Title: Aim Is True
Author: Shin Willow.
Spoilers: No really. This takes place post-Chosen.
Category: Drama
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel the Series in this story.
Summery: Walking away from the Fight is not an option. It's not for someone like Xander. Doesn't mean he can't try.
Africa was much more beautiful than his memories allowed—Xander, it seemed, wasn't allowed to keep a lovely thought in his head—and he longed to see it again. Rain pounded the city and Xander watched it abuse the street and sidewalk below his apartment through a fog-tinted window. He hadn't seen rain while he was in Africa, he'd left the continent a few weeks before monsoon season began and missed that world bloom.
He wanted to see that; watching the rain in Los Angeles wasn't the same. Rainfall in country would have been like witnessing the beginnings of creation. River veins reformed, flowing like nourishing blood to starving limbs. Grass grew and trees turned green after months of ruthless, soul crushing drought. Animals would soon follow, returning from the brink in an attempt to do more than hang to life by a precarious thread. Rain in Africa was life.
Rain in a city was just everything getting wet.
Absently scratching the surface of the eye-patch covering his left eye-socket, Xander moved away from the window. He looked at the old clock that came with the apartment hanging on the far wall and noted the time: one minute to midnight. He was having trouble sleeping; he was lucky to get more than two or three hours—if he was very lucky. He was used to being more active and hadn't exactly been mister busy guy since he got back. He felt more like sloth-y guy; he wasn't working for the Council or anyone else, and basically lived off the back pay Giles sent him. Xander didn't need the money while he was in Africa, he lived off, lord help him for phrasing it like this, but he really did live off the land the majority of his stay. Two years back pay wasn't going to last him forever, Xander knew, but it gave him more wiggle room until he found a vocation he was comfortable with. Hopefully that was going to happen any day now.
Xander sat on the velvet sofa in the middle of the living room—it also came with the apartment—and reached for the phone sitting on the coffee table in front of him. He wanted to call somebody, but couldn't remember a single number of anyone he knew. Not even Willow's. Xander pulled his hand back from the phone and leaned back into the sofa, staring blankly at the old touch-tone. He didn't even have a phone book or a computer or any kind of thing-a-ma-jig to record addresses or numbers in, never mind to find them with.
He scanned the apartment. Despite what he thought about urban living, he thought his new place was practically a mansion. He knew five years ago he'd have thought it was a hole. But there was something about in door plumbing—running water period—heating and electricity, and sweet fancy Moses, junk food just around the corner that made this apartment and its neighborhood fricking Shangri-La. By the way, two years without a Twinkie is just unnatural.
It was a fine place to live, Xander's apartment. No critters, not that he wasn't used to those. Once, he woke up with a baboon in his tent, apparently the smelly primate figured out how to work the zip. The aforementioned plumbing gave hot and cold clean water, and the wall-to-wall carpeting didn't smell like mildew. There was room, plenty of room for all his worldly possessions. He brought back a bunch of stuff from his assignment, relics and weapons mostly, but a few decorating items, too. The relics possessed magical properties and he'd intended to turn them over to the Council once he got back, but everybody knows how that turned out. They made him uncomfortable sitting in his apartment. All Xander could think about when he saw them was a welcome back party gone horribly wrong by way of the undead snacking on party-goers instead of the chips and dip. Xander considered piling the whole lot into his car—when he got around to buying one—and dumping it on Angel's doorstep.
Yeah, he was that creeped out.
Half the weapons he made himself, the other half were… gifts. Surely if people threw various axes, spears and knives at your backside, they could be called gifts, right? Hanging on one wall in the living room were his handmade weapons: three Sudanese Spears, one Zulu Axe, which was part gift, the real kind, and part his own creation. Two Nubian daggers, his first experience with forging, and they weren't half bad. One Maasai Sword, which he made after the daggers and it was pretty good work, too.
His pride and joy though, was the bow. There was nothing African about it, as Xander decided to model the bow in the Hill Style tradition and basically duplicated a Hawkeye longbow. A quiver of arrows sat beneath the bow with the rest of his horded weapons. He needed to find an archery range sometime soon, losing what little skill he possessed was not a good idea, considering he was going to be lone wolfing it for a while. Not that he intended on doing much patrolling, he no longer had a Slayer to back up so he didn't have an excuse to go monster hunting.
