By Sabrina & E. Marshall
http://border-princess.net/fic.htm
Disclaimer: Buffy
the Vampire Slayer is not me. Or I mean, we don't own her or any of her friends
or enemies, those all belong to Joss Whedon, that monster guy, and 20th Century
Fox. We’re just borrowing them for a little entertainment. Jeff Tweedy and the
other Wilco band members also do not belong to us. We assume, hope anyway, that
they belong to themselves and would enjoy a romp in the Buffy-verse. Again,
We’re just playing a bit to entertain myself and hopefully anyone else who
enjoys Buffy.
Archive/Distribution:
Please link to http://border-princess.net/btvs/lighthouse/index.htm.
Timeline: Fits in
sometime early second season. Angel's still got his soul; everyone is still in
high school, yada yada yada. Specifically between ‘Reptile Boy’ and
‘Halloween’.
Prologue
Smile all the time
Shine your teeth till meaningless
Sharpen them with lies
-‘How
to Fight Loneliness’
The grass had that late evening crispiness: the caught in the netherworld effect that comes with the dew and a full moon. The scene would have perhaps appeared magical to those who generally did not venture out late in the evening, but its bewitching charm had worn off for Buffy Summers. She strode through the cemetery, dissuading the night chill with a black leather jacket over a casual v-neck tee and mini-skirt combination, a decidedly grumpy aura surrounding her.
'Another
Saturday night bites the dust,' she grumbled aloud. 'If only the creatures of
the night would bite dust instead of humans, maybe I'd be able to have a little
fun, for once.'
Her
plans to go to the Bronze with Willow and Xander to see the band Wilco had
fallen through with a decidedly loud thud when Giles had interrupted her study
break with his usual note of caution, 'You mustn’t forget your duty, Buffy.
Your work comes before play.'
'As if I
could forget,' Buffy muttered, 'I'm only reminded every day. You are the chosen
one. The one who must slay the vampires and scourge the world of all evil.
Once, just once, I'd like to hear Giles say, 'Buffy why don't you take the
night off and go to the mall'!'
She
paused beside the north wall and gave the graveyard a once over. Maybe she
would take another round and go to the Bronze anyway. Vampires frequented the
Bronze, with its dark corners and hordes of young fresh blood, nearly as much
as they frequented the cemetery. She could perform her sacred duty and catch
the last half of the concert. She swung around, following the maintenance road
for a while before slipping between a couple of mausoleums and heading out
across the center of the cemetery. About half way across the grounds, she
noticed a tiny sparkling light, almost as if a star had lost track of it's home
and decided to take up residence between two headstones. Buffy paused a moment,
did a quick visual sweep, and then headed straight towards the lost star.
She
could see that that star was really a flame bouncing up and down inside a glass
lantern. Halting, she looked around again, her senses alert. This was the sort
of thing that would be a trap for a slayer, and she was not about to be stupid
enough to fall victim to some vampire's idea of Saturday night entertainment.
Seeing nothing, she stepped up to the grave. Beside the headstone was a wire
holder that held a small lantern, no larger than her smallest jar of holy
water, lit by a candle.
'Somebody
couldn't bear to go to sleep without their nightlight?' She questioned aloud.
The flame flickered in response. Buffy looked
around again. Seeing nothing, she stepped in front of the gravestone and peered
at the inscription. Nothing stuck out as particularly unusual about the names
on the headstone, so she turned and headed back towards the cemetery gates.
She'd tell Giles about it tomorrow. Tonight she was going to party at the
Bronze.
The sound of a page turning broke the utter
silence of the Sunnydale High library. The loan occupant of the high school
picked up his cuppa, took a sip of lukewarm coffee, and made a face.
'I suppose I've been sitting here longer than
I thought,' Giles murmured, tipping back in his chair so he could see through
the window to the clock on the wall. After noting the time, he turned back to
the leather bound book and continued making notes on a scrap of paper.
The full moon nearest All Saint's Day
designates the festival of Leollyas, an ancient order of vampyrs that reached
its peak near the late tenth and early eleventh centuries Anno Domini.
Among the prophecies revered by this order
was that of a pure human being who would kill a slayer.
The order fell out of favour toward the
end of the late eleventh century. However, the teachings of Leollyas remained
and certain vampyrs continued to study and revere the prophecies.
According to Leonardo Battiste Giollinni,
a watcher of the early fifteenth century, his slayer was killed in 1456, by
what appeared at first glance to be a vampyr. On closer examination, the killer
was discovered to be a pure human, one of the order of Benedict. Upon being
questioned, Gianno Michelangaleno, the Benedictine monk who had murdered the
slayer, claimed that he had no memory of the actual murder. Various memory
spells and incantations were performed by the Watcher’s Councils in Venice,
Versailles, and Lincolnshire, all to no avail. Gianno was released to a hidden
location in southern France where he lived, guarded by certain French members
of the Watcher's Council, for the rest of his known life.
Since then, the legend has laid buried and
forgotten in old texts, with rare mentions in the Watchers' diaries, until the
discovery of one of Leollyas’s ancient manuscripts towards the later part of
the nineteenth century by William Nicholas Benton III.
A partial manuscript, this writing
contains directions for the ritual of Leollyas: an apocalyptic ceremony that
requires the blood of Gianno. As the manuscript is only partial, it may be
assumed that it is not the blood of Gianno but rather of one of his offspring
that is required for the fulfillment of the prophecy, and that the ritual
itself may take place only if a full manuscript is found. In the event of the
ritual occurring, it must take place on the night of the full moon that falls
directly before All Saint's Day, three years before the turning of the next
century.
'Oh dear,' Giles raised his head and looked at the clock again. 'That's tonight.' He stood and grabbed the tweed blazer from the back of his chair. 'I'd best find Buffy.'
Forward to Act 1
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Last Updated: 7 December 2002