Act 1
Starring:
Lacey Chabert as Skye Talisker, Elijah Wood as Jeff Lindquist and Rachel Hurd-Wood as Lorinda
Guest Starring:
Mercedes McNab as Harmony Kendall, Michelle Rodriguez as Kadin Van Helsing and Brittany Murphy as Luna
Fade In:
Int.
Bridal Suite – Minutes Later
Harmony was gushing as she got dressed. “I knew it! The second I read those papers in your lawyer’s office, I had a feeling, y’know? A blinding flash of female intuition!”
Luna watched Harmony hungrily from her spot on the sofa. She almost seemed not to be listening.
“That’s what’s been missing from my life! Real friends. Me and Cordelia, we used to be close, but then graduation happened. She moved away. I died. When we got together again, it just wasn’t the same.”
“She didn’t treat you right?” Luna nodded, eyes never leaving the vision of Harmony in her underwear, pulling on stockings.
“Well, she tried. But we were too different by then. Oh well.” Harmony slipped on her dress and began to button it up in front.
“Oh, well,” Luna sighed.
“But you – I could tell you understood!”
“I do. I do!”
“I mean, we both had minions. And they let us down big time!”
“That’s for sure.” For the first time, Luna stopped looking at Harmony with open lust and just nodded in agreement. “Bunch of losers, the lot of them. I planned my revenge for years. I even studied. Read books! But thanks to them, not only did that bitch Dawn get away, they locked me up! In an asylum!” Her voice actually went up an octave.
“Hey, at least that made it easier to break you out.” Harmony grinned and sat down beside her.
“That’s right,” Luna quieted down. “You rescued me.” Her eyes began to burn again. “My hero.” She leaned closer to her friend.
“I knew we were going to get along just great!” Harmony said. She suddenly jumped up. “Oh! I just realized! We have something else in common!”
“What?”
“I kidnapped Dawn Summers too!”
“You did?” Luna squealed. Then her smile vanished. Her voice dropped. “Why?”
Harmony snorted. “Why do you think?” And waited for a reply. Luna said nothing, but the slightest twitch began to appear in her right eye.
“Tell me,” she suggested, quietly. Too quietly.
“As bait, of course! That’s how we were going to lure the Slayer into our trap!” Harmony sat down again, not noticing the sudden wave of relief sweeping over Luna’s body – the unclenching of her fists, the dimming of the fury in her eyes, the return of a smile to her lips. “And it worked, too! She did show up! Only my minions – my chosen ones – they decided my plan wasn’t a good one. They turned on me. I made them and they turned on me. So they weren’t ready when the Slayer did show up. She dusted them all.” Harmony stamped her foot. “Served them right. Boys are so ungrateful.”
“I know,” Luna said, slinking over to Harmony’s side. She put her arms around the vampire.
“It wasn’t fair. My plan would have worked,” she whined.
“Of course it would have. Boys spoil everything.” Luna rocked her.
“Yeah,” Harmony said in a sad tone. “They really do.”
“But that’s okay.”
“Really?”
“Of course. Luna’s here. Luna will always be here.”
Harmony grinned, basking in the attention. “Hey.”
“What?” Luna asked, voice low.
“I’ve got an idea.”
“Do tell.”
With a coquettishness that had taken most of junior high and all of high school to master, Harmony stepped away from Luna. She walked towards the bed. She stopped at its edge. Looked back over her shoulder. Waited.
Luna stopped breathing.
Then…Harmony picked up a pillow and threw it at Luna. Who caught it with a puzzled look.
“Pillow fight!”
“Oh? Oh!” Trying not to sound disappointed, Luna picked up the pillow, which had dropped to the floor. “Um…okay!”
Harmony already had her pillow ready. “Just watch out, missy. I am deadly with these things,” she giggled.
“What are we playing for?” asked Luna, with a sly grin.
