Chapter 8. The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars.

The girls are separated. Can they each handle their problems on their own?

"Move out of the way!" Xander yells as he conjures a ball of light in his hand. Wesley pulls Willow away from the creature on the ceiling. Xander throws the ball, but misses him. The creature continues to crawl on the ceiling, running away from Xander. "Stay in the room. Don't open the door no matter what." Willow closes the door to the room and turns to Wesley.

"Wesley, I know this is hard for you to take in, but…" says Willow.

"Are they after you?" asks Wesley. Willow freezes at Wesley's question.

"Yes, how would…"

"I knew from the moment I met you that you were special. I don't just show anyone my collection of freaky books. I knew you would understand."

"You knew I was a witch?"

"Part of me wished that you weren't, but all the signs pointed to it."

"You're not a warlock, are you?" Willow starts to back away.

"No, human completely."

"How did you know and how do you know all about this freaky stuff?"

"Runs in the family. My father married a witch and she happened to have had a grudge with some really bad ass warlock and he killed my father."

"That's terrible."

"I was young, about five. I was there when it happened, but he didn't find me."

"Where was your step-mother?"

"She was out, but she didn't abandon me. She took me away with her. She was hiding from the warlock for many years and during those years is where I learned about her world and magic."

"Wow."

"Yes, since then I've been collecting books about the subject."

"Where is your step mother now?"

"Oh, she's still in hiding. She stayed in the mortal realm for about a year when I was already eighteen, so that I can start my life. She gave me the deed to the house and I started my life. Then she left again."

Suddenly they hear a scream; Willow quickly turns her head around and runs over to the door.

"Xander!" Willow calls as she unlocks the door.

"No," says Wesley. "He told us not to go out there."

"He's in trouble. We have to do something." Wesley starts to look around and pulls out a sword from a knight.

"Okay, let's go." Wesley opens the door and exits first. Willow follows him and they follow Xander's screams. They enter the room where Xander is on the floor and the creature is on top of him. Wesley moves swiftly and without the creature noticing, stabs the creature in the back with the sword. The creature starts to bleed and stops moving. Xander moves away from the creature, clutching his arm where the creature bit him. "I got him."

"No, you didn't," says Xander. The creature stands up and pulls the sword out of its body. The wound heals quickly and the creature growls at Wesley and Willow. "It's a vampire." The creature comes running towards them. Willow then conjures up a fire wall, which the creature crashes into and burns into ashes.

"Wow," says Wesley. "That was hot." Willow laughs at his comment. The two quickly go over to Xander and carry him over to the sofa. "There was just one, right?"

"Yeah," replies Xander. "I think."

"Oh my gosh, Xander," says Willow when she sees two holes on Xander's neck. "You've been bitten."

"Bet I tasted real bad," says Xander with a grin. "Vampires hate wizards' blood, but they like tearing us to shreds."

"You were lucky," says Wesley. "Did you just say you're a wizard?" Xander nods his head. "I've never seen one in real life before."

"Disappointed?"

"No, just thought you would have a pointy hat."

"Nah, we gave those up a long time ago."

"Oh."

"We better get out of here. It's getting late."

"Yes, the books that you need are right here."

"So, how does he know…?"

"His father got killed by a warlock because his step-mother was a witch and she took him into hiding. Then she brought him back to the mortal realm and left him to live his own life free from magic and the sorts, but he learned so much about it already that he continued his search for books and anything to do with magic and witches."

"Whoa, do you ever breathe?" Willow smiles as Wesley comes over to the two, with the books they needed. Xander looks over to a window and sees the sun going down. "We're not going to make it before dark."

"Doesn't my power come from the sun?" asks Willow. "Can't I do something?"

"You can't control the sun, can she?" Xander sits up and looks at Wesley.

"I thought you were supposed to be a wizard and know stuff?" says Wesley.

"I don't know everything."

"What can we do?" asks Willow.

"Okay, I think you could do a spell to hold the sun in place," says Wesley.

"Really?"

"Yes." Wesley looks through one of the spell books he has. "This one with this spell should do it."

"Does it freeze the sun?" asks Xander.

"No, it just stops it from going down. It will mess up the daylight savings thing, but it will give us enough time to head out and not be in the dark." Willow recites the spell and suddenly they see the sun stop just as it starts to go down. "Okay, let's go."

The three rush outside and run over to Buffy's. Once they are at the door, the sun drops and Willow opens the door with her key. They get inside and close the door quickly. Buffy comes out of the kitchen, Tara from the living room, and Dawn comes from upstairs with the cat.

"Are you guys okay?" asks Tara. The three look at her.

"Yeah, we're okay," says Xander. "No problem."

"No problem," says Buffy walking over Xander. "There's blood on your shirt. You just love getting into trouble, don't you? Dawn, first aid kit." She moves Xander over to the sofa.

"Oh, guys, this is Wesley," says Willow introducing him to them. "He's going to be a lot of help to us. We got the books we needed, too."

"That's great," says Buffy. "Why did it take so long and what did this to Xander?"

"How do you know it's a what?" asks Xander as Buffy is cleaning his wound on his arm and neck.

"I don't know, lucky guess."

"It was a vampire," says Willow.

"A vampire!" says Buffy jumping up. "Does that mean that he's going to…?"

"No, besides I didn't drink his blood," says Xander.

"I did a spell where I held the sun in place for like three and a half minutes," says Willow.

"I was wondering why the sun wasn't moving," says Tara.

"So, anything happen here?" asks Xander.

"Just a little scare," says Buffy as she bandages Xander's wounds. "Dawn saw some other world through the bathroom mirror. I guess you forgot to tell us about that."

"Oh, are you okay?" asks Xander to Dawn.

"Yeah, it was just weird," says Dawn.

"Anything else?" asks Xander. "More cats." Buffy hits Xander on his wound and then gathers the first aid kit. "Good, because I cannot deal with anything else."

Suddenly the lights turn off in the whole house. Xander forms a ball of light and lights the place up. Then they all look at the door and see the handle move.

"Willow, you locked it, right?" asks Buffy.

"I think." Willow replies.