Dark Moon: Pt One - Waxing Moon

She was silent, motioning for Buffy and Faith to move closer. Faith started to move closer, but Buffy quickly stopped her.

“It’s probably Drusilla; she plays mind tricks to bait her victims,” Buffy whispered frantically, “It’s probably a trap; Ciorstaidh is dead.”

“I think it’s her ghost,” Faith whispered back, “I think she wants to help us.”

“How can we be sure?”

Faith looked Buffy, the seriousness of the matter reflected in her eyes. “Really, what do we have to lose?” Faith whispered, “Cover my back, I’ll check it out.”

Faith walked forth with confidence in her stride, strutting in her typical manner. Ciorstaidh smiled, and reached up with her hand and gently ran her fingers across Faith’s brow. Faith stiffened momentarily, but made no move to run as Ciorstaidh’s lips moved to form silent words.

Puzzled, Faith turned to face Buffy, not realising the mark that Ciorstaidh had imparted upon her. Glowing with a pale white light all its own, the form of a crescent moon had been placed upon her brow. It had been positioned to sit like the letter ‘U’. Seeing where Buffy’s eyes were locked, Faith lifted a hand to her brow, and gently touched the area, feeling its warmth.

“Agrotera,” Faith whispered, “Artemis the Huntress.”

“Are you ok, Faith?” Buffy asked, not wanting to admit how scared she had suddenly become.”

“I feel strong.”

Buffy took a deep breath, knowing that the apparition was likely a piece of the puzzle that made up the prophecy. She stepped up to Ciorstaidh, who greeted her with a warm smile. Once again, she moved her lips as though to speak, but no sounds came forth.

Ciorstaidh lifted her hand, and gently stroked Buffy’s brow with her fingers, the same way that she had done to Faith. It felt so cold, more like a cold breeze than the touch of someone she had once known. There was even more warmth in Angel’s cold fingers, Buffy noted grimly.

She let her hand fall back down to her side, but a residual coldness remained on Buffy’s forehead. It grew and spread, turn first warm, then almost hot. She felt... different. Faith was right, she did feel stronger.

“Thdeemonas Feelakas,” she said, not feeling the words leave her lips or knowing where they had come from, “Hekate the Sorceress.”

Somehow, she knew what even the Greek words she had spoken meant.

Demon Keeper.

Hekate was a dark goddess who ruled in the underworld. It was she who freed the Demons at night to allow them to walk among the mortals.

So why would she want to help the Slayers stop the Demons?

Suddenly she knew. Kxynthaion.

Kxynthaion was trying to come back, and he wasn’t allowed.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

“Giles!” Willow’s frantic voice came over the telephone, “Buffy and Faith are gone!”

“What do you mean gone? I thought you were having a sleep over last night.”

As always, Giles was a voice of reason in a tumultuous ocean of panic.

“We were,” Willow rushed on in a panicked voice, “But this morning something weird happened... A dog started scratching at Buffy’s door, and she tried to wake Amy and me up, and we were awake, but we couldn’t move... but she thought we were still sleeping! I heard her talking... they were going to follow the dog, and now Amy and I can move, but Buffy and Faith are gone!”

“Oh dear God,” Giles breathed, “The prophecy has already begun.”

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

It puzzled Buffy to no end how Ciorstaidh could be standing before her one moment, then vanish completely the next. Like Faith had said, it likely was her ghost, fulfilling her last obligation prior to seeking eternal rest.

The only external sign that Ciorstaidh had even been there with them was the pale crescent moon on Faith’s forehead, and the identical, though inverted version on Buffy’s brow. However, even those were quickly fading from sight. Taking a deep breath, Buffy took the lead in the journey down the rest of the tunnel to where their destiny awaited them. Faith followed closely behind, ready to take on whatever might be thrown her way.

The tunnel ended and opened into a large, high-ceiling room, which consisted almost completely of natural rock formations. Light danced along the walls from rows of torches fastened by ornate brackets. The room itself was alive with motion as several hundred Vampires moved among each other, conversing and drinking from chalices filled with blood.

“Oh wow,” said Faith breathlessly, “I’ve never seen anything like this in my whole life.”

“It’s like the Feast of St. Vigeous all over again,” Buffy replied.

“The what of what?” asked Faith.

“I’ll fill you in later.”

“Ya, I’ll be sure to add it to my list.”

No one seemed to be aware of the two Slayers watching from the entranceway. Or perhaps it was that they couldn’t care if two measly humans attempted to stop them; the Slayers were hugely outnumbered.

“Ok,” Buffy finally said, “One of us is going to have to make the first move...”

“That’ll be me,” said Faith quickly, jumping into the open with her crossbow readied.

“Hey guys,” Faith said loudly, immediately attracting the attention of almost every Vampire in the room, “I heard there was a party, but no one bothered to invite me. So what gives?”

One Vampire stepped forward, and Faith immediately recognised him as having worked for Mayor Wilkins. “We heard you were working for the Slayer now that you’re back,” he spit, “We don’t need humans like you to crash our gathering.”

Faith swaggered confidently among Vampires, until she stood in front of the Vampire who had just spoken.

