LTVS: Death by Chocolate

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

***Layla the Vampire Slayer* episode**

RandomTuesday

Bentham

*"I don't expect you to stay long [in the girls' changing room]-"*
*"...That's a bit forwards on Valentine's Day, don't you think, miss?"*

*"[Facepalming] Shut up, Barnaby."* - Ms. Woodbridge and Barnaby Davidson

**Death by Chocolate** is the twenty-third episode of Layla the Vampire Slayer and the first episode of Season 2.

## Synopsis

After the tumultous events of 1997, Layla Smith and her friends have gotten on with their lives, with only Layla really going around stomping minor apocalypse cults every once in a while. After rearranging the date James had booked for them at the Little Rosewater Brasserie from New Year's Eve to 12th February, Layla and her girlfriend Imogen Parker engage in awkward smalltalk, both unused to the setting, nor the menu. Asides from an abundance of bread rolls and snails, the two have managed to procure alcohol after Imogen forged her ID.

As the two start to feel more comfortable, they are interrupted by a waiter slamming the dishes onto their table, a muscular figure wearing an ill-fitting uniform with a cross across his face and the bulbous features of a vampire. After declaring that Layla is the Slayer in an Eastern European (?) accent and that he shall drink his blood, the vampire waves around the 8" serrated steel blade attached to one of his arms before the Slayer bemusedly drags him by the collar and out a side door, telling Imogen to grab the wine.

The two quickly make short work of the vampire, with Layla grappling him to make sure that he cannot retaliate; after an initial failed attempt to stake the vampire immediately, Layla falls back on the tried-and-trusted method of punching him in the groin (Layla's Nut Shot Counter S2 = 1). The vampire is promptly staked by Layla. Layla and Imogen kiss and make out in the alleyway, with Imogen later going in to steal more food.

Back at St. Thom Huell next morning Barnaby and Robert Davidson have ended up sharing a room together, and are yet fully comfortable with doing so. The Sixth Form are gathered together in the Sixth Form common room by the Head of Sixth Form, Mrs. Hypatia Brown, who gives a speech about discipline on restraint, as it being Friday 13th February 1998, is the day before Valentine's day. The school will be having themed events and the prefects will be distributing cards bought via the school or distributed via the school. After an awkward reunion with Layla and Imogen, with the latter discussing Oedpius and patricide, the Davidson brothers return to bickering about their room before the first period bell rings.

Layla, Imogen and Robert proceed to Maths, and Barnaby to Media Studies. Layla remains generally unkempt and wearing non-regulation clothing as usual, while Imogen has become quite well turned-out, as has Barnaby. Robert, meanwhile, is generally quite distracted after his poor grades in the recent exams. In Maths with Mr. Dewforth, Imogen and Layla exchange love notes as the prefects distribute cards, leading to Mr. Dewforth to irritatably regard "Smith [to be] a bad influence on Parker". An offended Imogen manages to successfully bullshit that she is a "visual and auditory learner", telling the students to their left and right (Robert and Julian Carroway respectively) to give them some room.

As a consequence of this, Robert ends up next to a very familiar black-haired girl, even thinner and paler than usual: Janet. Janet had previously sat next to Robert in class, but after the Penemue incident had placed a seat between them consistently. She had also become considerably more withdrawn from school as well, and remarked to Robert that she had to do a few resits. Robert attempts to give her a peptalk, since he also had suffered in classes too, only to be cut off by a crash.

Julian Carroway had been trying to get books from a shelf, only for it to collapse on him and cause him to smash his head against a table. With Brian Phillips shrieking and Robert sent by Mr. Dewforth to get the nurse, Imogen attempts to check for a pulse, only to not find one and observed pink blood bubbling out of the head wound. After a failed start at CPR, Imogen quickly tires and gets Layla to take over as she yells at Brian to call 999. Eventually Robert and the nurse, Doris, show up, and Doris, being older than the girls, lets Layla and Imogen take over the CPR until the paramedics arrive, with everyone else shuffled out. With the paramedics' arrival, Imogen and Layla notice that one of the screws on the shelf was loose, but there was no signs of tampering or magic.

