He’s awake...

No.

He’s alive...

He can’t be. We killed him.

He shall rise soon...

Where is Castlevania now?

On Hellmouth...

...

Rise Alucard! Rise Charianne! AWAKEN!

“ Big shipments arriving lately,” Cirrus commented as they watched the heavily-laden delivery truck being unloaded.

“ Yeah... which is of the weird because that house is empty,” Buffy explained, looking over at the house curiously.

“ Maybe somebody’s moving in,” Cirrus suggested.

“ Or using it as a drop-site,” Faith added.

“ Not that you know anything about credit card fraud Faith?” Buffy questioned, raising an eyebrow.

“ Ooo... bad naughty Faith,” Cirrus teased, giving the dark haired Slayer’s ass a playful smack.

“ Well, it seems I arrived just in time,” Xander said as he jogged up, spotting the spanking Cirrus gave her girlfriend.

Cirrus winked at the boy and pulled Faith into a passionate and hungry kiss. They clutched each other close as both Buffy and Xander stared.

“ Hot enough for you Xand-man?” she asked when she and Faith had parted.

Xander could only nod and drool the rest of the way to the Bronze.

“ Mr. Trick?”

“ Yes Sir?”

“ What have we received so far?” the Mayor Wilkins asked. The vampire called Trick looked at the list the messenger had handed him. “ Everything, except the heart.”

“ And when is that due in?”

Trick rifled through the papers again. “ They just found it in Perth, and mailed it today. It should be here tomorrow, Sir.”

“ Excellent Trick. And the other items I requested?”

“ They’re all here.”

“ Good.”

“ Pool?” Oz suggested.

“ Pool,” Xander replied, taking up a rack and cue and heading toward the table.

“ Grope?” Faith suggested.

“ Grope,” Cirrus replied. The two headed for the bathroom.

“ Sigh,” Buffy said, leaning her head on Willow’s shoulder.

“ Yeah,” Willow returned, taking a sip from her bottle of water.

The Bronze had never been so boring. The band was lame, some boys from out of town whose idea of music was screaming to an unchanging drumbeat and guitar notes with no pattern. Buffy and Willow, stuck on the couch, had nothing better to do than watch Oz and Xander shoot. Faith and Cirrus emerged from the bathroom in a few moments, complaining that the noise put them out of the mood.

“ Dammit,” Cirrus muttered.

“ Yeah,” the Slayers seconded in unison.

It was about that time that the band began belting out a rendition of George Michael’s ‘Faith’. The four girls got up, grabbed the guys, and left.

“ I hate that song,” Faith grumbled when they reached the street.

Oz sniffed the air. “ Undead,” he whispered. They quickly shifted to fighting mode. Oz and Cirrus remained human though, as there were too many people around.

They shambled from the alley, and the six teens moved to keep the fight back there, away from bystanders. The first lunged at Buffy, who beat it back. It lunged again. And again. And soon so did the others. Fighting was not only hindered because of the narrowness of the alley, but also the persistence of the opponents. The vampires seemed to have no will of their own as they hurled their undead bodies at the Slayers.

“ Shit!” Faith cried.

The others shot quick looks over at her. The vamp she fought was still attacking, completely disregarding the stake protruding from his chest. Willow kicked one back into Oz, who shifted hastily, knocked it’s head off, and changed back. It’s mouth foamed as the head rolled about on the ground, and body continued the assault.

From the roof of the Bronze they lept, landing like cats, steady on their feet. Blades gleamed as they were drawn. The swords arced perfectly, slicing clean through rotted flesh. The vampires screamed and dissolved. The Slayers, werewolves, and humans parted, clearing the area for the newcomers’ attack. When the air cleared, the pair raised their swords in salute.

“ One of you must be the Slayer,” the man said.

“ I am,” Buffy replied.

“ Yeah, me too,” Faith added.

He bowed. “ I am Alucard. This is my sister, Charianne.”

The woman curtsied. “ Hail Slayers,” she greeted.

“ I’m Buffy,” the blonde Slayer told them.

“ Faith.”

“ And what of the others?” Charianne asked. “ These strong women and... handsome men.”

The four others nodded, edging forward.

“ Cirrus.”

“ Oz.”

“ Willow.”

“ Nyaaaaaaa...” Xander drooled as he finally got a good look at the new girl.

“ Er, that’s Xander,” Buffy said.

Charianne giggled. “ I am pleased to meet you too Xander,” she told the boy with a soft and beautiful smile.

“ Can we get back to business here? What was up with those vamps?” Faith asked.

“ They weren’t really vampires in the pure sense,” Alucard explained. “ But something akin to the zombies. They were people that had been dead too long to raise normally as vampires, but the Count, with his considerable talent, raised them in a more powerful form. They’re not as strong as vampires, but also cannot be killed as easily. Only a certain kind of magically charged weapons, like the ones possessed by my sister and myself, can destory them. They’re returning from the void to await the Count’s awakening.”

“ Wait a minute, you lost me,” Buffy replied. “ Void? Count?”

