- Dream Weaver
Chapter 4: Double Cross
I dreamed that I was at the Sunnydale Cemetery alone. As I walked amidst the gravestones, there was a clearing and in the center of the clearing was a Ring of Fire. In the Ring of Fire, appeared a hooded figure that whispered, "Come here", yet I wasn't afraid. I approached the hooded figure in the Ring of Fire and as I drew closer, the hooded figure motioned to remove its hood.
As its head lifted up, it was recognizable. "Alejandro, it's me Lucia Dreamweaver, your angel", Lucia the robed and cowled angel said. Her hair was blacker than the night sky with a face as pale as the moon. Her eyes were gray as steel and her lips were ruby red. Her resemblance to the slayer was uncanny, save for the hair and the color of her eyes. "It's been awhile since I dreamt of you last", I told her.
"I missed you, too", Lucia intoned. She had black raven wings, so black they shined blue. "Will the Master obtain the stone of light?", I asked. "No", she assured me, "I got that from the highest authority. God has forbidden it to Lucifer the first evil, that's why St. Michael was sent to vanquish and banish the fallen one from heaven".
Lucia left the Ring of Fire unscathed and gave me the sweetest kiss that I hadn't savored in a long time. Lucia then seductively whispered a secret in my ear. I then awoke from my dream with a sense of peace and calm and though I remembered the dream quite vividly, I couldn't for the moment remember the secret she whispered in my ear. Giles had just woken up a few moments later when the phone rang. It was Buffy who called to invite us all out to eat.
Giles said, "We'll meet you, is the rest of the gang coming?"." Yes, in fact we're all waiting for you to come", Buffy said. "Ok give Reyes and I a few minutes and we'll be at the Double meat Palace", Giles said and hung up the phone. I asked, "What's the Double meat Palace?" ."It's the local burger joint", Giles replied. So we got quickly spruced up and made our way to the Double meat Palace.
Everyone ordered their meals, while I ordered a double meat medley, which was a cross between a burger and a chicken sandwich with fries, pie and a shake. Buffy treated all of us and I was the guest of honor. Meanwhile, at Angel's place, Angel was thinking of Emilie when there was a hard knock at the door.
Angel approached cautiously. "It's me, Emilie. I know you're in there, open up!", the voice said on the other side of the door. When Angel opened the door, sure enough it was Emilie. "So what brought you here to Sunnydale?", Angel asked. "I heard this place was happening with the hell mouth and all, so I thought I'd check it out since Transylvania is so passe" ,Emilie said. "So where were you since the war ended?", Angel asked.
"Pittsburgh", Emilie replied, "and you?", she asked. "New York, LA and New York again", Angel replied. So why the going back and forth , what didn't you like about LA?", Emilie asked. "Yeah, I had problems over there at an infamous place called the Hyperion Hotel!", Angel replied. "Hmmm, I passed by there on my way to Sunnydale and the place was dead, sort of gave me the creeps being a vampire myself and all! How long has it been closed?" ,Emilie asked.
"It's been closed since 1979",Angel replied. "It's been awhile", Emilie said. "In fact, it's been awhile since you and I last met, when you sired me a century ago!", Emilie said. "But, I'm not going to hold it against you", Emilie continued, "I to this day feel that I got my just desserts and more. I know God had sent you to punish me". "God had nothing to do with what happened to you and me", Angel said.
"Well, save the theological debate", Emilie said. "What's done has been done and nothing can change or undo what has happened" ,Emilie continued," Rumor has it that you're romantically involved with the slayer. What is she like? is it true?", Emilie asked. "It's true", Angel said. "How did that happen?", Emilie asked. "By the life of me, I wish I knew!", Angel replied.
"So why these questions?", Angel asked. "Just curious", Emilie replied ,"Just curious!", she repeated. After we finished our meals, Buffy's beeper beeped. "I wonder who that would be", Buffy said." Excuse me, Giles could I borrow your cell?" Buffy asked. "Sure, certainly", Giles replied and handed her the phone.
It was Angel who called to ask Buffy if it was OK to bring Emilie on patrol tonight. Buffy said, "I understand Emilie is an old friend from your past but I really don't know her that well. But if you feel it's alright to bring her I won't question your judgement, I trust you". Buffy hung up the cell after saying goodbye to Angel and handed the cell phone back to Giles.