Harmony thought about it. Or tried to. She did whatever it was she did instead of thinking for several moments. “Loser has to do whatever the winner says!”
Luna smiled from ear to ear. “You’re on!” And she took a swing with all her might.
Fade In:
Int.
Watchers Council – Coven Room – Same Time
“Okay, how about this one?” Dawn said. and slid a dusty book around to Jeff’s side of the table. The young man quickly scanned the moldy parchment.
“Won’t work,” Jeff said. “This requires the caster to sacrifice his or hers virginity to a Vinda serpent demon in exchange for the soul. Skye already got your cherry.”
“But you could…” Dawn looked hopefully at Jeff.
“Forget it,” he said, going back to his own book. “I’m saving myself for the right girl. I’m not giving it up to a snake, not even for you.”
Dawn sighed and stared off at nothing. Finally she said, “I could ask Andrew.”
“You could ask, but you’re too late,” Jeff mumbled, still not looking up.
“Oh?” Dawn’s face mirrored her confusion, and then cleared with a happy grin. “Oh! Good for them.”
Dawn’s expression turned sad again and Jeff noticed. “What,” he asked.
“I just want Andrew and Tracey to be happy,” Dawn mourned. “And when it comes to relationships, all of us from Sunnydale are cursed.”
“I’d say that’s an exaggeration,” Jeff chided.
“That’s what you think,” Dawn scoffed. “Every one of us has had relationships that ended in disaster.”
Jeff thought for a moment. “Giles and Becca,” he said, snapping his fingers. “They’re happy.”
“Now they are,” Dawn said. “Giles did the smart thing and got out, but the Sunnydale curse screwed him royally with Jenny Calendar and my mom.”
“Giles and your mom?” Jeff said. “I didn’t know that.”
“There was this thing Ethan did,” Dawn explained. “They got happy and then blushed every time they saw each other after that. I think if it wasn’t for Ethan’s chaos spell, they might have hooked up normally, but that’s Sunnydale for you.”
“This is Cleveland,” Jeff pointed out. “Stop feeling so sorry for yourself and do something about your relationship.”
“I thought I was,” Dawn said, pointing to the books strewn around the table.
“Then get back to work and try to find a spell that at least tries to stay within the Wiccan Rede…okay?”
“Okay,” Dawn said, and went back to her book.
Cut To:
Ext.
Cleveland Graveyard – Night
Kennedy kept her eyes trained on the ground as she and Kadin walked along in silence. The slayer’s hands were stuffed deeply in the pockets of her jeans as a cold breeze blew through, causing her to shiver.
Kadin cast a quick glance over at the other woman. “Thought you slayers were supposed to be tough? One little cold breeze and you’re shakin’ like a leaf.”
Kennedy lifted her gaze from her boots with a nervous smile. “Yeah, well, not all of us have spent half our lives on some iceberg in the middle of the Arctic.”
“It was hardly that long,” Kadin replied with a light smile of her own. “‘Sides, I’ve been plenty of hot places too.”
“Like Haiti?”
Kadin glanced over at Kennedy, her smile slowly growing. “You a pretty good listener, huh?”
Kennedy shrugged. “Only when it’s something I wanna hear.”
“Didn’t know my life qualified as interesting or entertaining.”
The slayer looked over at her companion with a light smile. “Well, I happen to think it does. On both accounts.”
Kadin returned the smile before looking away. “Good to know.”
Cut To:
Int.
Watchers Council – Library Same Time
Willow sat in front of her laptop. The sound of rapid typing was the only noise permeating the dark room. Her eyes were scanning the screen, but her look was disinterested.
The redhead finally sighed and pulled the computer closed. She looked over at Rowena, who was sitting in a nearby chair an arms length away, flipping through a book. The watcher closed the cover and seemed to notice the stare. She looked up and her eyes met Willow’s, but neither woman said a word.
Rowena picked up the books she had gathered.
