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Reptile Boy

Prologue

Buffy, Willow and Xander spend an evening in her room watching a Hindi movie on TV. Willow sits on the floor leaning against Buffy’s bed, while Buffy and Xander lie on it. Buffy is braiding Willow’s hair.

Xander looks at the girl on the TV dancing, and singing into a telephone. “Is she dying?”

“I think she’s singing,” says Buffy.

“To a telephone in Hindi. Now that’s entertainment!” says Xander. “Why is she singing?”

Willow takes a sip from the drink box in her hand. “She’s sad because her lover gave her twelve gold coins, but then the wizard cut open the bag of salt, and now the dancing minions have no place to put their big maple… fish thing.”

“Uh, huh,” says Xander. “Why is she singing?”

“Her lover?” asks Buffy. “I thought that was her chiropractor.”

“Because of that thing he did with her feet?” asks Willow. “No, that was personal.

“And we thought just because we didn’t have any money or anyplace to go this would be a lackluster evening,” says Xander.

“I, for one, am giddy and up,” says Buffy. “There’s a kind of hush all over Sunnydale. No demons or vampires to slay, I’m here with my friends…” She looks back at the TV. “So, how does the water buffalo fit in again?”

A girl breaks through a second story window to escape from a large house. She jumps to the ground and starts to run, chased by several guys wearing hooded robes.

They chase her across the yard. She climbs over a wall into the cemetery. She runs between the gravestones, looking back over her shoulder at the three guys chasing her. She doesn’t see the one who got ahead of her, and she runs right into him.

He grabs hold of her. “Callie! Callie! Where are you going? The party’s just getting started.” He hands her over to the other three guys who were chasing her, and they drag her away.

Act I

Cordelia talks with one of her friends in the school hallway about what she has read in a magazine about dating guys. “Dr. Debi says when a man is speaking you make serious eye contact, and you really, really listen, and you laugh at everything he says.” She demonstrates with a very fake laugh.

Buffy comes down the stairs with Willow. She’s telling Willow about her latest dream about Angel.

“Was it one of those vivid dreams where you could feel his lips and smell his hair?” asks Willow.

“It had surround sound,” says Buffy. “I’m just thinking about him so much lately.

“You two are so right for each other,” says Willow. “Except for the, uh…”

“Vampire thing,” says Buffy. That is a major stumbling block. Buffy knows that she can’t have a relationship with Angel.

“Not during the day,” says Willow. “But you could ask him for coffee some night. It’s the non-relationship drink of choice. It’s not a date, it’s a caffeinated beverage. Okay, sure, it’s hot and bitter like a relationship that way, but…”

Xander catches up with them. “What’s like a relationship?”

“Nothing I have,” says Buffy.

The group passes by Cordelia and her friend, and Xander stops to eavesdrop.

“There’s really no comparison between college men and high school boys,” says Cordy. She looks at Xander. “I mean, look at that.”

“So, Cor, you’re dating college boys?” asks Xander.

“Not that it’s any of your business, but I happen to be dating a Delta Zeta Kappa.” Cordy preens her hair.

“Oh! An extra-terrestrial,” says Xander. “So that’s how you get a date after you exhausted all the human guys.”

“You’ll go to college someday, Xander,” says Cordy. “I just know your pizza delivery career will take you so many exciting places.”

Xander is lost for a comeback, so he retreats from Cordelia and her friend to rejoin Buffy and Willow. The class bell rings, and Buffy remembers that she was supposed to meet Giles in the library ten minutes ago. She doesn’t think that he’ll mind though. There hasn’t been much paranormal activity lately.

She’s wrong.

“Just because the paranormal is more normal and less…para of late is no excuse for tardiness or letting your guard down,” says Giles after she shows up late. Buffy doesn’t think she’s letting her guard down, but Giles doesn’t believe her. “You yawned your way through weapons training last week.” He walks around the library table she is sitting on. “You skipped hand-to-hand entirely. Are you going to be ready if a demon springs up behind you and does this?” He swings his arm at her from behind.

Buffy catches Giles’ arm without even looking, grabs it and twists it around behind his back.

“Yeah, well, I’m not a demon,” says Giles. “Which is why you should let go now.”

Despite Buffy’s evident preparedness Giles still thinks that she should be using this quiet time as an opportunity to step up her training. They never know when a fresh hell is going to break loose.

