Chapter 9.

Despite what Giles had shown him (plunge and move on), Xander just wasn't capable of ignoring the attacks of the vampires. His instinct to block and protect himself was just too strong. Still, he wasn't a bad fighter. Instinct plus the strength and speed of his new form combined to become more than any two vampires could handle. He also seemed to have a very good grasp of how to use his tail in combat, which became very important when he got surrounded. Still, after tussles with a few smaller groups of vampires, he was looking like he'd seen better days, even if he was grinning from ear to ear.

They found the girls at Buffy's house. It didn't appear that they'd patrolled at all and had simply had a girls' night in.

"Xander!" Willow jumped up from the couch when she saw his appearance. "Are you okay?"

Xander gave her a look. "Of course. Just a few scratches."

"I'm very sorry to intrude, Joyce. But if I might remind your daughter and her friends that we still have a sacred duty?" Giles gave them a pointed look.

"We were just taking a break while I fixed Amy's coat," Buffy said defensively despite the fact that Joyce and the three female gargoyles were all huddled on the couch watching TV. She pointed out the fixed coat, sitting on the coffee table.

Giles looked and saw that the jacket was indeed fixed. "Wonderful. Now that it's fixed, might we try hunting demons again?"

Buffy frowned. "I've been—I was the Slayer for over a year and I never Slayed anything but Vampires."

"Perhaps. But this is the Hellmouth, and as such, it attracts all manner of beasts. Why, just tonight, Xander got what I believe is a Hychenian demon."

"Gesundheit," Buffy quipped at the nearly unpronounceable name.

"Yes, yes. Could we go now?" Giles motioned towards the door.

"Bye, mom. Thanks for having us over," Buffy said as she hugged her mom goodbye.

"Any time, dear," Joyce assured her daughter, sad that they couldn't stay longer.


"From now on, I'm taking one night off each week to be with my mom, Giles," Buffy stated as she walked out the front door.

"Yes, well, why don't we discuss this later?" Giles replied.

"I'm not discussing. I'm telling you that I'm taking it off. In fact, I think all of us could each have one night off. Two pairs of us should be plenty to handle most of the-" Buffy stiffened and looked out into the night. "Vampire."

"Are you sure?" Giles wondered, looking in the direction Buffy was looking. Their night-vision abilities made it very easy to pick out vampires but the angle that Giles was currently looking left him looking at a coniferous bush that hid the man in question.

"No. But something's off with that guy," Buffy said. "Plus, whoever you are, buddy, you should know that we can see in the dark pretty dang well so that whole hiding in the shadows thing doesn't work on us. Come out so we can see your whole face."

The man stepped forward.

"Angel?"

Xander chuckled. "This is your tall, dark, and mysterious?" Giles had explained that it was easier for them to spot vampires thanks to their improved night vision, but he was pretty sure he would have pegged this guy even when he was a human.

Angel readied himself for a fight despite—or maybe because of—the fact that the monsters knew his name. He wasn't exactly a popular guy in town among demons. "Do I know you?"

"Xander, shut up." Then to Angel, "It's me, Buffy." She had to admit, she knew she looked different. But Angel looked different too. For starters, he'd shrunk. Or maybe she'd just gotten taller. Taller was nice. Then there was the fact that he was clearly a vampire. "Oh my god! Did you get turned?"

A lot of tension left Angel's shoulders with that question. He shook his head. "It's a long story. What happened to you?"

"It's a long story," she countered. She could be tall (yippee), dark, and mysterious now, too. "But why don't you summarize your story for me? Give me the cliff notes?"

"I'd rather not," Angel frowned.

"Or, I could just dust you," Buffy offered and pulled a stake to prove it.

"Angelus," Giles finally spoke up. The name Angel and his face had triggered the memory of a daguerreotype in one of his books.

"That was a long time ago," Angel hung his head. "I got my soul back since then."

"Your what?" Buffy quirked her head to the side.

Angel furrowed his brow. "My soul. Listen, if I have to explain what a soul is to you, this is going to be a really long story," he snapped. "What are you people?"

It was Xander that answered. "We are the terror that flaps in the night. We are the bubble gum that sticks in your poofy hair. We are-"

"Xander," Buffy snapped, cutting him off. Then she turned back to Angel. "How does your soul change things?" she prodded.

"When you become a vampire, you die. Your soul moves on and a demon takes its place. But my demon crossed some gypsies and they cursed my soul back into me. I'm not alive and I get to remember all the things the demon did while it was in my body. But I have a soul and a conscience again."

