Chapter 10: Mod Soul
Willow returned to the library to gather up her bags and wait for the others before heading off to class. She passed Oz who had got out his guitar and was lightly strumming away.
"Don't you have a class too?" She asked.
Oz nodded. "Yeah. Might not go, though. I've had a tough time concentrating since last night; that transformation messed with me a bit. I honestly don't know if there's much point."
"Yeah, but… you can't just skip."
Oz paused. "Well, that's interesting. In that case, what have I been doing for the last three years of chem tests?"
"Good point. I guess 'can't' was some poor phrasing. What do you make of that book Buffy got?"
"Mm? Oh. Not sure. It didn't sound great, did it?"
"No. Sounded like they've had a few slayers over the years, and each time it went bad. Do you think Buffy's okay? She didn't seem particularly bothered, but I don't know…"
"I think she's trying tot to jump to any conclusions. We shouldn't either."
Behind them, the door swung open. Willow turned around.
"Oh, Buffy! You're here. Where's Xander and Rukia?"
Buffy gazed at Willow. "There you are, my beauty." She mumbled.
"Er- Sorry, Buff?"
Giles emerged from his office. "Right. I've contacted the council about that book. Don't worry, I haven't told them too much. I think that having them aware of what we're in the middle of might prove rather inconvenient for us. I may have to pay a quick visit to England to pick up a few things, then we can get underway trying to translate this." He glared pointedly at Buffy. "In the meantime, I believe some of us have training to do. I understand you have other obligations, Buffy, but you really need to get back on top of this. Rukia will just have to understand your slaying duties come first."
Buffy stared blankly at Giles. "Slaying..? No thanks, doesn't sound that fun."
Giles eyes widened in surprise. "Buffy! Slaying isn't supposed to be 'fun'. It's still important."
"Don't want to." She said. "You know what would be fun?" She sprang forwards and caught Willow's hand. Willow looked at her with concern.
"Buff? Are you okay?"
"I'm just fine, my princess." She crooned.
"Y'see, it's things like that that's making me think otherwise. Really, what-?"
Without warning, Buffy leaned in and planted a kiss on Willow's cheek. While Oz and Giles stared in shock Willow shrieked and leapt back, but Buffy kept firm hold of her hand.
"Woah! Um. Buff? That was a little… er…" She tried to pull her hand away.
"What's wrong? Oh! Is it because I'm a girl now?" Buffy asked with a disturbing smile.
Putting his guitar down, Oz stood up and put his hand on Buffy's shoulder. "Hey, Buffy. Maybe, uh, you want to sit down?"
Buffy shot a dark look his way. "Hey! Back off!"
"Come on, you're scaring Willow. And us. Just-"
Buffy let go of Willow's hand and gave Oz a backhanded blow that made him fall backwards. He groaned as he hit the ground.
"I said back off, bastard!"
"Buffy! Stop!" Giles exclaimed as he ran forwards in a futile attempt to restrain her. She caught his arm and swung him away, throwing him into a nearby bookcase. Willow backed away in panic.
"Ah. Oh dear. I should probably go." Buffy said. She quickly moved towards Willow. "Until we meet again, my dear." Before Willow could pull away, Buffy darted in and kissed her on the lips. Buffy quickly pulled away and ran towards a window, climbing spider-like up the wall towards it. Breaking the glass, she pulled herself through and dissappeared.
The others froze in place, entirely and utterly confused. Oz and Giles glanced at Willow, who was wide-eyed with shock.
Oz slowly pulled himself to his feet. After a moment's pause, he walked over to Giles and offer him a hand to help him up.
"Oh. Thank you." Giles said quietly, accepting it.
They stood in silence for a couple of seconds, unsure of what to do.
"So. Um. Possession then?" Willow suggested.
"Yes. Yes, I think that's a good idea."
Xander charged in, red faced with rage. "Where is it? Has it been here?"
"By 'it', do you mean Buffy?"
"Yes! Well, no. It's not Buffy. It's a thing."
Giles sighed. "Thank you, Xander. We were all very confused before you so helpfully clarified it was a 'thing'."
"Ha ha, yeah yeah. Look. It's a soul. A different soul. Not a Buffy soul."
"Is it a lesbian soul?" Willow asked.
"Oh, no. It's.. er… a male soul." Xander explained.
"Oh... OH."
"How did it get Buffy's body? Where is Buffy?" Giles asked.