“And the little slice of life that still belongs to me from, I don’t know, seven to seven-oh-five in the morning, can I do what I want then?” asks Buffy. “Taking on the undead doesn’t exactly do wonders for your social life.”

“That’s exactly where, where being different comes in handy,” says Giles.

“Right!” says Buffy. “Who needs a social life when you’ve got your very own Hellmouth?”

Giles misses Buffy’s sarcasm. “Yes! You have a duty, a purpose, you have a commitment in life. Now how many people your age can say that?”

“We talking foreign or domestic?” asks Buffy. “How about none?”

“Well, here’s a hard fact of life. We all have to do things we don’t like! And you have hand-to-hand this afternoon and patrol tonight. So I suggest you come straight here at the end of period six and you get your homework done. And don’t dawdle with your friends.”

Buffy starts to pout at him.

“And don’t think sitting there pouting is going to get to me, because it won’t.”

Buffy continues to pout.

“It’s not getting to me.”

Buffy dawdles with her friends after classes on the front steps of the school. Cordelia bumps into Willow on her way down the stairs. She is in a hurry to meet the black BMW with dark tinted windows which has just pulled up in front of the school.

The driver’s window rolls down and Cordelia says hello to her new college boyfriend Richard. He’s the guy who caught Callie in the cemetery last night. There’s another guy in the car with him.

Richard is there to invite Cordelia to a little get together they are having at their fraternity house. “It’s going to be a really special evening.”

Cordelia follows Dr. Debi’s advice, and laughs.

Richard wonders what she’s laughing at. “Excuse me?”

“I would, I would love, love to go!” says Cordy.

Richard has spotted Buffy sitting at the top of the stairs. He asks who she is. Cordelia tells him she’s no one of consequence.

“She’s amazing!” says the guy sitting in the passenger seat.

Richard asks Cordelia to introduce them to her.

Cordy reluctantly goes to get Buffy from where she is talking with Willow and Xander. Xander is suggesting that they get together again for another night of Indian TV. Buffy doesn’t really want to meet any of Cordy’s college friends, but Cordy insists, and drags Buffy back toward the car.

Richard has gotten out of his car. “Hi, sweetheart. I’m Richard. And you are?”

“So not interested.” Buffy turns away.

Cordelia grabs Buffy to keep her from leaving. “Oh, she’s such a little comedienne.”

“What, she likes to play hard to get?” asks Richard.

“No, Richard,” says his friend, who has gotten out of the car too. “I think you’re playing easy to resist.”

Buffy starts to leave again, and the other guy follows along after her. “Feel free to ignore him. I do all the time. I’m Tom Warner. I’m a senior at Crestwood College, and I just feel like a complete dolt meeting you this way, so…here I stand in all my doltishness.”

Xander and Willow are still at the top of the stairs, watching this. Xander is not impressed with Tom’s line. “Right! Like she’s going to fall for that.”

Buffy seems to have a higher opinion of Tom’s line. They chat for a bit, and Tom invites Buffy to come to their party too. Buffy tells him she can’t come. She’s kind of involved with someone.

Giles shows up at the top of the stairs, calls out to Buffy, and points at his watch.

Buffy tells Tom it was nice talking to him, but she’s got to go. She retrieves her bag from Xander, and follows after Giles. Tom watches her go.

“I hate these guys.” Xander tells Willow. “Whatever they want just falls into their laps. Don’t you hate these guys?”

“Yeah,” says Willow. “With their charmed lives and their movie star good looks and more money than you can count? I’m hating.”

Giles steps out of the library cage armed with a sword in one hand and a wooden staff in the other. “I’m going to attack you. A word of warning for your own good. I won’t be pulling any punches.”

“Please don’t,” says Buffy.

Giles lunges at Buffy. She kicks the sword out of his hand. He swings the staff at her. Buffy dodges it, grabs Giles’ arm and forces the staff down to the floor and stomps on it with her foot. The staff breaks.

Giles recovers and lunges at Buffy with the broken end of the staff. She steps aside and Giles goes sprawling across the library table.

“Good,” says Giles. “So, um, you’re on patrol and, uh, I’ll see you in the morning.”

Buffy’s patrol takes her through the cemetery where Richard captured Callie. She notices something on the ground and bends down to pick it up. It’s a broken ID bracelet, with the letters “ENT” on it.

