Chapter 3.

The first thing they did the next morning was have Angel visit Pauly at the gun range and get a couple boxes of ammo for Xander. Xander fed bullets into the already emptied magazines as they walked. It felt good to be properly armed with guns he could afford to shoot again. That was one downside about the Underworld vamps, they were very rich and were used to being able to buy anything they needed. Unfortunately, none of that money had come through.

As he and Angel entered the library, he wondered how much Giles had told his friends. When Willow ran out, crying, at the sight of him; he figured it was the whole shebang.

"So, you're a vampire now? But with a soul?" Buffy sounded equal parts angry, hopeful, and cautious.

"I'm still completely me. There's nothing demonic about the type of vamp I am." Xander hoped he was assuring her. "Here, I'll prove it." He reached into his bag and pulled out the cross. He came up to see that Buffy had pulled a stake.

"You moved kinda fast." Angel explained his girlfriend's reaction.

"See? Not burning. Feel free to test it on Angel to see if it still works." Xander got a measure of revenge for the other night.

Angel snarled. "Or not."

"Also, I have a heartbeat and a reflection. Oh, and let me show you my game face." he showed her his normal teeth with no fangs, then vamped out, opening his mouth again to show her his fangs.

"That's it?" Buffy was almost disapointed. It wasn't much compared to 'her' vamps.

"That's it. You should really watch Underworld. That should tell you what you need to know about the type of Vampire I am." Xander advised.

"Sorry, Giles just told us a few minutes ago." Buffy said. "But we'll watch it tonight if we can."

Xander nodded. "I'd like to try an experiment too. I could enter my own house and Angel's place without an invitation. I'd like to try your house tonight if I can."

Buffy wasn't sure if any verbal response could be construed as permission, so she just nodded instead. Then she wrapped her friend up in a hug.

"Ughh... Buffy." Xander choked out, "I still need to breathe."

"Sorry." Buffy wiped away her tears.

"It's okay. I'm still me. Still alive. I just have a new diet and a bit of an allergy to sunlight." Xander said.

"Hemovore." Giles put in. At a look from the kids he went on. "An animal that ingests blood as the main part of its diet, such as leeches or mosquitoes. Hemovore. Xander is no different than, say, a vampire bat now."

"Except that I can't fly." Xander joked. "Climb fast and fall from taller buildings than we have in Sunnydale without injury, yes. Fly, no. Also I should tell you that the coven explicitly forbids feeding directly from humans. All the blood they drink is donated or animal blood if they can't get that."

Just when Xander had finished explaining everything, a puffy-eyed Willow returned and Xander had to explain everything all over again.

It turned out that Xander did not need an invitation to enter the Summers' house. Not that he thought he would. And the three teens settled down to watch an Underworld movie marathon.

"So, you went as a Death Dealer?" Willow asked. "A specific one?"

"No. Not a specific one. Lucky, too. Since the hero was Selene. I could have been stuck in her body." he gave a mock shiver.

"Hey! There's nothing wrong with being a girl!" Willow took offense.

"No but if I got changed into a girl AND a vampire? I don't think my mind could take it. Or maybe she would have her mind and I would just be gone." Xander trailed off.

"Don't even joke about that Xander." Willow warned.

"Yeah. I could probably take her in hand to hand, but not with those guns of hers. She's a way better shot than Darla was." Buffy agreed.

Willow elbowed her in the side.

"Oh yeah." Buffy realized, "Also, we'd really miss you."

"Thaaanks. Makes me feel special." Xander said sarcastically.

Buffy shook her head. "No. I mean it. We-"

"I know, Buff. You can't watch an action movie nowadays without analyzing it and making sure you can take everyone in it. Just like I can't watch it without noticing huge, gaping plot-holes. For example, when your regent is accused of treason, you don't send him or his team to collect evidence of his treason." Xander shook his head. He heard Willow try to stifle a yawn. He looked up at the clock to see that it was after Midnight. "It's getting late. I should let you guys get to bed. Are you staying here, Will? Or do you want me to walk you home?"

"Walk me home." Willow requested. Once they were out of the house, she asked, "Was that what it was like, in the movie? Did all that really happen?"

"I don't know the details." Xander admitted. "Alexander was part of the North American coven. Across the pond from where all that happened. But Amelia never came back from her trip to Europe and we heard rumors that the entire council was destroyed with all the elders. I can tell you that Lucian didn't die. He became a hybrid as well and came to America. Wreaked bloody vengeance on the American vampires. Supposedly he wanted a peace treaty but Alexander died in the war before that happened."

They walked in silence for a bit until Willow was sure they were out of Slayer hearing range. "I know Buffy doesn't want to think about it, but I know you. Promise me you'll be careful when you hunt?"

"You know I will." Xander assured her, not surprised at all that she knew what he was already doing. "Angel's teaching me and backing me up. And even if I do get injured, a little blood fixes me up straight away."

Willow glared at him. "And how would you know that, mister?"

"Angel's training methods are a little... harsh." Xander admitted, not hesitating to throw the other vamp under a bus. Literally, if possible. "But I got way better just in one night."

Willow softened against him. "Just be careful. I don't know if I could handle losing you."

I don't want to lose me either, Xander thought to himself.

After a lunch of microwaved pig's blood with Angel it was time to patrol again. "How do you afford your place and enough blood to stay healthy?" Xander wondered.

"I mug the others before I dust them. Loners if I can find them, or the last one of a group otherwise. They tend to mug their victims so they always have plenty of cash on them unless they just rose. And it just goes up in dust when you stake them. We can practice that tonight if you want. Split everything 50/50?"

"Sure." Xander said.

Mugging vamps was a lot harder than it sounded, he was faster than they were, but even the minions who went around in game face tended to be almost as strong as him. And getting frustrated at not being able to subdue his opponent; Xander, in frustration, took out his gun and shot the demon. Who fell bonelessly to the ground.

"Hey!" the vampire yelled. "Guns aren't supposed to be able to hurt me." he flailed his arms.

"Looks like you caught his spine." Angel observed. "Think you can do that every time?"

"I could do that at every time at three times that range. And get easy headshots even past that." Xander boasted truthfully as he took a number of wallets from the vamp. The demon futilely tried to bite him. "Hey! Do you want us to leave you for the sun to burn or do you want us to give you a nice, merciful staking?"

"I think I'll wait for the sun." the vamp said.

Xander staked him anyway. "Too bad."

By the end of the night, they were each $5,000 richer.

"Wow, that's quite a haul." Xander said.

Angel agreed. "You're not kidding. Usually, I only get one or two thousand. Together we were able to take some bigger groups."

"You ever do this with Buffy?" Xander asked.

"No. She'd think it was crass, I'm sure." Angel said.

Xander shrugged. "Probably. Until she brought home five grand in cash. Nothing buys bygones quicker than cash."

Angel thought about it for a moment. "Maybe. We could try this with her sometime. But not until after she's gotten over the shock of you being a vampire."

Xander could live with that.

A/N: "Nothing buys bygones quicker than cash." - from Firefly. Gotta have one reference in there.

Also, I know Xander contradicts Underworld Evolution, where we see Lucian dead. But he had already injected himself with Michael's blood and we saw Raze drop Amelia's blood next to him. He should have been immune to the silver nitrate rounds he was hit with after that. I'm taking the original movie as canon and the rest as 'suggestions' since they often contradict each other. For now, just going with, 'they couldn't get the actor to sign on for the second movie'.

And a little throw-away comment about turning Cordy has taken on a life of it's own in the reviews (on TTH), so now I have to see if I can find a reasonably realistic scenario where she would accept being turned.

Till next time,

Happy Halloween everyone.