"She went off hollow killing with Rukia. I overheard them say this was an 'artificial' Soul thing made by the soul society. I dunno. Buffy swallowed this pill thing and suddenly, boom! One soul reaper Buffy, and another guy in Buffy's body. I don't think he was supposed to be a guy. Funnily enough I don't think it was part of the plan to have him go rouge either."
Willow frowned. "What can we do? The not-buffy has slayer strength, you saw that. Is there any way to stop her… him?"
Giles looked disturbed. "That's a good point, Willow. I don't think any of us could stop something with Buffy's fighting capabilities. We may need to wait for Buffy herself to return before we can do anything."
"Okay. But she is not going to be happy with this…"
It was an hour later that Buffy finally returned to the school, during lunch break. She strolled in happily through the library doors with Rukia in tow who was looking down at her phone.
"That wasn't bad, I guess. You swordsmanship is still questionable, but it's good enough for these low level hollow, though."
"What do you mean, 'my swordsmanship is questionable'? What did I do wrong?"
"Look, it's absolutely fine. It's great, especially for someone with only three years of training. It's just not quite up to soul reaper standards yet."
"Well, excuse me if I haven't quite found the one hundred years of spare time I need for official Soul Reaper training."
Xander, Willow and Oz all jumped up when they saw her enter.
"Buffy! You're back!" Willow exclaimed in relief.
Buffy smiled. "Aw, didn't fall for the fake, then? I hope Snyder did at least. Okay, where is she? I want my body back."
They exchanged glanced.
Xander swallowed. "Er… Buff? Two things. Firstly it's not 'she' as such…"
"Eh? What do you mean?"
"Fake soul guy is… a guy. Just you know. A kinda perverted guy at that."
Buffy paled. "Wait, what? I… oh. Oh god, what did he do?"
Giles exited his office and walked into the room. "Buffy, you're back. Good. Now, what's happened is-" He stopped and glanced around. After finding no trace of anything Buffy, he frowned. "Oh… sorry. I thought I heard you all talking to Buffy."
Xander raised his eyebrows. "We are. She's right there! Can't you…? Oh…"
"What? Where is she?"
"Um, Giles? Buffy's in soul form. I guess you don't have enough spirit power to see her…" Willow offered helpfully.
"Oh. Right, of course."
Buffy walked up to Giles and waved her hand in front of his face. She giggled. "Hah! This is actually pretty cool! HI GILES!"
Giles sighed. "Buffy, stop that! I might not be able to see you, but I can feel the air rushing past my face. I know you're there, now let's just get on with it."
"Right. He's right." Buffy said, sobering up. "So, what happened next?"
Willow shifted uncomfortably. "Well, um, it's not important."
"Willow? What happened?"
"Er. Okay.. look don't freak out. He might of, he tried to… he kinda kissed me."
Buffy froze, her mouth dropped open. "He…? What? Oh, oh my god! Willow, I'm so sorry!"
"You don't need to worry about that." Willow said quickly. "The second thing, though? He, um, ran out on us. We don't know where he is."
"And you didn't go after him?"
"Well, he had your slayer powers, Buffy! He was too strong, we didn't stand a chance!"
Giles rubbed his temples. "This is very confusing, only hearing one side of the conversation." He muttered.
"Oh." Said Rukia looking disturbed. "Ah. I think I know what's happened here."
The others looked to her questioningly.
"The soul wouldn't have access to Buffy's power. It's in her soul, not her body."
"What? But he was so strong.."
"Because he was a modified soul." She sighed. "I thought they were all gone by now. I guess one slipped through."
"What's a modified soul?"
"A while ago, the soul society began a project named 'Spearhead'. The idea behind it was to create specialised souls that could be injected into dead bodies. They all have superhuman abilities for fighting Hollow."
"Dead bodies?" Remarked Giles. "That's a bit.. morbid, isn't it?"
Willow spoke up. "More than morbid. That's completely unethical!"
Rukia nodded. "That's why the project was discontinued… and all the mod souls created for it were ordered destroyed."
"What?" Xander exclaimed. "But.. I mean, fake Buffy was a bit of a dick, but he's sentient! He's alive! They can't just kill all of them."
"They did. They thought they did, at any rate."
Buffy's eyes were cold. "That's murder. They aren't just little green pills, they're people. And the Soul society used them as tools to be disposed of when they became inconvenient."
"No wonder he's acting out, then. He's gotta be a bit miffed." Xander agreed.