With the paramedics concluding that Carroway's dead, Imogen and Layla go and ask Dawn (the student closest to Carroway except for Imogen) if she saw anything as they're suspicious about the accident. Layla suggests this after Imogen became slightly guilty over messing up the CPR initially, and they noticed that Janet had also quickly left. Speaking to Dawn, whom they realised may have had a crush on Carroway, they were joined by Robert. It transpired that Dawn had bought Julian a school Valentine's card and some chocolates, and that she was sad that Julian had apparently paid no attention to it. Changing subject, Dawn also asks Layla whether she'd be interested in joining a women's rugby team they're trying to set up, Layla says yes.

Back in Media Studies, where the class of 30 students was watching *When Harry Met Sally*, the class empties into a corridor full of milling students. Barnaby moves through the crowd to talk to Synne Farshaw, another member of his class, about what happened. She tells him that Mrs. Brown is dead, found slumped over her desk with chocolate open infront of her by Bernard. Apparently Mrs. Brown had a nut allergy and had a reaction or choked, but Bernard fainted for 15 minutes so the alarm wasn't raised until recently. Julia, one of Synne's friends found out about this and told her. Barnaby and Synne bond over how Bernie is a bit of an arsehole and how Synne doesn't like "soccer". Synne remarks that Barnaby isn't so bad for a jock, not like Ned and Brian, who are "complete arseholes".

Suspicious over two cards he had received during class (one a printed piece of paper from the school printers and the other a Hallmark card with bad handwriting that appeared to not be from a student), Barnaby asks Synne whether she knows anything. Synne's working on one of the displays, a collage, but Barnaby warns Synne about his suspicions and asks her to let him know if she sees anything odd like cards or chooclates. Using his charms, he succeeds and she asks for his number, which he gives her obliviously.

During break, the gang meet up again with their suspicions and decide to go to Violet to find out if she's heard anything, since she's apparently got the best ear for gossip. Layla and Rob go off to speak to Violet, who is ill. After Layla grabs some cough medicine and instructs her on its usage, Violet gripes a bit about how Robert still has the book-portal to the Library of Fates Told before Layla sends Rob off to get a wet towel. Recovering somewhat, Violet reveals that she's got a Myspace blog of sorts which is relatively popular. A concerned Layla makes sure that the demon-stuff isn't covered, which Violet states that she hasn't talked about that.

Violet isn't that much use, having gotten similar information; it may be possible that Mrs. Brown died from a nut allergy, and she also found Julian Carroway fit. Violet considers that it might be possible that a fellow Vengeance demon visited, but she considers the matter to be too petty for that, and that Vengeance demons rarely stay around in the same place for long. After Rob brings up the date - Friday 13th - Violet mentions that neither it nor Valentine's Day are inherently magical, though they are demon holidays, so there might be a bit more chaos. After telling Violet to get better Rob goes off to class and Layla to skive and research.

In PE, Barnaby gets teased by Ned and Brian before turning his back; there's a thud, and it turns out that Ned has thrown a rugby ball too hard and it's hit one of the girls on the other side of the fence, who is on the ground and not moving. Barnaby vaults over the fence to check on her, who he realises with dread is Synne. He calls 999 to Woody's approval while Ms. Woodbridge evacuates the other girls; Barnaby is suspicious over how improbable the accident was. Eventually Synne's eyelids flutter and Barnaby yells at Ms. Woodbridge to start first aid. When Synne wakes up she remarks that Barnaby's face is "not an unwelcome sight to wake up to", and while woozy appears to be alright, with abrasions on the back of her head. Barnaby questions her about whether she got any cards, and after remarking that she'd rather get a card from Barnaby she states that she got a card and a post-it note. She agrees to let Barnaby take a look at them, but the nurse shows up and says that Synne has to go home.