“Time to call it a night. If anyone asks for me I’ll be upstairs,” she told the witch.
Willow nodded and watched as Rowena turned her back and walked from the room.
Cut To:
Int.
Watchers Council – Coven Room – Evening
Andrew pushed a rolling cart through the doors, causing both Dawn and Jeff to jump in their seats at the loud crash.
“Jeez, Andy,” Jeff groused. “Silence is golden, ya know.”
Andrew ignored him and rolled the cart over to their table. He lifted the warming covers and set two plates full of food before them.
“You guys missed dinner,” Andrew said, as he set utensils and napkins in front of them.
“Thanks Andrew,” Dawn said, but continued to read.
Andrew sat down opposite her, folded his hands in front of himself and stared at her intently. After a moment, she finally glanced up from her book and caught his gaze.
“What?”
“Eat,” he said, pointing to her plate.
She glanced at her plate, as if seeing it for the first time, and then mumbled, “Yeah, sure…okay.” She returned to her book, but when Andrew didn’t move, she looked up again.
“What?” she said loudly.
“You need to eat, Dawn,” Andrew insisted. “Ever since…well, let’s just say that you haven’t been eating right lately and your svelte figure is turning gaunt. I’m not leaving until you eat. So…get to it.”
Dawn turned to Jeff to look for support, but found that he was busy eating. He paused for a moment to look up and shrugged. “He’s right, Dawn,” he said. “Besides, this is good. Thanks, Andy.”
“You’re welcome,” Andrew said. He turned pointedly back to Dawn and raised his eyebrows.
“Fine!” she fumed and pushed her book nearly halfway across the table. She picked up her fork and began to shovel food in her mouth, barely taking the time to chew.
Andrew smiled in satisfaction. “So, what are you guys doing?”
“Nothin’,” Dawn and Jeff mumbled, at the same time and in the same tone of voice. They glanced guiltily at each other and then both buried their noses back into their plates.
Andrew looked at them and nodded. “Uh huh,” he said, and then grabbed Dawn’s book.
“No!” Dawn said, unsuccessfully trying to grab it back.
“What are you doing?” Andrew asked as he read the page. “A Quartet of Gypsy Curses?” He glanced at the other books strewn around the table. “Modifying Spells? A Modern Witch’s Approach to Romany Magic?”
“It’s not…” Dawn started.
“And this?” Andrew said, his eyes flashing as he pulled a thick binder toward him. “I recognize this.” He flipped the binder over and revealed the printed cover. “Willow Rosenberg’s Report on the Ensouling of Angelus, AKA Angel. Addendum detailing the second ensouling.”
“Andrew…” Dawn tried to explain.
“This is not a good idea, Dawn,” he said.
“We’re just researching,” Jeff explained. “Playing ‘what if,’ that’s all.”
“Have you spoken to Willow?” Andrew asked, his eyes never leaving Dawn’s face.
“She said no,” Dawn said, almost petulantly.
“With good reason,” Andrew said. “You can’t mess around with this kind of stuff, Dawn. The consequences of magic…”
“Oh I’m sick of hearing about those goddamn consequences!” Dawn yelled, throwing her fork onto her plate with such force it leapt off and onto the floor. “What about the consequences of the woman I love being turned into a vampire against her will? What about the repercussions of my having to spend the rest of my life being in love with a soulless killer? Huh?”
“It’s already happened, Dawn,” Andrew said, standing up and moving around the table toward her. She held up a hand as he approached. “You can’t change what’s happened, but you have no right to meddle in this.”
“Willow did it!” Dawn slammed her hand down on the binder. “Twice! Is she the only one allowed to meddle?”
“What Willow did was sanctioned by the Powers that Be,” Andrew said. “I don’t see Jeff here getting any visions saying it’s okay to shove a soul back into your girlfriend’s body!”
“I don’t see the difference,” Dawn said.
“There is a difference, Dawn,” Jeff said. “Willow was acting as a tool for the Powers.”
