A/N Thanks for the great reviews. And no this will not be a crossover with the WB show Supernatural. It'll only have some of it's themes.
Chapter 1
Stir of Echoes
"Come on man you gotta be joking." Xander was saying with a roll of his eyes as Jesse led him into the cemetery.
"Then how do you explain this jacket?" Jesse asked as he led him up the hill. "Or this?"
Crouching down before the grave Xander's eyes widened at what he read. 'Jaime Mercer, born January 15 1981 died May 12 1999.'
'That was the same day as our prom.' Xander realized as he stood to his feet and looked over at Jesse. "There has to be a rational explaination for this."
"Yeah like Jaime being a zombie."
"Jesse we've seen zombies before and they don't look normal like she did." 'Except Jack O'toole looked normal.' Xander's mind screamed at him. 'And he was a zombie.' "Listen, it's dark and I'm tired. Let's just go to the nearest hotel and get some sleep. I still don't believe that she's a zombie but she gave us her phone number and her address so we'll check it out tomorrow."
"Alright." Jesse said seeing the reason in that, as he tucked Jaime's necklace in his front shirt pocket. "I saw a hotel about fifteen minutes back down a road called lovelock and woodale."
"We'll go by Jaime's house in the morning and sort this whole thing out." Xander informed him as he walked past Jesse and started towards the car. "And you'll see that she's not a zombie and that she's just a normal girl."
If both of them had of stayed only a minute longer they would have seen Jaime duck her head off from behind a tree. Looking at their retreating forms, she smiled to herself before fading away into the darkness.
Xander opened his eyes, a scream on his lips, the only sound in the stillness of his hotel room. He had a nightmare about his life...no not his life but that of a girls. A girl that was being chastised, called horrible names, and then hit by a dark colored car and left for dead on the side of a road. But the strangest thing was he didn't just see those things happening, it was more like he was the girl himself and he went through what she did. He also had a strange feeling about the girl and even though he didn't see her face in the dream he still felt as though he was supposed to have known her.
"Hey Xand you okay?" Jesse asked worriedly, as he emerged out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist and a tooth brush in his mouth. "I heard you screaming."
"I...I just had a nightmare." Xander replied shakily and a little out of breath as he sat up in the small twin bed. Staring at the puke green walls, he got his bearings and finally remembered where he was.
The "hotel" was a run down place with cockroaches crawling everywhere and hookers almost in every other room.
"It must've been a hell of a dream man." Jesse said as he walked back into the bathroom and spat out the toothpaste in the sink. "Because you screamed like you were downright terrified."
"I'll tell you about it later." Xander informed him as he stood out of bed and streched. "Let's go ahead and get some breakfast first and then we'll head over to Jaime's house and give her back her stuff."
With that said Xander started to get ready, not knowing that today was going to be one of the most strangest days of his life.
"That's the place." Jesse informed Xander as they pulled up towards a quaint little two story brick house in the burbs. It wasn't the best looking neighborhood compared to all the other places they had to drive through to get here, but it was still far better then what they were used to in Sunnydale.
"Yeah it is." Xander replied as he hopped out of the passengers side and grabbed Jaime's jacket. "Now come on let's get this over with."
After a couple of knocks on the door, a sad looking middle aged woman answered the door. Xander could tell that she was once a beautiful woman, which left him to wonder what happened to her to make her life go down so bad.
"Yes, can I help you boys?" she asked as she looked from Jesse to Xander in turn.
"Um, yes ma'am." Jesse started as he handed her Jaime's jacket. "We picked up your daughter Jaime last night and she left her jacket and necklace behind." as she took the coat, her eyes started to mist over and she clutched the jacket a little closer to her body.
"How dare you!" she suddenly screamed, body trembling. "What kind of sick joke are you playing? My daughter died from a hit and run a month and a half ago." and with that revelation, Miss Mercer stormed back in her house and slammed her door.
"That went well." Xander commented as he walked away from the door and headed back towards the car.
"See man I told you, zombie."
Before Xander could say anything, his cellphone rang. As he answered it he heard the most raspy voice he'd ever heard in his life.
"What? I don't understand you." he said over the static of the phone. "Speak up."
"Who is that man?" Jesse asked as he reached for the phone, only for Xander to turn and slap his hand away. Trying again he turned the phone and leaned up against Xander so they could hear a distorted woman's voice give them a cryptic message."
"You're...you're going in the wrong direction. Josh...Josh Thompson knows."
"Know's what!" Xander shouted into the phone, but all that answered him was static. "Damnit!" he cursed again as he hung up the phone.
"Call me crazy but that sounded a little like Jamie." Jesse commented as Xander put his cellphone in his front shirt pocket.
"Fine, you're crazy." Xander said with a shake of his head as he opened the door to his car and got in.