“There’s blood on it,” says Angel.

Buffy spins around and sees him. “Hi! Blood?”

“I can smell it.”

Buffy examines the bracelet more closely. From its size she figures that it probably belonged to a girl. Angel agrees.

“I was just thinking, wouldn’t it be funny some time to see each other when it wasn’t a blood thing,” says Buffy. “Not funny ha-ha.”

“What are you saying?” asks Angel. “You want to have a date?”

Buffy tries to tell him that wasn’t what she was talking about.

“Right. You just want to have coffee or something,” says Angel. “I knew this was going to happen. You don’t know what you’re doing, you don’t know what you want—”

“Oh, no,” says Buffy. “I think I do. I want out of this conversation.” She tries to walk away from him.

“Listen,” says Angel. “If we date, you and I both know one thing’s going to lead to another.”

Buffy thinks it is already too late to start worrying about that, but Angel is afraid that things could get out of control.

“Isn’t that the way it’s supposed to be?” asks Buffy.

Angel grabs Buffy by the shoulders. “This isn’t some fairy tale. When I kiss you, you don’t wake up from a deep sleep and live happily ever after.”

“No,” says Buffy. “When you kiss me I want to die.”

Cordelia intercepts Buffy next day as she is getting out of class. “Buffy! Did you lose weight? And your hair…Alright, I respect you too much to be dishonest. The hair’s a little…Well, that really isn’t the point here, is it?”

Cordelia comes to her point. According to Richard the Zeta Kappas have to have a certain balance at their parties. He explained it all to her, but she was too busy really listening to understand it. He has told Cordelia that she can’t come to the party unless she brings Buffy.

“And I’m talking about Richard Anderson, okay?” says Cordy. “As in Anderson Farms, Anderson Aeronautics and Anderson Cosmetics. Well, you see why I have to go. Buffy, these men are rich. And I am not being shallow. Think of all the poor people I could help with all my money!”

“I’ll go,” says Buffy.

Cordelia is somewhat surprised that Buffy has given in so easily. “You’ll go? Great! I’ll drive. Oh, Buffy, it’s like we’re sisters! With really different hair.”

Richard swears in a new member in the Delta Zeta Kappa fraternity’s basement. While the new brother takes his oath to serve their master, Machita, Richard makes a cut in his chest with the tip of a sword. After the ceremony is over the assembled members of the fraternity break out the beer.

While his fraternity brethren celebrate Richard walks over to Callie, who’s chained to the wall. “So what’s a girl like you doing in a place like this?” He pops open a can of beer.

“Please, Let me go,” begs Callie.

“Let you go? Okay, let me think. Um, no!” Richard laughs. “God, I love high school girls.” He goes back to join the celebrations.

Act II

Buffy meets with Willow and Xander in the student lounge. She tells them that she’ll be going to Zeta Kappa party after all. Willow asks what changed her mind.

“Angel,” says Buffy.

Willow is thrilled. “He’s going with you? She’s got a date with Angel!” she says to Xander. “Isn’t that exciting?”

“I’m elated,” says Xander.

“I’m not going with Angel,” says Buffy. “I’m going with—egads—Cordelia.” She starts to leave the lounge.

“Cordelia?” Willow turns to Xander. “Did I sound a little jealous just then, ’cause I’m not really…” She chases after Buffy. “Cordelia?”

Xander follows after them. “Cordelia’s much better for you than Angel.”

Willow wonders what happened with Angel to make Buffy change her mind. Buffy tells her that a whole lot of nothing happened with Angel. “Angel barely says two words to me, and when he does, he treats me like I’m a child. You know, at least Tom can carry on a conversation.”

“Yeah!” says Xander. “Tom? Who’s Tom?”

“The frat guy,” says Willow.

This suddenly sounds a lot less good to Xander. “Oh, Buffy, I don’t think so. Frying pan, fire? You know what I’m saying.”

Giles practices alone with his sword in the library. “Will you be ready if a vampire’s behind you?” He spins around to stab at an imaginary attacker behind him. He sees Buffy, Willow and Xander who have just come through the doors. “I didn’t see you three…creeping about.” He tosses his sword into the book cage.

Buffy shows them all the broken bracelet. It looks familiar to Willow.

Buffy tells them about the blood on it.

Giles takes a closer look, he can’t see any blood.

“Angel showed up,” says Buffy. “He could smell it.”

