Change in Regimen 4/?


Author: Tohonomike tohonomikea...
Disclaimer: All characters belong to their rightful owners.. Joss/ME
characters Spelling and others. I do not and cannot make money off of this, but for feedback I try to churn out a quality product.

Thanks for reading

Jana of the Calderash felt confusion as she placed a tracking device under the bumper of the vampire's car; following Angelus to Disneyland was beyond surreal, especially as he accompanied to young people that seemed to know him. On a whim, she decided to follow them into the theme park, and tried to close the gap somewhat when she felt arcane magic pass over her, and other than a poorly dressed man say something to the vampire, nothing happened.

Jana, whose legal name was Jenny Calendar, had been rushed out of her life to spy on a vampire, her older predecessor unable to respond as flexibly after twenty relatively easy years on the job. Jenny, unfortunately, had just graduated college with her cousin, in business and computer science, had completed her initial studies in the basic magics of the Tribes, and was told her cousin would join her once Angelus settled down. Uncle Enjos was quite adamant about it, and handed her five thousand dollars and told her to go.

Now she watched as he played straight man and burdened big brother to a couple of insane kids, the make taking the long coat for himself while the girl placed a set of ears on the vampire's head, eliciting a half-grimace, half-smile. Later they added t-shirts and a stop at the caricaturist's, as well as rides, to their list before the park closed. She figured that very few of the younger people of her tribe could doubt that deep within, the demon was suffering and screaming at the indignity of it all, though the strangest part of the night, perhaps, was that as she left the park, she overheard two park employees speaking into tiny microphones on their uniforms.

"Yes, sir, the vampire has left, and we were finally get all three aura readers to agree...there seemed to be a soul in the individual, sealed in by strong magics...yes, sir, they think that's why he was able to pass through the barriers around the park...no, sir, he was no trouble at all, in fact, considering what he is, the control believe any demon inside would have been suffering...do you want us to alert mobile units to follow? No? What about the one following...uh-huh? No interference? Very well sir."

The employees turned and the young man that had been speaking actually winked at Jenny and gestured toward the park entrance. Looking around, she hadn't noticed there were four large Disney characters near her up until that moment. 'No wonder nothing bad happens at the Magic Kingdom...these guys are ready for anything.'

The next couple of months passed uneventfully, Jenny watched Angelus and kept an eye out on the young people who seemed to have mutually adopted him. The young man with help from the others spent the time working out and opening a magic and occult book store, part of a small but increasingly reputed chain that surprised everyone with its quality, attention to detail and willingness to go into mail-order for non-volatile items. She still hadn't figured out how one so young was entrusted with that level of responsibility

Jenny herself had investigated a little, watching in fascination as the girl soon had a very tight and well-historied cover identity and was enrolled in school in the same year as the young man, while the vampire settled into a routine of playing 'front man' as the adult in the family unit, and spent a fair amount of time at a dojo next door with the weird little man from in from of Disneyland. She slowly noted as Angelus, 'no Liam as he'd been introduced, mustn't slip,' seemed to teach the boy to martial arts and to recover quickly from knock-downs.

Jenny managed to get a job across the street at Helen's kitchen, making her own name tag rather than be known as Anne or Betty. The kids and the vampire came in for maybe half their meals, usually in, but sometimes to go, and this allowed Jenny to establish a better ability to keep an eye on things until her cousin Diane finally showed up after stopping in Boston in late August. She'd watch the girl, Faith, pick up in assuredness over the weeks, and hoped this wasn't a twisted vampire thing that'd end up hurting the girl. It wasn't that the girl had had a rough background, but from what little Jenny'd picked up off the group, the girl had lost her parents and was just trying to do her best to get through to adulthood.

"Hey, Jenn!" the two teens called out on the Sunday morning before school would start, tumbling into a corner booth.

"Hey guys!" Jenny greeted the, genuinely happy to see her two young friends, "Two usuals each?"

"Yup," and "You betcha, big sis!" called back to her from Xander and Faith, the latter now Faith Angel. Seeing that it was extremely slow, she put in their order and signaled the boss she was sitting but still on the clock.

"So, ready for school?" she smiled, receiving two eye-rolls but noticed a glimpse of fear in Faith's.

""Should be just fine," Faith said, "Just the new school, new high school jitters, though Lex here seems ready to become big man on campus..."

"Really?"

"Yeah!" Faith enthused, clearly adoring her 'cousin' and not letting him get a word in edgewise, "He's, like, already tried out for a bunch of the teams and made it! Though he still won't start playing electric guitar instead of that acoustic thing of his." Xander blushed and shook his head.

"My biggest fan..." he mock-complained, a sparkle in his large brown eyes, "But any way, school's looking to be cool, the classes from junior high are letting me coast in a few things, and the tests I took mean I don't have to worry about freshman requirements or language."

