7.18

Episode 7.18

"Mary Celeste"

written by: A. Jean Clayton a.k.a. silver

Previously on Buffy the Vampire Slayer:

Spike told Buffy that he was planning on leaving Sunnydale. The Scooby Gang failed to stop a ritual performed by the Police Department, and an entity was conjured.

* * *

Buffy and Spike are patrolling, but there's a strong sense of discord between them. Spike seems exasperated, and asks if Buffy isn't sure they're not on a wild goose chase. Buffy reminds him that Willow sent them out specifically to look for the person behind the dark tidings Willow's been sensing about to befall Sunnydale. Spike asks if it isn't just more of Willow's wonky pregnancy effects, but Buffy bites out that those have faded as the due date approaches. She's obviously upset with Spike, and as they continue to march through a cemetery she finally asks him why he has to leave tonight. We realize that he is at last prepared to go, and this is the source of the argument between them. They're so upset with each other that they're pretty much not even bothering to look for Willow's potential evil-doer, but are instead using the excuse to fight. They barely even take notice as a young man of Hispanic descent quickly walks by them on the path, almost running into them before veering off. Spike says Buffy shouldn't beat around the bush; there's always going to be some little bad for them to be after, this time is no different from any other, so why doesn't she just say what she really wants to? Buffy angrily says that she thought they meant something to him. Her and Dawn and the others. But if he can just break all of his ties with them and leave, then maybe she was wrong. Spike replies that that�s just it; she changed him somehow, and now he does care. And he doesn�t know if it�s really him, or if it�s just the way he is when he�s there with her and the others. He�s got to know if he�s really changed, and he can�t do that if he�s still there being influenced by her. Buffy says that�s crap, and they argue some more as they move off, much more involved in the argument than they are in looking for what it was Willow sensed. As they leave, the camera pans down to the young Hispanic man crouching low behind a tree, watching them.

Opening Credits.

Spike is in his apartment packing a bag, agitated and smoking. We can see that the apartment is pretty much empty already, and Spike seems to decide after a moment that packing what�s left isn�t worth the trouble and tosses the bag down. He goes outside and flicks the cigarette out, opens the door to the DeSoto and gets in. He starts up the engine and actually puts it in gear, but then just sits there with the engine running, trying to decide whether or not to go back and try to make peace with Buffy before leaving. Conflicted, he reaches up to turn the key off again and then looks out through the rear window toward the Sunnydale residential district. He looks again out through the front window at the highway. Cursing in his annoyance, he starts the car again and turns around to head toward the Summers house.

There, he finds the front door ajar and is immediately put on guard. Wary, he slowly enters and looks around. The house seems okay, and nothing is damaged. There doesn�t appear to have been a fight, but there are lights on and indications that someone is home, or just was. He risks calling out for Buffy, and then for Dawn, but there is no answer. Indeed, the entire house is eerily silent. He hears a ding from the kitchen, suddenly, and moves quickly to investigate. No one is in the kitchen, either, but the microwave is beeping quietly at steady intervals, having just shut off. Spike opens the door and finds a package of ground beef half thawed out. Unnerved, he turns his head and sees three glasses resting on the center table, each containing varying levels of water or soft drink. His eyes narrow in contemplation as he notices that the ice in the glasses has scarcely had time to melt at all. Obviously thinking that something must�ve happened to make the occupants of the house flee suddenly, he crosses to the back door and yanks it open, going out onto the porch and looking around. There�s no sign of anyone.

Cut to the street in front of Sun Cinema. As Spike walks past the theatre on his way to the Magic Box he is obviously disturbed at the total lack of people anywhere. There are no lines in front of the cinema, no people shopping at the stores that line the street. The Magic Box looks similarly abandoned when he goes in, and his unease only grows when he finds the cash register unlocked and open, a purchase in a bag sitting on the counter. Absently he closes the register and locks it, pocketing the key.

