I'm going to try to post the next chapter on Friday, and then I think we'll go back to the Wednesday/Saturday posting schedule.
The sun was high in the sky and most of the slayers had gone to the beach for the day to soak in its rays and laze around, enjoying the last few weeks before vacation ended. Even Buffy had gone with them, reluctant to leave Faith alone but determined still to persuade Giles to let her fight William the Bloody again. Faith had been privately relieved. Since they'd worked things out in the early summer, they'd been nearly inseparable. Buffy had taken her words to heart, apparently, and decided to counter Faith's worry about being clingy by clinging to Faith on every occasion, which left no time for her…special project.
Take that, Xander, she thought spitefully. Turns out that not everyone is as repulsed by my presence as you are. Then she pushed the thought from her mind forcefully. She didn't need to think about Xander Harris. She didn't want to think about Xander Harris.
It hadn't been difficult to break into one of the magic labs, not when the key was hanging freely on the wall of Giles's office. Giles never bothered locking it during the day when he went out to lunch or the beach, and it had been easy to slip past the airhead of a summer secretary and grab the right key before she'd been spotted and asked to leave. It turned out that she'd instead snagged the skeleton key that opened every office in the building. She'd have to return it soon, before Giles realized that it was gone, but first she planned to use it to collect all the off-limits supplies she might need. She wasn't going to waste something so precious, after all.
Her first stop was one of Mr. Rayne's advanced labs, and it stunk to high heaven. She wrinkled her nose in distaste. Were thosefumes rising up from behind one of the counters? A greenish mist had settled near the back of the room, and there was a swirling portal wide open behind Mr. Rayne's desk.
"Gross," she said disgustedly, turning to leave, but before she could go, a strange belching sound came from somewhere within the portal and Mr. Rayne emerged.
He didn't seem at all surprised to see her there. "Random potential! What can I do for you?" he asked jovially.
"I…uh…Nigel sent me here for…Giles said I could…" She fumbled for excuses until her brain finally provided her with one. "I'm working on a research project!" she said triumphantly.
Mr. Rayne smirked. "A potential working on a research project? Unlikely."
"I swear!" Faith thought quickly, settling on a plan. It was a bit daring, but if she could pull it off, she might be done before Buffy came home, maybe even with time to go back down to the basement. Besides, she was Faith. She thrived on daring. "I'm working on spells for those invisible walls. You know, like force fields? I want to learn how to put one up for when I spar, so I can get used to the amount of space I have on the game floor. And how to take it down, too, of course." She could only hope that it was the same spell for both kinds of barriers.
Ethan raised his eyes. "How very… zealous of you," he said silkily, vaguely waving his hand at the classroom around him. Immediately, the smell vanished, the mist scattered into nothingness, and the portal shrank into itself and disappeared, returning the room to the pristine state that all the other classrooms displayed. "You're not strong or focused enough to do the spell, of course." He sat down, suddenly all business, and motioned for her to take a seat as well. She pulled up one of the stools to sit opposite him.
The desk he used was actually more of a long counter, tall and packed with strange-smelling herbs and oddly colored animal organs, and Faith was suddenly glad that she'd chosen to sit further rather than closer. Back when they'd taken magic classes, Buffy had always opted for Miss Calendar's class and Faith had readily agreed with her, and only now did she suddenly understand her aversion to Mr. Rayne. Something about him reminded her of that sleazy pimp who used to hang out outside her house when she was younger, the one who would only leave when her mother would finally agree to go with him. It was in the way they both looked at everyone else as if each person was worth a certain amount, and they were calculating exactly how much. And it was unnerving.
"You'll need to build a charm that can take the barrier down first," Mr. Rayne said, and she forced herself to shift her attentions back to him. An odd little smile was playing at the corners of his mouth as he regarded her. "That's certainly the simpler spell. The other one will take some time."
"I'll just start with the first one, then," she said quickly, amazing herself with her recklessness.
Mr. Rayne laughed, not unpleasantly. "Let's do them both at once, shall we? What goes down must come back up, after all." He considered for a moment. "But if all you're interested in is the actual charm, not the process, I'd be delighted to take care of that for you. It should only be a few minutes."
"Thanks." She grinned. This was working out perfectly. In fact- did she dare say it?- everything was going even better than she'd expected.
Jesse and Oz had gone with one of the McNally girls to get dinner, so Willow and Xander were watching a movie while they waited for them, not without a bit of trepidation. Laura McNally, as part of their education in all things American, had insisted that they eat Doublemeat burgers twice a week, every week, and Willow was starting to become nauseous just thinking about them. "Think they'll still be a while?"
"Hope not," Xander said, his eyes glued to the screen. "I'm starving. And those burgers are great." He shifted, grimacing as he rubbed his leg. "Ow."
