Buffy Meets the Vampire Lestat

Author's Note:

This story assumes that you are familiar with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and more peripherally, the characters of Lestat and Louis from the Anne Rice "Vampire" series. I have tried my best to give general background and relationships between characters, but of course, as with all fan fiction, I do rely on your previous knowledge of the basic premise.

This takes place in an alternate Buffyverse before the destruction of Sunnydale where Willow and Oz are still together (hey, this is

my

Buffyverse!) and so are Xander and Anya. Buffy and Faith are working together, with Giles as their Watcher, and he owns The Magic Box with Anya. Dawn is in college and Spike is a baddie-wanna-be but he's still got a chip in his head.

----------

"So tell me again why I shouldn't kill you?"

The vampire turned away from the window. His smile was a slow thing, his lips appearing so dark they were almost black in his pale, hollow-cheeked face. His eyes, a bright, luminescent green, were sad.

"You could make the effort." He inclined his head toward the young pony-tailed blonde who had addressed him. She was sitting on the sofa and swinging a long black boot crossed over her knee. "But you would fail."

"That's a bit of hubris." Giles raised his eyebrows and peered over the large volume he was consulting. The Watcher's gaze flicked over to his charge, and he saw Buffy's eyes narrowed at this new vampire in their midst. "Buffy is the Slayer, after all."

"Hey," Faith piped up, punching Giles on the arm. He winced and looked askance at her. "There's two Slayers here, remember?" The dark-haired girl leaned over to the blonde and in a stage-whisper, said, "I couldn't let you have all the fun, Bee."

"So, what I'm getting is that you're some sort of vampire turned tree-hugger?" Xander watched the stare-down between this vampire, Louis, and his best friend, Buffy, confused. "That makes no sense."

"Vampires don't care about people," Willow said from where she sat at the table, typing away at her laptop in an attempt to research the current situation—anything to help Buffy. "Vampires kill people."

"Ah, but that's the point exactly, young lady," the vampire said, walking toward the redhead at the computer. He peered over her shoulder, fascinated by the device she was using. He had seen the world change dramatically in his time, but technology still fascinated him.

"It makes sense, actually," Anya said earnestly. "If people destroy the planet, there won't be anyone for vampires to feed on." She smiled at boyfriend, Xander, proud of her logic.

"Yes," the vampire said, inclining his head toward her, his long, black hair swinging to cover his face for a moment. "Thank you for that... over-simplified explanation."

"So you want to save the planet so you can keep your all-you-can-eat buffet?" Xander asked.

"Not quite," the vampire said.

"It sounded like a better plan down in the crypt, mate," Spike said, smacking the other vampire on the back.

"William," he cringed, moving away from the white-haired, British vampire. "Please refrain from touching me."

"So, what is this horrible threat to human existence of which you speak?" Giles asked, taking off his glasses and rubbing at his tired eyes. "Do you have any evidence, any proof?"

"I don't know how much worse it can get," Xander said with a snort. "We do live on a

hellmouth

."

"Have you ever considered why Sunnydale has a hellmouth?" the vampire asked quietly, leaning on the cane he carried.

Everyone stopped and looked at each other. The room was quiet.

"Sunnydale is sitting on the largest nuclear waste repository in North America," the vampire informed them.

Willow immediately began typing on her laptop, her brow knitted in concentration.

Oz spoke up from his chair next to Willow. "It's true." The short, dark-haired man had been so quiet, they had almost forgotten he was there. Everyone turned to him. He shrugged. "We werewolves have an incredible sense of smell."

"What does nuclear waste smell like?" Willow asked with a curious smile, putting her hand over his.

"Kind of hard to describe," Oz said. "But it isn't nice."

"So, wait," Anya said, shaking her head. "Tell us again who are you and why should we believe you?"

"And remind me again why I shouldn't stake you right here?" Buffy interjected, standing and crossing her arms. Faith assumed the same posture next to her.

"My name is Louis de Pointe du Lac. I am a vampire," he said, pulling his shoulders back and standing tall. The dark cape he wore over his suit swirled when he turned toward Buffy as she advanced.

"Wait a minute," Anya said, her eyes shining. "Who sired you?"

"Oh, bugger," Spike said, smacking his forehead. "I knew this was coming."

"I was sired in the year 1791 by a vampire named Lestat de Lioncourt," Louis said. "His is, in fact, the same vampire who is posing our problem."

Buffy stopped in her tracks, crossing her arms over her chest. "You have got to be kidding me."

