Chapter Five - Dreams
Buffy glanced up at the sky, bright and resplendent in the moonlight. Foamy waves lapped at her bare feet, and she shivered. She was wearing very little: a simple white dress, which fell asymmetrically to her knees.
This wasn’t real, she was sure of it, but it didn’t feel like a normal dream either. A Slayer dream, then.
The landscape shifted. The dark black of the ocean at night lightened to a murky green. The imposing cliffs that hid the caves receded, and the ground began to rock under her feet. A boat.
A couple, leaning over the railings, caught her attention. She knew somehow that they were what she had been brought to observe.
They looked happy, this nameless couple, as they pointed out the approaching land mass and laughed together.
The scene changed again, the sunny day fading into the cosy gloominess of a village pub.
Again, she found herself near to the couple from the boat. Why was she being shown this? What did the Powers that Be want her to know?
The man and the woman were talking. Buffy slipped into the booth opposite, and listened to their conversation.
“He said we’d be met here at nine,” the man glanced at his watch, “and it’s ten after, now.”
“Don’t panic,” the girl teased, sipping at a glass of wine, “he’ll have a reason for running late, I’m sure.”
“Yeah,” he let out a rush of air from bloated cheeks. “It’s just – I’m nervous, you know? It’s not every day you go from being Rhys Morgan, aspiring miner from Merthyr to being Rhys the Vampire Slayer.”
“I still can’t believe it,” his companion replied, eyes wide and cheeks flushed. “I can’t get my head around the fact that vampires and bogey monsters are real.”
Buffy smiled to herself, remembering her first thoughts when Merrick revealed the world of vampires and demons to her, all those years ago.
There was a sudden cold draft, and Buffy turned to see Roman striding into the pub. He greeted the man and the woman, and was brought a pint of beer from the landlady.
A strange subsidence, and Buffy found herself thrown to the ground, the smooth wood of the bench in the pub disappearing, the scene changing.
The room was large and brightly lit, a stark white light that reflected on the metal framework in the ceiling. It was a factory, or warehouse of some sort.
Lined up in rows were around fifty young men, weapons strapped to their backs, moving in formation through a series of combative moves.
Buffy supposed that it was a slayer training session. She could see Roman, looking a little younger than in the present, and an older man with a greying beard, standing on a small dais at the front of the room, calling out orders to the assembled slayers.
Buffy watched it all with interest. She had long since surpassed Giles when it came to training. She would have liked someone at her own level to train with, and there had been no one like that since before Faith had gone to the dark side.
She was able to pick out the face of the man from the previous parts of this dream. He was four rows back, and keeping in perfect time with the rest of the group.
Why am I being given the magical mystery tour of this man’s arrival on Vectis?
“Rhys, James and Steve – stay behind afterwards,” Roman’s voice rang out loud and clear over the shuffling of feet as the slayers left the room.
Buffy walked up on to the dais, stopping just to the side of Roman as the three men he’d called forward approached.
“What’s up?”
“Nothing serious,” Roman said, “I just wanted to let you know that a house has become available, near Ventnor, if you want to move out of your base.”
“Ace,” said one of the men, a wide grin on his face. “I can’t wait to tell Lisa, she hates the factory.”
“Isabelle will be happy about it, that’s for sure,” said Rhys - the man who she had been following. Buffy guessed that Isabelle was the woman she’d seen him with.
“When can we move in?” the third man asked.
“As soon as,” Roman said, “the house is ready and waiting, all you need to do is move your things over.”
Buffy felt her hold on the dream slipping, and the scene shifted. It was now night, and she was following Rhys and Isabelle down a steep road. She could smell the salt of the sea on the air, and could hear the faint swishing of waves on the shore.
The slayer and his partner were chatting loudly, their words mingled with laughter and smiles.
“Not long now,” Rhys said, his voice carried by the wind. “Excited about becoming Mrs Morgan?”
“Oh God,” Isabelle replied, “call me that and I’ll think you’re talking to your mother!”