"I'm serious man." Jesse said as he got in the passengers side. "Something strange is going on and..."
"Jesse listen, I didn't come on this trip to do any of this supernatural stuff. All I wanted to do was spend some time with you before you went off to college."
"Xander look, do you remember that promise we made shortly after we met Buffy?" he asked only for Xander to look down at the steering wheel. "Whenever we met somebody that was in trouble..."
"We would help them out no matter what." Xander finished for him.
"Yeah. Now I don't know if Jaime is a zombie or not but I could feel that she was an innocent. And you have to admit that you felt the same way too."
"Yeah." Xander said under his breath as he looked up at him. "Now where do we start first?"
"In the phone book."
Jesse's suggestion to look in the phone book turned out to be fruitful because there was only one listing for a Thompson in it. Driving into a nice neighborhood, they pulled up the curb of a beautiful two story brick house.
"This is the place." Jesse said as he got out of the car and checked the address that he had gotten from the phone book. "1966 Maple Drive."
"Let's just check this guy out and get out of here." Xander replied as he walked up the driveway and saw a dark red mustang sitting under the garage.
"Whoa that's sweet." Jesse said running his hand down the hood of it.
"Yeah, but it's had a little body work done." Xander said squatting down in front of it.
"How can you tell?" Jesse asked, giving him a wierd look. He couldn't see a spot of damage on it at all.
"Because my Uncle Roary used to fix on cars all the time." Xander said standing up. "He showed me a few things to look for so I know." he finished as he walked towards the front of the house and knocked on the door. They only had a short wait until a boy about their age, with spikey brown hair and baggy jeans answered the door.
"Yeah, can I help you two with something?" he asked as he looked between the two.
"I'm..."
"My name is Dean and this is my brother Lavelle." Jesse cut Xander off. "And we're reporters for the local newspaper."
"Um so what do you want with me?" Josh asked nervously, as his hand started to tremble. It was an action that didn't get past Xander and Jesse.
"Well we're investigating the murder of a girl named Jaime Mercer and we have it on good authority that you were the last one to see her alive."
"I don't know the girl!" Josh all but yelled out. "Now leave me alone!" and with that he slammed the door in their faces.
"That wasn't a little suspicious." Jesse commented.
"Let's go back to the hotel and figure out what we're gonna do next." Xander said as he headed back to the car. "Because this guy is definately guilty of something."
"Yeah, but how are we gonna prove it?" Jesse asked as he fell into step behind him.
"Like I said we'll figure out something." he replied as he hopped into his car. "And what was up with using our middle names? Especially mine, you know I hate the name Lavelle."
"Yeah it would've been real smart to give a killer our real names." Jesse said with a roll of his eyes. "And I think I was wrong about the whole Jaime being a zombie thing."
"How do you figure?" Xander asked as he put the car in drive and started back towards the hotel.
"Because I thought back to last night when we saw her grave and the ground wasn't disturbed."
"Which means she didn't come up out of her grave."
"Which leaves the only other thing she could be. She had to be a ghost."
"You've really been spending to much time with Giles." Xander joked as he turned down a side street. "You're starting to sound like him."
"Haha, laugh it up. Giles is boring but he comes up with some good stuff." before Xander could further tease him, he saw some blue lights flashing behind them. Looking in his rear view mirror he saw a cop car speeding up behind the car. Not knowing what he had done wrong, he pulled the car over to the side of the road and cut off it's engine.
"What's going on?" Jesse asked as he looked back and saw the cop getting out of his squad car and quickly walking up to the car.
"We're about to find out." Xander replied as the officer stopped beside them. He was a tall man, probably in his late thirties with graying hair.
"License and registration please?"
"What seems to be the problem officer?" Xander asked as he handed over his ID.
"I need to see your identification too son." the officer said, deliberately ignoring Xander's question.
"I think my friend here had a valid question sir." Jesse said as he handed over his license. "Why did you pull us over?"
"Because I recieved a complaint about two boys named Dean and Lavelle harrassing someone a few moments ago." the officer replied as he looked at them both in turn. "Now how much do you want to bet that if I run these Id's that I'll find that neither of you work for the local paper?"
"I'll bet that you won't find anything." Xander said as he swallowed some spit.
"Good. Now I don't want any trouble here so I would suggest that you boys leave my town by the end of the day." he said giving them their Id's back.
"Xander you can't seriously think about leaving." Jesse said to him as Xander started to pack his clothes back in his duffle.
"The man with the shiny gun said to leave town so I'm leaving." he said as he threw a few shirts on his bed.
"That man is also Josh's dad."
"What?" Xander asked as he looked up from his bag to his best friend.
"Didn't you read his name badge? It said officer Thompson on it."
"It could've just been a coincidence."
"No it's not remember? There was only one listing for a Thompson in the phone book, so they have to be related."
