Chapter 12: The Things You Learn at Night
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the recognizable characters contained within.
That would be Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, etc….
After getting that postcard I was kinda freaked. I kept wondering if maybe I should let Giles in on my little secret, ya know, maybe he could help me get an undead restraining order against B or something. Then I thought about how he was able to get his life back on track and how well he was adjusting, I couldn't put him through all that. Also, there was the fact that he actually seemed to like working with me. He trusted me. If I went to him and was all like, 'Hey G, Guess what? Your girl didn't really die, she was just turned and I knew all about it' he would never trust me again. Then there's the possibility he would want to track her down and stake her, which would not be of the good. I'm not sure I want to be Buffy's play toy, but I'm positive I don't want anyone ramming wood in her chest. Yea, she's a vamp now and I get that, but I gotta admit that I still love her. I just can't get the thought of what it felt like when she kissed me outta my mind. The way my body just naturally responded, it was everything I always wanted to feel.
Then my head'll kick in with 'What are you, crazy? She's a vamp. VAMPIRE. You are a Slayer. Slayer plus vamp equals dust pile. What part aren't you getting?' Needless to say I'm still a bit confused. I used to be able to just listen to my head and get on takin care of business. I never had to worry about my head and heart being on different pages cause I never let anyone have my heart before. Not until B.
So that means Giles has definitely gotta be left outta the loop. Unfortunately, he's the only one that I would even think about telling, so I'm back to where I started. I'll keep B's change of life style to myself and deal the best I can. One good thing, at least for me it is, is that the vamp and demon activity has spiked back up. I'm getting two or three good slays in a night and that helps keep my mind off my Buffy problem, at least for a while. The increased evil's playtime is also keeping Giles on his toes. He's always happiest when there is some obscure demon activity to research, looking for deeper meanings or lost prophecies. He's like a kid in a candy store.
Speaking of Giles, the other thing that seems to keep him happy is the dinners he's been havin with Joyce. It started out as a once in a while thing, now they're like goin out every week. He's trying to be low key about it, playing it off like it's not that often, but I live here now and with slayer hearing I don't miss much. I'm just hopin that if they ever get around to 'doin the dirty', they go to his place or something. That's one sound track I could definitely do without, thank you very much.
Alright, I just got a bad visual to go along with that thought. Ugh!!! I need to get outta here. It's almost sundown anyway so I'm gonna start patrol. Who knows I might get a few extra slays in tonight. Sounds like a great night doesn't it? Slay some evil, grab some grub, then come home and take care of that other H in my nice warm bed. Alone. Again. On second thought it doesn't sound like that great of a finish to my night. Maybe I'll hit the Bronze instead and see what's shaking there. If Oz's band is playing, then Red and Xand might be there. They can be good for a laugh. We'll see. Right now I'm gonna just concentrate on the slayage part of tonight's program.
Man, am I glad I patrolled early tonight. I found a coupla vamps in the second cemetery I checked and had an interesting conversation with one of them. Okay, so I just gotta tell ya how it all went down. Like I said, I had all this crap running around in my head cause a the whole 'B's a vamp and now she wants me' thingy. Huh, I must be nuts to be letting it get to me like this. I mean, she had to die to be able to let herself love me? Gives the phrase 'I'd rather die first' a whole new meaning, heh, heh. Anyhow, I went on my normal patrol route starting on the east side of town and slowly movin west. When I went through the first cemetery, there wasn't much happening, but there were a bunch of crypts that looked like they had been ransacked. You know, doors left open, coffin lids kinda pushed to the side. I didn't feel any vamps around and I'm no Sherlock Holmes, that was more B's thing, but something seemed to be up.
When I got to the second cemetery on the menu, I started seeing the same thing. So some big bad is out looking for something. The question is what and why. This'll give Giles something to worry over for at least the next week. This time though, I can feel my slayer sense revving up. In the middle of the cemetery there's this weird crypt I never really paid attention to before. Instead of the normal box shape, this one has five sides. Almost star shaped and from inside is where I'm feeling the vamps. Movin closer I can hear them and their not sounding too happy right about now. Guess what, they're about to get a whole lot more unhappy. Me? My night just started lookin up and I can feel the grin spreading across my face.
I move up towards the door all stealthy and shit to get a peek inside before I take em down. Yea, I know. Me being careful isn't my usual style, but I'm thinking more and more about what happened to B and I'm not about to be taken out like that. Lookin inside I see two guy's. My slayer sense tells me they're vamps, but they ain't in game face yet. It looks like they just finished searchin for whatever it is they're after, but it don't seem like they found it yet. Steppin inside I throw out, "Can I help you boy's with something? Ya know, you're gonna have to clean up this mess before I let ya leave."
One of them turns to me and says, "Who said anything about leaving when dinner was just delivered?" The other one starts trying to circle around to my side. Okay, this I like. It seems they want to play and it's just what I need to get my mind off things. The one that started talking decides to jump me. "What no foreplay?" I ask. I step to the side as he comes at me and spin into a roundhouse kick that takes him in the back of the head as he goes past, knocking him outta the crypt door. The other one makes a grab for my arm, I reverse the grip and yank him face first into the wall. A coupla quick jabs to his kidneys and he starts to slump. "Uh, uh baby," I say to him. "Ya gotta have more stamina then that if you wanna play with me." I grab him by his neck and waist and threw him out the door into his partner that was just trying to come back through. I followed them both back outside where they landed, all tangled up together. I'm startin to buzz just a little. I mean, these two are pathetic but it's been awhile for me, ya know. A slay a day keeps the boredom away and all that.
They get themselves separated and try to attack again. They both come at me this time. I rabbit punch the lead one and backhand the other. They're kinda standing on each side of me, so I keep turnin from side to side dishing out the punches and kicks. They're landing a coupla blows, but my engine is revved up and I don't even feel em. I give a front kick to one that sends him flying into a tombstone, breaking his back. That'll put him down for a few minutes until he heals up. The other one grabs me from behind, so I slam my head back into his face breaking his nose and making him let go. I yank my stake outta my waistband while I spin around, then plunge it into his chest and watch him dust away. One down, one to go.
I slowly walk over to the one on the ground. He's just startin to be able to move again, so I kick him over onto his back and sit down on him. I got my stake pointed right over his heart and started with the questions. "Not that it hasn't been fun an all, but I'm startin to get a little bored. What're you and your dust buddy lookin for?" I ask. His eyes are all big as he stares between the stake at his heart and the slayer on his chest. "A…a…ring., he stammers. My forehead scrunches up in confusion and I gotta ask, "A ring? What, you two gonna get engaged or something?" He looks almost as confused as I am, but also with a healthy dose of scared thrown in. "No, we were told to find the Gem of Amara."
"So what's this Gem of Armadillo thing do?" I asked him, pushing a little harder on my stake. "I wasn't told what it does, just that she wants it and that's all I'm……..", his voice trailed off as I pushed my stake through him, letting his dust blow away on the wind. I was already thinking that I should let Giles know about this ring they were looking for. Whatever it is, I'm sure it means more action for me. The vamps hadn't found the gem yet so that probably meant there wasn't an apocalypse gonna happen before sunrise. Looking around one last time I decided I'd tell Giles in the morning and headed home.
