Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Coyote Moon

VIP免费

2024-12-18 0 0 182.38KB 87 页 5.9玖币

侵权投诉

Humans by day, evil by night .... [010-5.0]

Buffy, THE VAMPIRE SLAYER

COYOTE MOON

By: John Vornholt

Synopsis:

As long as there have been vampires, there has been the Slayer. One

girl in all the world, to find them where they gather and to stop the

spread of there evil and the swell of their numbers.

ISBN 0-671-01714-4

#1 The Harvest

#2 Halloween Rain

#3 Coyote Moon

#4 Night of the Living Rerun (coming in mid-February)

Available from ARCHWAY Paperbacks

Published by POCKET BOOKS

New York London Toronto Sydney Tokyo Singapore

The sale of this book without its cover is unauthorized. If you

purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that it was

reported to the publisher as "unsold and destroyed." Neither the author

nor the publisher has received payment for the sale of this "stripped

book."

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents

are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any

resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is

entirely coincidental.

AN ARCHWAY PAPERBACK Original

An Archway Paperback published by POCKET BOOKS, a division of Simon &

Schuster Inc.

1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

rights reserved.

portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Pocket

Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

ISBN: 0-671-01714-4

First Archway Paperback printing January 1998

AN ARCHWAY PAPERBACK and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon &

Schuster Inc.

Printed in the U.S.A.

To my researchers,

Nancy, Sarah, and Eric Vornholt, and Lee Whiteside

COYOTE MOON

Chapter 1

The night wind brought a howl that was sharp and high-pitched, like a

baby crying. Only it wasn't a human baby. Buffy Summers paused to

listen as she stepped out of the Bronze, Sunnydale's coolest club.

Of course, it was Sunnydale's only club, and they let everybody in--but

it was still cool, somehow.

The door opened again, and Xander, her friend, stepped into the dark

alley, bumping into her with his gangly body. "Hey, Buffy, this is a

doorway, not a parking lot."

"Sorry," she said. "Do you hear that?"

Xander frowned as he listened to the rock music thumping through the

walls. "Do you think the band finally hit the right chord?"

"No way," Buffy answered. "It was something else, like a howl."

The door opened again, and Willow stepped out and bumped into them. "Are

we pretending to be the Three Stooges?" she asked.

"No," Xander answered. "That's when we all try to go through the door

at the same time. This is where we stand in the alley and listen to...

What are we listening to?"

Buffy shook her mane of honey-blond hair. "I don't know, just some

weird sound--like a howl."

"Are you sure it wasn't the lead singer?" Willow asked.

Buffy sighed. "Okay, so tonight wasn't Lollapalooza at the Bronze. Have

you got a better idea where to go?"

"We could go home and sleep?" Willow said hopefully.

"There's plenty of time to sleep once school starts again," Xander

scoffed. "Biology, English literature, study hall in the library--what

could be more restful? But for right now, we've got to party!"

"He's right," Buffy insisted. "The break's almost over, and it's our

duty as teenagers to have as much fun as possible before school starts."

Willow looked wistful. "I think school's more fun than vacation."

"That's why we hang with you," Xander said.

"You're really bizarre."

Buffy started walking down the service road that cut between the

warehouses around the Bronze.

"During those desperate times when there's no party anywhere else, I

know two guys who never let you down--Ben and Jerry! My mom just put in

a supply of cookie dough ice cream."

"My favorite!" Xander claimed.

With Buffy the Vampire Slayer leading the way, the three friends

wandered from the bad part of town, across the tracks, onto a well-lit

suburban street. Buffy had to admit that things had been a bit boring

lately--what with no school plus no vampires to slay--but she wasn't

going to complain.

Vampire vacation was even better than school vacation.

"Listen," Willow said excitedly. "I just heard there's a carnival

opening this weekend in the vacant lot on Main Street, where the

drive-in movie used to be!"

"What kind of carnival?" Xander asked.

"You know," Willow said, "a cheap, tawdry affair with creaky rides and

hokey fun houses."

"Cool!" Xander exclaimed. "Just the thing we need to end the break."

"And blow all the money we made from babysitting," Buffy added.

Enthused about the coming weekend, the three teenagers walked more

quickly past the grassy lawns and sedate houses. Except for the way it

looked, there was nothing sedate about the town of Sunnydale.

It was perched on the Hellmouth, a very special place where the forces

of darkness converged and attracted monsters from all over the world.

Real monsters.

As they walked under a street lamp, Buffy turned and saw a smudge under

Xander's lip. She licked her finger and started to wipe it off. "Hold

still, Xander, there's chocolate milkshake on your lip."