“The blood?” asks Xander. “There’s a guy you want to party with.”

“Blood,” says Giles.

“In Sunnydale,” says Willow. “What a surprise.”

Xander quickly proposes a plan of action: Buffy will patrol while the rest of them try and figure out who the bracelet belonged to. Giles thinks this sounds like a good plan, but Buffy vetoes it. She isn’t available for patrol tonight.

“Buffy,” says Xander, “this is a little more important than—”

Buffy cuts Xander off. “I’ve got a mountain of homework to do, and my mom’s not really feeling well, and she could probably use my help, and, um, to be truthful I’m not really feeling all that well myself.”

Giles agrees that if Buffy isn’t feeling well she should stay in. Buffy tells them she’ll do a quick sweep early in the evening, but for the bulk of the night she’ll be home with her mother.

Willow and Xander catch up with Buffy in the hallway outside the library. Buffy notices the looks they are giving her. “Well, say it,” she tells Xander.

“I’m not going to say it,” says Xander.

“You lied to Giles,” says Willow.

“’Cause she will.”

Buffy doesn’t think of it as lying. She was just protecting Giles from information he wouldn’t be able to digest properly.

“Like you don’t have a sick mother,” says Willow, “but you’d rather go to a frat party where there’s going to be drinking and older guys and probably an orgy.”

“Whoa! rewind,” says Xander. “Since when do they have orgies, and why aren’t I on the mailing list?”

“There’s no orgies!” says Buffy.

Willow isn’t so sure. She’s heard that a lot of wild things go on at frat parties.

“Okay, you know what?” says Buffy. “Look, seven days a week I am busy saving the world. Once in a great while I want to have some fun. And that’s what I’m going to have tonight. Fun!”

“This isn’t about fun,” says Cordelia. She and Buffy are sitting together at a table in the lounge. “This is about duty. Your duty to help me achieve permanent prosperity.” She has a list of does and don’ts for Buffy, mainly regarding her wardrobe. “And don’t do that weird thing with your hair.”

“What weird thing with my—”

“Don’t interrupt,” says Cordy. “Do be interested if someone should speak to you. It may or may not happen, but do be polite. And laugh at the appropriate intervals.” She demonstrates with her fake laugh. “Do lie to your mom about where we’re going. It’s a fraternity, and there will be drinking.”

Willow and Xander come into the lounge. Xander asks Cordy if she’s going to be handing out her business cards, or just going with the halter top.

“Oh, are we feeling a little envious?” asks Cordelia. “You could belong to a fraternity of rich and powerful men. In the bizarro world.”

“Do you guys want to join us?” Buffy asks Willow and Xander. Xander doesn’t think so. He has to digest and all. He and Willow leave Buffy and Cordelia and go sit on one of the lounge sofas together.

“Makeup, makeup…” Cordy looks at Buffy. “Well, give it your all, and keep to the shadows. We’re going to have a blast!”

Buffy drops her head onto the table.

“I can’t believe she lied to Giles.” Willow tells Xander. “My world is all askew.”

“Buffy’s lying, Buffy’s going to frat parties,” says Xander. “That’s not askew, that’s cockeyed.”

“Askew means cockeyed.” Willow figures there’s nothing they can do about it though, so they will help Giles.

Xander has a different plan. He’s going to the party. He’s worried about Buffy, the frat guys creep him out. He is also hoping to catch the orgy, if it’s on early.

Buffy and Cordy arrive at the Delta Zeta Kappa fraternity house in Cordy’s car. Cordy’s parking technique involves stopping after she has hit the car in front of her. “Why do they have to park so darn close to you?” she complains to Buffy. She checks her hair in the rear view mirror and asks Buffy if she’s ready.

Buffy is starting to have second thoughts. She isn’t sure if this is a good idea.

“Me too!” says Cordy. “Let’s go!”

The Delta Zeta Kappa party is in full swing. Buffy and Cordelia are met by Richard at the door, and he hands each of them a drink.

Buffy looks at hers a little dubiously and asks if there’s alcohol in it.

“Just a smidge,” says Richard.

Buffy sets the drink aside.

“I understand,” says Richard. “When I was your age I wasn’t into grownup things either. Have you seen our multi-media room?” he asks Cordy.

“Oh, the one with the cherry walnut paneling and the two forty-eight inch televisions on satellite feed? No. Want to show me?”