"And you don't eat people?" Buffy clarified. She was pretty sure that Hitler had had a soul too.

"Pig's blood. From the butcher on 49th," Angel answered quickly. Mentally, he was going over the various sewer access points around the area and wondering if he could get to one before these—things got to him.

Buffy tucked her stake away.

"Buffy, are you sure?" Giles asked.

"He gave us some cryptic hints about the Master and the Harvest. I'm not about to invite him into my home, but I'm willing to let him live. For now," she turned back to the vampire. "Got any other quick tips for us?" Buffy asked, narrowing her eyes.

"There's a new guy. He's fast. Metal claws. Don't give him a moment's mercy." Angel finally got to the reason he'd come here in the first place. He reached for an arm that was wet with blood and had several slashes across its leather sleeve. Then he turned and tried very hard to make it look like he was walking casually away when he was really scared for his unlife.

"Also, stop hanging around outside my house. It's creepy!" she yelled after him. Then she turned to the others. "If you guys ever see that guy or any vamp around here again and they don't have a really good excuse, please dust them."

Xander raised his hand. "Can I dust him anyway?"

"Let's see if this Dr. Claw guy is for real. If not, then sure," Buffy said before jumping onto the roof of a nearby house and taking off for the school.

"Let's get dangerous!" Xander whispered as he took off.


"Ooh, that's not good," Willow said from her computer. "They found Dr. Gregory in the refrigerator at school today. He was missing his head."

"Well, that's more than I found." Giles said coming out of his office. "All I found was one oblique reference to a vampire who displeased the Master and cut his hand off in penance."

"Dr. Claw?" Buffy asked.

"Just Mister Claw. He obviously dropped out of medical school after he lost his hand," Xander quipped. "So, why would he come after a teacher?" Xander had to wonder.

"I'm not certain he did. There was an incident two nights ago," Giles answered as he walked over to the table and picked up the newspaper. "Uh, involving a homeless person in Weatherly Park. He was practically shredded, which closely matches the wound on Angel's arm but, uh, nothing like Dr. Gregory."

"So we've got two baddies?" Buffy clarified. "Well, we've got a location on one. You and Willow want to keep researching whatever likes to behead its victims? I'll take Xander and Amy with me to look for the Shredder."

Xander jumped up at that. "Let's get Shredder! Teenage, mutant, ninja gargoyles. Teenage, mutant, ninja gargoyles. Teenage, mutant, ninja gargoyles. Stone by day, flesh by night. Gargoyle power!"

The two girls slapped him upside the head simultaneously.


Cruising over Weatherly Park got them nothing. No vamps in sight, but a whole lot of homeless people. Xander hadn't known there had been this many homeless in Sunnydale. And here they were, all together like one big, vamp buffet. They even had a fence around the park high enough to stop most humans but not most vampires. Buffy pointed out the sewer access door conveniently placed to allow vamps to snack at their leisure. They didn't even need to move a manhole cover.

"You guys wait here with those javelins to give me air support. I'll go check it out," Xander said then dove to the ground. Luckily, the homeless people seemed to instinctively avoid the area around the sewer access so there were no humans around to see him. He started clearing some light brush that had been piled in front of the door in a bad camouflage job. His eyes allowed him to see fairly well into the darkness and could see the man with the claws long before he sprang at him, and was plenty ready for the ambush. He jumped back to make sure the fight was under open skies where he would have the advantage as well as covering fire, should he need it.

The vampire swung his claws and Xander caught them. Not the arm behind them, but the claws themselves. Having endured a broken arm for most of a night with no pain meds had reset what he called pain. Yes, this freaking hurt. But catching the blades in his bare hand, combined with a feral grin and glowing eyes, really freaked the vampire out. Plus, he was pretty sure the girls above him would be impressed and that was the reason that teenaged boys did most of the stupid stuff they did. He clenched his fist, ruining the claws forever then pulled hard and tore the claws right off vamp's stub of an arm. The vamp clearly didn't like that and howled in pain.

Voices broke through the night. "Hold it! Police!" "Did you see that?" "I got nothing here!" "Look up there!"

The girls had been spotted. Xander looked up too to make sure they were heading away. They were. He turned back and found that the vamp had a good lead on him. Xander tossed the claws away then dropped to all fours for maximum speed. He had almost caught up when the vamp leaped a fence. Not a fence that Xander would have any trouble clearing, but there was a woman there and he was afraid that if he pressed, the vamp might take her hostage. He paused and watched from behind some bushes. The woman turned to face the demon, but instead of her running and screaming, the vampire hissed and took off like it was scared of her. It bolted into the sewers, not a place Xander felt like chasing it right now. Besides, this woman was far more interesting. Once she was a ways away, he hopped the fence too and started following her.