Alucard sighed. “ The last time I met the Count, I banished him and his minions to the void. Surely you, the Slayer, knows of him.”

“ Are we talking Dracula or something here?” Xander asked, confused as usual.

“ Exactly.”

“ Package Sir,” Trick called, entering the office and placing the box on the desk.

The Mayor picked it up and opened it. He smiled cheerfully as he pulled out the hardened heart from within the mess of foam peanuts.

“ It’s here, it’s here!” he cried giddily. “ His heart is here!”

“ Uh Sir, if I may ask, what exactly are you planning to do with these artifacts. You’ve been quite secretive lately,” Mr. Trick said, examining the petrified heart in his boss’ hand.

“ I’m sorry, things have been so busy lately, I forgot,” he apologized. “ As you know, these things, the heart, the eye, the ring, and so forth once belongs to Count Vlad Tepes Dracula.”

“ Yes...” the vampire urged.

“ Well, I’m going to raise him,” Mayor Wilkins said simply. Then he turned back to his paper. “ Leave the building, and make sure there’s no one else inside. I can’t have energy imbalances.”

Trick, stunned, backed out of the office. “ Yes... Sir...”

With a combined effort, the group pushed open the rusted door of the old warehouse.

Buffy pulled up a crate, sat down, and said, “ Here it is, the safe place to talk. So talk.”

“ Yes, well...” Alucard mumbled. He reached his hand into the air next to him and pulled out two weapons, a long sword and a chakram.

“ Heeeeelllloooooo Xena,” Faith whistled, eyeing the round-killing-thing gleefully.

Alucard tossed it to her, then turned to Buffy. “ You can use a sword can’t you?”

“ I can,” she nodded, pushing back a bad memory.

He handed her the blade. “ These are charged weapons like ours, they will allow you to actually kill things when we enter Castlevania.”

“ Wait, what about me?” Cirrus asked.

“ Supernatural though you may be, we was really considering this more of an us-and-the-Slayers job,” Charianne told her.

Cirrus eyes began to glow, a sign of awesome displeasure, as she was in human form. “ I’m not staying here,” she stated.

“ Cirrus...” Faith pleaded, touching her lover’s face. “ I’ll be okay,” she whispered.

Cirrus grunted and crouched against the wall.

Willow spoke up next, laying a hand on the back of Cirrus’ neck. “ So the four of you are going into Dracula’s castle, to fight Dracula. A whole castle full of baddies. How do you expect to win?”

“ I went through Castlevania alone before, and I survived. Charianne and myself defeated him. I should think with two Slayers at our backs we should fare easily,” Alucard explained calmly.

“ I still don’t like this...” Cirrus grumbled quietly.

Alucard looked like he was about to speak, but suddenly both he and his sister fell to the floor, screaming horribly, as though being tortured, and clutched their heads. They writhed and spasmed for a moment, and then were still. Slowly they rose to their feet and exchanged grim expressions.

“ It’s started... He’s awake,” Charianne breathed, shivering.

Her brother embraced her, hoping to still the girl’s quaking. His solemn, cold gray eyes fixed on the Slayers.

“ It’s time to go, we cannot wait. He grows more powerful every second,” he said.

Cordelia moaned and shook with glee. Angelus was panting.

“ Angel... can you feel that? What is it?” she asked him excitedly.

He grabbed her hand and led her out of the mansion and along dark streets to City Hall. The vampires could feel the raw, dead-yet-VERY-alive energy pulsating from the building.

“ Ooooohhhhhhhhh...” Angelus groaned, reveling in it. “ I can hear him... summoning his servants...”

Cordelia was swaying with the pulsing rhythm. Angelus took her hand again and kicked the front door of the building down.

“ Let us join our Lord,” he said.

They sprang merrily through the doorway and vanished.

“ This... this is it...” Charianne gasped, overwhelmed by the power.

“ Well then... shall we?” Buffy asked, stepping toward the open doorway.

Alucard at the party’s head, they approached the gateway into Castlevania. Their weapons gleamed as they leaped in one by one, Alucard, Charianne, Buffy and Faith at the rear.

“ Faith wait!”

The dark haired Slayer turned to her lover who kissed her softly.

“ Be careful,” Cirrus whispered.

“ I will,” Faith promised. Then she disappeared.

Count Vlad Dracula, greatest of all evils, sipped the crimson liquid from his glass.

“ And who did you say you were again?” he asked boredly.

“ Angelus, and this is Cordelia, my lord,” Angelus said, bowing respectively.

“ And you want to serve me?”

“ Yes my lord,” Cordelia replied.

Dracula was about to say something, but then closed his eyes and shuddered.

My children... they’re here... he thought. And... that energy... SLAYERS! They’ll pay for bringing Slayer into my domain!!

“ Very well, you will guard my chambers. Take to the room outside and wait. And make no mistake that I want them all DEAD!” he commanded.

“ Yes my lord,” Angelus answered. Then he and Cordelia made their way to their room.

Cordelia turned to her sire. “ Them? Wonder who’s coming?”

Angelus grinned. “ I can feel her here... This should be fun.”