LTVS: Stake Through the Heart

*Do not read beyond **this point** if you want to avoid being **spoiled!***

***Layla the Vampire Slayer* episode**

RandomTuesday

Bentham

**Stake Through the Heart** is the second episode of Layla the Vampire Slayer. This transcription was performed by Blacksun.

## Synopsis

Looking at the young man from the ritual the group ask him what happened. He seems dazed and confused and they don’t get much out of him. It seems to be a member of the junior rugby team, James, at the school and relatively shy and on the team because of his dad’s position. He seems to be drugged or disoriented or something. Layla suggests that the group taking James back while she disposes of the bodies and Barnaby draws the seal in the room. Imogen suggests using the old school furnace to destroy the demons. They look at the architecture of the strange stonework and wonder at its purpose. Layla looks around for the furnace and tries to look around for the pipes to the furnace. Layla suggests someone take James to the dorms and Barnaby suggests he be taken to the infirmary. James is meanwhile scrawling in blood on the wall a valley and in it a circle and a stickman. Imogen looks at James and decides that his apparent daze is magical in nature.

Robert goes over to the strange metal device and tries to decipher it with his scientific mind but can’t make heads or tails of it all while Layla and Imogen find the furnace and turn it on. There is a pungent and malodorous smell coming from it. Robert looks at the strange symbols and Barnaby sketches the metal circle and James’s drawings. Barnaby then takes James up to the infirmary as quiet as he can. He accidentally knocks over a can and the nurse sees them. He quickly drops James off and leaves.

Back in the basement Barnaby finds Robert looking at the seal and picking up the demon’s hand. Layla sees this and spins him around. His eyes are milky white and he speaks that “it must be opened” before trying to wrestle free of Layla. Suddenly Robert snaps back to reality confused and she lets him down. He apparently doesn't remember his demonic possession. They decide to leave and go back to school. Layla buries the demon claw with a nearby shovel and the group move the bodies into the furnace. Layla elects to stay with the bodies and make sure they are destroyed while the others go back to the dorms.

The next morning Layla and Barnaby meet in gym to discuss what happened last night. Robert seems to be okay after his attempted self mutilation and seems to forget all the demonic possession. The conversation then turns to Mr. Penrose and what he was doing in the basement. They split up and meet later at science class. Arriving outside the science classroom they see police tape over the door and the scene inside is one of chaos and blood. Imogen tells the class that today class will be held in a far off biolab. They then walk into the scene while Robert keeps watch outside. They survey the damage and see broken glass, turned over tables, drops of water that haven’t evaporated, and an array of different crosses. Mr. Miller apparently put up a fight and was probably overwhelmed from the look of the scene but he’s probably not dead. Barnaby looks around and finds a blood splattered watch that appears to be stopped at around 8:10 pm. Mr. Miller was likely attacked at 8:10 pm while serving detention. Looking around the room they find a list with three boys names on it. Jimmy Masters, Georgie Terrance, and John Taylor Yates. Imogen tries to detect any magic but finds only traces on the chest while the others go over the names. Imogen then inspects the glass and suspects it’s holy water.

They decide to leave the scene and after teasing Barnaby with girl talk Layla and Imogen go to the library, Robert goes to the computer lab, and Barnaby goes to check on James. Robert checks on the computer system after breaking the security for the names of the students in the systems. It seems that the students have had truancy problems, smoking on property, and Georgie seems to be a good student that could be salvaged by keeping away from Jimmy. The students don’t often log onto the computers and John appears to have looked up the sunset and sunrise times. He then looks into the local police reports and finds several teachers have gone missing and many more quit and move away. The crime scene hasn’t been investigated yet. Looking through the notes of a peculiar body that was being transported to the hospital but the person woke up and walked out. They were a young male and they were found near a skate park.

Layla and Imogen take time to talk about Barnaby and his art, family troubles, and Mr. Penrose, and go to the library to talk about the metal disk. They talk to Penrose about the night in the basement and he claims he didn’t help because he was outnumbered and figured they would go for help. Imogen then asks about the vault of older library books and Penrose is hesitant to tell her claiming that students shouldn't be down there. Imogen tries to BS her way past claiming she needs them for a history projects and Penrose obliges her. They then shift their talk to Mr. Miller’s sudden disappearance and Penrose mentions that he might have gone missing because of great pressure.

Imogen pulls Layla into the history section and they start talking about the strange feelings they get from him. Layla can’t figure out what she’s feeling and tries to figure it out with the internet but doesn’t find a lot. Imogen finds references about occult seals and such but redoubles her efforts and finds what she wants. She finds a Seal of Danzelafah and sees it is a way to open a Hellmouth, a gateway to the many hells. It seals eventually but hellish energies do seep out and around it. It can be opened with dark rituals and call demons forth. She mentions to Layla it’s a portal to hell and that it attracts evil to it like a fly to rotten fruit. They continue theorizing if the Hellmouth possibly could be affecting students and teachers and leave.

Barnaby goes to the infirmary to check on James. He was released in the boarding school after observation and should be in Physical Ed. James seems to be out of it and the coach can’t get through to him. James claims he’s fine but seems to be incoherent. He mentions angels and demons and rabbits. None of his ramblings seems to make any sense. His memory seems to be functional but his coherency is shot and he seems uncoordinated and unable to focus. He mentions that there was a pretty girl and other people who weren’t pretty. He secretly confides in Barnaby that he is homosexual and hugs him (a bit inappropriately) and he seems accepting. James says that he can do the rugby game and James goes to report to Woodbridge. Woodbridge reports that he needs to be well enough to play in the game. He quickly excuses himself and goes to meet with the others….