“She didn’t know that!” Dawn argued. “How do we know what the Powers want or don’t want?”
“We don’t,” Andrew said. “But we’re Wiccan, remember? We practice the Craft of the Wise…we’re supposed to have the wisdom to do or not to do what’s right.”
Dawn sat back in her chair, her arms folded across her chest. “We’re only human.”
“And Skye’s not,” Andrew said softly, kneeling next to her chair and putting a hand on her thigh in comfort. “Not anymore. And unless we get any kind of messages otherwise, it’s best if we stay out of things that don’t concern us.”
“You gonna tell Willow about this?” Jeff asked warily.
Andrew sat back on his knees and thought for a moment. “No, you’ve only done some harmless research, not actually done anything. Keep it that way.”
“But…”
“No buts, Dawn!” Andrew said firmly. “I catch you doing anything more than just reading a book and I’ll run to Willow.”
“You can’t…” Dawn complained.
“I can,” Andrew said. “As the High Priest of your Coven, I’m ordering you both not to take any action in regards to restoring Skye’s soul that Willow hasn’t signed off on. Is that clear?”
Dawn hesitated.
“Is that clear?” he repeated.
Dawn nodded and Jeff said, “Yes…that’s clear.”
“Good,” Andrew said and retrieved a clean fork from his cart. He placed it next to Dawn’s plate. “Now finish your meal.”
“That an order, too?” Dawn mumbled.
“Harm none, Dawnie,” Andrew said. He returned to his chair, picking up a copy of the daily newspaper. “And that includes yourself…so eat.”
“Yes, my lord,” she said, in a tone that elicited a chuckle from Jeff.
Andrew watched until she picked up her fork, then opened his paper.
Cut To:
Int.
Watchers Council – Rowena’s Apartment – Moments Later
Rowena juggled her books and her keys as she entered her apartment and closed the door behind her. Marco raised her head from the sofa to see what the commotion was about, while Polo made her way over with a soft mew.
“Hey girls.” Rowena greeted them with a smile and set the books on the coffee table. Polo began to do figure eights around her legs. Rowena reached down and picked up the tabby, who proceeded to lick her chin. “You guys hungry?” she asked. The question seemed to get Marco’s attention, who now stood up and gave a lazy stretch. “Let’s go see what we got,” she said, walking toward the kitchen.
Upon arriving, she set Polo on the floor and opened a cupboard. She looked inside and pulled out two cans. “Marinated Tuna or Chicken Hearts?” she asked. Marco finally arrived and reached up to stand on Rowena’s leg on the same side that she held the fish. “Tuna it is,” she told them.
She opened the can and put the food on a plate, placing it on the ground for them. As they began to feast, she walked over to the refrigerator and reached for a bottle of beer. She started to open it but pulled it away to examine it for a moment. Decidedly, she put it back and opened another cupboard. She pulled down a teacup and a tea bag, then turned on her kettle.
“If I become the crazy hermit cat lady, you guys will let me know, right?” she asked the still-feeding cats. Food, however, took a greater priority than lavishing any attention on her at the moment. She grinned softly. “Thanks guys,” she told them. She started to unbutton her shirt and make her way from the room.
Cut To:
Int.
Watchers Council – Library – Same Time
“Hey, Green-eyed Goddess,” Xander called out as he entered the library.
Willow looked up and grinned. “And to what do I owe this unscheduled visit?” she asked.
“I can’t stop by to see one of my bestest buds?” he asked. “My bestest friend of all my friends?”
“Absolutely,” she told him. “Now, tell me what’s wrong?”
Xander smiled. “Nothing. I’m good. But…”
“I knew there was a ‘but’ in there somewhere,” Willow teased.
“But…” Xander continued, “I wanted to see how you’re doing.”