Barnaby offers to get Synne's bag with her approval, to the disapproval but eventual acceptance by Ms. Woodbridge. Barnaby finds an anonymous post-it and one of the school's red-hearted Valentine's cards containing a horrible generic poem from Ned in Synne's stuff, and he takes her bag to the nurse's office. Barnaby offers to finish Synne's display for her and tells her to get better soon and to be "less woozy". Over in Barnaby's storage units Layla researches Valentine's Day to confirm Violet's earlier thoughts, and that generally it and the days after have a greater frequency of love potions and hexes. She also finds out that there are spells and charms that could be put on a card and that they are considered dark arts. She also researches Friday 13th, again confirms Violet's statements, though finds out that hexes are stronger on Friday 13th due to the supersitition.

The others meet up in a free period, and Barnaby tells them about what happened in PE; Imogen teases Barnaby about Synne's crush on him (and the majority of the school having a crush on him) until Robert cuts in to return to the initial subject. Bob and Imogen check the cards Barnaby's collected, and while Bob fails to see anything Imogen sees that the school-produced card (the red heart one) is glowing, with a faded, completed spell on it. She realises that it's a hex that will cause misfortune via binding Fate, a mix of a hex and a binding conjuration spell. Barnaby's other cards aren't affected, but they recall that Julian had one of those cards.

Imogen picks the lock to Mrs. Brown's office while Rob and Barnaby wait outside; the two brothers see a passing prefect with cards. Barnaby asks whether he got any, and where he'd get one. Apparently the 8 prefects doing the Tuck Shop are taking care of it, and that Barnaby has 3 or 4 cards. When they enter the office they see that there's one of those cards and an open box of chocolates. With the hex fading, Imogen opens the card to read it aloud. Within is a message from "Big D" to Mrs Brown asking that they be dominated by her. As they awkwardly make their way out, Barnaby remarks that hexes should only be done by Imogen, and the two have a back-and-forth as Imogen denies that she does hexes as they're bad, and Barnaby lamely attempts to get help out of the hole he's dug from Robert.

Changing the subject, Rob suggests that because of his book being severed, that he's not affected by the hex, but doesn't want them to be too hasty to test it out. They break into the maths room, where they see that Julian also had one of the cards and some chocolates, probably from Dawn. After meeting up with Layla in the VI Form common room they suspect that one of the prefects put a hex on the school cards, with Friday 13th making the hex worse. Bob is confused as to why Synne survived. They also suspect that Synne might like Ned and that saved her, which is also a bad thing.

They're interrupted by another prefect, Simon, who shows up with more cards; Barnaby stands up and yells at everyone in the rom to not take them. Simon walks up with two cards for Barnaby, one of which is hexed; Barnaby doesn't want the hexed one, but Simon doesn't care and drops them in front of him; Robert also gets one dropped in front of him. Imogen asks Simon whether she can buy a Valentine's Card; Simon is confused since she's sitting next to Layla, and their relationship is well-known to everyone, but tells her that Horus Grant is in charge. While Simon walks off Layla trips him "accidentally" and helps him pick up the cards, stealing the school card ones and apologising to Simon, who blushes at this. One of the cards is to Layla.

Imogen tells the others that the hexes can be triggered by touch, reading or speaking aloud or by proximity. Robert cautiously opens one with a pencil and sees that it's from "J.", who is sorry that she turned him down and wishes that she had the courage to ask him out again. While Imogen chews out Robert she sees that a strange silver strand appears from his chest, flailing about towards the dorms. Barnaby opens his non-hexed card only to be glitterbombed by Ned and Brian; he marches off, headlocks both of them and rubs glitter over the two. Layla and Robert see the Old Lady on the Bus through a window, though Robert can only see her flicker. The Old Lady matches her eyes with Robert, and they run out to confront her, but she disappears. Surrounding Robert, they march off to the Valentine's Day office, with Robert constantly seeing the Old Lady appear and disappear with a quizzical/amused look on her face.