"He doesn't look like Tom Cruise," Xander whispered to Anya.

"That was a movie, honey," Anya explained.

"It was Brad Pitt," Oz said, looking over Willow's shoulder as she typed on the laptop.

"You're a fictional character?" Giles asked, shaking his head, looking confused.

"So was Dracula," Xander reminded him. "But he managed to work his voodoo on Buffy."

"Not to mention making you eat bugs," Anya chimed in helpfully.

Xander looked ill. "Thanks for the walk down memory lane."

"As I told you, I am not like other vampires," Louis repeated. "I am no threat to you. I do not prey on humans."

"Oh no, not another vampire with a soul!" Xander exclaimed, rolling his eyes.

"Yes, haven't we exhausted this theme?" Giles asked.

"You're more like Spike that you know, then," Buffy remarked, her eyes moving to the tall, white-haired vampire in the long, black duster. "With that chip in his head."

Louis nodded. "Yes, William told me about the device the government implanted in his brain that renders him harmless."

"I'm not harmless!" Spike protested, making a fist and shaking it at Louis. After a moment, his shoulders sagged and he sighed. "I can still kill demons," he muttered under his breath.

"This is just like the movie," Anya whispered to Xander. "Louis is the moody, melodramatic humanitarian vampire with a conscience, and Lestat is the arrogant, cold-blooded killer."

"I... yes, perhaps," Louis said, overhearing Anya, his face pained. She smiled, pleased with herself. Xander noticed the way she was looking at the vampire and moved closer to his girlfriend, slipping an arm around her waist. "Lestat came to realize that those who are harming the environment were slowly poisoning the human race. To exist without blood, for a vampire, is a living hell. As an immortal, he didn't want to face the thought of a future without the life force that sustains him."

"So he's the one who wants to save the world to use it as his own personal blood bank?" Xander asked.

"I have a great love for humanity." Louis continued as if Xander hadn't spoken. His eyes were distant, as if he were looking toward something that none of them could see. "I do not wish to see humans destroyed. But not for the same reasons as Lestat. I have followed him here to Sunnydale. He has traveled long across this great country, killing every environmental enemy he can find. He has legions of followers who are doing the same."

Willow stopped typing on her laptop for a moment and looked up. "Ok, I know it's really wrong, because we're talking about killing humans and everything, but when you think about it, it's kind of cool. In a really twisted environmentally friendly kind of way."

Giles gave her a withering look. "I don't think mass murder is the solution to global warming, Willow."

The young Wiccan shrugged, giving him an apologetic smile as she turned back to her laptop.

"If you're Mr. Humanity, then why didn't you stop this guy?" Xander asked the tall, gaunt vampire.

Louis turned his bright green eyes to the young carpenter, his lips a thin line in his pale face. "I do not kill. Vampire or human."

"Guess he is different," Oz remarked. "Spike's up for killing whatever the chip will let him." Spike gave a "shut up" look to Oz, who shrugged an apology.

"So this vampire Lestat is planning on killing the CEO of the nuclear power plant?" Buffy asked.

"This is what I believe," Louis said. "When William told me that there was a Slayer in Sunnydale, I knew I had to speak to you, in hopes that you could stop him."

"Oh, we'll stop him alright," said Faith, who was breaking into a slow, sly smile.

"Sounds like this is a no-brainer," Buffy said with a shrug, going over to the weapons chest that Xander had made for her. She opened it and rummaged through. "He's a vampire. I slay him, it's over. Piece of cake," she said, inspecting a crossbow.

"This is not easy for me," Louis said, shaking his head and sighing. "Lestat sired me, and for a while I thought he might be redeemed."

"Vampires can't be redeemed," Buffy said flatly, loading up a bag with weapons. She looked pointedly at Spike, whose eyes were pained. "They don't have souls."

"You have a lot to learn about vampires," Louis said softly.

"I slay vampires," Buffy scoffed, slinging her bag over her back. "That's all I need to know about them."

"I'm coming, B," Faith said, following the blonde Slayer.

"Wait!" Willow cried from behind her computer. "I knew it!"

Everyone turned toward her, curious. Oz leaned in behind her while Xander and Anya went to stand on her other side.

"What is it, Willow?" Giles asked, closing his book and coming toward the table.

"I cross-referenced all of the missing persons or murders in Sunnydale in the past month with a national database of environmental rapists," Willow explained "There have been four murders, and all of the victims have had their hearts removed."

