Fanfic Friday

"Interlude with a Vampire"

(A brief and edited excerpt from a fanfic story involving a certain famous pop culture character. And of course, Buffy Summers.)

Buffy couldn't find Giles at any of the usual places and she had even more trouble trying to find Willow or Tara as well so instead she went to the Bronze to cool her heels while waiting for either Willow or Tara to show up.

As Buffy sat down at the bar, she ordered herself a Shirley Temple. After the day she had had, Buffy was tempted to order something stronger but years of training under Giles made certain habits almost automatic. Besides, every time she thought seriously about drinking large amounts of alcohol, she remembered her experience with Black Frost Beer, an experience that her friends still kid her about. Not to mention that weird dream where she drank a large number of wine coolers in her dorm room and then went out to -- No, she really did not want to think about that dream right now.

"Buy a girl a drink?" she heard a voice ask her.

Buffy turned and saw a young blonde girl who appeared to be around five years old sitting on the bar stool next to her. She looked familiar for some reason, but the only thing that came to Buffy's mind was the way the girl's face reminded her of a young Kirsten Dunst.

"Aren't you a little young to be in a bar?" asked Buffy.

"Aren't you a little young to be so judgmental?" replied the blonde. "Besides, I'm a lot older than I look."

"Sure you are," said Buffy. "Why don't I buy you a soda instead?"

"Make it a V-8," said the blonde. "For some reason, I prefer to drink tomato juice right now. It's not as delicious as my normal drink but then you're not likely to offer me that so I'll settle for the tomato juice."

"Okay," said Buffy.

After she placed her order, Buffy turned once more toward the blonde and said, "Hi, I'm Buffy Summers. And you are?"

"Claudia," said the young blonde. "No last name. Just Claudia."

"That name sounds familiar," said Buffy. "Have we met before?"

"No, I usually don't come here in the daytime," said Claudia. "The tunnels are a bitch to navigate and then I have to deal with all the Minas and so I usually --"

"Minas?" asked Buffy.

"Yes, Mina," said Claudia. "As in Mina Harker, founding member of the most famous group of vampire slayers ever."

"Well, I wouldn't say that was quite true," said Buffy. "So what do you have against vampire slayers?"

"Well, they're always harassing me and my friends," said Claudia. "Not that I hang out with Louis and Lestat as much as I used to -- especially since that whole near-death thing -- but still certain things get old and --"

"Get out of town!" cried Buffy. "Did you say Lestat? Does that mean you're that Claudia?"

"I don't mean I'm Claudia of Flatbush," said the young blonde. "Anyway, I sometimes think this visit to Sunnydale was a bad idea. For a vampire town, it is not at all what I expected. In fact, the longer I stay, the more I wish I had made a right turn at Albuquerque."

"Oookay," said Buffy. "But if you hate vampire slayers so much, why are you sitting next to me?"

"Why shouldn't I sit next to you?" asked Claudia. "After all, it's not like -- Son of a bitch! You are! My Minadar must be off today. I could have sworn that you Slayers were usually only called one at a time. At least that's the way I've seen it work since Mina Harker retired."

"Well, there used to be another Slayer apart from me but she's -- er -- away right now," said Buffy.

"Oh, really?" asked Claudia. "Is she a middle-aged dark blonde who looks a bit like that gym teacher in the original Carrie? Because I could have sworn that I saw a woman like that earlier in the day when I was peeking out of one of the tunnels."

"That sounds like you're describing my mom," said Buffy. "Which couldn't be right because she's as far from a vampire slayer as you can possibly get."

"That's what I thought when I first saw her as well," said Claudia. "But then I saw her walk and her body language seemed to have 'vampire slayer' written all over it."

"That couldn't be right," said Buffy. "To do that, she would have to --"

Just then, their drinks came. Buffy turned away to get them and when she turned back, she noticed that Claudia was no longer sitting right besides her. In fact, there was no sign of her whatsoever in the Bronze.