He missed the excitement to be honest, and being useful was ego boosting, but it was dangerous to run around all Night Hawk without help. Hell, it was dangerous before, but helping Buffy and Halla made personal jeopardy less a concern to Xander. Not a very healthy out look on life, on a strictly personal level, but it hadn't killed him yet… just everyone else…
Suddenly, Xander needed to get out. He grabbed his newly purchased over coat off the coat rack next to the door, slipped it on and left the apartment. He'd bounded down two flights of stairs before he remembered he forgot to lock his door. God, he needed to get used to living in civilization again. Xander ran back up to his floor and secured his apartment, and then made his way down to the lobby of his building.
The rain didn't bother Xander and he walked unhurried to the corner store. Maybe he'd pick up an umbrella, along with some toilet paper and orange juice. Eventually he'd have to buy a car so he could find a grocery store. The corner store was good for a few items, but in no way provided what a good food market did.
Actually it was more of a liquor store with a nice selection of merchandise sitting on four aisles of shelves in the middle of four walls of Jim Beam and Jack Daniels. Xander shook himself like a dog on top of several sheets of cardboard the store placed down at the entrance. Water dripped from his hair, but his body caught before it hit the floor. Xander browsed the aisles and grabbed a four pack of toilet paper and an obscenely over-priced bottle of room temperature orange juice. They didn't have any umbrellas. The cashier asked him if he wanted to buy a lottery ticket, she was cute and batted her pretty brown eyes at him and suddenly Xander wanted to try his luck. Xander left the store carrying his purchases in a black plastic bag. He tied it against the rain and made his way back to the apartment.
Whistling 'Singing in the Rain' Xander strolled through heavy sheets of rain and was surprised to realize he hadn't felt this normal in months. He missed a lot of the rigmarole of his former life as a Watcher; everything from patiently guiding his Slayer, to the pain-staking recording of every little detail about her patrols in his dairies. He missed Halla. But ever since he was discreetly dismissed as her Watcher this was the first time he felt like his life wasn't a complete waste and had a decent chance of getting constructive in the future.
Xander's whistling became sporadic as he climbed the stone steps leading up to the apartment building; he dug his keys out of his coat pocket and fingered them until he found the one that opened the security door. He had the key halfway into the lock when he heard the wheels of a car screeching, followed by a loud thump. Xander turned his head and searched for the ruckus but the street was clear, which meant the commotion was happing a street over.
Xander was motionless in front of the security door, rain pelting his face, conveniently washing away the quick sweat that had sprung up on his skin. He stood there wondering if he should get involved, or turn the key go up to his place and put away his meager groceries. Poking his nose in business not his was no longer in his job description—the fact he held no job was beside the point. A sharp pain radiated from his right hand, Xander looked down and noticed he was squeezing his keys so tightly they bit into his palm. He relaxed his grip and took a deep breath to calm himself down.
Xander slid his key into the lock and let himself into the brightly lit foyer. He'd taken one step over the portal when his ears latched on to the sound of running footsteps, occasionally accentuated by splashes of water. There was ten seconds when Xander could have walked the rest of the way into the building and been up a flight of stairs and he would have missed the woman running down the sidewalk. Ten seconds when he could have pretended he didn't have to become the self-appointed savior of humanity, as woefully under-qualified for the job as he was. Ten whole seconds when he had the chance to be like every other schlub in the world and drown out the real world by turning up his TV while people screamed outside his window.
Xander turned around and watched a woman in a short red dress and red flats stumble along the sidewalk on the other side of the street. Her feet kicked up the puddles of water and soaked her stockings and dress. The closer she got the louder her desperate, sobbing breaths became. Xander saw three men bounding after her and somehow he didn't feel a hint of shock when he caught sight of their yellow eyes and the large sharp teeth in their mouths.
The woman was so panicked she ran past Xander without seeing him. Xander didn't bother calling out to her, he knew for the moment the Vampires were toying with her. They could catch up to her easily before she reached the safety his building offered. One of the Vampires saw Xander and hissed in his direction, thinking to scare Xander off with his fearsome appearance; Xander stepped fully into the foyer and shut the security door. Dashing up the stairs, Xander heard the vampire's braying laughter.
Xander unlocked his door quickly and tossed his purchases on the sofa as he run to his wall of weapons. He grabbed the bow and a quiver of arrows then after a few seconds of consideration he hefted the axe in his free hand. He shouldered both the bow and quiver and gripped his axe tightly and run out of his apartment without closing the door behind him.
Less than sixty seconds had passed between the time Xander got inside the building, gathered his weapons and ran back outside again. Xander bolted down the street in the direction the four had gone. His figure cut through the rain at top speed, Xander knew he'd catch up with them if the Vampires still toyed with their prey. Twenty seconds later he saw the backs of two of the Vampires. They were running so unhurriedly Xander was hot on their heels in no time.
