by Various
“I need your help,” they both said.
“You first,” Willow said.
“Mel’s disappeared and these flags need to be waving from the wings on both stage left and stage right at the start of the next scene. I can’t possibly be both places at once.”
“He’s not the only one missing.” She filled him in on the situation.
“Maybe Mel went to help her?” Xander guessed.
“But he wouldn’t leave his post without telling you.”
“It must have been when I was onstage doing the last scene change,” Xander said as he saw Elisabeth exit the stage. “Where I need to be again. Here, take these!” He grabbed a pile of flags and handed them to Willow. She ran stage left, trying not to trip on her oversized costume, while he went stage right. Luckily, there was no set change. Instead, there was supposed to be a really cool lighting effect that would signal the new scene. Things being as they were, Xander and Willow just waved the flags frantically and the actors took that as their cue.
Angel found the technical director backstage by the sets, waiting for his next cue. Angel looked over the area behind the back curtain. The only route to the technical director was the direct one. Naturally, Angel took that route without second thought.
The technical director was caught off guard, but was able to defend against the attack he saw coming. Feinting right, he threw his body against Angel, who found himself slamming into one of the sturdier set pieces. When Angel turned, he saw that the technical director had grabbed an unlit torch and was swinging it wildly on the offensive.
Angel managed to block most of the blows until one of them landed square in his chest and sent him back through a fake wall. When Angel extricated himself from the set piece, he found that the technical director had lit his torch. Realizing that it was not safe to be around wooden set pieces with a wild vampire holding a torch, Angel ran from the props storage area with a definite destination in mind.
Making sure that he was still being followed, Angel ducked into the paint closet and waited. As he expected, the attacker assumed that Angel was trapped and recklessly ran into the open doorway.
As soon as the technical director cleared the doorway, Angel threw the contents of a turpentine can at him. As the turpentine met the torch flame, the liquid became fire and engulfed the vampire.
Angel then grabbed a fire extinguisher from the wall and put out the flames that had caught on the doorframe.
Giles and Jenny had seen the flash of light from backstage. They were about to investigate when they saw Angel coming toward them.
“I assume that was you?” Giles asked.
“Two down,” Angel replied.
“And we took care of our two,” Jenny said. “That leaves the stage manager.”
“Duck,” Giles said as he saw Willow and Xander about to come their way. Taking the only possible route, they hurried out the stage door. In their haste, they allowed the door to close and lock behind them.
“Do you smell something burning?” Willow asked.
“Now that you mention it.”
“Stage left.”
The twosome followed the scent and came across the partially charred paint closet. As they surveyed the wreckage, neither of them paid any attention to the extended silence coming from the stage until Willow heard Sam’s strained voice over her headset.
“Scene change!”
Without stopping to wonder why no one was at their post, the two novice crew members ran out to complete the last scene change.
Sam watched as Xander and Willow cleared the stage for the final scenes. Throwing his headphones down in anger and disgust, the stage manager went off to find his missing crew. No reason for me to stay in the booth. No one was listening for his cues and nothing else was being moved on- or offstage. The rest of the show was entirely up to the actors.
Knowing his crew well, he was sure that they were off starting the cast party early. He had expected better from them. True, they had killed less than in any of the previous cities, but it was only a short time before they would have free rein over half the audience. In his search, the first person he came across was Willow.
“Where is everybody?” He could barely conceal his anger.
“Xander’s on the catwalk,” she said. “We can’t find Amy, or anyone else, so I gave him my headset and sent him up to work the spotlight for the final scene.”
“Willow, that special effect is too important to leave to Xander.”
“But I couldn’t climb the ladder in this costume.”
“Then you should have gotten me.” He was trying not to take his anger out on Willow since he knew she was doing her best.
“I know Xander can do it,” she said loyally.
“Look, I need you up in the booth watching the show. I’ll keep an eye on Xander.”
Willow immediately headed for the stage manager’s booth, and Sam made his way to the ladder up to the catwalk.
At the same time, Angel was dropping into the theater by way of the window he had used earlier. He quickly opened the stage door to let Giles and Jenny in, hoping that they were not too late.
Thirty feet above their heads, Sam was now on the same catwalk that Angel had been perched on only an hour before. He was nearing Xander, who was fumbling with the spotlight.
The light was intended to represent an otherworldly glow upon the presentation of Macbeth’s severed head. Sam heard Willow’s cue and watched Xander flip the switch on the spotlight, but nothing happened. From his position behind Xander, Sam could see that the inexperienced crewman had forgotten to plug the cord into the light. While Xander frantically played with the fixture, Sam was moving closer. That’s it, he thought, the show’s over. Time to get rid of Xander.
It was then that Xander surprised him by doing something right.
Seeing that the cord was lying beside him, Xander bent to get it and knocked the lamp out of position. When Xander plugged in the cord, the light was no longer focused on the stage but behind him. Quickly he repositioned the light so that it was in the correct spot, but it was too late for Sam. When the white hot spotlight was turned on, it was aimed directly at the stage manger’s face. The blinding light had caught Sam so off his guard that he lost his footing and fell from the catwalk. Thankfully, he had fallen to the right and wound up behind the stage curtain rather than on the stage itself.
Sam landed on his back with the wind knocked out of him, but otherwise unscathed. He decided it would be best to rest for a moment while his eyes readjusted to the light, and his body readjusted from the fall.