“First of all, how do you know that this just wasn’t a ruse to get Buffy in here,” she said, her voice icy calm, “After all, she did murder my boss, and put me into a coma.”

Buffy began to fidget once Faith had effectively pointed her out to the entire crowd. Slivers of doubt began to penetrate the confidence she had in Faith. What if the whole deal had been a charade?

“I’m sure at least some of you are getting a little thirsty for some Slayer-blood,” she said offhandedly, causing several to lick their lips in anticipation.

“Always...” the Vampire replied hungrily, as he and several others began moving towards Buffy.

“Oh, and secondly, about the Slayer,” Faith mentioned, as though it was an afterthought, “I am the Slayer.”

With that, she quickly brought the crossbow up and let a bolt fly, instantly dusting the Vampire with which she had been speaking.

“Good ole Faith,” thought Buffy with relief, “I guess I can count on her after all.”

Buffy’s relief didn’t last long, however, as she was quickly engaged into a full-fledged battle. Vampires came at her from all directions, and she worked quickly to dispatch them with her stake. When too many got too close at once, she pulled out her crucifix and bottles of holy water, which she used as grenades, causing several Vampires to squeal in pain as they backed away.

Faith was managing to hold her own for the moment, having dispatched eight Vampires with the crossbow, and still having half a dozen bolts left. Unfortunately, there were a lot more than just six Vampires left.

She was grabbed violently from behind, and although she couldn’t turn to face her attacker, Faith was able to twist her body enough that she could plunge the bolt she held in her hand in a stake-like fashion into the beast’s chest, causing him to turn into dust and her to fall on the floor, where she was in a much more vulnerable position. When one female Vampire attempted to skewer her with her high heel shoe, Faith rolled out the way, only to be kicked by another Vampire. She grunted in pain, but managed to rise back to her feet and land a couple of punches on the offending creature.

“Bastard!” she spit, “Just like a Demon to kick you when you’re down.”

Only a few feet away, Buffy was landing some punches of her own on another pair of Vampires. For a couple of moments, it seemed as though perhaps she and Faith weren’t quite so outnumbered as they had thought. But slowly, the two girls got pushed back, and eventually cornered.

“I thought we were supposed to get some super-powers or something from Artemis and Hekate,” Faith whispered loudly.

“The prophecy never said anything about that,” Buffy whispered back, “We’d better think of something quick, or we’re going to become Vampire bait!”

The Vampires moved in, and despite the skilled sparring of the two Slayers, the Vampires grabbed them and pulled them to the opposite wall, where they were shackled. Buffy and Faith were defenceless, and Buffy was just waiting for one of the Vampires to sink his or her teeth into her tender flesh.

But that didn’t happen.

Instead, a very pretty dark-haired female with golden skin stepped forth. She looked to be in her early thirties, and was dressed in a very simple white linen dress, which Buffy guessed to possibly be Egyptian in origin. Buffy sensed that as a Vampire, she was probably very old, possibly older than the Master and the oldest Vampire she had met to date.

“I am C’Patra, daughter of Ptolemy,” she spoke, with a hint of steel in her firm voice, “Although you were not formally invited here today, and despite the fact that you have disrupted our gathering and murdered members of my family, I do welcome you.”

“Gee, thanks,” Buffy said sarcastically.

C’Patra’s eyes flashed yellow, then she continued, “The two of you will fulfil a prophecy tonight, one that I have waited for over two thousand years. You will feed our God when he returns to our realm.”

“I don’t believe that was in our version of the prophecy,” Buffy shot back.

C’Patra smirked, and said, “Don’t worry, you won’t have long to wait now. As soon as the last sliver of the moon vanishes, Kxynthaion will rise once more, and we will reclaim what is rightfully ours!”

“Listen, lady,” Buffy cut in, irritated, “I’ve heard it all before. And I’ve already dealt with Acathla, so there isn’t a whole lot that you can throw at me that’ll surprise me. So can you just get on with whatever’s going to happen?

“Who’s Acathla?” asked Faith.

“It’s a long story. I’ll fi-”

“Right,” Faith cut in, “You’ll fill me in later.”

C’Patra let her eyes drift heavenward, and a strange smile began to spread across her lips.

“It’s almost time.”

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

“If anything, they’re going to gather as close to the Hellmouth as possible,” Giles said, jabbing a map of Sunnydale with his index finger, “So we’re looking at somewhere very close to the school.”

“And just when I thought my school days were over,” quipped Xander, resulting in a much deserved look from Willow.

“Ok, so this isn’t the most intelligent question I’ve ever asked,” said Oz, “But how exactly can we help them? I have the scary feeling there is so much more to this prophecy than what we know.”

“The same feeling has been nagging at the back of my mind as well,” confirmed Giles, “But there doesn’t seem to be anything in my books that provides more details.”

“So I guess we can just go and kick some Vampire hiney,” said Xander, adding, “If we can find them, that is.”

“That may be where we run into a bit of a problem,” sighed Giles.

“Well,” Willow cut in, “I know I’m going to my darndest to find her. If anyone else wants to come with me, you’re more than welcome to join me.”

She paused, then said sheepishly, “Which basically means I really want you to come with me because I don’t want to do this on my own.”

“Understandably,” replied Oz.

“So what are we waiting for? Let’s go!”