At the office they run into Adria, the Head Girl, but Imogen and Barnaby convince Adria to let them talk to Horus, who is on edge due to Imogen's reputation and that her "gang" has accompanied her. After failing to see if Horus shows any further unease by discussing the cards, she finds out that Horus cut the cards himself, but nothing further. Consequently, Barnaby asks to buy a plain card himself, and writes Horus' name in the card in front of him. Horus panicks, tries to grab it and yells that he'll kill them all, flailing for cards to write the team's names in; Imogen pushes the nearby cards away with telekinesis. Layla drags Rob in and grapples Horus' hand and forces him to ground as his eyes glow green. Horus then casts blood snake, draining blood from Layla, especially her capillaries in her eyes, blinding her; she grapples his other arm as he speaks in a guttural tongue that none of them can understand.

Barnaby panicks and slogs Horus in the nose, breaking it, while Robert loads his watch. Imogen screams that there's a fire, pulling the fire alarm and casting minor illusions of fire in a failed attempt to get Adria to leave. Horus yells that he's fed up that he doesn't get Valentine's cards, and doesn't want anyone else to get them either. He drops the blood snake and turns into smoke and moves to the doorway, turning to run before being faced by the old lady, who holding serrated scissors, makes a cutting motion before disappearing. Horus hits his shoulder on the doorframe, spins and impales himself on a nail in Rob's nearby science fair project.

Imogen whispers to Barnaby that he may have killed him and they check on his corpse. There's a faint pulse and Barnaby calls 999; a confused Adria sees more illusions by Imogen and tells them she'll go get a teacher after seeing Horus face-down on the table. Barnaby shoves the rest of the cards into a bin, but Imogen says they're no-longer gloweing, and Bob's strand is gone. Barnaby asks why, only to be answered by the Old Lady that the death of the caster ends the hex. Bob can't see her. Barnaby remarks that her sister, The Child, helped him, to the Old Lady's surprise. She says that they've been useful, and that she doesn't like being bound by "it" - referring to Horus, who is dead "for now"; "they" have far more spells regarding resurrection. She then asks whether the nail is iron, which Robert says it is. She is assured by this, saying that injuries inflicted by iron are hard to cure by resurrection with the dark arts.

The Old Lady now manifests herself as Death, the Reaper's Scythe appearing in her hands, and Robert can now see her flicker. She "advises" Imogen not to follow Horus' example and to remain on the straight and narrow. She says that they've done her a favour, and grants good fortune to them bar Robert. Robert hypothesises whether he's capable of doing stuff to Fate, but assures the others that it's a contingency only and intends to heed her advice as well. Adria shows up with the nurse who despairs at another death. Imogen notices a red notebook in Horus' pocket, and after some distraction and lying manages to pocket it without Adria noticing. Horus' body shudders, emanating a green shockwave, as this happens.

Opening it Imogen realises that it's a journal of spells and magical formulas, with the spell Horus cast being called Love Never Lasts. Layla wonders how Horus learnt magic, and they're concerned about Imogen collecting a library of dark magic, which she states is for preparation against enemies who would use it and that she's "only wanted to murder people discriminately". Imogen apologises to Barnaby for implicating him in Horus' death; Barnaby says that he only wanted to frighten him. The others assure him that he's not at fault.

They realise that Synne wasn't affected as her real name is Sunniva, so the hex was confused. Barnaby mentions that he all sent them a Valentine's card and apologises for this. The girls tease Robert over the card he got, and he reluctantly admits that it's probably from Janet. Bob is anguished over getting her hurt, but they suggest he ask her out again anyway; she doesn't have to join them on their adventures. As they go to Assembly as ordered, they pass the girls' dorms[See notes] only to see several dozen rabbits hop out.

Later, when they're back at the dorms, Layla's left flowers for Imogen and Imogen rearranges them into a heart for Layla on her bed. John also has a new house in his terrarium.

## Notes

* In episode the rabbits were stated as coming from the Sixth Form common room, this was retconned to being the girls' dorm. The rabbits were explained as Violet practicing magic then sneezing mid-cast, turning everything in her room into rabbits.