. . . hit her mark.
The stake stuck straight out of Xander, protruding from the right side of his chest, causing incredible pain all over. Xander growled, morphed, and shoved Buffy off without much care as to hurt her or not. Right now he wasn't thinking, and just blinded by the pain.
Buffy, who had been "shoved" clear across the room, hopped back to her feet and saw Xander hobbling towards the exit, clutching the stake that was deeply submerged in his chest. *I missed, Buffy thought. Did I do it on purpose, or am I just losing it?*
Next to her-way too close for comfort-Angel was already standing and chuckling softly. "You just keep making it easier and easier for me, don't you, Slayer?" he asked her, and then turned away from her, walking back towards his little dysfunctional family, Dru and Spike.
Buffy stood there, mouth agape, wondering what had gone wrong. And then suddenly, like it sometimes happens, everything clicked.
Obviously Xander had not been taken over by evil. He had to sneak out to kill Angel because he would never really get the chance, what with Willow fussing over him, Giles wanting to study him, and Buffy with the basic argument of her not wanting anyone to kill Angel. So he had sneaked out and planned to come back as soon as he killed Angel. Xander had tricked the vampires, pretended he was one of them, and then went it for the kill-which then failed. So while he and Angel were fighting, Buffy had fallen on in, and staked poor, innocent, good-intentioned Xander-in effect preventing him from giving Angel what he deserved.
Angel, who had draped an arm around a coy Drusilla, turned back to look at Buffy. "What, are you still here?" he laughed. Then he turned back to the female vampire. "Leave, lover."
Buffy's mind was racing a mile a minute, and her body stood helpless. Oh God, what would Xander think of her now? She had to get to him, and-oh God, he would go to the library, and he would be massacred! Buffy turned on her heel and ran out of the warehouse as fast as she could.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
They had it all planned out-they had made sure of that before Buffy had gone to find Xander. Willow and Oz were positioned at the door; Willow armed with a large cross, and Oz with two open vials of holy water. Giles was farther away, by the table, holding a crossbow that, if need be, could easily be aimed at the door in a matter of seconds. Also, all three of them had stakes, in case anything failed.
Willow didn't want to kill him. It didn't matter if Xander had died and this new evil had taken over him. When he had shown her his vampire face, as monstrous and vicious and downright grotesque as it might have been, she still saw only her best friend since forever. Not a demon, not whatever Buffy claimed would wreck chaos and destruction right along with Angel.
No, now Willow was on the other end of the spectrum. She knew where Buffy was coming from with the Angel/Angelus deal. Buffy kept saying to herself that Angel was still in there-and maybe he was. To Willow, Xander would always be in there. And if only she could find the spell of restoration . . . damn gypsies! If they had just staked Angelus on the spot for killing their favorite daughter, then none of this would have happened! Buffy could do her job without any such qualms and Xander would be sitting in the library, complaining about having to do more research, cracking bad jokes, and making out with Cordelia in the bookshelves! Instead, he was probably feeding on half the population of Sunnydale, for all she-they-knew.
There was the sound of heavy footfalls in the hallway. Everyone's head shot up, and they exchanged nervous glances. It had to be Xander. Buffy wouldn't walk like that, and the school was deserted-not even Snyder wished to stay after 5:00 or so.
Willow gulped. Could she do it? Could she thrust this cross into his face? Her shoulders began to shake, and before Oz could move to comfort her, she had stopped.
She would kill him, if she had to. She wasn't afraid. It wasn't Xander. Xander had died, and the only way to avenge his death was to kill this monster which had overtaken him. Yes, she would kill this vampire, and the next, and the next, and the next . . .
The doors to the library burst open, startling her out of reverie. Right in her face was the monstrous version of Xander, lurching towards her. Shocked, she let out a yip and shoved the cross right into his face.
Xander growled and stepped back, running right into the counter. He stared viciously at Willow, eyes glowing wildly, and then noticed Oz ready to throw his water.
Xander ducked out of the way before he was burnt and then popped madly back up again. "What the hell's wrong with you?" he screamed at them, not caring if they got scared or frightened in the process. He was enraged that tonight had gone totally down the hole. Nothing ever went right on the Hellmouth!