Richard wonders about Buffy, but Cordy tells him that she’s happiest by herself and leads Richard away, leaving Buffy standing alone.

Xander climbs (well, falls) into the Delta Zeta Kappa house through an open window. He snags a drink off a tray being carried by one of the fraternity pledges. The guy is shirtless and wearing a bib. Other pledges circulate carrying trays of drinks and snacks, dressed in a variety of outfits. Some of them are in drag, others are wearing only underwear.

Xander wanders through the party looking for Buffy and checking out the girls. He narrowly misses finding Buffy when he zigs instead of zags in pursuit of a pledge carrying a tray of snacks.

Buffy is standing alone where Cordy and Richard left her. She picks up her drink and looks at it, but she sets it down again without taking a sip. She looks across the room and sees one of the fraternity guys looking at her. He lifts his champagne glass in a silent toast to her. She picks up her glass and raises it to her lips in response.

Before she can take a sip another of the fraternity guys sees her. This guy looks like a football player, and he has already had several drinks too many. “New girl!” he yells, pushes aside the guy who toasted Buffy, and charges toward her.

“Can I have this dance?” asks Tom. He pulls Buffy out of the path of the charging frat guy—saving him from whatever Buffy may have done to him. The drunk charges into the wall behind where Buffy was standing, and then looks around, wondering where she disappeared to.

Tom apologises for the other guy’s behaviour while he dances with Buffy. “We’re not all a bunch of drunken louts. Some of us are sober louts.” He’s really glad that Buffy decided to come, but he’s noticed that Buffy doesn’t seem to be having a good time. She tells him that she doesn’t feel like she should be there. He asks if it’s because she’s seeing someone. Buffy tells him no, someone’s not seeing her.

“So, why shouldn’t you be here?” asks Tom.

“Because I have obligations,” says Buffy. “People that I’m responsible for, or to, or with, or… It’s complicated.”

“You’re big on responsibility,” says Tom. “I like that. But there’s such a thing as being too mature. You should relax. Enjoy yourself once in a while.”

“You think I’m too mature?” asks Buffy.

“I talk too much. Have you picked up on that yet?” Tom looks around and sees that the Hulk has gone. He tells Buffy that she doesn’t have to dance with him any more. He takes a step back from her.

Buffy steps toward him. “He may come back.”

Xander is entertaining a couple of girls with his Godzilla impression. Richard is looking on. The Hulk and one of his buddies come up behind Richard.

“Who’s this dork?” asks the Hulk.

“Never seen him before in my life,” says Richard.

“We got us a crasher!” says the Hulk’s buddy. The three of them move toward Xander.

Xander is starting to ask the girls if they’ve seen Buffy or Cordy when the three guys grab him.

“New pledge!” they call out, and drag Xander away.

Buffy steps outside for some air. As she walks across the patio she notices something crunching under her feet. She bends down and picks up a piece of broken glass. She looks up, and sees a boarded over window on the second floor. She looks across the fraternity house’s yard toward the wall separating it from the cemetery where she found the broken bracelet.

“Are you okay?” asks Tom.

Buffy drops the piece of glass and turns to face him.

Richard appears carrying some drinks. He hands one each to Buffy and Tom. “To my Argentinean junk bonds that just matured into double digits!” He raises his glass in a toast.

“Uh, to maturity,” says Tom.

“What the hell. I’m tired of being mature.” Buffy raises her glass to her mouth and empties it in one gulp.

Willow and Giles are working in the library, listing names ending in “ENT” for a computer search of missing people. When they get to Kent, Willow remembers where she has seen a bracelet like this one before. It is worn by girls at Kent Preparatory School just outside of town. She pulls up a copy their school newsletter on her computer and finds a story about Callie Anderson, who disappeared a week ago.

Xander has been stripped half naked and dressed in a skirt, padded brassier and blonde wig. Some of the fraternity guys smear some lipstick around his mouth, and force him to start dancing for them. Some of them wack him with paddles whenever he slows down.

Buffy stumbles back inside the fraternity house. She’s dizzy and can barely walk. She finds her way upstairs into a bedroom and passes out on the bed. Richard has followed her in. He rolls her over, and starts to rub his hand across her chest.

Tom grabs Richard by the shoulder and pulls him away. “Get away from her!”

“I wasn’t doing anything!” says Richard. “I was just having a little fun.”