Rukia waved a hand dismissively. "It doesn't matter right now. The mod soul is out there, and he might be dangerous. Even if he's not, I take it you would like to have your body back intact, yes?"
The mod soul wandered through the graveyard. He had thought it would be fun, running about in a girl's body, but somehow it wasn't. Far from titillating, it just felt wrong. Like he didn't quite fit. He sighed as he gloomily contemplated his options. If he managed to get away from the soul reaper, he would be stuck like this forever. But if he went back he would probably be killed.
Not much of a choice, is it? He thought.
"Slayer!" Came a growl from behind him. Turning, he came face to face two men who were slowly advancing on him. Their faces were contorted, with heavy slanted brows and snarling lips with razor - sharp incisors protruding from their mouths. The mod soul took a step backwards, alarmed.
"Wh- what do you want?"
"You. Dead." They said, lunging towards him. Utilising his superior muscles, the mod soul jumped backwards and out of the way. In his haste, he tripped over the ground and landed heavily on his back. The two men closed in, laughing.
"What's wrong, slayer? Not feeling too well?" One of them kicked him hard in the stomach. The speed and force of the blow was entirely unexpected and caught him completely off guard.
What the hell? What's going on? Is Buffy part of a gang or something? He rolled away from his attackers and onto his feet as he fought to regain his focus. He was made to fight hollows, he had superhuman abilities. He could deal with two thugs. He spun and kicked out at the closest one, but his opponent dodged around and counterattacked with a blow to the head. The mod soul staggered back, caught by surprise at his adversary's agility. They were fast and strong. Too fast for humans… but then what were they? They definitely weren't hollows.
"Buffy!" Someone ran up behind the two creatures and kicked the legs out from under the closest one, before turning and blocking a hit from the second. The mod soul watched the ensuing fight with fascination. The man who came to his aid was tall and dark, clad in black. He exchanged blows with he two thugs, feet and fists flying after one another in quick succession. Finally, the man overpowered one of them and drove something small and pointed into his foe's chest. The impaled man cried out, but his yell was cut off as his body crumbled into dust.
"Aah!" The mod soul let out a small cry of terror and backed away. What the hell was happening?
The tall dark man looked around in confusion. "Buffy? What's wrong?" He said with concern, stabbing the other one as he rushed him.
What do I do? Would Buffy know what's going on? The mod soul thought. His mind was racing in panic.
"Erm. Er. Nothing, I guess." He said uncertainly, still in shock.
The man stepped closer, concern lining his features. "You look pale. Are you ill?"
"What? No! Er. Thanks for the help, man. I… gotta go…" He stammered, before turning and rapidly walking away.
He only had ten seconds before he felt a hand pull him roughly around by the shoulder.
"Hey! Wh-" The mod soul began, but he stopped short when he saw the other man's face. It was contorted and the eyes were yellow, and the teeth were long and pointed, just like the things that had attacked him before. He froze in terror at the ferocity etched into the glare that pinned him in place.
The man growled. "Who are you?"
"I - i'm Buffy!"
"No you're not! Don't think you can trick me. Who are you, and where is the real Buffy?" He snarled, shaking the mod soul by the shoulders.
The mod soul took a deep breath, then his face slowly broke out into a haunting grin.
"Heh. Saw through it, did you? Guess I need a bit more practice." He said, although his voice shook slightly.
He lashed out, catching the mysterious man with a violent punch to the face. It was enough to cause him to break his hold on the mod soul's shoulders. The man recovered quickly and lunged out towards him again, but the mod soul utilised his superhuman abilities and jumped up over the attack, putting a good few meters between him and the ground. Landing a long distance away, he ran off, kicking up dust into the air behind him. He glanced over his shoulder, and smiled. The man was fast, but nowhere near fast enough to catch him. He skirted around a crypt, breaking the line of sight between them, and quickly opened the door and darted inside. To the man chasing him, it would seem as though he had vanished. There were too many crypts around to guess out of hand where he had gone, and it was too dark to see properly. With and little bit of luck, he was now safe.
He listened at the door. Footsteps thundered past outside, then stopped. There was a slight rustling of feet shuffling on grass. Eventually the mod soul heard a muttered curse word, and the footsteps receded.
He sighed in relief. What was with these people in Sunnydale? Did humans develop their own supernatural powers when the soul society wasn't looking? Or did the soul society just not care enough about their modified souls to give them all the information they needed? Probably the latter, now that he thought about it.