“I’m okay,” she answered. He just looked at her, without saying anything. “Really. I’m not doing cartwheels at the moment and even if I could, I couldn’t do them very well because I’m not that coordinated, but…You know…I’m doing okay.”
Xander didn’t say anything for a moment. “I know how much she means to you Will. That’s why I walked away from trying anything beyond friendship with her.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t have walked away,” Willow muttered. “Maybe she would have been better off with you.”
Xander shook his head. “No, we both know that’s not true…I just wish there was something I could do.”
“There isn’t anything anyone can do. It’s just…sad…Ya know?”
Xander nodded. “You still love her,” he answered.
“Of course I do. A-and I think I kinda get how you felt about Anya…after the wedding. You loved her, still wanted her…I feel the same way about Ro.”
“Well, you didn’t leave her at the altar,” Xander pointed out. “So what gives?”
Willow paused a moment before answering.
“When Giles was here, we weren’t at odds with each other. We didn’t have to be the ones to make decisions that affected so many lives…Things were good, great actually. But this past year…” She shook her head in frustration. “We can’t see eye to eye on most Council business and it’s impossible to come home at night and act like nothing happened during the day. Plus, it’s not like either one of us can just leave and find a new job. This is more than what we do, it’s who we are.”
“What about Al taking over in Cleveland?” Xander suggested.
Willow shook her head again. “She has her own Coven at the England branch and there’s no one here qualified to handle the Coven, not as High Priest or Priestess, not yet. Besides, it’s not that simple anyway.”
“What’s not simple?” he asked. “You love her, she loves you. Case closed.”
“No, that’s only part of the story. The other part is we’ve got…issues – decisions that have been made that I don’t agree with and would never agree with. The night with the Black Ops…that was the final straw, I guess you could say. This camel just can’t haul any more,” she said, motioning to herself.
“So the solution is to walk away, then?”
“I thought you were here to cheer me up?” Willow countered.
Xander held his hands up. “I’m just kicking around ideas – seeing if there’s a solution, that’s all.”
“I have thought about it, Xander, a lot, and I really only had two choices.”
“Which are?”
“Leave now while we’re still speaking, no matter how awkward it might be from time to time, or leave when we can’t stand each other. I didn’t want it to get to that point, and after the Black Ops fiasco it was getting there quickly, at least for me.”
Xander ran a hand over his face. “This sucks,” he muttered.
“You’re telling me, Buster,” Willow said with a melancholy grin. “But it’s not just her. I mean, yeah, I look at her and I think about the dead secretary, but I also look at her and I think I should have done more.”
“I don’t follow you,” he replied.
“I think one of the reasons is, on some level, deep down, I trusted her, and Kennedy too, that everything would be fine. I really didn’t expect them to open fire and, by the time they did, it was too late…I might be the Green-eyed Goddess but, regardless of eye color, even a goddess couldn’t stop that many bullets that soon. But if I’d followed my instincts maybe I could have, I don’t know, turned their bullets into feathers.”
“Feathers?”
“Something non-lethal,” Willow explained. “So not only do I blame myself, but on some level I blame Ro, too…Yeah, she didn’t kill them but…”
“Maybe if she wasn’t your lover you would have put up more of a fight?”
Willow nodded. “Yeah, something like that. I wanted to believe she made the right call to use them…But really, it’s my fault too. A-and being with her reminds me of that…I know that might not make much sense.”
“I think I get it,” he told her. “Vi wasn’t the most trusting after I tried to stab her to save us both…So yeah, I can see the trust issues here for you. And again…this sucks.”
“But chances are you won’t have to stab Vi again. I, on the other hand, will have to go through this situation again and again and again as long as Ro and I are two people calling the shots here. I had to walk away.”
They looked at each other for a moment and Xander took Willow’s hand. She tightened her grip on him in silence.
Cut To:
Ext.
Cleveland Graveyard – Moments Later
A sudden noise from the bushes caught Kennedy’s attention. She cast a quick glance over to the source as she reached into her jacket for her stake.
