Return to the Hellmouth

by Benji: The Vampire Confuser

Everyone belongs to Joss Whedon.

Chapter 1

He stepped off the bus, and took a moment to take it in. Sunnydale. He was back.

Alex Williams, formerly known as Xander Harris, had been born in Sunnydale California. But after one too many dysfunctional events in his household, he'd been taken away by Child Services, and placed in the care of a foster family in Washington DC.

He'd only told two people about what his father was doing. His only friends, Willow and Jesse. He remembered how angry he'd been, how betrayed he'd felt, when Willow told her mother. And when he'd been taken from the only parents he'd known. The last words he'd spoken to his friends, had been in anger. It had taken a while, but he'd finally realized that what Willow had done, she'd done out of concern, and love for her friend. And he'd become grateful to her. For he now thought of his foster family as his real family, though the memory of his original family still lingered. But by the time he'd realized it. It was too late.

His father, who'd been responsible for so much physical and emotional strife in Alex's life, had refused to acknowledge the ruling. And for a long time, Alex feared that his father would one day find him. It was for that reason, that it was deemed best by all concerned, that he have no contact with Sunnydale whatsoever. So he'd been unable to contact his friends, and apologize, and thank them.

His intellect, which, in the educational system of Sunnydale was being squashed by low self esteem, had been allowed to grow in a school with a special ed program. He'd even made the honor roll more than once.

Over the years, thoughts of Willow stayed with him. He wondered how she was, what she looked like as she grew. What she was doing. After three failed relationships, though he'd remained good friends with one of them, he'd realized the truth. He was in love with Willow. And always had been. Though hundreds of miles, and several years without seeing her separated them, he could not get her out of his mind.

So that was why, 11 years later, after his seventeenth birthday, one of his ex-girlfriends had encouraged him to follow his heart. And return from whence he came. She wrote poetry.

And so here he was. Seventeen years old, his wallet filled with money he'd earned from his job at Moto Photo, without his parents consent, or knowledge, though they'd surely found the note by now, in the town of his birth.

He quickly decided against going to see his original parents, though he was tempted to show his father how competent he'd become at defending himself.

Instead, he went to where he figured he had the best chance of finding his old friends. The mall.

Cordelia paused in her chat with Harmony to look at a couple of passing guys. One in particular caught her eye. He was of average height, and had dark hair. Too bad she'd seen him in a mall, and not the Bronze. She never flirted in the mall.

Alex had been all over the mall twice. And had not found hide nor hair of either of his friends. He decided against going to the school, or to her house. He wasn't ready for that yet. So he decided to try to find out what other hangouts there were. He looked around, and saw two rather trendy looking girls sitting at a table near the food court.

"Excuse me for the interruption ladies." he smiled. He'd found that it was much easier to talk to girls when you weren't interested. He didn't know how he was going to talk to Willow when he finally found her. "I'm new in town." he went on. "And I was wondering if you could tell me where the cool hang outs were."

Cordelia wasn't sure what to make of this guy. He was good looking, but as a new person in town, he had yet to prove himself. On the other hand, what better way to do that then to go to the Bronze?

That night, Alex sat by himself in the club. It wasn't bad, for a small town club. Nothing to rival the ones he'd been to, but not bad. The band wasn't bad either. Especially the guitarist. He loved the name. Dingoes Ate My Baby. It made him think of homework excuses. My dog ate it.

He didn't see anyone who looked like Willow or Jesse. But after so many years, would he even recognize them? He decided that if he didn't see them tonight, he'd go to the High School tomorrow.

There was a good looking blonde girl who appeared to be on the lookout for someone. Probably her boyfriend or something.

Buffy spotted a dark-haired boy she didn't recognize sitting by himself, looking around carefully. It could be nothing. But then, it could also be a new Vamp in town looking for dinner. She decided to take a wait and see stance, just in case.

She was looking at him. She was trying not to look like it, but he could tell. He caught her out of the corner of his eye, and twice when he'd glanced in her direction, he'd seen her look quickly away.

He smiled to himself. Most guys would be delighted to have a pretty girl investing this much attention on them. But he wasn't at all interested. He was only there for one girl.

Then he saw someone who looked familiar.

"Jesse?" he said, coming up behind the dark haired boy.

Jesse started. He hadn't heard that voice since it was much higher, many years ago. He turned quickly. "Holy-, Xander?" He laughed, and embraced his old friend. "What the hell are you doing back in Sunnydale?"

Buffy stood when she saw the two men embrace. When they started to leave, she followed them. Something was definitely up.

"So what's up?" Xander asked. "Why did you have to talk to me out here? 'Fraid my parents will find me?"

"Not exactly." Jesse smiled. And then his face changed. His eyes turned yellow, his brow began to protrude, and his teeth became fangs.