“Well, she’s not here for your fun, you pervert,” says Tom. “She’s here for the pleasure of the one we serve.”

Richard lowers his head. “In his name.”

“And that goes for the other one, too,” says Tom.

Cordelia is lying on the floor beside the bed.

Act III

Giles reads a printout of the article that Willow found about Callie. She has been missing for a week, and no one has any idea what happened to her.

“This being Sunnydale and all I guess we can rule out something good,” says Willow.

Giles thinks it’s time to call Buffy, but Willow stops him, reminding him about Buffy and her “sick mother.” Giles agrees not to disturb them until they know more.

“You mean, like, if there’re others?” asks Willow. Her computer search has just turned up two more missing girls who disappeared at the same time last year.

“An anniversary or perhaps some other event significant to the killer,” says Giles.

“Killer?” asks Willow, “Now there’s a killer? We don’t know that there’s a—”

“No, but this being Sunnydale and all,” says Giles.

“Gulp,” says Willow.

Giles decides that they need to find out more about where Buffy found the bracelet. He reaches for the phone again.

“Good idea. Call Angel!” says Willow. Giles looks at her in surprise. “He was there when Buffy found it. We’re going to need all the help we can get.”

The party is breaking up, and the frat boys kick Xander out. He’s still dressed in the wig and the skirt. He starts to ask about his friends, but they shove his bundled up clothes into his hands and shut the door in his face.

Buffy wakes up in the basement, chained to the wall beside Cordelia, who has just woken up herself. They see Richard in front of them using the sword to make a fresh cut in someone’s back.

Cordelia asks Buffy what’s happening. Buffy knows they were drugged, but she has no idea what the Zeta Kappas are planning to do with them.

“I want to go home,” whines Cordy.

“No one’s going home. Ever,” says Callie, who’s chained to the wall beside them. “One of them’s different than the others. Nicer.”

The guy Richard was cutting gets to his feet, and turns to face the girls.

“Tom.” whispers Buffy.

“He’s the one to look out for,” says Callie.

Buffy can see that Tom’s chest is covered with scars from earlier sword cuts as two of the other brethren help him put in a green robe, embroidered in gold. He looks at Buffy. “She’s last,” he tells the others.

“Last?” asks Cordelia. “For what? Who’s first? Answer me! Who’s first?”

Tom picks up a small leather bag. He lets three stones fall out of it into his hand.

“Three stones,” says Buffy. “Three of us.”

“Buffy…” says Cordelia.

“Stay calm,” says Buffy. “We’ll get out of this.”

Tom washes the stones with water from a silver chalice.

“Why’d I ever let you talk me into coming here?” asks Cordy.

Angel has joined Willow and Giles in the library. He tells them that Buffy found the bracelet near the south wall of the cemetery.

Willow is a little distracted. She is staring intently at the window to Giles’ office.

“What are you doing?” asks Giles.

“Oh! Sorry. The reflection thing that you don’t have.” Willow has been looking at Angel’s lack of reflection. “Angel, how do you shave?” She sees the look they are giving her and shifts back onto topic. “South wall. That’s near the college and…the fraternity house!”

“A fraternity?” asks Giles.

“Could they be taking these girls?” asks Angel. “Let’s get out there!” He and Giles start toward the door.

Willow doesn’t move. “Buffy!”

Giles doesn’t want to disturb Buffy until they learn more.

“Is there!” says Willow. “With Cordelia. They went to a party at the Zeta Kappa house.”

“She lied to me?” asks Giles.

“Well…” says Willow.

“Did…she have a date?” asks Angel.

“Well…” says Willow. “Why do you think she went to that party? Because you gave her the brush-off!” Willow turns to Giles. “And you never let her do anything except work and patrol! And I know she’s the Chosen One, but you’re killing her with the pressure! I mean, she’s sixteen going on forty!” She turns back to Angel. “And you! I mean, you’re going to live forever! You don’t have time for a cup of coffee?”

Willow winds down. “Okay, I don’t feel better now, and we’ve got to help Buffy.” She leads them out of the library.

Xander walks away from the fraternity house. He’s still wearing the skirt, and has his clothes clutched in a bundle in his hands. “One day I’ll have money. Prestige. Power,” he tells himself. “And on that day they’ll still have more.”