A familiar, inhuman growl sounded behind him, causing his blood to run cold.
What? No. No, not again!
Slowly, he turned around…
Angel stalked through the graveyard, all his senses on high alert a he searched for Buffy's impostor. It had been easy enough to tell the difference. Her scent, her speech, everything had been off. Whoever or whatever it really was, it clearly weren't very experienced at impersonating their victims.
He stopped suddenly. The scent of blood was in the air. Human blood. Following his nose, he turned and ran towards the source of the pungent smell. Soon, he heard fighting. His eyes imbued with nightvision, he caught flashes of red within the gloom. The impostor was hurt, fighting another handful of vampires in utter bewilderment and terror. Blood dripped from an open gash in its side. It backed away from it's attackers, glancing left and right for an escape route like a cornered rabbit. It must have stumbled on a vampire nest in its haste to get away. Two vampires approached, but Buffy's doppelganger was ready for them. It jumped and kicked out at the head of the closest, before landing again and sweeping the legs out from underneath the second. It then sprang backwards, ready for whatever came next.
Whatever it was, it could fight. It might have taken a while for it to become accustomed to fighting a being with superior reflexes such as a vampire, but the it was learning. However, there were at least five or six vampires there, ready for the kill. Even Angel himself might have have a difficult time on his own against so many. If it was inside Buffy's real body and not just a copy, things could get bad fast if he didn't help.
Angel ran forwards, tackling a vampire before it had the chance to charge. The Buffy imposter's eyes widened in alarm as they focused on Angel.
"Damn it!" It swore briefly before it was forced into a defensive stance by another vampire. "Why couldn't you just leave me alone!" He shouted as he fought.
"What? I'm helping you!"
"Yeah? Well… I don't need help!"
"Against six vampires? Right. Sure, you don't."
The false Buffy paused, mid fight. "Wha- vampires? What are y-?" Its hesitation cost him by a heavy blow to its face.
Angel took a couple of wooden stakes out of his pocket, and tossed one to the impostor. "Here. Aim for the heart."
The impostor caught the stake as it sailed through the air. "You… you're really not kidding, are you?" It said.
Angel cast It a sideways glance as he dusted two vampires in quick succession. "I would have thought all demons knew about vampires."
"Demon? Hey! Who are you calling a demon?" It said angrily. It drove the stake into the chest of its adversary, and stared in fascination as it crumbled into dust. "Wow… that's pretty cool."
...
It took only a while longer for the pair to finish off the remainder if the vampires. Angel stood back and watched as the imposter Buffy slowly leaned back against a tombstone, panting, clutching its injured side.
"Ow, ow, ow." It muttered, lowering itself to the ground.
"If that's Buffy's real body, you're in a lot of trouble." Angel stated, pointing to the pool of blood.
It chuckled bitterly. "I'm in a lot of trouble either way. If I get caught, I die." It turned its eyes up to look at Angel, half pleading and half accusing. "Come on, you wouldn't send me back to my death, would you?"
"Death? If you're really not a demon then you don't need to worry about that. Buffy'll be angry at the body stealing and everything of course, but she wouldn't kill you."
"Maybe she wouldn't. But the other one would, the real soul reaper."
"You mean Rukia?" Angel asked, sitting down beside… whatever it was.
"She's from the soul society. Of course she would."
"But why? What are you?"
"You don't know? I'm a mod soul. Made in a lab in the Soul Society, created alongside hundreds of others to act as cannon fodder against the hollows. Only the soul reapers changed their mind. Decided the whole thing was unethical… and ordered the destruction of my entire kind. Every mod soul was to be destroyed."
Angel's eyes widened. "That's genocide."
The mod soul shrugged. "They didn't see anything wrong with it. We weren't 'real'. We weren't alive. Just weapons, tools."
"They didn't get to you. What happened?"
"I hid among the others, the artificial souls not created for combat. They never realised. Never found me."
"Wait, so how did you get Buffy's body? Where's yours?"
"Huh? What kind of question is that? Don't you know anything about artificial souls?"
"Er- Well, no. I only became aware of the soul society recently, it's a very long story. I don't really know anything about it."
The mod soul sighed. "Geez. Look, artificial souls don't have a real body of our own. Our physical form is basically a small green pill. Put that in in a body, the inhabitant's soul gets pushed out and I take over."
