Willow, along with Kennedy and Vi, arrived at Buffy's place early the next day.
To their surprise, everyone was asleep.
"Is anybody home?" Willow called out.
A grunting sound was heard from behind them, causing Vi to jump.
Turning they all saw Karnz shift as he awoke.
"…Keep it down, will ya?" He said, dazily.
Soon, Xander and Dawn had come into the living room, accompanied by Giles.
"Giles? When did you get here?" Willow asked as she came up and hugged him.
"Yesterday." He answered, he then nodded towards Karnz on the sofa; "Don't mind him."
Before Willow could inquire as to who this was, Dawn immediately grabbed Willow by the sleeve of her shirt and dragged her inside the kitchen.
"You're never going to believe what I'm about to tell you!" She said, enthusiastically.
"Dawn…" Xander said, sternly.
"But…" She protested only to have Giles put a hand on her shoulder.
"That's quite enough. I'm sure Willow and the others have more important matters." Giles said.
Dawn pouted and sat down in a chair in the kitchen just as Buffy and Angel came in.
Buffy stopped in surprise seeing who had came in.
"Will? What are you guys doing back here so early?"
Chapter Seven: A Wig, a Dream, and a Shot
As soon as breakfast had ended Willow told Buffy and everyone else as to why they came to visit.
"Something's up with the Hellmouth." Taking one more sip of her tea, she then continued, "It's glowing and making odd sounds."
"Has anything surfaced from it?" Giles asked.
Willow shook her head, "So far, nothing. Andrew and Rona promised to call me should something else occur."
Buffy nodded.
Xander's cell phone rang and he removed himself from the group and retreated into the living room.
"Hello?" He answered.
"Mr. Harris? This is Terry Perkins from the Gleaming Gem Motel. How are you sir?"
Xander sat down on the sofa next to Karnz who was still sleeping.
"Alright, I guess. What can I do ya for?"
"Well, we're calling because we found your wallet in one of our rooms."
Xander's brow furrowed as he asked, "My wallet?"
He remembered losing it awhile ago, he just wasn't sure where.
"Yes, sir. One of our cleaning personnel found it, along with a purple wig n 14B."
Xander scoffed, "A wig? Are you serious?"
"We are sir. Should we mail your wallet to you?"
Xander shook his head, "No, no, that's alright. I'll go there and pick it up myself. Where are you guys located?"
"We're on Fifth Avenue in Santa Cruz."
"Thank you." Xander said before hanging up. He set the phone down and put his jaw in his hand as he thought deeply as to how his wallet ended up in a motel room in Santa Cruz.
Buffy's work at the Astoria High School was better than she had anticipated when she had started almost a month ago.
She had Robin to thank for that. Giving her a glowing recommendation and talking with the superintendent of the district secured her the job.
The student's problems were better than what they were at Sunnydale, seeing as how there was no Hellmouth in Astoria and that these students had actual problems; as opposed to the boys wanting her to date them.
Her first student of the day, Melinda, came in crying.
Buffy immediately got up and sat down next to her as she sobbed.
"What's wrong?" Buffy asked.
Melinda's reply was incoherent and unintelligible.
Buffy sighed as she waited for her to get the emotion out, but seven minutes later, forced Buffy to have her go back to class.
Watching her go, Buffy marked down on her chart Melinda's name and a note to see her again.
The rest of the day had her seeing only two other students whom were having problems with either depression or fitting in.
Buffy had always wondered what would happen if she told these kids that she had died twice and was stricken with a destiny that made her even more of an outsider when she was in High School?
She knew better, though. Seeing as how she needed this job to help with putting food on the table for her and Dawn, and helping Xander with the mortgage payment on the house; she really couldn't afford slipping this one up.
As soon as the day was over, Buffy walked home.
Giles, along with Willow, looked over various books he had brought with him concerning mythical powers.
Willow's preference was to Google anything they might be searching, to which Giles hated.
"You know one of these days, you're going to be forced to use a computer." Willow said as she began typing.
Giles shook his head, "And I hope that day never comes."
Dawn had come home shortly and threw her bag aside as she came into the kitchen.
"What'cha guys doin'?" She asked.
"Looking up this 'getting power-from-killing-Slayers' thing. If you want to help, I'm sure Giles could use another person to look through his books with him." Willow said.
