “In a lot of cases they are. There’s a lot of planned storylines, in most of the matches the winner is decided beforehand. However there are some cases where the ‘character’ is the wrestlers actual personality. For example, Edge & Christian, Roaddogg, Kane, and most of the Ministry of Darkness. They keep us on our toes, we never know what’s gonna happen next.”
“Must be a pain in the ass.” Commented Buffy. The McMahons laughed. “Oh it is.” Agreed Shane. He glanced at the clock. “Now the real reason we’re here – how would you feel about wrestling professionally?”
“I… huh... WHAT?” Buffy was speechless. Vince picked up where his son left off. “We’ve seen you in action and we’re very impressed. We need some new blood and I think you’re exactly what the WWF needs.”
Giles entered the conversation for the first time. “We’ve already spoken to your mother about it and she believes that it would be good for you and gives her consent. If need be, Wesley will watch over Faith on his own and I can travel with you.”
“There’s one thing though.” Vince interrupted, looking at Buffy sternly. “It will be part of your contract that all demon must be left alone. I’m deadly serious, the Undertaker is one of our biggest stars and I don’t want to lose him.”
“Fair enough. If I sign up, what will I have to do? What’s involved?” Buffy sounded interested. Shane and Vince looked at each other. They had her. Shane answered. “Six weeks at our training camp, a week with us, watching from behind the scenes, getting to know the others working out your gimmick, music and costume. Then we cut some promos, when we figure out who’ll you’ll be feuding with, you’ll interfer in their matches for a while, before you’re official debut.”
Giles looked at Buffy. “This is going to change your life in way you can’t imagine. If you need more time say so, it’s up to you.”
“I know Giles, I know.”
“So have you got any more questions?” asked Vince. Buffy grinned. “Just one.”
“What is it?”
“Where do I sign up?”
The End.
Should I continue with Buffy’s adventures in the WWF? Let me know at iamwhoiam@mpx.com.au
Dedications and thank you: This story is dedicated to Christa. She has put up with many phone calls asking for help and given me many useful suggestions. Thanks girl for the Willow/Test idea, for figuring out exactly what Edge & Christian are and other bits (I can't remember what exactly - there's quite a few of them!). She's also put up with me rocking up to her house uninvited and then being completely ignored while I scribble away at this little piece. Christa this story is for you. Also big thank you's to Columbina for the Buffy/Chris Jericho idea, Electra, Croadie24, Da_Rock and everyone in #WWF chat on austnet for sign ideas.
Willow couldn't settle down. During the dark matches she was bouncing up and down in her seat yelling and cheering like she was at a PPV. Then Raw officially started and she couldn't speak. The cameras panned across the crowd, so Oz and Willow held up the first signs of the night - "NITRO= Nothing Interesting Turn Raw On" (Oz) and "WCW= Weally Cwappy Wrestling" (Willow), while, after a quick whispered conference, Buffy and Xander made rabbit ears behind Oz and Willow's heads, when they put the signs down.
When they got to The Bronze, it was practically empty. Cordelia was holding fort in the corner and a bunch of guys were playing pool. It remained dead for a while and then filled with wrestlers. Buffy looked eagerly for Chris Jericho, but couldn’t see him. Chyna and Hunter came over and talked to her for a while, before Hunter excused himself to get involved in a pool tournament some of the guys were having, leaving Chyna and Buffy to talk. Buffy went first. “So do you and Chris really hate each other?”