Suddenly there�s a ruckus out on the street; it�s the first sound Spike�s heard other than those he�s made himself, and he runs to the door to look out. Across the street a pack of vampires is looting the electronics store. Numerous jeering voices draw his attention to a gaggle of small, dark gremlinish creatures climbing up on the marquee of the cinema. They gleefully pull the letters off and throw them down onto the pavement, smashing them, and there are no humans anywhere in sight.

Brow furrowed, Spike locks the door and goes out the back, cutting over to Willy�s Bar. His partner is nowhere to be found, but the demon patrons are running amok, trashing the place. One vamp spies Spike enter and takes after him with a broken chair leg. Barely even pausing, Spike snaps the vamp�s head back with a quick punch, takes the improvised stake and dusts him with it. There are obviously too many in the bar to take on alone, but when he sees Clem getting clobbered by some looters in the corner he cuts a lethal swath through the melee to rescue him. They rush out, and Clem says he�s sorry for not being able to stop the demon gangs from trashing the place, but Spike tells him to forget about it. The place is only half his. And no one person could stop them all anyway, except maybe Buffy, but she�s conveniently missing in action. In fact, all of the people seem to be missing from Sunnydale. Clem asks what they should do, and Spike says it looks like only evil, non-human creatures are left in town, and as much as he hates to say it, they�re going to need help of the non-evil variety. As a pack of vamps melts out of the shadows looking for trouble, Spike and Clem retreat.

Commercials.

Spike and Clem are back at the Summers house, and Clem is holding an ice pack to his head while simultaneously trying to get drunk. Spike notes that at least here other vamps shouldn�t be able to get to them, but a voice from the doorway suddenly says that whatever�s happened to the humans may render the invitation null and void. Spike and Clem look over; it�s Angel. He steps inside, and Spike guesses that Angel might be right. The older vampire shakes his head and says his invitation was never revoked.

Spike sneers at this reminder of the Buffy / Angel phenomenon, and asks if that�s why Angel came running back to Sunnydale�because Buffy might be in trouble. Angel says �You called me for help, remember?� Spike scowls as Clem takes another drink, and then goes on to tell Angel what he�s no doubt already figured out: all of the humans are gone. Pfft. Vanished without a trace. He ends by asking how things are in L.A. �Fine,� Angel answers, meaning that whatever this is, it hasn�t spread to his city. He looks around and sees the state of interruption in the kitchen. He makes note of it, and Spike tells him how when he got here the microwave was still on, and the ice in the glasses was still fresh. It was like Buffy and Dawn and whoever they�d been having for dinner � probably Tara � had just gotten up and left in the middle of their lives.

�The Mary Celeste,� Angel mutters. Clem asks who that was, and does he think she�ll help? Angel says it wasn�t a person, it was a ship. It set sail for Genoa in November of 1872 with a full crew, a captain, and his wife and child on board. A month later it was found by another ship that had been traveling the Atlantic on a roughly parallel course, abandoned. The ship was seaworthy, undamaged. The sails were set. Nothing appeared to be wrong, except that the entire crew was missing with no explanation. �Some tales,� Angel says, �no doubt exaggerations, place a plate of warm food still on the table, or the captain�s pipe still smoking. But no one from that ship was ever heard from again, and no one really knows what happened.�

Ghost stories, Spike scoffs, but Clem looks worried and belts back another one. �The people in Sunnydale didn�t just vanish into thin air,� Spike says, and Angel agrees. He asks him about events leading up to the mass disappearance, and Spike tells him how Willow�d gotten some kind of vibe about dark tidings, but when he and Buffy checked it out they�uh�didn�t find anything. Angel picks up on the evasiveness in Spike�s tone, and presses him until Spike reveals that they didn�t really get a chance to look very hard due to the fact that they were arguing. Angel wants to know what they were fighting about; when Spike says it�s none of his business Angel counters that it might be relevant. Spike says it�s not. Clem, drunk by this point, tells Angel that Buffy is angry and hurt because Spike�s leaving Sunnydale. There�s a moment of silence as Spike and Angel regard each other in an evaluating silence, then Angel asks Spike to show him where Willow sent them. Clearly afraid to go out amongst the pillaging and plundering, Clem suggests that he stay behind to keep an eye on the slayer�s house. Angel shoots Spike a glance as if to ask �Is this guy for real, or what? He is a demon, right?� Spike ignores him and tells Clem that�s a good idea, then leads Angel out.