"What is it?"
"A vamp kicked me in the shin last night." He rolled up his pant leg to show her the discoloration, large and yellow with a hint of brown. "Those things are strong."
"You were stalking vampires at the Bronze again, weren't you?" She folded her arms disapprovingly. "Narra told you to stop. And something like five different times." Privately, she was pretty sure that Xander's newfound recklessness was slowing the slayer down, but she didn't say anything. Not after the first night he'd done it, when he'd hurled accusations at her, claiming that she never supported him and wanted him to be good for nothing. She'd stayed quiet and blamed his father for his sudden change in attitude.
Xander nodded. "Last night, she said that she was going to call Giles and complain if I kept interfering on her turf. It's okay, though. I have a plan."
"A plan."
He grinned. "She patrols at the Bronze at most nights when we're there. So tonight, Jesse and I are going to the cemeteries instead."
"You're what?" She took a deep breath, ready to start a battle she knew would only end in badness but she had to fight regardless. "Xander, you're not a slayer! You don't have the strength, you don't have the training, and you definitely don't have the sacred duty! And if you keep doing this, you're going to get killed! It's one thing when you're in the Bronze with a slayer. But wandering a cemetery all alone is just asking to become vamp food, and by dragging Jesse along, you're risking his life, too. You have to stop this!" A tinny sound came from somewhere in the kitchen, and she bolted in that direction before Xander had the chance to respond. "Oh, look- the phone's ringing! I'd better get it."
"Wait, Willow!" Xander called after her, but she was already diving for the long-distance phone line that the McNally family usually used just to call Jesse. "Hello?"
"Okay, Jesse, you win. I'm not coming back to Sunnydale this summer, and we won't scare off all your nerd-friends." The voice was one straight from her nightmares, and she staggered backwards, stunned. "Hello?" Cordelia sounded annoyed. "Jesse?"
She slammed the phone down on the receiver, gaping at it with a sort of quiet horror. "X-Xander?"
He came up behind her, still tense and angry. "You can't just say that and then walk away! You didn't even…Willow?" He softened at the look on her face. "What's wrong?"
"My god," she breathed, shuddering. "Jesse is… Cordy… she…"
"What?"
The door to the house opened, and Jesse was calling out, "We brought you apple pie this time, Will. Oz made a good case for your health," as he dumped the bags of fast food on the table. He frowned at Willow's white-faced expression. "Will? What's going on?"
She raised a trembling finger to point at him furiously. "You…you and Cordelia!" she finally let out, quivering with rage. "How could you?"
Jesse paled. "Look, Will, it's not like that. We're just- we're just messing around. Kind of. Nothing more."
Xander blinked, finally comprehending. "You and Cordelia? Nice!" He high-fived Jesse in a moment of male solidarity, and Willow let out a whooshing gasp and glared at them both.
"She's horrible to us!" she exploded. "She looks down on watchers and she picks on you all the time-"
Jesse shrugged uncomfortably. "I pick on her, too. It's just what we do."
"No!" Willow's head was spinning, and she couldn't think. Not Cordy. Anyone but Cordy… She cast around in her mind for something to do, some way to change it…a spell, maybe? There must be a de-lusting spell for her purposes. And Jesse wouldn't care after she'd done the spell. In fact, he'd probably thank her. "It's not! You can't be with her…anyone else would be better! Anyone! Oh, god…"
She didn't notice Oz's comforting hand on her shoulder, guiding her upstairs, nor did she notice Xander calling after her and Jesse reaching for the phone. All she could do was imagine Jesse and Cordy…messing around. She felt sick to her stomach, more nauseous than she'd ever been from a Doublemeat burger, and she broke away from Oz and lurched into the bathroom to vomit up everything she'd eaten that day. Gentle hands pulled her hair back away from her face and passed her a glass of water when she was done. She rinsed, spat, and flushed, finally turning to face Oz tearfully. "How could he do that? With her?"
"You can't always choose who you fall for," Oz pointed out calmly.
"But…but Cordy!"
Oz raised an eyebrow. "Hey, she's dating down, remember? She must really like him."
She laughed shakily. Yes, she probably did. It was Cordy, after all, and as reprehensible as the idea was to Willow, Cordy and Jesse probably had something real. Cordy didn't slum for just anyone, after all.
It didn't mean she'd forgive Jesse for the betrayal, though. "You know, he's always had a crush on her," she confided. "He never said anything, but I could tell. He'd chase her around the playground and pull her hair when we were little, and he'd make pictures back in kindergarten with him being the dad and Cordy being the mom. We used to tease him about that, even after we all ended up at the Academy." She closed her eyes, leaning against Oz's hard chest tiredly. "I wonder how long this has been going on?"