"Hey you're right. So that's how he responded to that call so fast."
"And that's exactly why we have to stay and find out what's going on."
"I knew you were gonna say something like that." Xander replied as he threw his bag back down.
"But where do we go from here?"
"I already thought of that." Xander said walking to the door. "We're going to the library."
Later That Day
To both of the boys surprise, going to the library actually turned out to be fruitful in their investigation. Jesse, using some computer skills Willow had taught him, broke into some of the local coroner's reports and the police database on Jaime and found out that the police didn't even do a thorough invesigation on her hit and run. It was like they didn't even care about her. Like she was merely trash.
"Hey was somebody messing with your car?" Jesse asked as they passed it in the parking lot. The library was so close that the two decided to walk.
"Hey you're right." he replied as he saw that the hood of it seemed slightly up.
"I see you boys haven't left my town yet?" a voice asked from behind them.
"Jesus!" Jesse yelled as he turned around and saw the sheriff smirking at them. "You scared us."
"Not as much as I'm going too." he said as he took out his gun and looked around to see if anyone was watching. "Now let's go to your room. Now!"
Putting up their hands, Xander and Jesse walked obediently back to their rooms and as they opened the door they saw Josh standing in their room nervously pacing.
"Yeah dad that's them." he immediately said as he looked up and saw the sheriff enter the room.
"Yeah, I know." he said as he closed the door behind him. "Now did you check out the other room to make sure nobody was in there?"
"Yeah, there's nobody else here but us."
"What's...what's going on?" Jesse asked as he turned back and looked at the sheriff.
"What's going on boy is that you two should've left town when I told you too." he replied as he lifted up his gun. "Now I have to kill the both of you."
"Why?" Xander asked, stalling for time.
"Don't play dumb with me boy!" Sheriff Thompson growled out as he took a gun out of his back holster and threw it too his son. "Now sit back on that bed." he told Jesse and not looking to see if he followed his directions he looked too Xander. "And you stand over there."
As soon as Xander moved to the spot the sheriff told him to stand, he quickly scooped up a pillow, forcefully made Jesse lie down on the bed and put said pillow on his head.
"Oh God!" Jesse cried out, scared for his life.
"Shut up." the Sheriff said as he put the gun to the pillow so it would muffle the sound of the blast. Pulling the hammer back on the gun, he was about to pull the trigger when he suddenly heard a noise coming from the bathroom. "I thought you said you checked the other room?"
"I did." Josh replied, hunching up his shoulders.
"Well go check it again." his father ordered. Hefting up the gun Josh walked over to the door and saw that it was slightly ajar. There was light coming through the crack between the door and the frame and when his eyes focused he saw somebody standing behind the door. She was watching them.
"No..." Josh said as he inched away from the door. "You're supposed to be dead?"
"Who are you talking too?" Sheriff Thompson asked his son as he walked away from Jesse, but still kept his gun trained on them as he made his way over to the door.
Moving his son out of the way he forcefully kicked the bathroom door in and nearly fell over himself as he saw the bloody, ghostly image of Jaime looking up at him. Xander and Jesse gave each other curious glances because they couldn't see anything out of the ordinary.
"You stupid little bitch!" he growled out. "My son killed you. You're dead!" he yelled out as he squeezed the trigger, unloading about three slugs that passed through her body. Not believing his eyes, because she was still standing he was about to fire off another round until someone kicked in the door to the room.
"Everybody Freeze!"
Startled the Sheriff turned around firing and was shot down by one of his own police officers.
"Stay where you are." the lead officer said as more of them filed into the room.
"Believe me, that's not a problem sir." Xander said with his hands up.
"He's dead Sarge." another officer said checking out the Sheriff.
"I figured as much." Sargent Belmont said as he looked around the room. "Now all I want to know is what the hell is going on?"
Shadow Valley Police Departmet
Interrogation Room
"Sheriff Thompson's son confessed to everything." Sargent Belmont said to Xander and Jesse as he walked around them, in the cramped little room. He still couldn't believe that the Sheriff was a dirty cop, but here was the evidence in black and white. All the doctored up files and the half ass investigations. All of it. He couldn't really say that he liked the man much, but he respected the hell out of him. But now...
And according to what his son had planned after they killed Jesse and Xander, they were planning on framing them for the murder of Jaime Mercer. According too Josh, his father was planning on paying off a hooker to say she overheard the two talking about killing Jaime and when the Sheriff went to go and investigate he had no choice but too shoot them both because they had guns and were shooting at him.
"So the both of you are free to go."
"There's still one thing that I don't understand." Jesse said standing to his feet. "Why did you guys come to the hotel when you did?"