He smiled sheepishly and pushed her hand away.

"Uh, that's my new goatee. I've got that whole Skeet Ulrich-Johnny Depp

thing going."

Willow grinned but quickly covered her mouth.

"Oh, it's very dashing."

Xander beamed proudly. "Do you think so?"

"If you want a mustache," Buffy said, "I think you'd better grow the

hair in your nose longer."

"That stinks," Xander complained, slouching ahead of the girls. "I'll

probably shave it off, but you could let me enjoy it until school

starts, okay?"

"Okay," Buffy said with amusement. "Don't wig OUt."

Willow frowned puzzledly at her. "Why do men want to grow hair on their

faces?"

"They're primitive," Buffy said with a shrug.

"Deep down, under all that deodorant and after-shave, most of them would

like to sleep in a cave and pick bugs out of their hairy hides."

"But Xander is more refined," Willow said with a hopeful lilt to her

voice. "He wouldn't really grow a bunch of facial hair, would he? I'm

scared of things that are too hairy."

Buffy twitched as the fine hairs on the back of her neck stood on

end--they must not have liked Willow's remark. She also felt a slight

cramp, reminding her of the next full moon. But she couldn't think

about that now, because the hairs on her neck continued their edgy

dance.

She knew they were in grave danger. But from where? From what?

Instinctively she slowed her pace and went into a crouch.

Suddenly a pack of wild animals burst from one of the side yards and

loped to a stop in front of Xander.

With a startled howl, the mustachioed hero sprang backward and scurried

toward Buffy. While her friends fell in line behind the Slayer, the

pack completed a lazy circle around them. Their actions reminded Buffy

of a pack of hyenas she had once encountered at the zoo, but they looked

more like dogs.

Then the Slayer realized what the predators were--coyotes.

She had seen coyotes often in the hills around Los Angeles, where she

used to live, while horseback riding in Griffith Park or walking near

Dodger Stadium. But that was always from a distance--she had never seen

a pack of coyotes at close quarters, and it was a startling experience.

Numbering about fifteen, they were a scrawny, scruffy bunch, with mangy

coats and darting eyes.

Their tongues hung languidly over long jaws and jagged teeth, and they

panted as if they had run a long distance. In their wary eyes, Buffy

saw mischief and intelligence. She knew she should stay on her guard,

but it was hard to be afraid of them when they looked so much like dogs.

Well, maybe dogs that need a bath and a trim. And a decent mud pack,

she thought.

None of them would meet her gaze except for one--an old gray coyote with

rheumy, yellow eyes.

It stopped and stared at her with a wisdom that seemed to be ancient.

To cover his initial fright, Xander swaggered toward the scrawny

predators. "Hey, man, it's just coyotes. Shoo! Go away!"

Some of the scruffy beasts did back away a few steps, but others bared

their long canine teeth.

"Xander, leave them alone," Buffy ordered, still in her fighting stance.

"Don't start any trouble."

"Oh, come on, they're just coyotes. You're new here, but we see them

all the time."

"Duh," Buffy said testily. "I saw coyotes in Los Angeles all the time,

too. This bunch looks normal, but there's something wiggins about

them."

Even Willow scoffed at her fear. "He's right, Buffy. It's unusual to

see them this close, but coyotes come down from the hills this time of

year, looking for water."

As if on some silent command, the pack of coyotes whirled gracefully on

their haunches and loped away. Their joyous, high-pitched yips sounded

like a bunch of marauding bandits in an old John Wayne movie. Within

seconds, most of them had disappeared around a corner.

"See, they're chicken!" Xander claimed, proudly puffing out his chest.

He shouted after the coyotes, "Yeah, go on! Get out of here!"

The old coyote with the weird eyes stopped at the corner to look back at

Buffy, and she felt the cramps, the chills, the heaves, and just about

every other warning sign her body was capable of producing.

The animal didn't look annoyed--just curious. Finally it dashed off

after its buds, and their eerie yipping continued to pierce the night

for many minutes.

"They're on the hunt," Willow said cheerfully. "I did a report on

coyotes in zoology, so I know about their habits."

"Don't you think there's something way bizarre about them?" Buffy asked.

"Apart from the fact that coyotes are bizarre, anyway."

"No," Willow answered thoughtfully. "But coyotes are strange. Did you

know, you can train bears, tigers, elephants, and just about every other

creature on earth--but not coyotes. In the wild or in captivity,

coyotes do their own thing. Native Americans have all kinds of tales

about them."