Dawn shook her head, "Nuh uh, nope. I've had enough bookwork for the day. Besides, I need to ask Xander if he'll drive me and a couple of my friends to Portland, this weekend."
"He isn't here, Dawn." Giles said. "He's gone and said he'd be back in a couple of days."
Dawn looked at Giles with curiosity, "Where has he gone to?"
"California. Said he needed to find something out; was kind of vague about it." Willow replied, still looking at her laptop screen.
Dawn sighed, "I really wish Buffy would get her damn driver's license. It would be better for both me and her."
Giles put down the book he was reading, "How so?"
Dawn crossed her arms, "Well…Maybe she'd have an easier time dusting out the vamps if she were cruise'n."
"I extremely doubt that." Giles said, chuckling.
Willow nodded, "The girl's better one her feet, anyway."
Dawn sighed out loud, "There's just no talking to you two, is there!" She then left off in a huff.
Shortly after, Buffy came in.
"Ah, Buffy. How was work today?" Giles asked.
Buffy shrugged, "Fine, I suppose. How's the research comin'?"
Willow sighed, "This is becoming harder than we thought. So far there isn't anything we could find in the Watcher's Journals or in some of the ancient scripts about demons being able to gain power by slaying Slayers."
Buffy sat down in a chair near the counter; "Maybe it predates the Watcher's Journals. You know, like The First?"
Giles shook his head, wearily. "I'd be very surprised if the Council left out something as impertinent as this."
Deidrich watched as Elizabeth seemed to be talking to someone in a corner of the room, but upon approach it revealed to be no one.
Deidrich sighed deeply. He knew that Elizabeth had lost her mind after her husband, Ferenc got killed by a Slayer in Istanbul; he had hoped, however that over the years she might regain, at least, some pieces of sanity.
Having been by her side since the forties when her friend Drusilla sired him, Deidrich has been by her side, ever since.
He knew all to well, the extent of where her madness would go. Usually in fits of rage resulting in a berserk-like behavior, these were the points where he never got in her way.
However, during her calmer times, he always tried to have her be levelheaded. These were the moments to where he could prevent an outburst that could result in his own annihilation.
Elizabeth came away from the corner, in which she was having her discussion, and she walked up to Deidrich.
"I have a plan for tonight." She said.
"I'm listening." He said.
Elizabeth smiled, "First, we're going to need to round up some idiots."
Vi was happy when she got some alone time with Buffy.
"Hey, uh, Buffy. There's something I've been wanting to ask you." She said.
Buffy was caught off guard. Normally Vi, someone who said very little and was rather timid and shy, prior to receiving her Slayer powers; hadn't really talked one-on-one with her.
"What is it, Vi?"
Vi closed her eyes and then spoke, "I-I've been having these dreams, strange dreams. In them, I see myself attacking a large number of uber-vamps and Rona gets killed. After that it's Andrew, then Kennedy and Willow; finally it comes down to them and me. I start fighting them and find myself powerless. I'm fighting, constantly fighting, but they overpower me and I'm quickly killed within seconds." Vi took a deep breath and then continued, "Does this mean anything?"
Buffy remembered a time, which felt like centuries ago, where she had dreamt that she was fighting the Master Vampire and he got the better of her, ending with him killing her.
"It's perfectly normal, Vi. I've had those dreams as well, ones where I was powerless and was losing the battle. Believe me, Vi, they're nothing but a little self-doubt. They're easy to overcome."
Vi sighed out of relief. "Thank you, Buffy."
Buffy smiled, "No worries. I appreciate that you told me, though. I'm not sure whether or not I told you guys about the dreams us Slayers have."
Vi shrugged, "I'm not entirely sue whether you did or not. Tell me, do these dreams happen to you often?"
Buffy thought for a moment.
"Not lately. But, they kind of come and go, every so often."
Vi nodded, not completely satisfied but content, as for the moment.
Both girls turned as Dawn came in and sighed upon seeing Vi.
"Vi, do you have a driver's license?"
Xander arrived in California late in the day and decided to stay at a hotel for the time being. He was still several hundred miles from Santa Cruz and to him the journey felt farther than that.
After paying for his night's stay and getting into his room, he took a moment and looked at himself in the bathroom mirror.
Adjusting his eye-patch, he turned his face from side to side.
"Nothing different." He said out loud to himself.