Commercials.

Spike leads Angel through the cemetery where he and Buffy had been patrolling earlier, and says Willow�s feeling had been pretty vague. She�d just gotten a vibe for a general location, and a bad feeling. With the way things have been in Sunnydale recently, Buffy�d thought they should check it out. �And how have things been here recently?� Angel asks. He also wants to know how Xander is. Spike shoots him a glance, and says he didn�t think Angel would�ve cared how Xander felt. Angel responds that no matter what their history, he knows it�s never easy to lose someone you love. Spike looks like he understands, and confesses that Xander has not been okay, of late. �He�s slipping,� Spike says, and pauses to light a cigarette. �Letting the hatred take him. It�s pulling him away from the rest.� Angel asks what they�re doing to help him, and Spike says they�ve tried, but everyone�s got their own issues to deal with right now, too. Willow�s got the whole pregnancy thing going on, Buffy�s got Dawn to look after already, a job, and a corrupt police department trying to kill her. �She couldn�t have known Xander would turn to the dark side of the force�literally.�

Angel says wait a minute, he knew the department was corrupt after his last visit, but they�re trying to kill her, now? Spike confirms that there have been several attempts so far, but she and her partner have thrown them off for the time being. �You remember her partner, right?� Spike taunts him. �Tall bloke. Reddish hair, broad shoulders. All-American boy next door sort?� Angel refuses to be baited and asks why they�re after her. Why�s anyone ever after her, Spike wants to know, other than because she�s the good guy who wants to stop whatever evil scheme they�re up to. He goes on to tell Angel that things have been bad recently. Anya�s death, Xander�s slipping, the attempts on Buffy�s life�.even the demons have been nastier and more numerous of late. �And now,� Angel accuses, �when she might need you the most, you�re leaving.� Spike lashes back that Angel ought to know all about it, since he was the first one to leave Buffy. Stung, Angel has no defense. He changes the subject by indicating that Spike should lead on, and asks him if earlier they�d seen anything out of the ordinary at all. Spike thinks back, but can only remember the young Hispanic man; he says he only remembers him because he�d been dressed rather oddly. Old style clothes and all. Angel looks contemplative at this, but Spike says the young man hadn�t done anything suspicious, just passed by. �At night,� Angel says. �Through the cemetery. Alone. In Sunnydale.� He postulates that the only people who walk the paths in cemeteries alone at night without getting accosted are either evil, or those fighting evil. And given that Spike had just said evil was running rampant recently, it bears looking into. Spike shrugs and starts to indicate which way the man had been coming from, but just then a group of men jump out from their concealed positions and attack.

Commercials.

Spike is caught blind-sided by a punch, and recoils. A few feet away Angel catches one too, but quickly recovers and punches back, clearing himself a little room. Spike rolls when he hits the ground and takes out a couple of his attackers. He quickly regains his feet in game face and goes to town on the one who sucker-punched him. Angel keeps his human visage for a few moments longer until he gets knocked down; then he gets angry and jumps up snarling. What follows is a melee of blows in which Angel and Spike end up fighting back to back against the sudden swarm of seemingly indestructible attackers. Overwhelmed, they combine their strength and quickness to toss a couple of the men in unison at the others, knocking them down like bowling pins. Then they spin and run in the direction Spike had indicated just before the attack. Quickly outdistancing their pursuers, at least for the short term, they stop at the base of a hill where the path curves. Spike watches the path behind them and says he thinks they lost them, but Angel points out that their attackers probably know where they�re going, even if they don�t yet. �How do you figure?� Spike asks. �Did you see their clothes?� Angel replies. �Eighteenth, Nineteenth century. Like the man you saw.�

�There�s something else,� Spike says. He points out that the attackers looked human, but all humans have disappeared from the town. �All living humans,� Angel clarifies. Something in his tone alerts Spike and he asks what�s on Angel�s mind. Angel shakes his head, obviously not having enough information yet. Wanting to stay ahead, they forge onward, following the path, which trails along the base of the hill.

