Tales of the Slayer, Vol. 4

I can't be helpless like that...."

—Buffy, "Helpless"

At eighteen, each Slayer must face a terrifying trial: the Tento di Cruciamentum. This time-honored, albeit cruel, rite of passage forces each Watcher to drain the Slayer of all her physical powers and then send her to vanquish a powerful vampire using only her wits. When Buffy Summers underwent her Cruciamentum, she managed to defeat Kralik, a vampire who had been committed to a sanitarium as a human for torturing and murdering more than a dozen young women before he was turned. However, not all Slayers have been so cunning.

Tales of the Slayer, Vol. 4chronicles the Cruciamentum of eight earlier Slayers. From Prohibition Chicago to beatnik New York City, from the sideshows of a traveling carnival to a small Irish farm, from the fifteenth century to the twentieth, the Cruciamentum has tested the prowess of Slayers throughout history. Each of them has had to fight: for her job, for the lives of those she loved, and for her own existence....

Contents:

It's All About the Mission, Harlem, New York, 1973 / Nancy Holder

Undeadsville, New York, 1952 / Michael Reaves

Alone, 1876, Ireland / Scott Allie

Sideshow Slayer, Duluth, Minnesota, 1911 / Greg Cox

Survivors, Chicago, 1919 / Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Back to the Garden, 1969 / Robert Joseph Levy

The Rule of Silence, Seville, Spain, 1481 / Kara Dalkey

Two Teenage Girls at the Mall, Keller, Nebraska, 1981 / Jane Espenson