"I don't mean to but in", I said. "But, I think maybe you should offer guest tours to the nightlife of Sunnydale, slaying vampire tours" ,I said jokingly. "Ha ha, very funny", Buffy said wryly. I asked, "Want to hear some jokes?". "Sure", Buffy said. "Why not, I love jokes", said Willow. "I like jokesters", Xander said. Giles just looked at me intently waiting to hear the punch line.
"Here's a clean one", I said. I got a napkin and neatly fixed it into a bow and placed it on my face as a mustache, knocking on the table and said, "I come for the rent", and switched the napkin to the side of my head and with a mock female voice said, "But I don't have the rent!". I repeated this a couple of times until I knocked like horses trotting and switched the napkin on a bowtie and said in a manly voice, "I'll pay the rent!", switched to female role, "My hero!", switched to villain's role, "Curses foiled again!"
Everybody including the patrons and clerks cracked up and collectively burst out laughing. "You had to make me laugh", Buffy said still laughing at my comical debut. "I'm glad you're the life of the party!" ,Xander said. "You rock, Reyes that was cute!", Willow said ."It's been awhile since I had a good laugh!", Cordelia said who was silent throughout the meal just eating." It's good to see you have a sense of humor", Giles observed.
"Well getting back to business", Buffy said. "We're going to meet with Angel and Emilie at Giles' place", Buffy announced. We all looked west towards the sunset. "It's getting dark", Buffy said. So we all cleaned up the table and threw the waste into the garbage can on our way out. As we walked to Giles' house, we passed several places and passed an Orthodox Church. Buffy asked as we passed the church,"Why do the crosses in that church have three bars?"
"Yeah, I noticed one of them is slant", Willow said. "What does that mean?", Xander asked. "Yeah, why are they different?" ,Cordelia asked. "I remember", I said, "Since I met a Russian Orthodox Priest in Cleveland back in 1985,why the triple crosses and more" ,I then continued, "the slant bar on their cross means that there's no music in that church". "How boring!" , Buffy said. "Why wouldn't they allow music?", Willow asked.
"Because", I replied, "according to that Russian Orthodox Priest, back before time began, the First Evil, Lucifer was God's Chief Musician , he was the most beautiful angel God had made, he even had built in pipes. Therefore since Lucifer invented music, thus music is of the devil, the First Evil. That's why music is not allowed in the Orthodox Churches only chants".
"As if God couldn't have picked another musician!", Buffy retorted. "That's messed up!" Willow said. "Well that Russian Orthodox Priest forgot to tell you that David played the harp and wrote the Psalms which were songs", Giles replied. "What else did this Russian Orthodox Priest say?", Buffy asked. "I then asked the priest", I continued, "why are werewolves and vampires afraid of rye and silver?"
The priest said, "Because when Christ ate bread at the last supper , the bread was unleavened rye, when Christ said, "This is my body, eat it in memory of me", Christ hallowed the rye and made the grain holy. As for silver , the priest said, "Remember that Judas Iscariot betrayed Christ for thirty pieces of silver". "OK", Buffy said, "Go on". I continued, "When Christ was crucified, he was crucified, Christ was crucified with nine inch wooden nails hence the wooden stake not to mention that Vlad Tepes aka Vlad the Impaler, impaled the Turks centuries later on wooden stakes. As well as drink the blood of his enemies".
"Wow", Buffy said, "for someone who's just a security guard you know a lot". "I study history, geography and comparative religions among other things", I said. "Furthermore", I continued, "according to this priest that I met , Judas Iscariot committed suicide, god resurrected him and told Judas, "Cursed shall you be for betraying my son, you shall wander the earth from here until judgement day. For blood shed and blood you shall consume forever". Judas Iscariot later came to be known as Count Dracula.
"How about Nosferatu?", Buffy asked. "He's actually Cartophilus ,the gatekeeper of Pontius Pilate", I said, "he earned himself a similar curse when he was the first centurion to strike Jesus Christ!". "Hmmm, Interesting", Buffy said. "Very interesting", Giles added. We finally made it to Giles' home where Angel and Emilie waited for us outside.