.......Deep in Southern Clifornia's Ojai Valley, the calm of the undulating landscape is slashed by sudden screams. Sarah Michelle Geller, aka Buffy the Vampire Slayer, is investigating her surroundings, accompanied by her friends and co-stars Alyson Hannigan and Charisma Carpenter. But these are no creepy catacombs, and the young actresses are not stalking the undead. Indeed, the screams are theirs-and they're alive with delight. They've come straight to this sleepy village (75 miles outside of L.A.) from a grueling week's work on the hugely popular high school horror show, now in it's third season. If there's one place that can restore their souls after battling bloodsuckers, it's the Ojai Valley Inn & Spa, where a weekend of deserved downtime-sans monsters or boyfriends-awaits. Here in the valley, ringed by the Topa Topa mountains, these actresses have already shed their Hollywood veneer. After checking into their sumptuous penthouse suites, they jump on the beds and bounce from chair to chair. They wander through the haciendalike setting, spattered with pools, tennis courts and a championship golf course; their jaws are in a constant state of drop. As they let down their hair (one blonde, one redhead and one bruenette), it becomes clear that despite the flurry of attention that often surrounds them, these young women are at heart all girl. While they're sunbathing poolside in the dry heat, an attendant comes by with a spray bottle and murmers, "Mist, ma'am?" Carpenter turns to her buds and says, "This is equivalent to every man's dream of being fed grapes and fanned by a harem!"
......Though each has a distinct personality, they're unusually close-something that reveals itself instantly in their sisterly dissing. "Want to see a picture of my boyfriend?" says Carpenter. "You brought pictures?" says Hannigan. "I thought of doing that, but I'd have to bring the frame and that'd be cheesy."
......Of the three, the 21-year-old Gellar is the youngest (and least attached). Yet she is mother and mastermind to the trio. Even lying around by the pool she takes sentences three at a time, always the first to interrupt a silence and the owner of the last word on the "best"-whether hotel, restaurant or shop to buy a gecko. The three have alot in common with their screen personas: the 24-year-old Hannigan (Buffy's best friend, Willow)is the cutup, while Carpenter,28, is Cordelia, the glamour-puss a la prom-queen type she plays on the show.
......To inaugurate thier orgy of feminine buffing and bonding,they unwind with individual massages, a steaming, and a two-hour Journey to Serenity facial. Of the latter, Hannigan says, "Oh my gosh, it was incredible. I fell asleep and started snoring and woke myself up. I felt so stupid, but the facialist said, 'It happens all the time. We take it as a compliment.' Charisma fell asleep and didn't even know she got a scalp massage." By the end of the day, says Hannigan, "we felt like steamed vegetables, we were all so rosy cheeked. It was great."
......On Sunday, they rise early to try the spa's specialty treatment, Kuyam. (The name comes from a Chumash Indian word meaning "a place to rest together." The ritual mud makeover is held in a Moorish-style steam room tiled in a riot of exotic patterns. (More than 60,000 tiles have gone into the creation of this year-old spa complex--part of a $20 million dollar renovation that has turned a historic 75-year-old inn into a world-class resort attracting such visitors as Jada Pinkett Smith and Michael Bolton.)
......Today, Anthony Hopkins happens to be lunching in one of the resort's restaurants. The Buffy contingent, however, would rather lounge in the luxurious robes and order room service. There's not much reason to leave. Their 3,500-square-foot suite, accessible only by private elevator, takes up the entire top floor of the spa building and features fireplaces, patios, whirlpools, sauna and meditation loft. Perched up in their tower, eating off one another's plates, these women are not counting calories. "Life's too short to worry about dieting," says Hannigan, mid-French fry. Moderation with the occasional indulgence is the likelier group credo. Aching to splurge, Gellar pushes her salmon aside and grabs the menu. "Let's see, they have tiramisu, frozen cappuccino pie with Itilian meringue, and white chocolate mousse cake. I just want to say, guys, those are not off the spa menu!"
......Unlike the frequently bewildered Buffy, Gellar seems to move with the precision of a Stealth bomber. She's been aiming for fame since age 4, when she started doing commercials; in 1994 she won an Emmy as Susan Lucci's devious daughter on All My Children. Now she's following up big-screen splashes in I Know What You Did Last Summer and Scream 2 with juicy roles in next year's Cruel Intentions (a youthful take on the French classic Les Liaisons Dangereuses) and Simply Irresistible. Even her hair color is in orbit. "In three months I've been brown, red and blonde," she says (she's naturally a light brown).
......Today, back to Buffy blond, Gellar-with the focus typical of an ambitious talent-makes staying centered a priority. After lunch, she heads for a personal yoga session. For the last year or so, she's been spending 10 or 15 minutes a morning in her trailer doing yoga meditation and also has been reading about Buddhism and Greek mythology. She even has a Tao symbol of patience tattooed on her ankle. "It's about life patience," she explains. "As in, if you follow the path you truly believe in, you'll be rewarded in the end."
......Carpenter's idea of a reward is the spa's rose-petal massage. It's the ultimate ode to femininity, much appreciated by a self-proclaimed "girly girl" who was born in Las Vegas and named after a perfume. "When I was growing up, acting never crossed my mind," she says. "I wanted to be a teacher. I was working at a restaurant when I was introduced to a manager. Through him I met a commercial agent."
......True to her name, Carpenter packs a lot more charisma than that stuck-up Cordelia. "Now that was the bomb!" she says after the massage. "The masseuse could feel I'd had a back injury. She didn't need me to tell her. She was able to teach me about energy and anatomy and breathing-and the oils smelled amazing."
......Though Hannigan's been in front of the camera since childhood (she made her film debut at 13 playing Dan Aykroyd's daughter in My Step-mother Is an Alien, she hasn't had too many facials. "She's the low-maintenance member of the group," says Carpenter. To make up for lost time, and because her skin often breaks out after wearing heavy make-up for 12 hours a day, she takes in two at Ojai. But behind that sensitive complexion is an inner playground that keeps her constantly amused. "I was an only child of a single parent, so my imagination was my baby-sitter," Hannigan says, admitting to a lifelong obsession with Dr. Seuss. It's her "good sense of quirk" that won her a movie role in the forthcoming East Great Falls High and allows her to find the beauty-and wit-in a wallflower like Willow. "I think I'm the character most people can relate to on Buffy," she says. "Everybody knows a Willow, if they aren't a Willow themselves," says the naturally auburn-haired actress whose long-lashed hazel eyes flash green.
......As the troop gets ready to leave Sunday night, they're already making plans to come back. "We've been such princesses this weekend," worries Carpenter. "I guess if life was like this all the time, though, we'd get bored." "Bored is not the word I'd use," says Gellar, who, after a weekend of winding down, is finally speaking at normal speeds. But she still has the last word. "I could really get used to this."