He stops beside a familiar looking car. He recognises Cordy’s “QUEEN C” license plate. He realizes that Buffy and Cordy must both still be there.

Tom stands on the basement stairs. “Machita!”

“In his name!” say the assembled fraternity brothers.

“We who serve you, we who receive all that you bestow, call upon you in this holy hour.” Tom walks down the stairs and approaches Richard, holding the sword horizontally. “We have no wealth, no possession…except that which you give us.”

“Except that which you give us,” echo the brothers. Tom places the sword into Richard’s hands.

“We have no power, no place in the world…except that which you give us.” The brothers echo Tom’s last phrase again.

”What are they, some kind of cult or something?” Cordelia whispers to Buffy.

“Yeah, psycho cult,” says Buffy.

“You’ve got to do something,” says Cordy.

“It’s been a year since our last offering,” says Tom. “A year in which our bounty overflowed. We come before you with fresh offerings.”

“Offerings?” asks Cordy. “He’s talking about us?”

“Do you see anyone else chained up in here?” asks Callie.

“Accept our offering, Dark Lord, and bless us with your power. Machita!” Tom drops the three stones into the well in the center of the basement floor. “Come forth, and let your terrible countenance look upon your servants and their humble offering. We call you, Machita!”

“There’s something down there and he’s going to throw us down there with it,” says Cordelia.

“I don’t think so,” says Buffy. This sounds like a good thing to Cordelia, until Buffy tells her what she thinks. “I don’t think we go to it. I think it comes to us.”

A rumbling sound can be heard coming from the well.

Machita rises from the well, and Cordelia begins to scream. Machita has a humanoid head, shoulders and arms, attached to a giant snake body. He rises from the well and looks down on the three girls chained to the wall as the fraternity brethren bow before him.

Act IV

Buffy struggles to break free from her chains while Machita towers over the assembled fraternity brothers.

“For he shall rise from the depths, and we shall tremble before him,” says Tom. “He who is the source of all we inherit and all we possess. Machita!”

“Machita!” echo the brothers.

“And if he is pleased with our offerings, then our fortune shall increase,” says Tom. “And on the tenth day of the tenth month he shall become hungered. And we shall feed him.”

Machita sways toward the girls.

“Feed him?” asks Cordelia as Machita rises before her. ”Feed him?”

Buffy intensifies her efforts to break her chains loose from the ceiling.

Willow, Giles and Angel check out the outside of the fraternity house. The party is over, and it looks like everyone has gone.

A robed figure walks up behind them. “Hey!”

They spin around and are surprised to see it’s Xander. He asks what they are doing there.

Willow tells Xander about the missing girls, and how they suspect that the Zeta Kappas may be involved. “Are you wearing makeup?”

“No.” Xander wipes some of the lipstick he missed off his mouth. He tells them that he thinks Buffy and Cordelia are still inside. Cordy’s car is still there.

Giles asks why Xander is wearing the robe.

“Oh, I found it in their trash,” says Xander. “I saw them through the window. They were wearing robes and went down to the basement. I was going to use it to sneak in.”

“They may be involved in some kind of ritual,” says Giles.

“With the missing girls,” says Willow

Angel growls, and turns to look at Xander, in full vampire face. “With Buffy!”

“Okay, that is the guy you want to party with,” says Xander.

Machita reaches for Cordelia.

“Hey Reptile Boy!” calls out Buffy.

Machita looks toward Buffy. Tom tells her to shut up.

Buffy ignores Tom. “You don’t want her. Look at her. She’s all skin and bones. Half an hour later you’ll be hungry.”

“I told you to shut up!” Tom hits Buffy with the back of his hand. He holds the sword up in front of her face. “You speak again and I’ll cut your throat.”

Xander knocks on the patio doors to the frat house, with the robe’s hood drawn down over his face. The Hulk comes to the door, and Xander tells him that he got locked out while he was taking out the trash. The Hulk opens the door.

Xander pulls back his hood. “Where are they?” He punches the Hulk. He grimaces in pain and shakes his hand.

The Hulk’s buddy comes after Xander but he runs into Angel, who came into the frat house on Xander’s tail. Willow and Giles bring up the rear.

A couple of fraternity brothers release Cordelia from her shackles and push her toward Machita.

Tom hears the commotion of the fight upstairs and sends some of the fraternity brothers up to see what’s going on.