"I see. Buffy thought you were one of those, ah, normal souls, then?"
"Yeah."
"I'm not going to let you run about in Buffy's body and get it all torn up. I promise, we won't let anyone hurt you. We'll protect you, but only if you come back."
The mod soul paused, thinking. It looked down at it's hands. "I guess I don't really have much choice. Besides, this body is uncomfortable to be in. I suppose it would be a relief to leave, even for a bit."
"Uncomfortable? What do you mean by that?"
"Oh. Er. Didn't I mention? I wasn't exactly… made to fit in… this type of body." It said, grinning nervously.
"What do you mean, 'that type of body'?"
"Um. Female?"
Angel's face froze as he took in this information.
Oh.
He stood up, and hauled the mod soul to his feet. "We are going back right now, and we are getting you out of Buffy's body. Right. Now."
"Ow, watch the arm! Ouch!" The mod soul complained, scowling.
"Hold it!" A voice shouted. Buffy ran towards them, red-faced with rage. Angel let go of the mod soul's arm and took a step away as Buffy approached and grabbed the mod soul by his collar.
"You son of a bitch! Run around in my body, will you? Go macking on my best friend, will you? Sorry, mister! My body is not up for rental!" She growled, shaking him.
"Hey, hey! He- he promised I wouldn't get hurt!" He shouted, pointing at Angel. "He said that y- ouch!" He winced in pain.
Buffy looked down and saw the wound in his stomach. "Oh my god... how careless are you? You jerk! That's my body you've smashed up!" She said, punching him full across the face and sending him flying backwards.
Angel stepped forwards. "Buffy, don't add to your own injuries." He said, gently laying a hand on her shoulder.
"I don't bruise easily. It'll hurt him more than me." She mumbled.
"Look, he's not a big bad, okay Buffy? He's just scared. Listen, he's-"
"A mod soul, I know." Buffy said. She strode forwards to where the mod soul had fallen, and grasped him by the collar again.
"Listen to me. I know about what happened to you. It was wrong. It was horrible, and I swear I'm not gonna let the soul society lay a single hand on you! But! If you ever try to steal my body again, then prepare for the biggest damn beat down of your life. Got that?"
"Y-yes ma'am! Understood!" He stuttered, saluting.
Buffy regarded him suspiciously for a moment, then released him. She sighed. "Thanks to your antics, as far as the school's concerned I've been absent all day. Mom's only going to give me so many free passes for slayer work, and she still doesn't fully trust me after I ran off to L.A. Come on, then. Let's go find Rukia and get you out of my body. She should be around somewhere."
"So, what then? I get to sit on your shelf as a helpless inanimate object, just waiting to get crushed?"
"I told you, I won't let you get hurt. As far as finding you a body, I'm sure we can work something out-"
She was distracted as a small green pill appeared as if from nowhere and flew into her face. She jumped backwards, only just managing to catch it.
"What?" She gasped, startled. In front if her, the empty body pitched forwards and fell down, revealing a man standing behind it.
Buffy stared into the face of Kisuke Urahara. He was holding up his cane, on the end of which was a similar skull pattern to that on Rukia's glove.
"Hello again Miss Summers! Fancy seeing you here." He said in his usual grating cheerful voice. "Sorry about the mix up. We had no idea that a mod soul had found it's way into the merchandise."
Buffy did a double take. "You? You're… oh, for heaven's sake, Rukia got the mod soul from you?"
"You sound disappointed. I'm hurt." He held out his hand. "The soul, if you will."
Buffy stepped backwards. "Why? What do you want it for?"
"I sold my customer faulty goods! I can't leave such such a mistake to stand uncorrected."
"I mean what are you going to do with it?"
"Destroy it, of course."
Blood pounded through Buffy's head and her face flushed with rage. Angel stepped forwards.
"Not gonna happen. We're not going to let you kill an innocent-"
"Innocent?" Urahara said, rounding on the vampire. "My my, you have changed you tune, haven't you? Look at you, defender of the 'innocent'."
Buffy glanced between them in surprise. "Wait... have you two met before? Do you know each other?"
"He didn't tell you? How interesting." Kisuke said.
Buffy turned to Angel. "Angel? What is this?"
"It was a very long time ago Buffy."
"Have you been hiding this from me?"
"Not 'hiding'. It's just... not relevant. That's all."
