Synopsis of Buffy vs. Dracula
Written by TK
Buffy and Riley are in bed. Riley is peacefully asleep, while Buffy is restless. She leaves bed, and next we see her, she's chasing a vampire through the cemetary. She catches the vampire, kicks the craps out of him, slays him, and then peacefully gets back into bed, falling asleep in Riley's arms.
The gang is frolicking on the beach, and when Riley tells Buffy she throws like a girl, she nearly kills him with the football they're tossing around. The rest of the gang is frolicking with a little less energy, and Xander is having trouble getting the grill lit. Willow says a couple handy words, and suddenly fire is pouring out of the grill. Everyone is impressed with her witchy skills. She says it's all a matter of balancing the elements so that when you make one get bigger, you don't cause an opposite effect. As she's explaining this, a huge number of black clouds suddenly and quickly roll over the beautiful sunny beach and rain starts pouring down. The gang grabs their stuff and runs, Willow claiming that this was not her fault.
Two men drive a truck up to a dark and gloomy castle in the rain. They unload a casket-sized box and one man drops it in the mud. He notices that dirt comes out from a crack in the corner, and he can't believe that he's moving dirt for some rich crazy... a hand comes out of the casket and the kvetching man keels over. The person in the casket comes bursting forth.
Willow is helping Giles with his misbehaving computer at his apartment. She comments that he's spent all summer cataloging and archiving and labeling. He admits that he's trying to set everything up so that he can go back to England. Buffy obviously doesn't need a watcher anymore. He makes her promise not to tell Buffy.
Buffy and her mom are finishing dinner. Her mother suggests they go for a drive and get ice-cream for dessert. Buffy says she has to go patrolling. She says that her job is a drag, but when she's out kicking some vamp butt a little later, she looks like she's having a pretty good time. While she's fighting, a mysterious man materializes nearby and watches the fight. After she makes short work of the vamp, the man compliments her skill. She is ready to take him on too, but he says they won't be fighting. She asks him if he knows what the slayer is. He asks her if SHE knows what the slayer is. He introduces himself. He's Dracula.
Willow and Xander are walking along, and Willow is talking about her secret that she knows, but she won't tell Xander what it is. She and Xander decide to go see if Buffy is in the cemetary.
Buffy and Dracula are bantering away in the cemetary, and Dracula tells Buffy that she's world-famous and he came here to meet her. He tells her that her power comes from darkness. Buffy decides they've talked enough and goes to stake him. He disappears in a puff of swirl and reappears behind her. She turns around and tries to stake him again, and again he disappears. Xander and Willow walk up and casually say hello. Buffy says they should leave. Dracula materializes behind them and when they see him, they start making fun of his outfit and his accent. When Buffy informs them that this is the real Dracula, they become a bit more respectful. Dracula wanted to talk to Buffy alone, but now that her friends are around and they won't go away, he turns into a bat, flies around a bit to freak them out, and then flies away.
The whole gang is at Giles's house. Buffy, Willow and Xander are telling everyone for the thousandth time what it was like to meet Dracula. Buffy and Willow have been a bit seduced by him, and Riley and Tara aren't entirely comfortable with it. When Anya admits that she used to hang out with Dracula long ago, and raves about how cool he was, Xander starts to get jealous. The gang decides they should do some research on Dracula, figure out what's myth and what's real, and then reconvene in the morning. Buffy decides to go to bed, while Riley says he's restless and not ready to go to bed. He says he'll bring donuts in the morning which makes her happy.
Xander and Anya start walking home. Anya is still talking about Dracula, and wondering if he might remember her. Xander is getting more and more jealous. A wolf is walking on top of an Espresso joint watching the couple. Anya heads home, because it's bleach day at the Harris household and Anya can't stand the smell. Xander, left alone, encounters Dracula again. Dracula easily hypnotizes Xander and tells the young man that he will be his emissary, he will be his eyes and ears in daylight. As a reward when he is done, Dracula will make Xander and immortal who feeds upon life itself, upon blood. Xander eagerly agrees.
Riley goes to Spike's tomb to enquire about Dracula. Spike tells him he used to be rivals with Dracula, and Dracula still owes him money. He says that it seems like Dracula has special powers, but it's mostly smoke and mirrors. Spike laments Dracula's existence, 'cause he says the guy got all into fame and ditched his friends and his foes, and now that he's famous everyone knows how to kill vampires. Riley tells Spike that Dracula is in town and is after Buffy. He asks Spike where to look for Dracula, and Spike tells Riley that Dracula likes style, so he won't be layin' low in a tomb, but he'll probably be in a mansion or a castle or something. Spike also tells Riley that he's out of his league, he'll never find Dracula before Dracula gets to Buffy.
Buffy is asleep in bed. Smoke comes through the window, and Dracula materializes. She wakes up, and is immediately hypnotized by him. He tells her to push her hair away from her neck, and she does so, even while saying that this is not the normal way she fights. He notices her scar, and realizes she's been bitten before. He says whatever vampire bit her before wasn't worthy, because it let her go. He leans in and tells Buffy not to fight it, and she doesn't. He bites her.
It's morning. Buffy wakes up, gets dressed, and then looks at the two puncture wounds in her neck in the mirror. She ties a scarf around her neck to hide them.