Buffy finally manages to break her chains free from the ceiling. Her first punch stuns Machita, forcing him to pull away from Cordelia. Her next couple of kicks take out the two fraternity brothers who are holding Cordy.

Tom attacks Buffy with his sword, but she ducks under his swing.

While Xander and Angel fight with the fraternity members Giles and Willow search for the way down to the basement.

Xander is on the Hulk’s back. “That’s for the wig!” He hits the Hulk in the back of the head. “That’s for the bra!” He hits him again.

Giles is trying to open a locked door when Richard attacks him. Giles decks him with a single punch.

Willow finds the way down the to basement. She comes running back. “Some guy’s attacking Buffy with a sword!” she shouts at them. “Also there’s a really big snake!”

Xander is still on the Hulk’s back, while Angel finishes off the last couple of fraternity brothers. “That’s for the makeup!” Xander hits the Hulk one last time. “And that’s for the last sixteen and a half years!” The Hulk collapses to the floor.

“Guys!” yells Willow. “Buffy! Snake! Basement! Now!”

Everyone follows Willow to the basement door. Angel pauses to punch one of the fraternity guys who has gotten back to his feet and tries to follow them.

Tom takes another swing at Buffy with his sword. “You bitch! I’ll serve you to him in pieces!”

Buffy uses the chains still attached to her wrists to deflect the sword, and wraps them around Tom’s neck. “Tom, you talk too much.” She tosses him across the room.

Machita swoops down on Cordy as Willow leads the others down the basement stairs. Cordy screams and struggles against Machita’s hold on her.

Buffy picks up the sword and jumps up onto the ledge of the well beside Machita’s body. “Let her go wormy!” She slashes the sword down onto Machita’s back, cutting it in two.

Giles checks on Cordy, while Angel goes to Buffy. Willow and Xander release Callie from her chains.

Cordy leaves Giles and steps toward Buffy and Angel. “You did it! You saved us!” She grabs Angel and hugs him tightly. “I’ve never been so happy to see anyone in my whole…”

Cordelia lets go of Angel and looks around at the others. “You guys. I just…hate you guys! The weirdest things always happen when you’re around!”

Willow and Xander help Callie up the stairs. Angel grabs Tom, and starts to push him after them.

Cordelia grabs Tom by his robe. “And you! You’re going to jail for fifteen thousand years!” She turns and heads up the stairs after Willow, Xander and Callie. Angel pushes Tom along behind her leaving Buffy alone in the basement with Giles.

Buffy hangs her head sheepishly. “I told one lie. I had one drink.”

“Yes, and you were very nearly devoured by a giant demon snake,” says Giles. “The words ‘let that be a lesson’ are a tad redundant at this juncture.”

”I’m sorry.” whispers Buffy.

“So am I. I drive you too hard because I know what you have to face. From now on no more pushing, no more prodding. Just, an inordinate amount of nudging.” Giles smiles at Buffy and takes her elbow as they walk up the stairs together.

Epilogue

Jonathan fetches Cordelia her cupcake, and a cinnamon, chocolate, half caf, non-fat cappuccino in the Bronze. He forgot the extra foam so he takes the cappuccino back to get another one.

Cordelia walks over to the table at which Buffy is sitting with Willow and Xander. “Young men are the only way to go,” she tells them.

Xander is reading the account in the newspaper of what happened to the fraternity to Buffy and Willow. The frat members are now all serving life sentences. Investigators found the remains of several girls in a cavern under the frat house, dating back fifty years. Several formerly successful corporations founded by Delta Zeta Kappa members have fallen on hard times. “Oh, and suicides in the board room. Hm. Starve a snake, lose a fortune. Boy, I guess the rich really are different, huh?”

Willow wonders if Buffy has heard from Angel. “When he got so mad about you being in danger, and changed into a…grrr. It was the most amazing thing I ever saw.” She doesn’t notice that Angel is walking up behind Xander. “I mean how many guys can—”

“Angel, Angel, Angel,” says Xander “Does every conversation we have have to come around to that freak?” He notices Angel behind him. “Hey man, how’re ya doing?”

Angel ignores Xander. “I hear this place, uh, serves coffee,” he says to Buffy. “I thought maybe you and I should get some. Sometime. If you want.”

“Yeah. Sometime,” says Buffy. “I’ll let you know.” She gets up from the table and walks away from Angel. She lets a little smile come across her face.

Death Toll