His eyes cleared up just in time to see the man dressed in tweed bring a stake down upon his heart.
As soon as the curtain fell, Willow was running backstage to congratulate the cast. Xander was the first person she saw as he climbed down from the catwalk.
“You did great, Xander!”
“Thanks, you too.”
Elisabeth came running toward them.
“Willow, hurry up. You’re going to miss the curtain call!”
“The assistant stage manager doesn’t go out for the curtain call,” she said.
“No, but the First Witch does. Come on.”
“But, Xander . . .”
“Go,” Xander said. “You deserve to bask in your applause.”
The two actors ran off to the stage.
“I’ll just stay here,” he said to no one. “Alone.”
Turning, he saw Giles, Jenny, and Angel by the stage door. They were applauding.
“You know, you guys have to stop sneaking back here,” Xander said as he crossed to them. “You could get us in trouble with the stage manager.”
“We promise that we won’t do it again,” Jenny said with a smile.
“So what did you think of the play?” Xander asked.
“It was, by far, the most exciting night at the theater I’ve ever had,” Giles responded as Jenny and Angel smiled in silent agreement.
“Giles, I did it!” Will
ow said as she ran up and gave him a big hug.
Giles, unaccustomed to the grand show of emotion, gave a halfhearted hug in return, which Willow immediately noticed as being uncomfortable for him.
“Sorry,” she said, letting him go. “Youthful exuberance gone overboard.”
“Perfectly understood,” Giles said, happy that she was still alive to hug and be hugged.
“Are you all staying for the party?” Willow asked.
The three backstage guests looked at one another waiting for someone to come up with a good reason for them not to attend.
“I have to pack,” Jenny said, providing her own out. “I’m going to visit my family for a while . . . among other things.”
Willow looked to Giles.
“I should see her home,” he explained as he wondered, What other things?
Which led her to look toward Angel.
“Parties aren’t my thing,” he said.
“You don’t know what you’ll be missing,” Xander said, showing them to the door.
“It’ll be the highlight of the summer,” Willow added.
“Which isn’t really hard considering how absolutely boring this summer’s been,” Xander said, opening the stage door for them.
“Absolutely,” Giles said as he walked out the door. “Well, enjoy the party.”
“And have a good rest of the summer,” Jenny added.
“Bye!” Xander and Willow said in unison.
“Well, let’s go find the crew,” Giles heard Willow say to Xander as the door began to close. “We should find out what time we have to be here tomorrow to take down the set.”
As the door lock clicked, the three fill-in Slayers walked down the alley toward the street.
“Are you sure that you two will be okay with me out of town?” Jenny asked.
“I think we should be fine,” Giles said. “Aside from the theater company, things had been relatively quiet for the past few weeks. And Buffy should be back before long.”
Angel stopped at the mention of the Slayer’s name. “Giles, can I speak with you for a moment?” he asked.
Taking her cue, Jenny said, “You know, in all the commotion, I lost my program. I’m going to see if they have any more up front. I’ll meet you there, Giles.”
“Have a safe trip,” Angel said.
“Thanks,” she said as she went to the front of the theater. “I’ll see you when I get back.”
“Giles,” Angel said once Jenny was around the corner. “By now, I guess it’s pretty safe to assume that Buffy won’t be getting in touch with me this summer.”
“Angel, I —”
“You don’t have to come up with an excuse,” he continued in his characteristically soft and slightly brooding voice. “Just . . . if you talk to her again . . . Tell her that I hope she’s having a good summer vacation.”
Cameron Dokey is the author of more than twenty novels for young adults. She enjoys her time in the world of the Slayer, and she admits she’s not sure what this says about her. When not writing, she’s out working in the garden of her Seattle, Washington home. Yes, even when it’s raining.
Nancy Holder is the award-winning, bestselling author of many Buffy and Angel titles including Angel: City of and Immortal (with Christopher Golden). She, Jeff Mariotte and Maryelizabeth Hart recently completed Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Watchers Guide
2. To celebrate, they bought a small villa in Tuscany and fly there on their private jet for the weekends. (That part’s not true, but it was fun to write. Just like this short story.)
Yvonne Navarro lives in the Chicago area and has had eleven novels and sixty-plus short stories published since the mid-eighties. She’s written about vampires, zombies, plain old people, and the end of the world. She has never been in the military (just as well, since she doesn’t think she’d look good in an army uniform), but she has learned to listen and follow orders by studying martial arts. Visit her at www.para-net.com/~ynavarro.
Paul Ruditis was born and raised in Philadelphia and lived there until he moved to California in search of his fortune . . . he’s still looking for it. His first book, The Roswell Pop Quiz, will be out this fall.
Michelle West discovered Buffy when she caught the last ten minutes of “Angel,” in which she got to watch Darla with guns, got to watch Angel save Buffy, and got to watch Buffy and Angel kiss. After that, she made Mike Brooks lend her every single episode from the start of the first season on. Her brother Gary still has to tape them just in case her baby plays with the VCR settings (which has happened twice).
Vital Statistics:
Favorite character: Buffy Summers.
Favorite episode: “Prophecy Girl,” although a close second is “Becoming, Part Two.”
Favorite couple: Willow and Oz.
Favorite villain: The Mayor.
Favorite character who has the most potential to be something gritty, interesting, and relevant: Faith.