Urahara stepped forwards again. "I would love to watch to see how this all unfolds, but I'm afraid I have a store to run. So, if I could have the-"
"No!" Both Buffy and Angel exclaimed at the same time.
"Urahara!" Called Rukia, walking towards them across the graveyard. "What's this? Do you normally take back items from your customers without giving them a refund?"
Urahara looked slightly startled. "I… well, yes, I suppose I could give you a refund."
"But there's no need." Rukia took the pill from Buffy. "I'm happy with my purchase."
"Oh. Really?"
"You aren't really part of the soul society either, are you?" Said Angel. "Or at least, you haven't been for some time. Why should you care if he gets destroyed or not?"
Urahara chuckled. "True. True." He conceded. "Well, that's all a little bit disappointing. It seems I came all the way out here for nothing, although it is always a pleasure to meet you, Buffy. I suppose I should get going."
"Yes. You should." Buffy relied, gazing coldly at him.
Urahara nodded briefly at them before turning and sweeping away.
As soon as he was gone, Buffy turned to Angel. "How do you know him?" She demanded.
"Buffy, it's really not important."
"It might be! I need to know what your history is with him!" She gazed into Angel's eyes. "Angel, please."
Angel to a breath. "Okay. Look, I only met him once or twice. It was about about a century ago, before I got my soul back. Well… actually, he was the reason I got my soul back."
"What? I thought that was a gypsy curse."
"The gypsys had created a sort of... framework for the spell long before, but they had never got it to work. Think about it, if this spell has been around for so long, why aren't there any other records of a vampire with a soul? Urahara was there when I killed the gypsy girl. He filled in the blanks for them, he was the one who originally got the spell to work."
"So he knew you as Angelus?"
"Yes. I even fought him once, actually. I don't remember the fight too well, but I do remember I got my ass kicked. He stuck around for long enough to make sure the spell actually worked, then I just never saw him again. That's all there is to it, I swear."
"Okay." Buffy replied quietly. "Next time we meet someone who had such such a big impact on your past, just tell me, okay? Promise?"
"Promise."
Buffy smiled in relief. She turned, walked back to her body and knelt down beside it. As she let her essence seep back inside, she spoke to the others. "Right. Rukia and I should head home now. It's getting quite late, and I seems I don't have to worry much about slaying this evening since you took such go care of- OW! Oh, god!" She exclaimed, pain radiating from the gash in her side.
Rukia jumped forwards. "Hey, are you okay there?"
"Yeah, yeah fine. Was just a shock. Argh… I am going to kill that mod soul! How could he be so careless?"
Rukia examined the wound. "You'll be fine. It's not deep enough to have caused any serious damage. You might want to take it easy for a while, though."
"She's right, Buffy. Don't push yourself."
"Sure, whatever. I'll call Willow and Xander, let them know everything worked out fine. Would really like to give that mod soul a good talking to, though. We can't keep calling him 'mod soul'. He needs a proper name."
"Have something in mind?"
"I dunno. Something short. Unusual. Like… Kon? How's Kon?"
Angel raised his eyebrows. "Is that a real name?"
"It is now. Kon it is."
Rukia gazed at the pill. "He'd probably to be in a real body before he can hear us. I don't know if you'd want to trust him with someone's, but maybe I can get a spare gigai..."
"Real body? Would it have to be…? Angel muttered thoughtfully. "Do you think…? No, probably not."
"What is it?"
"I... think I have an idea."
It was about nine in the evening when Joyce finally heard the doorbell ring. She sighed in relief and headed downstairs towards it. She always got scared whenever Buffy came home late, especially since learning about her slayer destiny. She opened the door, and sure enough Buffy was standing there.
"Hi, mom!"
"Buffy! It's a bit late, isn't it? Even for… what's that?" Joyce said, frowning at the muffled shouting. She couldn't pinpoint where exactly it was, but it seemed to be coming from inside Buffy's bag.
Buffy smiled innocently. "Oh, don't worry about it!" She said, stepping inside. "By the way, if you hear someone screaming inside a locked cupboard in my room, just ignore it. No matter how much he pleads. Just let it be. Okay?"
Buffy's bag started to unzip from the inside. A small, yellow paw emerged. "Can't… breathe... In there. No air. Help!"
Buffy violently stuffed it back inside and zipped the bag shut again.
Joyce stared in shock. "Um. Buffy?"
"Slayer stuff. Everything's fine!" She skipped upstairs.
"Goodnight, Mom! Don't let the vampires bite!"