“Don’t,” Kadin quietly said, reaching out and placing a hand on the slayer’s arm. When Kennedy looked over at her with a raised brow, the hunter just shook her head. “Not a vamp.”
The bushes rustled some more before a squirrel finally came running out and scampered up the nearest tree.
Kennedy looked over at Kadin, clearly impressed. “So much for slayer intuition.”
Kadin just smiled as she dropped her hand away. “Lucky guess.”
The slayer pulled her hand out of her jacket and let it fall away to her side. She watched in silence as the hunter went over to the nearest tombstone and took a seat.
Kadin pulled her crossbow off her hip and began to check it over.
“If you wanted a break, all you had to do was say so.” Kennedy walked over with a smile and took a seat on the tombstone next to Kadin.
The hunter remained quiet for a long moment. “Just waitin’ for you to tell me why we’re really out here.” She finally looked up at Kennedy, her expression completely serious.
Kennedy was quiet as she stared back into her eyes. “So, you know…?”
“I know that we’re not out here just to spend some quality time,” Kadin answered, before turning her attention back to her crossbow.
The slayer dropped her eyes to her boots and let out a slow breath. “It’s a test,” she answered shortly. When she didn’t hear Kadin reply, she cautiously continued. “The rest of the Council doesn’t think you work well as a team with the others. They…they don’t even think you can.” Kennedy paused and chewed on her lip. “It’s my job to prove ’em wrong.”
Kadin finally looked up from her crossbow. She stared out into the darkness before her as she clipped it back onto her waist. “Is that what I am now?”
Kennedy instantly shot her head up and looked over at the other woman.
“What?” Her brow furrowed as she tried to decipher the hunter’s words. “Kadin, no,” she shook her head adamantly. “That’s not what you are at all.”
“Really?” Kadin snapped as she finally brought her gaze back over to meet Kennedy’s. “That why the second your little friends throw a bitch fit, you drag me all the way out here in the freezin’ ass cold just to ‘prove ’em wrong?'”
“Hey, that’s not fair. I–”
“You know what?” Kadin interrupted before she could finish. “Just…save it, Kennedy.” She tore her eyes away from Kennedy’s to stare back out into the darkness. “I can’t believe, after everything we’ve been through that you would…that you could do this to me.”
Kennedy looked completely lost. “Do what?” she asked, a little exasperated. “Kadin, I’m not sure I know what’s goin’ on here. Why are you so upset?”
Kadin’s head whipped around to face Kennedy. Her look was cold and unforgiving. “Are all you slayers this dense?”
Kennedy’s confusion was instantly replaced with anger. “Wait just a damn minute.” She shot to her feet and pointed a finger in Kadin’s face. “I don’t know what crawled up your ass, but that was way outta line.”
“Outta line?” Kadin repeated. “You betray me like this and you actually have the audacity to lecture me on what’s outta line?”
The anger faded from Kennedy’s face in that instant. She gazed down at the other woman as her hand slowly dropped back to her side. “Betray you?” Her brow furrowed and her expression fell. “Kadin, I-I never meant to…betray you.”
“What do you think this is?” Kadin’s tone was harsh, but pleading. “One word from your so called ‘friends,’ and I’m just your next little science project.”
Kennedy was speechless.
“Don’t you get it, Ken?” Kadin asked with a slight shake of her head. “Being someone’s girlfriend, someone’s lover…means more than just great sex and the occasional late night dinner.”
“Kadin, I…” Kennedy tried again, but she couldn’t seem to find the words.
The hunter looked up at the slayer for a long moment before she finally released a sigh and dropped her eyes away. Kennedy started to step forward to reach out to the other woman, but thought better of it and kept their distance.
“We should get movin’,” Kadin said, finally breaking the awkward silence. She stood and glanced over at the slayer.
Kennedy nodded shortly. “Yeah.”
