'Bring On The Night' Story Code '7ABB10' by Marti Noxon and Douglas Petrie

Buffy and her friends are having no luck in finding any further information on The First; all they know is that it is the original evil, and was here before anything else. As well as worrying about Spike, Buffy is running herself ragged, and is so exhausted that she falls asleep on the living room sofa. Her mother comes to her and begs her to rest - but is the warning real, a dream, or the work of The First? Buffy is unsure if she should trust the dream. Meanwhile, The First has taken Spike to an underground cave, and, appearing in the form of Drusilla, uses the Ubervamp to torture him. Andrew agrees to take Buffy, Dawn and Xander to the Seal of Danzalthar underneath the school; the group decide to bury it again, but when they then leave they bump into Principal Wood, who is also carrying a shovel; both Buffy and her friends and Principal Wood use lame excuses to explain their presence under the school. Once back at the Summers house, Willow casts a locator spell to try and find where The First is situated, but the demon instead uses the spell to momentarily posses Willow, exploding out of her and terrifying everyone. This result leads Willow to believe that any time she uses magic, she will harm someone; Buffy comforts her friend and tries to reassure her. Buffy then decides to hunt down The First on her own before it can hurt anyone else, but as she opens the door she is startled to find Giles standing on the doorstep, accompanied by three young girls. Giles informs Buffy that the problem they are facing is another apocalypse, and that the young women are all potential Slayers, waiting to be called. There are only a few left alive in the world, as the rest have been killed along with their Watchers, and the remaining Slayers are making their way to Sunnydale. Giles also tells them of the destruction of the Watchers Council; luckily he managed to acquire two books, along with the few files that were available on The First, from amongst the destruction. Giles confirms that this is the one thing that the Council feared: that one day all the potential Slayers and their Watchers would be killed, and then Faith would be next, then Buffy, and then there would be no more Council or Slayers ever again; all Buffy has to do is kill The First and save the world. Meanwhile, Spike has been tortured again; ‘Drusilla’ taunts him, hoping to bring him over to her side, but Spike continues to fight back because of Buffy’s faith in him. As Willow and Dawn find beds for the Potentials, Buffy takes Giles to the Christmas tree lot where she originally saw the Bringers; Buffy falls through a hole in the ground, and is immediately attacked by the Ubervamp. They battle viciously until Buffy stakes the creature through the heart, but it does not die. Buffy manages to crawl out of the hole, but the thing follows her again; fortunately the sun has risen and the monster is forced to retreat underground. Back at the Summers house, Buffy and Giles fill the Potentials in on the end of the world, and Giles reveals that the Ubervamp is a Torok-Han - a Neanderthal version of a vampire. Later that day at work, Buffy is using her computer to research evil, when Principal Wood sees what she is doing, and starts a conversation about the long-term effect that evil has on those who witness it. Buffy has another dream about her mother, who again pleads with her to rest; she tells Buffy that evil is everywhere, is a basic part of life, and that no one can stop it, not even her; Buffy then jerks awake and finds a bemused student sitting in front of her waiting for her advice. Buffy keeps pushing herself to go on, and later at home she arms the Potentials so they can better protect themselves. When the sun goes down, everyone becomes anxious about the possibility of a visit from the Turok-Han; the pressure gets too much for one of the Potentials, Annabelle, who runs away from the house. The Turok-Han tracks her and kills her. When Annabelle is subsequently missed Buffy goes looking for her and discovers her lifelessbody; the Turok-Hanthen attacks Buffy, and a brutal battle ensues. After their fight takes them to an industrial building Buffy ends up buried beneath a pile of debris, badly injured. She is able to return home, where everyone is disheartened by her defeat. Giles has no answers, but Buffy realises that instead of waiting for The First to come to her, she must start the war herself - there is only one thing more powerful that evil: them.

Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers), Nicholas Brendon (Xander Harris), Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg), James Marsters (Spike), Emma Caulfield (Anya), Michelle Trachtenberg (Dawn), Anthony Stewart Head (Rupert Giles), Kristine Sutherland (Joyce Summers), Tom Lenk (Andrew), Iyari Limon (Kennedy), Clara Bryant (Molly), Courtnee Draper (Annabelle), Juliet Landau (Drusilla), D.B. Woodside (Principal Wood), Camden Toy (Ubervamp), Chris Wiley (Roger)
Directed by David Grossman

TX (US): 17th December 2002

Notes:
*Featuring Buffy, Xander, Willow, Anya, Dawn and Giles