Chapter 1 The creature that was at dismay over the recent defeat of his minions was looking at a picture of Serena and Darien. The creature was that of a blood-stealing parasite that dwelled in the dark. The creature was that of pure evil, and would stab anyone’s back, given the proper opportunity. The creature was none other than a vampire. But, not just any vampire. He was the kind that would make Dracula keel over. He was the grossest creature imaginable. He was also the most conniving creature in the world. His name: Antrosis. However, when in a human form (used when out at night), he went by the name of Antonio, because in human form, he looked like he was from Mexican descent. Antrosis knew how to bring any human to his/her knees. He also how to win them over, or kill them, for that matter. His followers were completely under his spell, and would do anything for him. As Antrosis stared at the picture of Serena and Darien, he beckoned one of his followers to come forth. "Anton. Come here." A smaller vampire stepped out of the shadows. "Yes, master?" "Anton, where did you get this picture?" "I obtained it from a human who is under my spell, master." "Which human is this?" "Her name is Laura Payne. She is a new student at Crossroads High School. She is a new friend of Sailor Moon, a.k.a. Serena. Laura saw her transform in a battle…"I know who she is, and I don’t want you to repeat it. Right now my only goal is to kill her." "You could always bite her on the neck." "Anton, when I want a suggestion from you, I’ll give it to you." "Of course, master." Antrosis walked into the shadows. "Anton, I want you to bring Laura here. I would like to meet her." "She will be here shortly, master." Anton disappeared in a puff of smoke. - Serena and Amy were sitting in world history class. They were listening to some boring lecture, but Amy found it interesting. Amy could find anything interesting, though, as long as it had an educational value. Serena, however, was thinking of everything that had happened over the past year. She had seen Darien kill himself, and come back from the dead (again). She had also battled the son of Satan. She had also battled two demons who were on a mission, which raised another problem. The thing that had sent the two demons was still out there. But what was it? "And that concludes today’s notes," said the professor. "Take this time to study for next week’s final exam. Remember, It will be worth forty percent of your grade." At this time, the bell rang. And, as that was the last class of the day, Serena was thrilled. One less day of school left. "Hey, Amy," Serena said once the two girls walked out of the school. "Whatcha wanna do today?" "I’ve got to study for the final. If I don’t I won’t get a good grade." ‘Oh, yeah, you might have to settle for a 90,’ Serena thought. "Well, OK. I’ll see-ya later." "See-ya." Amy and Serena went their separate ways. Antrosis was pleased to see his minion Anton appear with the human called Laura Payne. He walked closer to her, but not as himself. Antrosis had taken his human form. He was a vampire, true enough, but he did not want to scare the crap out of a potential ally. "So, you say you know the true identity of Sailor Moon?" Antrosis asked Laura. "Yes, I do. She is really Serena, a high school senior. Her friends are the Sailor Soldiers. I am trying to discover their identities." "Well then, you should follow them closely." Antrosis stepped back into the shadows. "Come, Laura," Anton said. The two of them disappeared. Serena was happy to see Darien. He came up to her from an alleyway. This was the same alleyway where he had seen the visions. "Darien!" Serena nearly shouted. "Hey, Serena! Have a good day at school?" "Yeah, sure." Darien put his arms around Serena, and she reciprocated. "Darien?" "Yes?" "What were you doing in that alleyway?" Darien beaked away from Serena, so he could look directly into her eyes. He did not want to tell her of the visions, in case they were bogus. What was the point of worrying her over nothing? "Just waiting for you," he said with a sweet smile. Somehow, Serena knew he was not telling the complete truth. After being around him for so long, it was easy to spot things like that. "Are you sure?" Darien looked surprised. "Well, of course. Why else would I be standing here?" "I…don’t really know." Serena smiled as she and Darien walked down the street, toward Raye’s temple. Darien realized this would make a grand total of three meetings that he would have attended. Laura Payne, a girl that was of medium height, with blond hair that flowed down to the middle of her back, stood by the high school. Since she was from the United States of America, she knew very little about Tokyo. She had to wait on her new friend, also from the United States, Molly Baker, so she could find her way around. Molly was currently meeting with one of her teachers. Laura was waiting impatiently, as she wanted to get home. She had a ton of homework to do. This involved spying on Serena. Since she was her next-door neighbor, this task would be easy. The hard part was getting home in a strange land. The only thing that was bad about her "job" was that she had to report to her boss, who lived in Sunnydale, California, USA. "Come ON, already," Laura said in disgust. She was really