“I’d say we should split up,” Kadin said, a little snidely, “but that’d just blow your little plan all to hell.”
“I don’t have a plan, Kadin,” Kennedy shot back, suddenly becoming annoyed. “This isn’t about me and you. This is about your ability to work as a team and to –”
“To take orders?” The hunter finished coolly. She glanced over her shoulder at the other woman. “You know me better than that, Kennedy. I haven’t taken an order a day in my life.” Kadin adjusted the crossbow on her hip as she brought her stare back in front of her. “I sure as hell ain’t about to start now.”
“Kadin, please,” Kennedy pleaded. She took the few steps forward and placed her hand on the hunter’s shoulder. “It wasn’t my idea. You gotta believe me.” She waited until Kadin turned slightly and met her eyes. “This isn’t about you personally. It’s just…” Kennedy sighed and started again. “The Council is kinda big on the whole ‘team orientated’ thing. There’s a lotta slayers out there now and it’s our job to keep ’em alive long enough to even know what that means.” She dropped her hand away from the other woman’s shoulder and stuffed her hands into the pockets of her jeans. “The girls we get don’t really know what they’re doin’, and I think you know that’s the number one thing that’ll get you killed in this line of work.”
Kadin seemed to waver in her anger. “I get that, Ken. I do,” she nodded. “But there’s one big difference between me and them.”
“Oh yeah?” Kennedy asked with a sigh. “What’s that?”
Kadin slowly slipped her hand down to her thigh and wrapped her fingers around a stake. “I know exactly what I’m doin’.”
She grabbed the stake and pulled it out of the holster. She spun around swiftly and the silver and wooden stake shot out of her hand.
A vampire came stumbling out of the shadows. The demon had his hands wrapped around the stake protruding from his chest as he looked over at the two women. He took another step forward and began to fall.
Before his body hit the ground, he burst into ashes and blew away in the wind. Kadin looked back at Kennedy and smirked.
Kennedy wore a smirk of her own. “Can’t argue there.”
Kadin took a step closer and gave her a grin. “You’re important to the Council, Ken. Like I said, I get it. But I’m not one of the wet behind the ears gals you train. Do we understand each other?”
“Absolutely,” Kennedy agreed.
“Good,” Kadin answered. “Be sure to pass that along to your friends then.” She turned to face the slayer and reached out to place her hands on either of her hips. “Wanna see what else I can do? Something you don’t have to tell your friends about?”
Kennedy chuckled as she placed her hands on Kadin’s forearms and pulled her in.
“Well, this must be my lucky night.” A low, deep voice interrupted the moment just before the women could finish the kiss.
Kadin looked over to the source of the voice, but didn’t break her hold on Kennedy’s hips.
A large, muscle-bound vampire stepped out of the shadows and sneered at the two women. “I was just out lookin’ for a late night snack, and instead, I find myself a slayer-sized meal.”
Kadin broke her hold on Kennedy’s hips and reached down to her thigh for another stake. She eyed the vampire warily as she pulled herself upright with the stake in hand. “Just how I like ’em,” she said, returning his sneer. “Big and stupid.”
She started to charge forward, but Kennedy reached out at the last minute and grabbed her by the arm. “Hey,” the slayer protested with a smile. “Why do you get to have all the fun?”
Kadin grinned at her.
The vampire chuckled. “Well, ain’t that just sweet?” He took a few steps forward and clenched his fists as the smile faded from his face. His glare was trained on the slayer. “You can watch as I rip the beating heart from her chest.”
Kennedy stepped up next to Kadin and snorted. “You and what army?”
Muffled footsteps suddenly could be heard up around the two women. Two, three, then four more figures came out of the shadows, until there were a dozen in all. Each had the distinctive furrowed brows, fanged mouths and golden eyes of the undead.
Every single one was grinning.
Kennedy’s eyes widened slightly. “Oh, that one.”
Black Out
End of Act One