"What're you taking instead?" Jenny asked as she refilled the drinks and made a coffee-refill circuit around the pace, "I'm sure you don't get study hall for the day."

"Dare to dream..." Faith laughed, then slurped her morning milkshake as 'Lex' continued.

"Well, let's see...computer programming, algebra-trigonometry, biology and chemistry...thought I'd get them both out of the way, auto shop and wood shop."

"Shop classes? A young business man like you?"

"Hey, Liam might own the car, but already I think I know more about cars, and I've always been interested in woodwork, especially after fixing up the store."

"Ya know, Xander? I'm not prying, but how did some one your age luck out and get to become a store owner?" She wandered over to the counter and retrieved their food orders, cashiered for the other two tables in her area, then sat down again.

"My uncle actually owns them, and I've been working them since the beginning so it's no big deal, the real problem is going to be the retail side of things during the school year."

"Yeah, I know, I'm starting a new job teaching tomorrow, but that's entry level, and my cousin Diane's coming to town tonight so she'll be looking for work and I don't want her working here since she also got the same creds I do..."

"Oh?" the young man replied, "Does she have any book store or magic store experience?"

"No, but we both...dabbled with the New Age crowd in college, and have degrees in business and computer science?"

"Awesome, when does she get in? I have Liam covering, but he's so not the day person and even though he's willing to cover it, retail's not in his blood." Jenny smiled as she got what he and the snickering Faith believed to be the inside jokes.

"Around five? She might be a little jet-lagged, but I since I live in the neighborhood, I could bring her 'round seven? And if you decide to take your business onto the web, her and I both have done a few professional sites back east..."

"Sounds good..."

'Lex' Harris and Faith Angel walked into school looking like a million bucks, drawing only a few stares since most at this school were in upper-income families, but their energy and smiles turned a few heads. Lex was happy that he'd lucked into finding himself a store manager in Diane Calendar, and was impressed enough with Jenny during the get-together he gave her a three-month consultancy to set up the online and automation stuff, after which he'd decide whether it warranted bringing her onboard as full-time staff. This allowed him to keep Liam as the weekend escort to check on other stores until school required Liam to go it solo.

Classes went well, and lucky for Lex his uncle had gotten him in the habit of front-loading the days work so it'd be out of the way 'by the time you actually are ready for the day.' He'd received only a couple of emails from Ethan, and as a result simply transferred money into an account that the man could draw from pretty much anywhere in the world, and as the business was mature enough Xander easily continued operations.

Fourth period, with the really hard stuff out of the way and after checking out the cheerleaders, especially a really short cute one from afar, Xander with a just-arriving Faith coasted into computer programming class to find Jenny as the teacher.

"No way," Faith smiled, "This is where you're teaching, Big Sis?"

"Hey guys," she smiled back, "Cool, huh? Didn't really think about it until I checked the rosters this morning, but yeah."

"Awesome, teach, if I need help with the homework, I know where to find it," Faith smirked, her practice of her mother's general northeastern accent starting to finally take hold instinctively, "So between you and Brain-Boy, here, I'm fixin' to get at least Bs all the time."

"I'm sure you'll get As, Faith, just have a little confidence," the teacher said as class time started.

Xadner had gotten through most of the auto shop class before getting teamed up with one of the more advanced students, a guy who had the cool hair and dressed blue collar unlike most of the kids at school.

"Hey, Pike," the teen introduced himself, shaking hands, "Calluses on your hands, better watch that around some of these high-maintenance girls, that'll scare 'em off."

"Just fitting in enough, do the impression thing with the teachers and the less-snotty ones," Xander smiled, "And since I'm usually too busy to think about dating the rich cheerleader, I think I'll manage. Name's Lex, Pike, so what're we working on?"

"Well, I tend to work on classic cars when I can get my hands on 'em, all of two so far, and any type of bike, Honda or Harley, I just like to fix 'em, ya know?"

"Sounds good to me, man, so what's the deal?"

"Well, if parents, students or staff bring in their vehicles and pay for the parts and supplies, we take care of them, the first part of class is giving you the book work so the teacher'll be able to show it to the paper pushers, but your real grade comes from diving in and doing the work."

"So how'd you get ahead here?"

"Took shop here a couple summers, got held back one year, so I'm still a sophomore, but after I finish shop this year I'll get my GED and my mechanic certs."

"Just from school?"

"Nah, work at a shop, and I've been doing side work out at a truck stop, so I can work the rigs when I turn eighteen next December. Who's the girl you came in with?"

"Cool, that's Faith, my cousin."

"Kissing?"

"Just getting' ta know her, folks died and she's out here with her big bro, who's like a step-uncle of mine or something...don't ask, math's easier."

"Sure man, let's get to work."