"That's a funny story." Belmont said as he sat at his desk. "A girl called the police station a couple of hours ago and told me that she knew where the killer of Jaime Mercer was." he said leading them out of the room and into the main lobby. And as they walked out they saw Jaime's mother sitting alone by the front desk.
"Now what?" Xander mumbled under his breath as she looked up and quickly walked over to them. Her giving the both of them a hug however was completely unexpected.
"Thank the both of you for what you've done." she started as she pulled away from them. "I think my daughter can rest now that her killer is in prison."
"I'm still sorry about the way we came to your house earlier." Jesse apologized. "I...we had no idea that..."
"No I should be the one apologizing." she interrupted. "I still don't understand how you two thought my daughter was still alive but..."
"I'm so glad I caught up to you two boys." a pudgy police officer said out of breath as he ran up to them.
"Wayne what's wrong with you?" Belmont asked. "You look like you've seen a ghost."
"And I probably would be if these two had've started their car."
"What are you talking about?" Xander asked, confused.
"When we towed your car to the impound after you were arrested, I saw that the hood was open. So I looked inside and I saw that a bomb had been placed on the side of the engine."
"I guess the Sheriff wanted to make sure we didn't get out of town alive." Jesse said aloud. 'He must've thought of blowing us up, but then later thought up to frame us for murder.'
"Well can't you guys just take it off?" Xander asked.
"I'm sorry but the bomb squad tried and the car exploded. We did manage to get the last of your stuff out before that though." he said sympathetically as he handed Xander a black bag.
"Fuck! How are we gonna get home now?" Xander asked no one in paticular.
"I could arrange for you to be escorted back home." Belmont suggested.
"And I have a better idea." Miss Mercer said as she went into her purse and handed Xander a set of keys.
"What's this?" he asked.
"Just consider it a present." she said as she led them outside and up to a black 1967 Chevrolet Impala.
"Whoa." Jesse said as he ran up to it.
"It belonged to my late husband Johnathan. I was going to pass it down to Jaime after graduation but now..."
"I appreciate this but we can't accept this car."
"You can't but I will." Jesse said snatching the keys out of his hand and running back to the car.
"Please take it. I can feel in my heart that Jaime would have wanted it this way."
Xander was about to refuse the offer one more time, but he saw that by the look in her eyes that she wasn't going to give in. Besides he lost one car, so it was only fitting to get another one right?
"Here's my address." she said going into her purse and handing him a card. "Whenever you get where you're going, send me a letter and I'll transfer my tags and information over to you."
"Until then don't worry about the police pulling you over." Belmont spoke up as he handed him a card as well. "Because if they do, just give me a call and I'll explain to them what happened."
"Thanks." Xander said, putting the cards in his pocket. "To the both of you."
"Come on Miss Mercer. I'll escort you home." Belmont said and saying their final goodbyes, the two walked off.
"Hey Jess." Xander said as he looked in the front seat and saw Jesse playing with the steering wheel. "Pop the trunk, so I can throw our stuff in the back." as he did what he asked, Xander walked to the back of the car and threw the bag in. When he did he noticed a latch on the carpeted part of the trunk floor. Curious he opened it and his eyes bugged out at what he saw.
"Hey Jess, I don't think you have to worry about your gun collection."
"Why?" he asked as he stepped out of the car and joined Xander in bucking out his eyes. There in the trunk of the car was a secret compartment that held over a dozen weapons in it. Weapons that ranged from, shotguns to glocks to a silver and black colt 45.
Looking back in the direction of where Miss Mercer was going, they finally realized why they heard the name Mercer before. Her husband had to have been the famous bounty hunter Johnathan Mercer. The one they had read about in the paper, as little kids.
"So where are we headed now?" Jesse asked as he and Xander got back on the highway.
"I don't know. I was thinking about going too..." before he could complete his sentence, his cell phone rang loudly startling them both. "Jesus." he said, his heart pounding before answering the phone. "Hello."
"Thank you." came Jaime's raspy voice from the other end. Before Xander could say a word the phone filled with static and hung up.
"Who was that man?" Jesse asked, as he looked over to see Xander smiling to himself.
"Just a friend." he whispered as he put the phone back into his shirt pocket. Jesse just smiled at him knowingly, as he turned back around and looked out at the dissolate open highway.
"So where did you say you wanted to go again?"
"I was thinking Arizona." Xander replied as he pressed down on the gas, speeding away finally glad to see the Now leaving California sign, zooming away behind them.
If the two had've looked in the rearview mirror they would've seen the ghostly apparition of Jaime standing in the middle of the highway smiling, looking beautiful again. She was finally free. As it started to rain, she put the hood from her school jacket over her head before turning around and vanishing into thin air.
A/N Sorry for taking so long to update. Finally chapter one is out of the way and I'm looking forward to starting on chapter two. So please review and tell me what you think or if you have questions then ask away.
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