He had been wondering if anything about him has changed since that fateful day when he had met Buffy Summers in High School. Since that day, and when he had found out about her "destiny", becoming apart of its life; Xander was always wondering if the impact of it had changed him in any ways.
Of course, not everything about him remained the same. Hell, he planned on marrying a demon at one point.
Thinking about Anya tore at him. That and seeing Andrew after her death.
Would he ever be at peace feeling, as he did, that there was in some way something he could have done at that moment to try and save her from being cut in half?
Xander sighed as he got himself ready for bed.
This little adventure of his was, in some way, to have him more preoccupied. He should have had his wallet mailed to him, but there was some mystery attached to its being in such a skeezy place. That and to see if he could find out anything more about that purple wig.
Angel had already paid his goodbye to Buffy just before she went out for her patrol.
It was heart breaking, as always, but Buffy knew it would be coming.
Buffy never really understood s to why she let this get to her when she fully knew that both their destinies were becoming farther apart from eachother.
Wishful thinking seemed to play more into the answer every time she thought about it.
Going through Main Street, the lights from the lamps illuminated very little, other than the street itself.
Just as she was getting closer to the forested area, she then saw her first Vamp. When he took notice of her, he turned and ran into a bar.
Buffy sighed as she began her pursuit. She hated when she got the ones who choose to run rather than face her.
It was even more difficult when they'd run into establishments. This is where they'd revert to their human looking faces, thus making them blend into the crowded surroundings.
The bar itself was filled practically full of drinkers and "Headstrong" by "Trapt" was playing loudly on the jukebox.
As Buffy scanned the area to see that if someone was either sitting by themselves or if they had already spotted her and were making a slow escape.
However, when the door behind Buffy closed, all the patrons of the bar looked at her. All their faces changed to that of Vampire's.
Outside, looking through one of the windows, Elizabeth along with Deidrich, smiled.
"Showtime." Elizabeth said.
The first Vampire charged at her and Buffy leapt in the air, over him, just as one jumped from the bar and tackled her to the floor.
Buffy threw him off her shoulder and kicked another in the stomach as all of them came at her from different directions.
Using two of her stakes into two, Buffy back flipped her way to the two billiards tables and grabbed a pool stick from one and hit two Vamps across their faces. Every one of them was relentless. This time, they were using various objects to try to subdue her.
After stabbing one Vamp with the end of the pool cue, Buffy broke the stick between the two tables and used both ends to stab multiple number of the Vamps that came at her. One, a female, managed to hit Buffy in the stomach forcing her to the ground. Three Vamps piled on her, mouths open, breath as rank as their looks.
Buffy closed her eyes as their smell became atrocious and she quickly threw off the one closer to her face as punched and kicked the last two off of her.
Back on her feet, Buffy jumped onto the pool table and grabbed three billiard balls and threw them at any Vamp that got close to her. Kicking the remaining balls off into various directions, Buffy back flipped again off of the table and next to the counter of the bar where she punched the Vamp behind it.
Two Vamps punched her knocking her around. Grabbing two beer bottles, Buffy broke them and rammed the pointy-ends into both sides of one Vamp's face while kicking another. Buffy smashed a barstool and took the broken legs and began making her rounds.
Seeing the last Vamp, the one who ran into the bar, running for the exit; Buffy threw the wooden leg straight him.
After his dust blew away by the cold air outside, Buffy went to behind the bar, got herself some tequila and poured herself a shot.
Buffy shuddered as the liquid went through her.
"Drink up. You're going to need it."
Buffy turned to see a foot come and impacted across her face.
Getting back on her feet, Buffy looked as she saw Elizabeth standing at the doorway.
Buffy laughed, "You, again?"
Elizabeth looked around, "No Angelus, I see. What, doesn't he want to protect his precious Slayer anymore?"
Buffy got into her fighting stance, "Just bring it."
Deidrich smiled as he watched from the window. So far their plan was working marvelously. Getting the Slayer exhausted just before attacking her was a first, but it seemed to work beautifully.
He knew it wouldn't be long until the Slayer was going to be brought to her knees.
To be continued…
A/N: I know I didn't mention the order in this chap as much as I should have but they'll be more in the next as well as Xander's quest.
A/N II: Thanks to those who have reviewed thus far, and to everyone else, please review. I'm eager to hear what you have to say, good or bad, for better or worse.
Q-n-P