"They're just dumb dogs," Xander said, grinning at Buffy. He put his

arm protectively around her shoulders. "Don't worry, Buff. If you're

scared of those big bow-wows, I'll protect you."

She shook off his gangly arm. "That's real Hercules of you, but as long

as they stay away from us, we'll have no problem."

"Xander is right," Willow said reassuringly. "We see them around here a

lot. Even though coyotes live all over the West, often near urban

areas, it's very rare for them to attack humans."

"I'll remember that." Buffy gave her wispy friend a smile. She didn't

want to get mad at Xander and Willow; after all, it wasn't often they

got to act more macho than the Slayer. Maybe it was just a pack of

especially bold coyotes, new in town, razzing the locals. Still, she

couldn't get the aged eyes of that grizzled coyote out of her mind.

With her heightened senses, Buffy could still hear the coyotes as they

continued their romp through Sunnydale's quiet streets. Their depraved

yowls sounded like a combination of tomcats, wolves, and two-year-old

toddlers. Buffy was glad when the awful yelps faded into the starlit

distance.

"The children of the night," Xander said in his best Bela Lugosi

imitation. "What beautiful music they make."

"You know, he always gave me the creeps," Buffy said, "because I don't

think he knew what he was saying. He, like, learned it phonetically.

And why did he walk around with his cape in front of his mouth? Did he

have bad breath? All the vampires I know like to have their fangs

hanging out, primed and ready."

"I'm going to pass on ice cream," Willow said with a yawn. "It's time

to go home--to dream of returning to school and ending this pointless

existence."

"It's called vacation," Xander insisted. "The absence of work, the

natural state of being, the purpose of life."

"It's boring," Willow said. "But maybe it will pick up this weekend."

"Maybe it will," Buffy agreed, taking a last look around the quiet

suburban neighborhood.

Buffy never slept well or deeply anymore, and it didn't take much to

jolt her out of bed like a rocket.

Still dressed in a clinging sleeveless shirt, she rolled out of bed onto

her bare feet and listened to the disturbing sounds coming through her

bedroom window. The warm night air brought demented yapping that was

unmistakablewthe coyotes were on the hunt! They were nearby, coming

closer.

She knew instinctively that it was the same pack of coyotes they had met

earlier that night. Although it was now close to four o'clock in the

morning, they weren't done terrorizing the neighborhood yet.

Truthfully, Buffy relished an opportunity to observe the pack without

those skeptics, Xander and Willow, slowing her down. She had never seen

coyotes that bold, and she wanted to keep an eye on them.

Rising like a wave, the eerie yapping passed over her house like an

aural ghost. Buffy pulled on a pair of jeans and her tennis shoes,

crawled out the window, and scurried down the roof. By the time she

jumped to the ground, all she got was a glimpse of the pack as they

charged brazenly down the middle of the street. In the lead was a swift

blond canine, clutching something white in its mouth.

In a frenzy of demented yapping, the others chased it down an alley and

were gone a second later. Although she doubted whether she could catch

them, Buffy was about to try when she heard a frenzied shout. She

turned to see a middle-aged woman in a nightgown bearing down on her.

"Stop them! Stop them!" the woman screamed.

"My baby!"

"Your baby!" Buffy said with a gasp. Had they really snatched a baby?

Panting for breath, the distraught woman rushed up to Buffy and grabbed

her arm. "They took my Tiger!"

The teenager blinked at her. "Okay, did they take a baby or a tiger? Or

was it a baby tiger?"

"Oh, no, my precious Tiger!" the woman shrieked. "He's a little

pug-nosed chow."

"Oh, a dog," Buffy said, trying not to look relieved.

It was terrible that the coyotes had snatched the woman's dog, but that

was better than a baby.

She remembered similar tragedies in Los Angeles; that's what happened

when coyotes went hunting in the suburbs.

"They took him right out of my backyard!" the woman said in a quavering

voice. "He was old and infirm, and he couldn't fight back. We have to

save him!"

Buffy held her hands and tried to be comforting.

"I'm sorry, but I don't see how we're going to save Tiger. He was

probably dead within seconds of them grabbing him. Besides, there's no

way we could catch them."

The distraught woman buried her face in her hands and began to weep, and

Buffy glanced around, amazed that nobody else had come out to witness

this dramatic scene. Even now, the yelps of the coyotes sounded

distant, as if they had only been a passing nightmare.

There wasn't much for Buffy to do but walk her home. "Where do you

live?" she asked.

"Can't we do anything?" her neighbor blubbered.