Everyone is at Giles's house. Buffy is a little dazed, and when Riley offers her one of the promised donuts, she turns it down. Willow rattles off a list of Dracula factoids they've gathered. Xander is constantly defending Dracula and calling him the dark master and the unholy prince. People notice he's acting a little strange, but he covers. Xander is also uncontrollably eating bugs. One of the factoids about Dracula is that he likes long slow bites that last for days. He likes to seduce his prey. Riley also throws in what he learned about Dracula liking to live in style. Buffy says she's going after him, and storms out of Giles's place. Riley goes after her. He realizes she's under Dracula's thrall and tells her to take the scarf off. She refuses, but he grabs at it and exposes her bites to the rest of the gang who have come outside. She apologizes, and says that some voice this morning just told her to cover them up. Everyone agrees that Buffy should not be going after Dracula, and since he can obviously get into her house, she should hide out elsewhere. Xander offers to take care of Buffy at his place. Giles and Riley will go after Dracula, and Tara and Willow will put a protection spell on Buffy's house to keep Dracula from coming back.
Tara and Willow are at Buffy's making the protection spell while Joyce laments inviting that handsome, slightly pale man in for coffee. She tells the girls that dating is hard, and they'll understand when they're older, but sometimes you just want to give up on men. Willow and Tara share a subtle giggle.
Riley and Giles are trying to check out every mansion and castle in the area before dark. They're running out of time.
Xander, Anya and Buffy are in Xander's basement room. Buffy is in a sort of daze while Anya is bitching that she's here slayer-sitting when she could be out helping to find Dracula... after all, she is the one who knows him personally. Xander loses patience with her and stuffs her in the closet, locking her in. He tells Buffy that now is when he is supposed to take her to the dark master, and then he gets his immortality. Buffy comes out of her daze and tells Xander to take her to Dracula.
Xander and Buffy enter Dracula's castle, and although Xander is eager for his immortality, Dracula sends him away so he can concentrate on Buffy. Buffy tells Dracula that he may think that she's under his thrall but really she's not. She pulls out a stake. He tells her to put the stake down. She does. She realizes something is wrong, but had to put down the stake anyway. She talks a good game, claiming she put down the stake because she wanted to, but she starts to back away from Dracula and decides to rethink this whole thrall thing.
Riley and Giles finally find the castle, wondering why they never noticed this castle in Sunnydale before. They quietly enter and decide to split up to look for Dracula. They are being spied upon by a female vamp.
Dracula tells Buffy that she came here so that he could bite her. She says that's not true. He challenges her to stop him and she can't. He says he can't wait to teach her about her history, her power, and the darkness that it comes from. But first, a little taste. She says he's not biting her again. He says it's not a taste for him.
Riley tries to open a door but it won't budge. Suddenly it flies open and Xander is there, saying that's he'll protect his master and anyone after Dracula has to go through him first. Riley easily punches Xander out.
Giles goes through a door and falls into a basement where three female vamps (that he calls the 3 sisters... did I miss a reference to these 3 sisters from before?) start fawning all over him, ripping off his shirt and nibbling on his ears. He is helpless against them.
Dracula cuts his own wrist and offers it to Buffy, assuring her that drinking from him won't change her, because she isn't close to death. That will come later... when she begs for it. Buffy tries hard not to, but she takes his arm and drinks from it. Suddenly, she flashes back to her recent vampire hunts, and to her fight with the first slayer (from last season's finale). She pushes his arm away, saying it's gross, and throws him across the room. He is furious. She thanks him for reminding her who she is. They begin to fight. Dracula is no joke when it comes to fighting, and gives Buffy a run for her money.
Riley finds Giles and gets him away from the clutches of the three female vamps who aren't really into fighting or biting, just into distracting. Giles thanks Riley for his help, but part of him wants to go back into the clutches of the female vamps.
Buffy and Dracula are still having a knock-down drag-out fight, until Buffy grabs one of the flaming torches off the wall. Dracula shrinks away and pulls his dematerializing move. Buffy grabs a stake, follows the swirl, and stakes him as he starts to rematerialize. He falls and turns to ash. Giles and Riley come rushing in and make sure Buffy is okay. Xander comes running in wanting to kick some Drac-ass 'cause he was turned into a bug-eating buffoon. The gang leaves and suddenly, Dracula's swirl starts to rematerialize. Just as he's taking form, Buffy stakes him again, reminding him that she's seen his movies and knows that he always comes back. He makes a face and turns to ash again. His swirl starts to rematerialize again, and Buffy just reminds him that she's still standing there. The swirl goes away.
Buffy is over at Giles's house, and notices that there are cookies out which means that Giles needs to tell her something. She says that she also needs to tell him something, and he insists that she go first. She says that since they cast that spell that invoked the very first slayer, she has been out every night, not just patrolling but hunting. Now, with her encounter with Dracula and all his talk about not knowing her power and where her power comes from, she realizes that there's a lot she doesn't know, and she wants to know. She asks Giles to be her watcher again. Giles, of course, says that what he was going to tell her isn't important.
Buffy is at home, and tells her mom that she is going to the movies with Riley. She goes into her room and finds a younger girl in there. She asks the girl what she's doing here, and the girl has no answer. Joyce yells upstairs that if she's going to the movies, maybe she should take her sister with her. Both Buffy and the girl whine, "Mom!" simultaneously.
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