Halfway down the block, she stopped and turned her head so it faced behind her, far further than any human could turn their head. "You know, it's not polite to follow a lady home like that."

Okay, very much not human. Xander thought when the woman's head turned nearly 180°. But then again, who am I to talk? And if she scares off vampires, then maybe she's one of the good guys. He stepped out of the shadows. "Sorry about that. You kind of scared away the vampire I was hunting. I was curious who you were. And why that vamp was afraid of you. Do you hunt them too?"

"Sorry about scaring him off but no, I don't hunt them. They don't taste very good. They turn to ash as soon as you bite off their heads," the woman said. "Why don't you come to my house? I could make you dinner."

"That's very kind of you," Xander said. He looked back over his shoulder and could still see the flashlights of the search party looking for that vampire. Plenty of flashlight beams were still searching the empty skies as well. He decided that inside with someone who didn't mind his appearance was safer. "Thank you."


Natalie French, as she introduced herself, had a very nice home. And made a very fine martini if he did say so himself.

...and she had such lovely, mottled green skin that reminded him of Buffy. But that could have just been the martini talking. Or maybe it was the drugs, he was pretty sure it took more than one drink usually to make the room spin like that.


Xander groaned as he came awake in a cage in someone's basement.

Cries of, "Another monster!" welcomed him.

Between the hangover from the drugs and the yelling, Xander was not a happy camper. Especially not when he realized who his cellmate was. A stuck up jock with a severe attitude problem. "Blayne?"

"Who the hell are you?" Blayne yelled. "How the hell do you know my name?"

"First of all, I have a headache and very sharp claws. So stop yelling. And second of all, I'm here to save you. My name isn't important."

"Do you have a plan?" Blayne asked, quieter, but still too loud.

"Depends. What time is it?"

"Like two. Maybe three?"

"Good, we have time," Xander said and started working on the bars of his cage. He placed each foot on its own bar and bent his knees. He took hold of a bar between the two and started pulling/lifting.

"What are you doing?" Blayne yelled. "She's going to come down here and catch you!"

Xander heard a noise on the floor up above them. "Now she is, you idiot." Xander contemplated the fact that people in Sunnydale seemed to have the survival sense of lemmings. Worse, probably. He'd heard that lemmings weren't actually as dumb as they were usually depicted. Unlike Blayne, who was every bit as stupid as he acted.

Case in point, Blayne yelling, "Don't leave me, man!" as soon as Xander had worked himself free of the cage, thus attracting more attention to the fact that they were escaping.

Xander wondered if Blayne was just too dumb to live. But he hit the switch to open Blayne's cage anyway. As the other boy scrambled out, a gigantic praying mantis started down the steps. Xander grabbed Blayne, opened one of the small basement windows, and shoved him through. Xander turned just in time to catch a gigantic claw in his left hand. The same hand he'd caught the metal claws in a few hours ago. The new attack opened up wounds that had scabbed over and created new ones of its own. Suddenly, that whole catching-metal-claws-in-his-bare-hands thing didn't seem like it had been such a great idea.

He roared in pain, and the room seemed to glow brighter. At the same time he found some new reserves of strength, pushing the serrated arms back away from him. Then he pulled the claws forward as he twisted and executed the hip throw Giles had taught them only a few nights ago. He didn't stop to see where she landed and instead raced up the stairs in a single bound and out the door. Outside, he leapt to the top of Natalie's chimney and jumped yet again from there before beating his wings furiously to gain some altitude. Hopefully, the search parties were all dispersed by now and he could find some allies up here. Or at the very least, get some time for the drugs to wear off completely and get his bearings.

He looked down as the mantis bashed through her own front door. Xander breathed a sigh of relief that he'd had the foresight (or panic-induced terror) to gain some extra altitude. He didn't know much about giant insects, but those legs she was walking on, didn't look strong enough to allow her to reach him. Now, if she had been a giant grasshopper instead, that might have been a problem. "At least she doesn't have wings," he laughed to himself.

And then the back of her carapace split down the middle and two sets of wings popped out.

"Must learn to shut up," Xander managed before he turned and started flapping as hard and as fast as his own wings would carry him. The telltale 'buzz' of overly large insect wings grew louder and louder behind him.


A/N: writing a fic about cartoons seems to make me want to keep mentioning other cartoons. We are the terror... is from Darkwing Duck. Dr. Claw is from Inspector Gadget. Shredder is from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Don't own anything.