Giles' eyes widened as he moved behind the screen.

"Environmental rapists?" Xander asked. "Is there a list for that?"

"It's the Internet," Oz reminded him. "There's a list for everything."

"There's something else going on here, Buffy," Giles said, holding his hand up in a "stopping" gesture to keep the Slayers still. They stood in the living room doorway, weapons in hand, waiting.

"How long has this Lestat been in Sunnydale?" Giles asked.

"A month," Louis said.

"Some boy scout vampire you are," Xander snorted. "You could have come to Buffy sooner!"

"I only just learned of the Slayer's existence." Louis frowned.

Buffy raised her eyebrows. "Don't get out much, do you?"

"So does this mean I don't get to kick this vamp's pasty white ass tonight?" Faith pouted.

"I'm afraid so," Giles said, pointing to something on Willow's screen. "Willow, would you find out who runs this nuclear repository?"

"And where it is exactly?" Buffy interjected. Giles shot her a look and she shrugged.

Willow typed something into the search engine. "It's on the north edge of town. Out toward the desert. How come we never knew it was there?"

"Nuclear wastes sites aren't big on advertising," Oz remarked wryly.

"Found it." Willow clicked something and another screen opened up, revealing a picture of a man whose face was severely scarred and disfigured.

"I was afraid of that," Giles said, frowning. The gang looked at him as he dangled his glasses from his fingertips and peered at the screen.

"Giles?" Willow nudged him.

"Oh, yes," he said, putting his glasses back on. "I'm sorry. The man who runs this repository is one of The Bane of Gaia."

"The race of demons who possess humans in an attempt to destroy the Earth?" Anya asked, looking over her shoulder at the man on the screen. "Ew! He could have chosen a better human specimen to possess."

"I didn't realize he was in Sunnydale," Giles said, shaking his head. "I had a run-in with him years back. I thought he had perished in a fire. Apparently not."

"Looks like fire got the best of him, though," Oz said, cringing.

"I second that 'Ew!'" Buffy added, making a face at the twisted visage on the screen.

"It still doesn't make sense, though," Willow said, looking up at the Watcher. "Vampires don't rip the hearts out of their victims, right, Giles?"

He smiled down at the girl fondly. "True, Willow. I believe this vampire Lestat is up to something much greater than simply ridding the world of a few environmental blackguards. He has been here much too long, and it seems as if he is gathering the hearts of The Bane of Gaia... although clearly this man hasn't been harvested yet." Giles tapped the screen where the deformed man's face leered at them.

Giles looked over at Louis, who was still leaning on his cane, watching them all and appearing calm, but his knitted brow betrayed an anxious interior. "Could I speak with you?" Giles led Louis over to the sofa.

Buffy looked around at the rest of the Scooby gang. "So I guess we better research what these hearts of The Bane of Gaia might be used for?"

"I'm on it," Willow said, her fingers flying over the keyboard.

Faith sighed, slipping up onto the table and sitting there, swinging her legs. "Can't we just go check the place out at least, Bee? See what this guy's up to with our own four eyes?"

"No!" Giles called from the sofa where he was talking softly with Louis, glaring at Faith. "It's too dangerous. We don't know what we're dealing with."

"This message was brought to you by Mr. Safety," Faith mumbled under her breath.

"Spike," Buffy said, turning to the white-haired vampire. "I want you to go check out the demon haunts, see if you can get any info on this Lestat guy or The Bane of Gaia. Oz, you help Willow. Xander, can Louis stay with you and Anya? I don't want this Lestat character finding out through the demon grapevine that he's in town."

Spike was already out the door. Oz moved in behind Willow, rubbing her shoulders as she typed.

Anya frowned, tugging on Buffy's sleeve. "But if we have a vampire sleeping at our place, then Xander and I can't have the sex."

Anya turned to him, her face pulled down in a pretty pout. "I want to have the sex, Xander, don't let Buffy put the stray vampire with us."

Buffy raised her eyebrows, crossing her arms. "Xander?"

"Ahn, honey," Xander said with a resigned sigh, used to his girlfriend's frank and often tactless outbursts. He told himself often that, as an ex-vengeance demon, she was just taking time to adjust to being human. "We can still have the sex. We'll just have to be quiet."

"I don't like being quiet." Anya frowned.

"We know!" Buffy, Willow and Faith remarked all at once.

