Buffy Meets the Vampire Lestat

Louis wrapped his hands around Lestat's neck, his great strength crushing the man's throat as he pressed him into the wall. Lestat struggled for a moment, getting his hands onto Louis' chest and shoving the vampire away.

Louis flew ten feet backward through the air before he caught himself, reversing his momentum and flying back toward the other vampire. Lestat was coming at him full tilt and they attacked one another, rolling again through the air above the luminous welt in the earth below.

Lestat saw the Scoobies out of the corner of his eye gathered near the circle of the Faithful Order. "You idiots!" he screamed down at the hooded figures. "Get them!"

The minions responded, turning back to the gang, advancing.

"There we go," Faith remarked, hitting one in the face and using her stake to stab it in the back when it fell. "Just give me something to fight!"

"Willow, see if you can make the L'Orax stop the spell," Buffy called as she shoved one of the hooded freaks away with a grimace.

"I think he's already doing it," Willow replied, pointing to Spike walking toward the bubbling vesicle in the earth, his hands raised, his eyes the same color as the festering sore before him.

"I am the L'Orax, I speak for them all,
You cannot awake to the undead's call.
Your slumber continues for wont of a spell.
The wolf is alive— you will burn in hell."

Lestat looked down at the booming words of the L'Orax, loosening his grip on Louis' throat. The dark-haired vampire took advantage of the moment, using his strength to turn the other vampire around and smash him into the wall. Lestat groaned, looking over his shoulder and seeing Oz standing by the railing. He bellowed in rage, straining against the vampire's hold with his own considerable strength.

"Dru!" Lestat's voice carried through the plant. He saw her appear behind the wolf, and he smiled. "Time to play with the puppy!"

Louis glanced back, his focus lost as he saw the female vampire smile and grab the young man by the hair, pulling his head back as her face changed into the beast, her fangs exposed. Lestat turned, shoving at Louis and sending him flying. It was a mistake, he saw it immediately. Louis turned and flew toward Dru and Oz in an attempt to save the man.

"No!" Willow screamed, pointing upward to her boyfriend and tugging Buffy out of a hooded figure's grip. "Oz! No!"

Buffy and Faith were both running for the stairs, taking them two at a time. The minions fell onto Giles, Xander and Willow with a vengeance, sensing their weakness now that both Slayers were gone.

Louis had nearly reached the young man when Dru's teeth sank into Oz's neck. Lestat grabbed Louis' cape, dragging the vampire back, whirling him around and slamming his fist into his face. Louis fell to the ground, shaking his head to clear it. Lestat flew toward Dru and the wolf. If it was the testicles of a werewolf they needed, then a whole wolf would do, he decided.

"Don't kill him, Dru," Lestat panted, glancing down to where Louis was getting up off the floor. "He has to turn wolf."

Buffy and Faith rounded the corner, coming from the stairwell, their feet pounding as they ran. Faith reached the two of them first, lifting both feet in the air and hitting Dru in the side, knocking her back and loosening her hold on Oz. Buffy grabbed the weakened Oz, pushing him behind her. Lestat flew toward them, hopping over the railing and landing in front of Buffy. He grinned at her.

"Have you seen my doggie?" he asked. "I seem to have lost him."

"I'm animal rescue," Buffy told him. She stepped forward, flipping a stake out of her belt. Lestat looked at it and threw his head back with a loud, long laugh.

"Normally, I'd enjoy such a dance, but today I just don't have time," he replied, lifting his hand toward her. An invisible force pressed Buffy against the wall, choking her. Oz watched, wide-eyed, and he looked over to where Faith was fighting with Dru. She had the female vampire against the railing and was pulling a stake out of her belt.

"Faith!" Oz called and the Slayer turned, giving Dru the chance to run, and she did, down the stairs, and into the night. Faith rushed to help Buffy, rushing toward them with her stake drawn. Lestat saw her out of the corner of his eye, raising his other hand and stopping her cold, her face caught in a snarl, the stake in her hand on a trajectory with Lestat's heart.

Behind him, Louis rose into the air, grabbing Lestat by the neck from behind and choking him. Buffy and Faith were immediately freed and they fell to the ground.

"You ok, Faith?" Buffy gasped, rubbing her throat.

"Five by five, Bee," the other Slayer replied, bouncing to her feet and reaching for the vampire.

Lestat twisted in Louis' hold, shoving at him and sending him flying again through the air. Buffy and Faith both lunged for him, but Lestat grabbed Oz by the neck and flew off, hovering over the throbbing boil below.

"Oz!" Willow screamed, raising her hands, her eyes going dark. She wasn't going to let anything happen to him. She gathered her strength to do a spell.

Spike looked up, his eyes a fiery blaze, and shouted:

"I am the L'Orax, I command Gaia's breed,
You will feel her wrath, you will not succeed.
Align all the powers, North, West, South and East,
Turn this poor soul into man-eating beast!"

Oz began his change, his features quickly turning from human to feral. Lestat was suddenly holding a raging wolf, its eyes glowing yellow, its teeth bared and going for his throat.

"Hey, thanks!" Lestat called to Spike, grinning as he let go of the wolf and watched it drop toward the light.

Willow shoved one of the hooded henchmen aside, still whispering her spell. The werewolf stopped in mid-air, suspended above the crater below. Louis flew forward and grabbed the snarling wolf, tossing him toward the group who were still fighting with Xander, Giles, and Willow.

Then he flew straight up and grabbed Lestat by the throat while the older vampire was growling in frustration and attempting to get to the wolf. The two vampires tumbled through the air over and over, tearing at each other and snarling.