The shot stays in the small clearing they�d stopped in, and mere moments later their pursuers come into view. One of them calls a halt in Spanish, and we see that it�s the young man from the beginning of the episode. He proceeds to, in the same language, address an older man who seems to be the leader. Through subtitles, we follow the conversation as the young man confirms that the blonde vampire is the one he saw earlier with the slayer. The older man says he has no soul, and they must stop him before he can do more evil by interfering with their mission. The young man looks conflicted, saying that despite the argument it had looked as if the vampire and the slayer were working together. He takes a breath and says that maybe they should have just gone to the slayer of this time�warned her instead of taking matters into their own hands. The older man scowls, saying that they�ve had this conversation before, and his decision remains the same. The evil-doers must not be permitted to complete their task. If the slayer had any chance of stopping them it would have been before the Dark One was summoned. �But, the legend�� the young man starts to say, but is interrupted by the older man who asserts that they can�t depend on the legend to be true. Not this time. The reminder causes them all to fall solemnly silent, and if the young man has any more objections he keeps them to himself. The leader indicates that they should hurry and catch up to the vampires, and they take off.

Ahead, the path has followed along the base of the hill into the woods. Spike and Angel are deep among the trees now, and almost miss the mouth of a cave. They pause at the opening, listening to a faint humming noise originating from deep within. Angel�s cell phone suddenly rings, and � surprised � he answers it. It�s Clem, who says he found his number in the slayer�s phone book. The good-natured demon says he just saw a news report on the Sunnydale disappearances; the news van was sitting right outside city limits reporting when a car drove by behind the camera. Suddenly off screen there was a crash, and the operator swung his camera to catch the car smoking, having crashed into a tree off the road. When the news crew got to the car there was no longer anyone in it. Clem just thought they should know. Angel thanks him and hangs up, telling Spike what he�s learned. Spike looks pensive. He says it sounds like there�s a limited area this spell or whatever can cover. Angel agrees, since everything was fine in L.A. Spike turns to gaze speculatively down the passageway into the cave, and says if there�s a fixed radius, then it�s likely there�s a source. Maybe some sort of generator. Focusing again on the humming sound, they delve into the cave.

Walking down the dark passageway, Spike comments that back there, fighting with Angel on his side again, had felt a bit like the old days. �Is that what you�re trying to get back to?� Angel asks, �the way you were in the old days?� Having almost opened up for a moment, Spike shuts down again. Offhand, he tells Angel that Drusilla is dead; he killed her. Angel is taken aback for a moment, then snorts. �I�ll believe it when I never see her brought back in a box,� he declares. Spike shakes his head, uncomprehending and not caring. They continue down the confined passageway until it finally opens up into an underground cavern. There�s a little moonlight filtering in through the foliage creeping over top the old smoke hole in the ceiling, and Angel and Spike can make out faint paintings on the walls. Their attention is quickly drawn, however, by a green flickering flame burning on its own, atop a stone altar. It gives off only a mild glow, barely enough to tinge their faces as they peer at it. It�s the origin of the humming sound they�ve been following.

�So this is the source,� Angel guesses. �This is what�s keeping Sunnydale empty of humans.� He spins suddenly as the voice of the older Hispanic man sounds behind him. Spike whirls too; they�re surrounded by the men from the woods. �And also what allows us to exist in this place,� the leader says in English. Angel steps toward him and asks what they hope to gain from making the humans all vanish.