Barnaby sits with his rugby lads and talks about his new found friends and how Layla is hot in her goth girl rebel way. Imogen, Layla, and Robert talk about what they found. Robert goes first telling the group about John and the body that went missing from the hospital. He correlates the suspicious occurrences of the students and their truancy. They start looking for connections and consider asking Barnaby about James. They make plans to go patrolling at night and Robert suggests going to the park where John was found. They also suggest Robert help them make a booby trap. They also ask to know about Penrose and see if there is any correlation about the resignation and disappearances of staff to any of the mysteries at the school.

After dumping the details they decide to find the three students who might have been responsible for attacking Mr. Miller. Layla tries to go back to the scene and remove the crossbow and bolts. Rob tries to cover for her saying she had “lady issues” but the teacher goes to check and almost catches her. Barnaby and Imogen sit next to each other and pass notes to each other. They got caught but quick thinking from Barnaby throws the teacher off the trail. She brings him up to speed on everything that happened through the notes. Layla asks Robert to look up additional information on Penrose and finds he has been with the school about 20 years. He looks for patterns and variance in his attendance and finds that he was absent about a week back. Other than that he hasn’t had any other strange circumstances around him.

Imogen spends her evening looking for ways to heal herself and Layla confronts her about getting rested before she tries to go out for patrol again. Imogen is trying to be self-reliant and stubbornly refuses but eventually they agree. They got on the subject of Barnaby and his possible crush on Imogen. They also decide to go to Mr. Miller’s house to investigate while Imogen rests and tries to research a spell. Layla gets Barnaby’s pager to contact Imogen and then gets back to the group. They start wondering about what James saw and what happened to Miller. They get to his house and it is fairly upscale for a teacher salary. Walking up to the door they see a floor mat that has been vigorously scrubbed to remove the message from it. Layla spots an open second floor window and asks Barnaby for a boost up. She bounds up and unlocks the window to get in.

Layla goes through his house and finds a crossbow and bolts. She opens the door and draws the drawstring bow. Layla mentions that she remembers why Miller destroyed the mat, Vampires can be invited in by the mat and he didn’t want to leave anything to chance. They search Miller’s house and find a hunting knife, 1 vial of holy water, packs of cannabis, small metalwork trinkets, and several notebooks with descriptions of vampires, demons, and other things.

Barnaby suddenly knocks over a statue of an angel and it crashes to the floor. Layla comes down and sweeps up the remains while chastising Barnaby for his carelessness. Suddenly Robert alerts everyone that police are pulling up and they try to leave the house. They leave through the back and hide while the police knock on Miller’s door. They page Imogen and she calls Layla. They agree to meet in the park and Imogen walks off. As she walks out of the dorm but suddenly she gets hit on the head and collapses to the ground. Turning around she sees the form of Mr. Miller. She yells at him and he admits he was trying to knock him out. She tries to cast mists of protection and run away but then she sees two other figures try to intercept her, clearly allied with Mr. Miller. She decides to run to the park and yell her head off to get Layla’s attention. She doesn’t get far before they grab her and pin her to the floor. She is marched away.

Layla hears Imogen scream and races off in the direction she heard. In the dark Layla finds a pager and ink blots that Imogen left behind as a trail. They follow the trail to a building that is normally abandoned. They search around for an entrance and Barnaby climbs up some the walls and looks through a section of collapsed roof. They hear Imogen mouthing off to Miller and the other two try to climb up the building to join Barnaby. They climb up and suddenly the roof collapses and all three fall through. They see Mr. Miller and the other students and Layla talks to Miller about what happened. He admits that he’s now a vampire and against the group. Layla levels her crossbow and fires but Miller catches it in mid-air and crushes it. Miller orders the vampire students to kill them. Enter Initiative.

Layla charges Mr. Miller and tries to stake him in the heart but her stake shatters against the breast plate under his lab coat but the sheer force still seriously dents his armor. Miller strikes with three punches to Layla and lands two. One of the vampires, John, tries to tackle Barnaby and grapples him down. Another grapples Robert and wrestles with him. Imogen struggles against her restraints and Robert wriggles out of the student vampire’s grasp. Imogen tries to cast telekinesis and throws one of the large at the vampire fighting Robert with righteous fury. The beam smashes into the vampire and sends him flying out the door and turns him into dust. Layla punches Miller to the groin and then goes to stake him again. The breastplate takes the impact and shatters the stake into splinters. Miller smashes the main support beam to bring the roof down on top of them. Layla covers Imogen and and holds the beam up to stop it from crushing her. When the dust clears Miller is gone and the student vampires are stepping away. Robert goes over to try and cut Imogen from the beam and she tries to throw another beam at the vampires and hits them for light damage. Layla jumps off a ruined section, lands her foot into the groin of a vampire, and kick into the other student vampire. The female vampire crumples from the pain and faints while the male vampire doubles over in pain clutching his crotch. Barnaby rugby tackles him down and knocks him down to the ground unconscious. Exit initiative. (Layla’s Nut-shot Counter: 7)

Barnaby checks the vampire before staking him and they all start staking the two student vampires until the evaporate. Robert collects some of the vampire dust in his test tubes and they all go back to the dorms. Layla enlightens them as to what can hurt a vampire and the horrible implications of what happens when they suffer it….

### Next time on Layla the Vampire Slayer….

*Barnaby, Ned, and Brian are practicing for Rugby. Barnaby and the others are doing tackling exercises. Suddenly they all start pushing harder and harder. Big chunks of dirt fly out of the ground. Barnaby is pushed back with amazing force. Suddenly Barnaby is told by the coach to get back in the game or he’ll be demoted to winger…*