Buffy and Faith jumped over the railing into the fray.

"Have a nice half-life," Xander remarked, watching a hooded figure fall onto its back under assault from Buffy's left hook.

Faith came out swinging hard, her own left hook nothing to be messed with. She took out one of the minions who had Willow in his grasp, using her knee against the side of his head and stomping her boot onto the hooded figure's neck, snapping it.

"Pop goes the weasel," Faith said as she gave Willow a hand up.

The wolf was doing better than any of them at taking down the hooded figures, tearing out their throats with one fatal rent. He saw the toady pummeling Willow and jumped onto it, rolling it off of her and grabbing the back of its neck in his powerful jaws, shaking it hard until he heard the neck snap.

For every one that they took down, another took its place, coming from the chanting circle to join the fight. Above them, Lestat and Louis fought hard, slamming each other into the walls hard enough to shake the earth under their feet.

Then they all heard the sound of the L'Orax, a high-pitched whine that pierced their eardrums. The same light that had glowed in his eyes since the possession began to envelop Spike until he became the radiant light with only a faint outline of the vampire beneath.

"I am the L'Orax, I speak for the Earth
Hear me, oh demon, for what it is worth
Your power is vast but you cannot come out
Your time here is past, of that there's no doubt.

I sing to you now, in a voice clear and deep,
Of the beings on Earth, and the secrets they keep.
They know not what they do, the mean no real harm.
There is no need for you to sound the alarm.

Sleep, Chur N'Byl, take your power and go,
Back to your slumber in your home down below,
You are not needed, there's nothing to reap,
Lay down your head and go back to sleep."

The gang stood with their hands over their ears, the voice coming from the vampire echoing loudly in the vast space. They watched in amazement as one by one, the remaining hooded figures turned toward the weeping lesion in the earth and jumped into the light, following each other like lemmings.

"Nooooo!" Lestat wailed above them, watching the Faithful Order committing suicide one by one. Louis held him back as he struggled.

"It's over, Lestat," he told the blonde vampire. "You have failed."

"I will kill you." Lestat turned to Louis, his blue eyes blazing in his skull. "You have long stood in my way, with all your talk of humanity and love."

Lestat spat blood and then turned to his old friend, putting his hands on his shoulders and pleading with him. "Louis, don't you understand? I tried to save them. I called legions of vampires over the world to try to stop the harm they are doing to themselves. They are like children. Worse—they are lower than any animal I know. They sleep and live and breathe their own feces day in and day out. And they call us the undead!"

Louis' eyes softened as he looked at his sire. "It is not in our control, Lestat."

"I can't exist this way!" Lestat cried, and Louis saw tears of blood in his eyes that made slow, red trails down his cheeks. "These humans are going to destroy the planet, themselves, everything! Do you want to exist among them?"

Louis looked down at the fading light below them. The last hooded figure was jumping to his doom, and the hole seemed to be closing, healing itself.

"No," Louis sighed. "I do not." He grabbed Lestat around the waist, holding the vampire close and sinking his teeth into his neck. Lestat screamed as Louis dove toward the shrinking hole below, aiming for its luminescent center. They plunged down together, Lestat kicking and pulling and pushing, but Louis' teeth were stuck fast.

The gang watched as the hole swallowed them up, the rift in the earth closing behind them.

Willow edged toward Oz, who was still in werewolf form, whining on the ground at the high-pitched sound of the L'Orax.

"Come back to me," she whispered, stroking the wolf's fur. She touched the talisman around his neck, and Oz began to reappear, bit by bit, until he was lying naked on the ground. Relieved, she kissed him, blinking back tears.

"Will?" Buffy asked, averting her eyes from Oz's nude body as she squatted next to the couple. Willow took off her long jacket and gave it to him, helping him put it on.

Buffy's eyes were worried. "Did you read anywhere in the spell books on how we get the L'Orax demon out of Spike after it's all over?"

Willow stood, shading her eyes as she looked at Spike's brilliant form.

"Well, if not, he'll make a great night light," Xander quipped.

"If I remember correctly," Giles said. "Elemental demons depart after they have completed the task they have been summoned for."

Spike walked toward them, the light around him already beginning to fade. He stopped in front of Willow, who stood to look at his still-glowing eyes.

"I am the L'Orax, I have completed my task.
If you want me again, you just need to ask.
Please take care of the earth, pick up your mess.
I will leave you with just one last word: Unless."

The light faded from Spike's eyes and he shook his head, blinking. "Buffy?" He turned to the Slayer, smiling when he saw the relief in her eyes that he was once again himself.

"Poor Peter," Giles said softly, looking at the body of the man slumped against the wall.

"What's his story?" Faith asked.

Giles sighed. "He was a man once. I knew him when he was young—before he became possessed by the demon."

"He was a man again tonight," Oz told them, explaining the man's thwarting of the spell, and how he had saved the young werewolf's life.

Giles smiled, looking pleased and a little sad. "Perhaps anyone can be redeemed."

"Maybe," said Buffy, her eyes meeting Spike's. Her face softened, and so did his.

The gang turned, Willow helping the weakened Oz as they walked out into the night. The stars were bright, the air crisp and cool. They were quiet as they made their way back to the van, crunching the gravel under their feet as they walked.

"Hey, Will?" Xander asked as Willow helped Oz into the van. The witch turned to her friend. "How long does this horny goatweed effect last?"

Her eyes widened and she glanced down at his crotch, blushing when she saw the clear outline of his erection. "I don't know. Why?"

Xander grinned as he helped her into the van. "I just wanted to know how fast I should drive home."