�We hope to save the world,� the man replies.

Commercials.

Spike and Angel stand with their backs to the flame, squared off against their pursuers. �Yeah,� Spike snorts derisively, �Because getting rid of everyone who might be able to stop you is a time honored display of peace and good will.� The leader responds that they had no choice�there was no way they could specify which humans they wanted to vanish. There was no other way to be rid of the evil doers who would bring forth El Primer. Angel looks startled for a moment, then the man goes on to say that some must be sacrificed in order to protect the rest of the world. He says that El Primer has come before, but always in the past it has been defeated. But it is a deceiver; the last time it nearly won. They can�t give it the chance this � the final and most important time.

Spike says that�s crap�if they really wanted to protect the world from El Ni�o, they�d need the slayer�s help to do it. But she�s one of the ones they bloody disappeared off. The leader says they couldn�t take the risk. The last time, when El Primer almost won�it was because the slayer of their time could not do what was required of her. As he continues to speak, Spike�s eyes narrow in keen speculation when the young man � unnoticed by anyone else � drops his head. Following a hunch, Spike says that their slayer is undefeated. She�s vanquished every foe that�s come up against her, and has even cheated death itself twice. At this news some of the men shuffle and look interested, but the one who interests Spike the most is the young man, who suddenly looks up with hope blazing in his eyes. Turning to the leader, he says �Padre, the legend��

�Do not speak to me again of the legend!� the leader demands, turning on the young man. If the legend were true do you not think she would have succeeded without sacrificing herself?� The young man looks hurt, and shamed, but this time several others seem to be intrigued enough by �the vampire�s slayer� to protest. Trying to attract as little attention as possible, Angel steps backward toward the flame, intending to somehow extinguish it. The leader sees him, however, and shouts for his followers to stop him. They rush forward and Angel is once again embroiled in a fight. Spike ducks a couple attackers, though, and makes his way to the young man. The vampire assures him that Buffy can do all he�s said she can, and more, if she�s got the chance. Taking another leap based upon intuition, Spike hammers it home by asking �You want to help, don�t you? You�ve failed before, and you want to win this time. Avenge her. Yes? Then help us. Show me how to put out the flame, and give her the chance to beat it.� The young man is conflicted, but finally nods decisively at Spike, pulls out a stone knife, and they rush through the mob of fighting. Angel is at the center, fending off his attackers and providing the distraction Spike needs. He races with the young man to the stone altar, where the flame still flickers. At the moment of their arrival the leader shouts from amid the fighting for the young man to stop; don�t do what he�s thinking about doing. It could mean the end of everything. The young man, an expression of grim determination on his face, turns away and stabs the knife through the wall above the flame, releasing a torrent of underground water which flows free and extinguishes the fire. The leader watches the flame hiss and die in dismay, then turns a foreboding look upon the young man. He says nothing, merely shakes his head sadly as he fades away. The others also fade, and after a moment it�s just Angel, Spike and the young man. Angel turns to ask their ghostly companion what just happened, but the young man also fades, his intense eyes holding Spike to his promise before vanishing. Spike and Angel glance at each other.

Outside the Summers house it�s nearly dawn as Spike hands Willow the key from the cash register, then turns away to face Dawn. She makes him promise that no matter what he finds out, he will come back, at least to say goodbye for real. He says he will, and they hug before he turns then toward Buffy and Angel, who are standing together. He makes a snide remark about Angel staying for the duration of this dilemma, but Angel smacks him back down by saying that someone should. Burned, but trying not to show it, Spike dismisses Angel and looks at Buffy. She meets his eyes confrontationally until he turns to leave but then she reaches out and stops him for a moment, her expression softening. �Remember your promise,� she says softly, echoing Dawn�s desire that he come back. Spike almost smiles, nods, then turns and gets into the DeSoto. Focus on Buffy, Angel, Dawn and Willow as the car pulls away from the curb.

End Credits.

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