Xander stared in shock for a moment. Oh my God a vampire! he thought. He'd never seen one before, hadn't even believed they existed. But there wasn't much else he could be.

He was ever more grateful for his self defense training at that moment. He dodged quickly when his friend lunged at him. He backed away quickly, trying to think. What killed Vampires? Crosses? Garlic, no, that just hurt them, and besides he didn't have either. Stake through the heart? He didn't have one of those either. He thought about running, but he didn't want to turn his back on Jesse.

So he did the only thing he could think of.

"So Jesse," he said, "Been one of the undead long? Or is this a new thing for you?"

"A year or so." Jesse said, feinting to the left. Alex didn't fall for it. "You still go by Xander?"

"No it's Alex now."

"That's nice, much more respectable. Not as cute though."

Xander shrugged. "I outgrew cute. I'm going for ruggedly handsome now."

"Not doing a half bad job at it either." said a voice behind Jesse.

Alex's eyes widened. The blond girl had followed him outside. "Not loving the timing of this." he told her. "Things are-"

"Slayer." Jesse growled. And ran.

Alex took a moment to relax from his ready to fight or flee position. When he did, he took a deep breath.

"Okay so now I'm really confused." he said. "Why is my best friend from ages ago a Vampire, and why was he afraid of you, and why did he mention an eighties metal band?"

The girl looked like she was searching for an explanation. "Um, that wasn't a Vampire," she said falteringly. "That was, a guy, on PCP."

Alex gave her a look. "Right. Look missy I know from guys on PCP and they don't look like that. Sure they get a little crazy but their faces don't morph into something that looks like it's from Star Trek."

She once again struggled. "Okay so it was a Vampire. But, um,"

"Buffy are you all right?" a deep voice asked from right behind him.

Reflexively, Alex spun, and assumed a ready position. When the guy behind him, who was a fairly big guy, didn't make any threatening moves, he relaxed again.

"Please do not sneak up on me when I've just been attacked in a dark alley!" he admonished.

"Sorry." the guy said, not sounding particularly apologetic. He wasn't looking at Alex at all, still at the blond girl, who Alex was hoping was not REALLY named Buffy. "What's going on?" the tall guy asked.

"There," Alex said, turning and smirking, "Two against one. Now you have to explain."

"It's complicated." Buffy said.

"Vampires are real, lot of them live in Sunnydale, Buffy kills them." the guy said.

"Apparently not that complicated." Buffy sighed. "Okay so are there any other questions? Or can we go back in and try to forget this?"

"Just one more." Alex said. "Willow. Is she a Vampire too?"

Buffy blinked, and felt defensive mode come on. "How do you know Willow?" she asked. "And how do you know from guys on PCP?"

"I know Willow the same way I knew Jesse." Alex answered her. "As for the PCP, sorry to say that I've had a few run ins with the darker side of DC. You gonna answer my question now?"

"Old friend eh." Spike said, as he and Jesse shared a tall glass of blood. Dru was nearby, talking to one of her dolls.

Spike liked Jesse, the boy reminded him of himself, in his early days. Only been a Vamp for a while, and still getting used to the change. From what he'd heard of the kid's past, he was even a bit like Spike's pre-Vamp days.

"Yeah." Jesse said. "Haven't seen him since we were like, eight or something. I tell ya, if he hadn't recognized me, and said my name, I never would have known it was him."

"Funny how people change isn't mate." Spike smiled.

Jesse grinned as well, knowing Spike wasn't just talking about Xander. Or Alex rather. Jesse doubted he'd ever get used to calling him that.

Willow greeted Oz with a kiss when the band was finished with their set.

"Have you seen Buffy?" Willow asked. "I just got here, and she was supposed to meet me here."

"Yeah." Oz said carefully. He knew she would always be a little sensitive when it came to the topic at hand. "She went out into the alley. After Jesse."

Willow fell silent. Jesse. When Xander had been taken away by child services, Jesse had been her only friend. And then he too had been taken away from her. Thank God Buffy had been there to take up the mantle of best friend.

"Was it," she started, "Was it bad?"

"I don't know." Oz said. "He was with some guy, they seemed to be good friends. But I didn't recognize him."

"Willow!" Buffy called from across the club. The story this guy Alex had told her was incredible, and she couldn't wait to bring these two old friends back together. Once he'd told her his name, and his old nickname, she'd pretty much known the rest. Willow had told her all about him.

Willow turned to Buffy. Angel was with her, and Buffy seemed really excited about something. She wondered what.

"What's up Buffy?" Willow asked, approaching her friend. "Oz said you went after Jesse. Did you-"

"No he got away." Buffy said. "But you'll never believe who I found-" she turned to look behind her, but Alex was gone.

To Be Continued...