impatient. Finally, after about ten minutes, Molly came out of the building. "Sorry I’m late," she said in her New York Accent. "C’mon. Let’s go." The two girls headed toward their houses. Since they lived in the same neighborhood, Laura could find her house from Molly’s apartment building. Darien walked Serena to Raye’s temple on Cherry Hill. They were early. Raye was surprised bug time. Not only was Serena early for something, but Darien was coming to a Sailor Soldier Meeting! "Hey, meat-ball head!" Raye called out. "What’re you doin’ here? It’s not time to meet yet." She looked at Darien, and directed the next comment at him. "And you! Why did you come?" "Because I felt like it," Darien said. "And I wanted to come early, so you wouldn’t pick on me. And DON’T CALL ME MEAT-BALL HEAD!!" "OK, fine. Sheesh!" Raye was glad that she still had the ability to get on Serena’s nerves. Life just would not be the same without Serena to pick on. She smiled. "So, any way, what’s goin’ on? I thought we toasted those Nega-creeps." "I dunno," Serena replied. "I thought you wanted the meeting." "No, I got a call from someone who said there was an emergency, and we needed to meet as soon as possible. It sounded like Amy." The trio of people did not notice the shadowy figure standing by a tree, only 50 feet away. This shadowy figure was Anton. He knew that Laura had to gain Serena’s trust before any heavy spying, so he decided to take this night. He had now discovered the identity of one of the other Sailor Soldiers, but which one was it? Anton listened to the rest of the conversation. "So, Serena, you glad school’s almost out?" "What kind of a question is that?" replied Serena. "OF COURSE!!" "I thought so," Raye said. At that time, Amy came walking up. "Hey, guys. Glad you could make it." "Amy, what’s this all about?" Raye asked. "Well, I was running something through my mini-computer, when I got a strange signal. Some kind of portal." "What’s so strange about that?" Serena asked. "That happens practically every single day." That brought a chuckle from Raye and Darien "Well," Amy said, "not this kind of portal. This one seems to be a portal that the Negaverse could never open. It registers as a hell-mouth." "Wait a second," Darien said. "What’s a hell-mouth." "Basically," Amy said, "it’s a portal that leads to the nether-realm. The nether-realm is just a nice term for hell." "Well, this is interesting," Raye said. "I wonder why I didn’t sense it." "Because it’s out of your range. The portal is located just outside of town." "I say we investigate," Raye said. The others agreed. "Wait, where’s Mina and Lita?" Darien asked. "They couldn’t make it," Amy said. "They were going on a field trip, and won’t be back until tomorrow." "OK. Well, let’s do it!" Raye said. "OK, OK. Moon Cosmic Power!" "Mars Star Power!" "Mercury Star Power!" Within seconds, they were in their Sailor Soldier uniforms. Darien transformed into Tuxedo Mask. "Lead the way, Sailor Mercury." The quartet left. Back in the shadows, Anton smiled. He had just learned three more secret identities. Antrosis walked around his lair, waiting on Anton’s return. He was always impatient. He was pleased to see Anton walk up to him, after waiting for nearly ten minutes. "Master, I have discovered the true identities of Sailor Mars and Sailor Mercury, as well as Tuxedo Mask. Mars is really Raye Hino, and Mercury is Amy Anderson. I recognized them from roaming the neighborhood." "Good work. When I’m done in Sunnydale, I’ll start invading Tokyo, and taking all of their lives." Willow Rosenburg, a pleasant, witty, smart girl, was glad the day was over. She was having a rough time with one of her students. A football player, no less. She sat down at her desk. It wasn’t fair that she had to sub for Miss Calendar under these circumstances. Within three minutes, she received a visit from one of her closest friends, Buffy Summers. "Hey, Buffy, what’s up?" "Hey, Will. Havin’ a rough day?" "Yeah. How could you tell?" "Oh, being a slayer doesn’t mean that all I do is kill vampires and demons, and save the world over and over. I can tell when one of my friends is down. So, what’s up?" "Well, our star football and basketball and swimmer handed in a blank test. And if I do the right thing, Mr. Snyder will expel me for failing him. And if I do the wrong thing, then there’s no problem with Mr.Snyder. But that’ll be a problem with me," Willow said, making her voice quieter as she spoke. "Hmm, well. This is interesting. So what’re ya gonna do?" "Oh well, here’s the thing. I haven’t exactly decided yet. An "F" on this paper might still let him pass for the year. But if not, I could give him a low "D", I guess." "OK. I gotta go. I hafta meet Giles." "Well, See ya." Buffy smiled slightly, and walked out the room. To Be Continued… ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Send comments to cowboys@wwd.net A whole bunch of thanks to Gabino Lopez, for encouraging me all this time. !Muchas Gracias! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Hey, here’s my disclaimer, in case I forget later on. Sailor Moon is not mine. It is the property of Takeuchi Naoko, Dic, Bandai, and other companies that can probably sue the hell out of me. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as far as I know, belongs to Joss Whedon.