"Well, sure, we'll report them to Animal Control, or the dog catcher, or

whoever handles stuff like this." Buffy mustered a hopeful smile.

"They won't do anything," the woman grumbled.

"Tiger is gone, all thanks to those damn coyotes! It must be Coyote

Moon that brought them here.

Curse them!"

"Coyote Moon?" Buffy asked warily.

The woman stared grimly down the deserted street, which looked so

peaceful that it was hard to imagine it had just been the scene of a

grisly hunt and kill. "Coyote Moon comes in August," she intoned, "when

it gets hot. It rises red, and it brings the coyotes. That's what my

grandmother always said."

"Grandmothers are usually right about that stuff," Buffy remarked

lamely, thinking of Grandma Summers playing bridge in Clearwater,

Florida.

The woman began to weep uncontrollably, and the Slayer guided her to the

sidewalk. "Just point the way home."

She only lived half a block away, yet it took about ten minutes to walk

her home. Buffy listened sympathetically to lighthearted tales about

Tiger's exploits.

He was a much-beloved little dog, and he had lived a full, spoiled life.

Talking seemed to make the woman feel better, and she thanked Buffy

profusely.

The teen made sure that her neighbor was safely entrenched behind locked

doors before she left her.

Although the woman was safe, Tiger was still gone, and nothing would

erase the savagery of that attack.

As Buffy walked home, the warm wind again brought the eerie sound of

coyotes yipping and yowling. She hoped the pack would move on to some

other town or go back to the wilderness, but she wasn't counting on it.

Unfortunately, when nasty critters got a taste of Sunnydale, they

usually made themselves right at home.

Chapter 2

For the next two days, there was no further sign of the coyotes, so

Buffy started to relax and fell back into the lazy rhythms of summer.

Sleeping in late, waking after her mother had gone to work, eating

chocolate brownies for breakfast--it was a life she could get used to.

Buffy had Giles's home telephone number, and she thought about calling

him to report the coyotes--but he would probably just scoff at her, too.

Thinking about it now, it did seem lame to be afraid of a few wacked-out

coyotes, even if they did snack on dog-kabobs. Once school started,

Giles would be back in his beloved library, and then she could ask him

about coyotes and Coyote Moon.

Until then, it was her duty as a teenager to enjoy the long, hot nights.

The coyotes were gone, but signs started popping up around town

advertising the carnival. By the time Friday night rolled around, the

Bronze was empty, and every self-respecting teen was eating cotton candy

and pitching quarters into fishbowls.

"Cool!" Xander exclaimed as they crested the hill and got their first

look at the whirling neon lights of the Ferris wheel, the Octopus ride,

the Tilt-a-Whirl, and other stomach-churning delights. Overnight a

vacant lot had been turned into a gaudy wonderland, swarming with young

people. The tawdry sights and sounds drew them like moths to a patio

bug light.

Surfer music blasted from crackling speakers, promising the endless

summer they were all dreaming about.

Well, all of us but Willow, Buffy thought.

Even from a distance, Buffy could smell the greasy french fries and

sugary apples. She heard a jumble of sounds: calliope music from the

merry-go-round, screaming girls on the roller coaster, barkers working

the crowd, and gasoline generators keeping the lights burning. Buffy

knew she should run in the other direction, because all of this was

designed to separate her from her hard-earned cash--but her feet began

moving of their own will. Transfixed by the throbbing neon lights,

Buffy shuffled down the hill toward the carnival.

"Isn't this fun?" Xander asked with a grin.

"Lots of fun," Willow agreed. "I'm just trying to decide whether to

have my corn dog first, then throw up--or whether to throw up first,

then eat the corn dog. The second way makes more sense, but the corn

dog doesn't taste as good."

"That's our Willow, always being practical," Xander said with amusement.

Buffy pulled her eyes reluctantly from the dazzling sights. "Why does

it have to be either/or. Why can't you just ignore the rides that make

you hurl?"

"They all make me hurl," Willow answered. "And I always get talked into

going on them anyway."

Xander put his arm around her slender shoulders.

"Hey, Willow, to make it easy on you, we'll start with the fun house.

We'll work up to the rocket ship thing where you're strapped inside a

cage, spinning around. If you're brave enough, maybe I'll even buy you

a corn dog."

Willow looked plaintively at Buffy. "See what I mean? The only time

Xander ever buys me anything is to get me to go on the rides with him."

She sighed.

"But it works."

"I'm going to be sensible," Buffy vowed. "No upchuck express for me."

"But the roller coaster is calling your name," Xander said with a

twinkle in his eye.