Too long, I'm sure. But maybe she shouldn't try a spell just yet, not if there were feelings involved. That kind of spell is too dark, anyway, a voice in her head that sounded a bit too much like Tara for her liking reminded her. She quashed it. Tara had a very different style than she did in magic, and it didn't make either one better or worse. It just was.
"I don't know. You can try asking Jesse when the urge to curse away his Cordy-lust fades."
She smiled against his shoulder. "You know me too well." He didn't pester her or set limits for her. He was simply Oz, and he accepted her at her best and worst.
He ran his fingers through her hair. "Do you want me to get your apple pie?"
She shrugged. "The guys'll be done soon, and then they're leaving. I can just-" She stopped, her eyes widening. "Oh, no. They've decided to go to the cemetery tonight!" she remembered. "They're going to get themselves killed!"
Oz frowned. "What do you mean?"
Willow sighed. "Xander's decided to stay out of the slayer's way by haunting the cemetery instead. He's got that whole crazy thing going on, and he won't listen to me." She turned to stare at him, her eyes pleading. "Would you try to talk him out of it? Maybe if it's one of the guys…"
"Sure." He dropped a quick kiss on her lips and headed downstairs, leaving her sitting against the radiator in the bathroom and wondering what had happened to her best friends.
"So. You and Cordelia, huh? What happened to not dating slayers?" Xander couldn't help but feel a little betrayed. They were guys, and the guy code dictated that they brag about their conquests to each other, no matter how twisted they might be.
Jesse glanced warily at Oz, who was walking on Xander's other side and was clearly on Team Willow for this one. He'd even tried to talk them out of their vampire hunt, and when they'd proved immobile, decided to join them instead for safety in numbers. "It just happened. Well, not just, but…"
"How long?" Xander demanded.
Jesse shifted uncomfortably. "Okay, so remember winter break last year? You and Willow went to Tibet, and I decided to stay in school? So Cordy and I bumped into each other in the hallway one night, and we were arguing, and then…we weren't."
"Oh. Wow. So, uh…how far have you…?"
Jesse grinned a purely masculine smile. "Third base."
Xander whistled, feeling a twinge of jealousy at that. He'd never gotten past the early groping, and he'd thought that he was the more popular one with the girls. Jesse had always been…more distant about these things, harassing Cordy and joking about the girls, but not as willing to date them. "Impressive."
Jesse shot him a challenging glance. "And I know that you have a thing for Cordy, but she's mine. So just…back off, okay?"
Xander shrugged. "I'm not really into Cordelia. She's hot and all, but can you say high maintenance? You can have her."
Jesse scowled at him. "Shut up."
Xander frowned, remembering something. "Hey! That night when you got drunk, you were making out with Faith! And then you asked her out! Weren't you with Cordy then?"
Jesse shook his head. "We were fighting. We break up a lot, but it doesn't last long."
Xander glared. "So what were you going to do when you and Cordelia hooked up again? Drop Faith like a hot potato?"
"I guess." Jesse gave him a curious look. "Why do you care?"
"I don't," he mumbled. "It's just…it's not fair." He didn't care. He really didn't. Faith was a pain in the ass, abrasive and annoying and she knew just how to push his buttons. Maybe she was kind of sweet in a tough kind of way, and when she got all vulnerable he sort of wanted to… No. That was a manly macho thing, not a caring thing. That was all. His eyes narrowed as he thought back to the vitriol she'd spewed at him when they'd been away together, and he suppressed any fond thoughts he felt toward Faith.
Jesse shrugged, turning to Oz for support. "You don't think it's unfair, do you?"
Oz nodded. "Seems that way. Vampire."
"I'm not a…oh." There was a hand sticking out of the ground ahead of them, and as they watched, a fledgling vampiress tore out of the ground with a roar and charged toward them.
Jesse ducked and Oz dodged, but Xander stood his ground, readying the stake. He nearly made it two steps forward before the vampire barreled into him, shoving him aside and grabbing Oz, trying to sink her teeth into his neck. And the moment she stilled, Xander drove the stake between her ribs, gunning for the heart.
She didn't dust.
"You missed!" Jesse snapped, passing him another stake and stabbing at her again.
The vampire frowned. "Hey, what are you doing? I'm trying to eat here!" She blinked at the stake in her chest. "Holy crap, am I dead?"
Finally, Xander stabbed the stake into her heart and she dusted with a vaguely puzzled look on her face.
"We did it!" Jesse said, grinning.
"Yeah." He smiled back, brushing some dust off of the stake. "We did it."
Take that, Faith, he thought spitefully. Let her call him incompetent. He was sure she'd never staked a vampire before.