There was a new costume shop that had popped up in Sunnydale that you all decided to go to to look for costumes. Buffy was immediately drawn to a victorian era costume, while Amy picked out a kitsune costume. You spent quite a bit of time rummaging through the accessory bin looking for something to keep your title as the two dollar costume king. You find a cheap toy stethoscope, and instantly your mind starts turning. A doctor costume is boring, but Van Helsing is a kind of doctor. You could wear a long coat, stethoscope around the neck, and a couple of your stakes. Bam, costume.
The best part about Halloween was being told that most demons and other such beings native to earth tended to take Halloween as a holiday. The more prideful ones avoided humans on Halloween entirely to avoid being mocked for wearing "costumes" and not being taken seriously. While there may be plenty of magical pranks around Halloween, the chances of something serious happening were slim to none. You could just relax and focusing on collecting the candy as you shepherded the kids you were assigned to around.
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Abraham Van Helsing liked to pride himself on being an educated man. He kept an open mind in his pursuit of knowledge, and was well aware of the things that lived beneath the notice of most humans. He had dedicated himself to aiding those that were plagued by demons they didn't understand, offering his educated opinion and care to protect and heal. Never before, however, had he found himself in such circumstances as this. The entire street was awash with creatures, demonic and otherwise, running amock. Innocents screamed in horror as they were torn apart. Everywhere he looked there was vast confusion and chaos.
How could this have possibly happened? The last thing he recalled was working with a team to track down Dracula. Now he was in a completely unfamiliar town facing a horde of demons far larger than he had ever considered being possible. He would have preferred to take the time to analyze the situation further, but he could see yet another innocent being attacked. Abraham swiftly stepped in and drove the demon off before leading the man to a nearby house. The man took the advantage to run.
"Xander! Xander!" A spirit charged at Abraham. He was quick to reach for the crucifix he wore around his neck. Restless spirits were never pleasant to deal with, tied to the mortal plane as they were and unable to move beyond whatever drove them. "Xander, what's going on?" Oh dear, was this spirit born in this chaos? Too confused by what happened to pass on? "Miss, I am afraid you have died."
"What?"
"You have passed on."
"No, no, I couldn't have. I was just-wait." The spirit looked around. Abraham waited patiently. Perhaps this would be relatively simple. "All these people. They're-they're their costumes! Xander, what did you dress as?"
"I am Doctor Abraham Van Helsing, not Xander," Abraham corrected patiently.
"No, that's your...wait." The spirit looked around. "The costumes. Everyone's turned into their costumes!" She turned back to him. "Xander, we have to get Buffy and tell Giles!"
Well, that was an interesting conclusion to reach. Abraham hummed in thought studying the place around him. If these were, indeed, all people in costumes, that would explain how there was such a large horde of demonic creatures when he had never experienced such before. It was curious to think of himself as a costume, but perhaps this was set in the future, when he was well known in books for his acts. That was never something he had intended, and he had little thought as to how such was possible. It felt good to think of himself as a strong enough influence for someone to wish to dress as him in the future.
"Buffy!" the spirit cried. She darted through the crowd to where a victorian lady was wandering in fear through the streets. Another victim. Abraham was swift to follow after the spirit. As the lady was costumed as a human, she was one of the more vulnerable victims in the area. The lady stared at them fearfully. "Who are you? Where am I?"
"I am Doctor Abraham Van Helsing, at your service madam," Abraham said politely. He took her hand and gave it a brief kiss. "It is dangerous on the streets right now. I believe this spirit knows of a safe location where we can go?"
"We could hole up at Buffy's home," the spirit offered.
"Good. Lead on then." Abraham kept himself alert as they traveled, doing his best to redirect anything that came near them. Buffy, as the spirit insisted she was called, was terribly scared. He was unclear why the spirit had thought that such a dainty lady could be of any use. Surely seeking out others that knew how to break whatever spell had transformed people would be far more useful.
"Buffy" wasn't taking the revelation of being a costume well. Her costume was from much further back, a more superstitious and fearful time. Abraham was not surprised she wasn't handling it well as the spirit tried to convince her as if words alone could break the enchantment. Screams for help seized Abraham's attention and he raced outside locating a young woman in a cat costume running for her life. Abraham stepped in to fight the demon and drive it back. "Xander! Thank goodness," the young woman breathed.
Abraham nodded and herded her into the house. "You should be safe here."
"Cordelia!" The spirit rushed over. "Okay, Cordelia, I know this will be hard to take, but you're not a cat, you're in high school with us, we're friends. Sort of."
Cordelia stared at the spirit. "That's nice, Willow. And you went mental when?"