"Okay," Buffy admitted. "How did you know I liked roller coasters?"

"Because you're Danger Girl!" he proclaimed.

"That's Vacation Girl," Buffy reminded him.

They walked under banners and lights stuck high on slender wooden poles.

Xander pointed toward a weathered metallic skeleton which stood three

stories high and was the size of a large barn. The roller coaster

didn't look safe to stand under, let alone ride on. As a string of cars

rose slowly up the first hill, the tracks clacked ominously, like a

busted jackhammer.

"That's a rickety-looking roller coaster," Xander said with a worried

grimace. "You know, it's the kind that moans and shakes a lot when you

go around the corners."

His theory was verified by the terrified screams that rent the air as

the coaster took its first and deepest plunge. Then it whipped noisily

around a sharp corner, eliciting more anguished shrieks. Buffy gave

Xander a look of dread, which she managed to hold for a few seconds

before they both grinned.

"No, I wouldn't like that at all," Buffy said.

"We'll do it first," Xander agreed. "And Willow can hold our food and

our stuffed animals."

"No, no," Willow said stalwartly. "It's corn dog express, full speed

ahead!"

The three friends were laughing as they entered the giddy realm of the

carnival. It is its own shimmering town, Buffy thought, with all the

features of a real town. There was food and drink, none of it even

remotely healthy. The music was a jarring combination of surfer

records, heavy metal, and gooey kids' songs. There was entertainment,

but not even the cleverest boy could win the stupid games, unless he

discovered the magic of a first date on a hot summer's night Then a

lucky girl might take home a gigantic stuffed animal.

As they wandered down the midway, Buffy found herself watching the

people more than the attractions.

The carnival was packed with teens in muscle shirts and halter tops,

hanging all over one another.

Raging hormone time, Buffy thought. At moments like this, she really

regretted being terminally single.

It was bad enough that Willow and Xander knew about her Slayer secret

and insisted on helping and/or meddling, as the case may be. A

boyfriend would never fit in with her student-by-day, Slayer-by-night

lifestyle. As she had discovered, even trying to have a simple date

with a guy was way too complicated.

Buffy was afraid to ask Giles what became of Slayers when they got

older. She was certain they ended up as old maids and spinsters, or

dead.

Probably dead.

Still, it would be nice to bump into Angel at a place like this, Buffy

thought. She quickly squelched that thought. Bad Buffy, bad! Angel was

a good vampire, cursed to have a soul and feelings, which made him even

weirder than she was. It was better not to think about boys at all, but

that was difficult when so many were on display under the sizzling neon.

If the teens from the town looked hot, so did the carnies who ran the

rides and games. Buffy was surprised to see that so many of them looked

young and buff, not like the grizzled dudes she remembered as a kid. Oh,

they were kind of scruffy and dangerous-looking as if they needed a

shave and a new tattoo, but that was part of their charm. So was the

leer in their eyes and the promise of fun in their voices.

"A free shot for the woman with the great legs," said a muscular young

carny, spinning a basketball on his fingertip. He had a deep tan and

about four days' growth of beard; his insouciant smile stopped her cold.

Buffy knew that the hoop behind him was a lot smaller than regulation,

and a stop to talk to the carny would likely cost her two or three

dollars.

文档加载中……请稍候！
如果长时间未打开，您也可以点击刷新试试。

下载文档到电脑，查找使用更方便

5.9 玖币 0人已下载

立即下载 VIP免费下载

摘要：

Humansbyday,evilbynight....[010-5.0]Buffy,THEVAMPIRESLAYERCOYOTEMOONBy:JohnVornholtSynopsis:Aslongastherehavebeenvampires,therehasbeentheSlayer.Onegirlinalltheworld,tofindthemwheretheygatherandtostopthespreadofthereevilandtheswelloftheirnumbers.ISBN0-671-01714-4#1TheHarvest#2HalloweenRain#3CoyoteMoo...

展开>> 收起<<

Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Coyote Moon.pdf

共87页,预览18页

还剩页未读，继续阅读

声明：本站为文档C2C交易模式，即用户上传的文档直接被用户下载，本站只是中间服务平台，本站所有文档下载所得的收益归上传人(含作者)所有。玖贝云文库仅提供信息存储空间，仅对用户上传内容的表现方式做保护处理，对上载内容本身不做任何修改或编辑。若文档所含内容侵犯了您的版权或隐私，请立即通知玖贝云文库，我们立即给予删除！

Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Coyote Moon

相关推荐

开通VIP享超值会员特权

作者详情

相关内容

热门标签

举报选择: