Wolves at the Gate, Part Three

"Wolves at the Gate, Part Three" was the fourteenth story from Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight.

Summary
Buffy and the Slayers finally arrive in Tokyo to find Aiko's body strung up against a skyscraper. Beneath the corpse reads a message written with Aiko's blood: "Tokyo He Youkoso" ("Welcome to Tokyo)". Buffy cuts the body down and carries it to the Tokyo Slayer headquarters. She lays the body in a Buddhist temple and sits in the corner of the room for the remainder of the day in despair. At night, Willow approaches her and proposes conjuring a blanket for her. Just then, Dracula and Xander arrive. Dracula mocks Buffy for not considering performing the rudimentary containment spell called Carolina's Grasp to defeat Toru, despite her and Willow's unawareness of it.

Toru waits in his luxurious flat with the lens established on the roof. He discusses Buffy's arrival with his minion and orders him to gather all of his vampires. Elsewhere, a man smokes a cigarette outside when Renee suddenly approaches him in tears. She claims that she wandered off from her schoolmates accidentally and is now lost. The man suggests walking her to her hotel by going through the park. There, he reveals his vampire visage. Before he can attack, Buffy, Willow, and Xander appear. Willow performs Carolina's Grasp. The vampire finds himself boxed in a magical prison where he can not turn into fog. Willow then pours gasoline on the vampire. Buffy says that he's going to tell her everything he knows, pressing the vampire into divulging the scythe's whereabouts. The vampire confesses everything, including the plan to use the lens to magnify Kumiko's spell and take away the Slayers' powers. Satisfied with the information, Buffy lights him on fire, pointing out that she made no promise to spare him if he talked.

At the Japanese Slayer headquarters, Buffy orders Satsu to stay there with other Slayers while she and others attack Toru and his vampires. Satsu defies her orders, saying that Buffy is either trying to avoid her or protect her and she won't put up with it. She storms off, claiming that she'll see her on the battlefield. In a training room, Xander teaches the unfortunate patterns that proceed during a first date and says they should count this as their first date to avoid all the mess. Renee doesn't agree that their night together could be considered a date, given they used her as bait, dressed her as a schoolgirl, and spent time with Dracula. But Renee does agree to get the confusion surrounding first dates out of the way. She reaches over to Xander and kisses him. They keep kissing despite Dracula's presence, much to his discomfort.

Outside of Toru's flat, Buffy, Renee, Xander, Dracula, Satsu, Andrew and Leah are ready to attack the army of about a thousand vampires. But first, Willow floats above them and summons Dawn. The vampires look up at the giantess in fear as Dawn begins to attack them. Buffy and the group storm Toru's flat to find him staring out the window with the Scythe. Buffy reaches over to grab the Scythe from his grasp but goes right through it. She realizes that it is a trap and before she can alert anyone Renee is skewered in the heart with the Scythe. The real Toru stands behind her wielding the weapon and mocking them.

Individuals

 * Buffy Summers
 * Willow Rosenberg
 * Dracula
 * Xander Harris
 * Renee
 * Satsu
 * Andrew Wells
 * Toru
 * Raidon
 * Kumiko

Species

 * Witch
 * Vampire

Weapons and Objects

 * Carolina's Grasp
 * Fire
 * Scythe
 * Dracula's Sword

Deaths

 * 1 Vampire

Collections

 * Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 Volume 3: Wolves at the Gate

Quotes
"I’m assuming you’ve considered using Carolina’s Grasp…I mean, you’re not complete idiots, are you?"

- Dracula

"Is somebody going to finish eating this?"

- Dracula

"Well, there’ something you don’t see every day"

- Andrew