He came up behind the lagging vampire and took its head off with one swing from the axe. It happened fast and silently, the Vampires ahead didn't even hear their comrade die. Xander put on a burst of speed, intent on reaching the second vampire and taking him out the same way as the first. Then the woman let out a short scream and the Vampires began laughing joyously and picked up speed, pulling farther ahead of Xander. Realizing time was running out, Xander slowed to a stop pulled back his right arm with the axe in hand, and threw the axe as hard as he could at the back of the second vampire.
Xander would have liked to cut the vampire's head off with the toss, it was a surer kill, but he wasn't skilled enough for a precision hit like that, so he chose to aim for the vampire's center mass. The blade of the axe struck home and buried itself deep in the vampires back, right between its shoulder blades. The vampire dropped to its knees with a groan then fell face first onto sidewalk. Xander heard the vampire's skull and cartilage shatter. Xander ran up to the vampire, pulled an arrow from the quiver strapped against his back and pushed the arrowhead through the vampire's back. He only stayed long enough to see it turn to dust before he was on the move again, leaving his axe behind.
His quarry had disappeared around a corner while he was staking the second vampire. When Xander turned the same corner he saw the woman and the vampire further down the street. The vampire caught the woman and held her easily as she struggled to get herself free. He laughed at her attempts to get away before belting her one in the stomach. The woman let out a short cry before falling silent and still in her attacker's grasp.
Xander cursed when he saw the vampire toss the woman's head against her shoulder by jerking her body, exposing her neck and move in for a bite. Knowing there was no way he'd reach the pair in time to stop the vampire from draining the woman, Xander slid the bow off his shoulder and loaded the arrow already in his hand. He pulled the bowstring tight and lined the arrow up with the vampire's head. The rain was coming down as hard as ever and Xander's vision was about half of what it should be to make this shot—right about now two eyes would have come in handy. Not only that, the vampire's head made for a small target. If Xander missed he was likely to hit the woman.
The vampire's teeth sank into the woman's throat and then there was nothing for it. Xander ignored the stinging in his fingers as the bow's string cut through his skin and his blood dripped down the string. He closed his eye and he prayed. I've never asked you for anything. Not once. I barely believe in you. But I'm asking for this, just this one thing: Don't let me miss. Xander opened his eye, it was cold and hard; his resolve crystallized.
He took a breath then released it and the arrow.
Xander watched the bolt fly in a beautiful straight line and penetrate the vampire's head. Burrowing through its cheek, the force of the hit made the vampire drop the woman before it went staggering backwards. Xander saw his kill shot, he calmly pulled another arrow from the quiver, loaded another bow and sent it into the vampire's exposed chest.
The vampire turned to ash. To Xander's surprise he was still calm, he experienced no excitement or relief that he succeeded. His breathing was slow and even and his heart beat regularly. He run over to the prone woman and checked her pulse. It was weak but steady. Blood oozed from puncture wounds in her neck. She'd live. Xander picked her up and retraced their path; he set the woman down under a partition protecting an entrance to a Deli and retrieved his axe.
The rain was easing up by the time Xander made it back to his building with the woman cradled in his arms. Thank God no one was around to see him come inside with an unconscious bleeding woman, a bow on his back and an axe shoved handle-wise down his pants. With his luck he'd end up having the cops called on him.
Xander was glad he'd left his apartment door open in his haste to rescue the woman; he had to wrestle with his keys and the woman's limp body to get the security door open—not fun. He swept the orange juice and toilet paper off the sofa and placed the woman on it. After placing his weapons back where they were, Xander picked up the phone and dialed 911.
While he waited for the ambulance to arrive Xander got a couple of clean towels from the bathroom and began drying off the lady in red. Meanwhile, on the street below his apartment a vampire stared up at Xander's window. Its left arm hanging lamely at its side. A car hit it while it chased after the woman, breaking both its legs on impact. The other vampires left him behind groaning in terrible agony on the street; even the guy driving the car sped away, which was too bad because the vampire could have used a meal to speed up his recovery. He healed on his own in time to see Xander carry its former prey into the apartment building.
Though the vampire had no intention of avenging its lost compatriots, the vampire memorized everything he could about the man. Where he lived, how he smelled and what few physical features it could discern. The vampire was going to spread the word about this man; soon the whole demon community in town would know there was a new demon hunter in town.