Buffy smiled as she listened in on their conversation, this was a couple clearly very much in love. She followed them along the road as it wound towards the sea, and soon they were standing on a beach, a sweeping sandy cove with a stone-walled harbour at one end and a steep hill at the other.
Buffy could hear the gentle clanking of boats rocking on the waves, and the faint sound of music coming from the pub that was nestled at the bottom of the hill. As she looked out across the ocean, she felt an immeasurable wave of peace suffuse her being, only to have it immediately replaced by a harsh prickle of fear.
There was a scream, followed by a panicked shout and the growls of a hungry vampire. She turned to see Rhys and Isabelle being set upon by a group of five or six vampires, their fangs glinting in the moonlight as they stalked towards their prey.
Buffy watched as Rhys pulled a stake from his pocket, and handed it to Isabelle. The young woman looked terrified as she brandished the stake in front of her, and Buffy’s heart sank. Isabelle clearly had no idea what she was doing.
Rhys meanwhile had dispatched one of the vampires, tearing its head from its body with an angry yell. He began to fight another, all the while calling out to Isabelle to stay back, to aim for the heart, to - oh God - stay safe.
The fight went on for an immeasurable amount of time, and Buffy couldn’t look away. She wanted to help – so badly wanted to help, but there was nothing she could do. This was the past, a dream, something she was being shown for who-knew what reason.
Buffy could only watch in horror as two of the vampires advanced on Isabelle, backing her up against the sea wall. Isabelle pressed the stake forwards, and for a moment it looked like she had found the heart, but the vampire didn’t dust, it simply grinned and grabbed Isabelle’s wrist, snapping it backwards and forcing her to drop her stake.
Rhys was still fighting the other two vampires, not making much headway as he was without a weapon. He kept trying to manoeuvre the fight closer to where Isabelle was trapped, but the vampires he was fighting were determined to stop him.
There was a piercing cry as both vampires sank their teeth into Isabelle’s neck, one on either side, and Buffy watched, helpless, as the young woman was drained and killed in front of her fiancé.
Buffy felt sick, and the last thing she saw before the scene began to change was a group of Slayers running down the hill.
She was back in the factory, but this time it was empty of Slayers. There was a harsh clang of metal on metal as the door was slammed open, and Rhys strode through, the look on his face one of pure fury. He was followed into the room by a sombre-looking Roman, heavy shadows beneath his eyes.
“For god’s sake, man!” Rhys shouted, as he began to pace up and down in front of the dais. “How can you stand to have them near us? You know what they did to Isabelle, yet you still let them in! How long until someone else has their throat torn out?”
“You know it’s not like that,” Roman responded, scrubbing a hand across his face. “The vampires who attacked Isabelle had nothing to do with us. They’re the evil ones, the ones we’re trained to kill. Those who help us have no interest in hurting anyone.”
“You think I care about that?” Rhys laughed. “They’re all the same! Stupid, bloodthirsty animals and you! YOU let them into our home, into your bed and you expect me to be okay with it? I can’t do this anymore, Roman. I won’t. And I know there are others who feel the same.”
“This is the way things have been done for hundreds of years. If you can’t accept that… you’ll have to leave.”
“Then I’ll leave,” Rhys sighed, and ran a hand through his hair. “I’m sorry, Roman. You’ve been a good friend… but…”
Roman swallowed. “I’m sorry, too.”
Buffy watched as Rhys left the room, and Roman sank to his knees, his head in his hands. And then the dream dissolved.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Wow, an update on this! I completely lost my muse for writing on this story months ago, but I've finally decided to pick it up again. This chapter is very short, and doesn't resolve the cliffhanger I left you with before :P But it gives you some backstory that will be important later on. I've also gone back and edited a few things in the previous chapters - just some of the style choices I made. It hopefully reads better, now. Hope you like this chapter, anyway! :)
Chapter End Notes:
Thanks for reading, reviews are appreciated! For anyone interested, Vectis is based on the real island of the Isle of Wight. Click here to see a great video of some island views, and click here for some pictures of Ventor, which was mentioned in this chapter.