Oz looked up. "Louis could stay with us," he volunteered. "Might be better to have a potential werewolf and powerful witch in the house with a vampire walking around, right?"

"Ok," Buffy agreed. "Louis stays with you guys, then. Xander, Anya, help Giles with research." Buffy lowered her voice. "And Xander, keep an eye on this Louis character. I don't trust him."

Faith tapped Buffy's thigh with her boot. "What about me?"

"You come with me," Buffy said, sifting through the bag of weapons on the table and pulling out two stakes. "We might as well go patrolling and see what's out there."

Faith grinned, sliding off the table and grabbing a stake. "Right on! That's my girl!"

"Be careful, Buffy," Giles called as the Slayers started toward the door. "And stay away from that nuclear waste plant until we know what we're dealing with."

"How come you never tell me to be careful?" Faith asked, pausing in the doorway and frowning.

Giles glanced up at her, raising his eyebrows. "Would it do any good if I did?"

Faith stuck her tongue out at him as the girls headed out into the night.

*****

"Twinkle, twinkle," Drusilla sang, her body a whirling white blur as she twirled under the desert sky, her bare feet sinking into the sand as she danced for Lestat. He watched her, transfixed, and then looked up at the vast expanse of stars. This was a perfect ending, he thought. The nights were dark and beautiful out here, and the repository sat deep underground, making a cool repose for their days.

"Master." The vampire didn't turn. He had heard the halting shuffle of the man's approach across the desert sand. "We have lost three of the Order."

"So call forth more," Lestat replied with a nod, holding his hand out to Dru. She came to him, floating on air, and pressed against his side. "They're expendable. Everything is expendable. This is the end of days."

The man nodded, smiling. "I have waited long for this."

"Yes," Lestat replied, his eyes tracing patterns in the sky. "Have the repositories been emptied?"

"Almost." The deformed man squatted to the earth, running his hand through the sand. "The Faithful Order of Chur N'Byl is most dedicated. They have waited long for this, as well."

"Yes." The vampire's teeth flashed white even in the darkness. "They have proven most useful. I believe there are only two more spell components that we need, according to the translations. One we will obtain tomorrow night."

"Ruff!" Dru barked, snapping her teeth toward the hunched man on the ground. He recoiled, frowning. Dru laughed, lifting her face to the sky and beginning to howl.

"The other..." Lestat looked over at him, knowing it was the deformed man's heart that they would use to complete the pentagonal configuration of The Bane of Gaia. He was looking forward to ripping it out, still beating, with his bare hands. "The other is already in our possession. We just need to... extract it."

"Is it so soon?" The man's scarred face turned up to Lestat, his eyes wide.

"Yes. It will be tomorrow. Midnight. Haven't you waited long enough?"

"A hundred thousand years," the man breathed, tears beginning to trickle down his cheeks. "To finally see the face of Chur N'Byl..."

The vampire grinned, knowing the man would never look upon the face of the demon. No one would. He turned to Dru, taking her in his arms. They danced together under the stars. Dru continued to bark and howl, and Lestat laughed maniacally, holding her hand and watching her twirl.

Under cover of darkness, the two Slayers crouched low, watching and listening to the sounds of madness in the night.

*****

Spike came barreling into the front door of

The Magic Box

, his head covered in a smoking black blanket. The sun followed him in, but he shut the door against it with a grateful sigh. Daytime travel was a dangerous business for a vampire. He walked over to where Willow was sitting at the round table, still doing research on her laptop. Oz sat beside her, scribbling in a notebook.

"Alright, I give—what is this big bad, Willow?" Spike asked, tossing the steaming blanket onto the floor.

"No luck at the demon haunts, huh?" Dawn asked, smiling as she looked up from the thick black book she was flipping through and tucking her long, silky brown hair behind her ear.

"Sorry, 'lil bit." Spike smiled back and winked at Buffy's younger sister. He sat down in the chair next to her and glanced across the shop to where Anya was ringing up a customer who stood staring at him, her eyes wide. "Nothing worth finding. Where's Buffy?"

"She and Faith are training with Giles," Anya said, coming to sit at the table with them. The customer was still standing there, looking from the smoking blanket to Spike and back again.

"I have your money," Anya remarked over her shoulder. "You can leave now, but please come back with some more money very soon." The customer took her bag off the counter and edged out of the shop.

Xander came out of the training room and Anya ran her hand through his hair as he slid into a chair. "How's your head, sweetie? You need to stop volunteering as a punching bag for those two sadists."