"O-oh! You know who we are?"
"Duh. Why are you asking?"
"Our lady here," Abraham gestured to Buffy, "is under an enchantment turning her into a true lady of the victorian era. I was more fortunate, as the lad Xander dressed as myself, Doctor Van Helsing, and I have more awareness of such dealings."
"You actually think you're a doctor Xander?" Cordelia chuckled.
Abraham smiled and handed his coat over to Cordelia. "For now, I at least have the skills of one."
"And a gentleman," Cordelia said admiringly. She smiled sweetly at him.
"Alright, I'm going to get help," Willow declared. "You guys stay here. If anyone tries to enter, fight them off."
"Fight? I don't know how to do that," Buffy exclaimed.
"Thankfully I do." Abraham straightened up. "Let's work on barricading our current lodgings." Cordelia smiled at Abraham as the three worked to seal off the doors and windows while Willow traveled for help. A scream from Buffy drew the group's attention. Abraham charged down and found a vampire in the doorway. Cordelia perked up. "Oh, Angel! Here to help?"
"I am," Angel said. "What's going on?" Buffy retreated back to hide by Abraham. He patted the poor girl sympathetically. "An enchantment to bring costumes to life. Cordelia here is the only one unaffected."
"That's what happens when you get a proper costume from a real place instead of the local discount store," Cordelia said proudly.
"You're all safe then?" the vampire asked.
"As long as you remain outside, yes," Abraham agreed.
"What? You're leaving him out there?" Cordelia exclaimed.
"As charming as this creature is, he is a killer," Abraham said coldly.
"What?" Angel gave a confused smile. "I thought-Buffy. You know I'm here to help you guys."
"I do not know you sir," Buffy said quietly. Angel frowned.
"If you truly wish to help, you can fight the beasts outside the house," Abraham pointed out. "You do not need to come in to help." On cue the sound of a window breaking was heard, and Abraham whirled around to go and deal with it. Thankfully it was one of the smaller creatures he suspected had been a child, and was fairly easy to throw back out of the house. He heard Buffy scream and raced back to the front, just in time to catch the silly girl running off into the night. "Buffy!" Abraham rapidly ran after her. What had happened to cause her to flee the house?
It was slow chasing after the girl. So many people were being attacked, and Abraham felt the need to do what he could to give them a chance to escape. It felt like luck that allowed him to find Buffy being menaced by a pirate. He punched the pirate hard, a deep sense of satisfaction welling through him from the act. Strange, but nothing to dwell on. He helped Buffy up. "Are you alright?"
She clutched onto him sobbing a little. "I-it was terrifying. The man, he turned into some kind of demon!"
Ah, she had been frightened by the vampire lurking around the house they were in. Possibly a fight had come too close and she had fled without realizing she was leaving the house. "It's alright. Let's head back."
"Not so fast," someone drawled. Abraham turned around to see a vampire leading a small pack of monsters. "That's my prey you're holding."
"She is under my protection."
"Oh! So the dork's got some bite tonight!" The vampire laughed. "Get them." The monsters surged forward. Abraham started to fight. Sadly facing the hoard while trying to protect someone was difficult. He wasn't used to facing such large numbers while protecting someone else. The vampire was powerful as well, reminding him in some ways of Dracula himself, if a lesser version of the master vampire. The blond vampire was taking his time, but kept a sharp focus on the girl he was going after, unlike the lesser creatures which were taking any opportunity they could. The vampire managed to reach Buffy, and Abraham despaired of losing another life-
You came back to yourself with your head spinning at all the changes. Somehow you were in a warehouse, and Buffy was beating up a vampire you had thought had left Sunnydale when Buffy had beat him the first time. He'd been lucky to escape alive. He wouldn't be so lucky this time. You quickly moved to back Buffy up, but somehow despite it all he still managed to escape. The various crying kids in the room might have helped some with that. Grumbling you looked back at Buffy. "Do you know what happened?"
"Terrible luck," Buffy said shortly. She did not seem nearly as pleased with her costume as she had been earlier. You had a fuzzy feeling that was for a good reason.
Giles gave you the entire rundown the next day. A chaos mage had come to Sunnydale and sold enchanted costumes to turn people into them. You hoped you'd made an amazing Van Helsing. Cordelia at least was looking at you more. She might have enjoyed how you looked. If you pushed you could remember some of what had been going on. Buffy was more settled in herself at least, which was good. She'd been a little high strung before the holiday.
[ ]Poke into your Halloween memories
[ ]Spend time with your friends
[ ]Read comics
[ ]Write-in
Finally finished this monster post. Hope you enjoy
