Kumiko Ishihara's Journal

Comic Arc

http://buffy.wikia.com/wiki/Wolves_at_the_Gate
Issues 12-15 of Buffy Season 8
Written by Drew Goddard (previous episodes include 'Selfless' 'Conversations with Dead People' and 'Dirty Girls')
Drawn by George Jeanty
Overseen by Joss Whedon

There are 1800 Slayers now. While some chose to ignore their powers, others work in squads around the world, protecting Hellmouths and fighting demons, even as the governments who know of them consider them to be terrorists. While Faith travels the world as the Dark Slayer, handling the dirty jobs, Buffy, Dawn, Willow and Xander are based in Slayer HQ, a castle in Scotland where they keep the Scythe and train the active Slayers.

One night, an army of Japanese vampires, some with extra powers, come out of the night and break into the castle, killing several Slayers and stealing the Scythe. Recognizing the powers, Xander and a Slayer Renee head to Dracula's castle, while Buffy and Willow head to Japan.

They arrive in time to see Aiko, the native Slayer there, dead and strung up across the side of a building with a taunting message in her blood. "Welcome to Tokyo." The message was left by the trio of Kumiko Ishihara, Toru and Raidon, the leaders of a vampire army, with over a thousand vampires.

Kumiko Ishihara

http://buffy.wikia.com/wiki/Kumiko_Ishihara

"We have not been been properly introduced. My name is Kumiko Ishihara. Daughter of Kazuo"

Very little is known about the Japanese Vampire Witch Kumiko Ishihara. She is clearly mentally unstable, often childlike in her mannerisms in a way not dissimilar to Drusilla. It is possible that she is the leader of the vampire gang based in Tokyo, with Toru and Raidon as her lieutenants. It is equally possible that Toru and Raidon manipulate her and use her for her ability. It is likely that she was the vampire that made both Toru and Raidon. All three are of Master vampire levels and are very strong fighters.

She is a powerful witch, able to fly and cast multiple spells at once. She was also a student of the demon Goddess Saga Vasuki, who also trained Willow. In a magical battle Kumiko proved to be Willow's equal. As she said, they spoke the same language. As Willow's equal, this makes Kumiko one of the most powerful magic users in the Buffy universe.

The trio of Kumiko, Toru and Raidon also got Dracula drunk and made him gamble away the secrets to his powers, gaining them themselves, allowing them to steal the Scythe from the Slayers with the aim of reversing Willow's spell and rendering all Slayers human again. Their first subject was Aiko, a Slayer in Japan. Using the Scythe Kumiko made her human again before Toru broke her jaw and then bit her. The vampires planned to do the spell on a much larger scale, changing all the Slayers at once before killing them all.

The Scythe

http://buffy.wikia.com/wiki/Scythe

The Scythe was first introduced in Season 7 of Buffy, as a mystical weapon meant for the Slayers. It was forged by a group of women called the Guardians. The Guardians had seen what the Shadow Men (who would later become the Watchers) had done to a girl, taking the essence of one of the Old Ones, the pure demons that walked the Earth and forcing it into the girl to turn her into the Slayer, and they disapproved. To help the girl they created the Scythe, embodying the power of the Slayer, and gave it to her to kill the last of the Old Ones. It was then hidden until it was needed, when Buffy Summers needed a weapon to defeat the First Evil. Willow then used the essence of the Scythe to activate all the Potentials as full Slayers.

The Scythe was then protected at the Slayers' headquarters, a castle in Scotland, until Kumiko, Toru and Raidon broke in to steal it, intending to use it to reverse Willow's spell.

Dracula

http://buffy.wikia.com/wiki/Dracula

Dracula is an ancient vampire who at some point in his unlife, learned several Gypsy tricks, hung out with the demon Anyanka, had a rivalry with Spike and angered the rest of his kind by selling his story to Bram Stoker and becoming famous.

During season 5 of Buffy he arrived in Sunnydale, intent on finding the famed killer, Buffy Summers, a creature whose darkness rivaled his own. However, when it became clear her strength was greater than his, he left, though not before creating a strong bond with Xander, one that would continue after the destruction of Sunnydale.

He went through a mid life crisis of sorts, and was tricked into gambling away the secrets to his powers to Kumiko's gang. Wagered against a Kawasaki 21000 motorbike. Furious he decided to ally himself with Buffy to bring down Kumiko. Because no one steals from Dracula!

Dracula's powers

In addition to the regular power of vampires, Dracula learned some tricks from a Roma tribe allowing him to:

transform into animals including a panther, a bat, a wolf or a swarm of bees
transform into mist
reassemble after being staked, burned or decapitated.
enter people's dreams
reading and controlling minds

In Buffy canon the only vampires known to have these abilities are Dracula, Kumiko, Toru and Raidon, although Kumiko, Toru and Raidon can transform their followers into mist and animals as well, as well as pulling them back together if they are killed.

Dracula's Sword

Dracula owns an ancient sword, linked to a demon in a similar way to the Scythe. A witch can use this sword to remove the Gypsy abilities from the vampires, rendering them killable again.