Willow hesitated for a moment, loosing her grip on the cross, but it was out of her hands now. Giles, seeing that Xander was not backing off from Oz and Willow, lifted up the crossbow. Xander turned towards him and his eyes widened as Giles let the spring go.
Xander made to duck and closed his eyes. God . . .
The doors to the library burst open, and Buffy came running in at full speed. She stepped in front of Xander, reached out with her two hands, and caught the stake right before it was to go through Xander. She backed up close to him and let the stake fall. It clattered loudly, the only sound in the room.
"I thought he was evil," Oz asked outright, waiting for Buffy to explain why she had rescued him.
"He's not," Buffy explained, looking at everyone else for affirmation. Then she turned around and placed her hands on Xander's chest. "You're hurt."
Xander had a deep wound in his chest that had gone in several inches. It would have been a perfectly straight hole if Xander had not pulled out the stake while he was running. Now the skin was gashed all over and the shirt was ripped and torn around the place where the stake had gone in. He had one bloody hand over the bleeding cut and was obviously in a great amount of pain.
But he ignored it, and shook Buffy's hand off of him. He shoved her out of the way and stomped towards the stacks. "It'll heal," he growled, the slightest touch of annoyance mingled in his voice.
Giles had placed the crossbow on the table and was staring oddly at it, trying to comprehend what was going on. Oz was completely and totally clueless, and although Willow was relieved, she was also confused.
"What happened?" she whispered to Buffy.
"I'll tell you what happened," Xander said as he reappeared, a heavy book slipping out of his left hand. He hurried down the stairs and stood right next to Giles, the book thumping as Xander threw it in front of him. "You guys would have never let me leave, what with my-" he made a whiny voice-"'condition,' so I had to sneak out. You people didn't respect my need for privacy and-" He flipped open the book, and with his strength, the cover was ripped off and went sailing across the room. Growling, Xander started to flip through the book with much less anger.
"-you found me not there. So you all thought I was evil, sent Buffy after me. She got there, for SOME reason couldn't realize I was good, and staked me. So glad you're losing it, Buffy. You could've *killed* me." The pages were turning faster and faster, with Xander vehemently at the helm.
"Xander, how could I * not * ?" Buffy asked, in defense of herself. "I got there and there you were, acting all chummy with Angel and Drusilla. Am I suppose to think that you still had your soul after that?"
Xander shook his head, a sardonic smile coming to his lips and his fangs glittering in the fluorescent lighting. "No, but the fact that Angel and I were * fighting * might have given you a damn clue! Buffy, a few more minutes and all he would've been was dust, if you hadn't decided to barge in an' freakin' try to kill the wrong vampire!"
Buffy opened her mouth to retort angrily when Xander let out a low moan and dug his nails into the area around his wound. Giles put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Xander, you should really-"
"Don't TOUCH me!" Xander hissed, shaking free of his light grip. "Touch me and I'll KILL you! And don't think I won't!" He stood up straight and slammed the book shut, getting right into Giles' face. "It's still in there! The demon's still inside of me, and I can't fight it if you people keep PISSING ME OFF!"
Giles stepped back several paces for safety, until Xander finally looked away and stomped off with the book to the bookcases. He angrily slid the book back into its place and started to search for another.
The three mortals and the wereboy were quiet for a moment, exchanging glances. This behavior that Xander was portraying was quite unsettling indeed. Buffy felt partly, if not wholly, responsible, and she racked her mind for possible solutions.
"Maybe he needs some, uh, ah . . ." Oz suggested under his breath.
"You're right. He hasn't fed yet, and it's his first night and everything. The need should be stronger." Buffy crossed her arms. "I think I should go to the butcher shop and get him some." She gave Willow and look. "Are you ok? You look sick."
"Well, yeah, you would be to if someone really close to you was a . . . I'll shut up now." Willow sighed. "This is just weird. Xander's a vampire, he got * staked * , and now he's gonna drink blood and everything? And why won't he take that face off?"
"Well," Oz put in, "maybe it's 'cause he's angry. And when he's angry, he can't take that face off. So-"
"No, that's not the reason." Xander had sat down at he library table, staring at the pages of another carbon dated book before him and resting his head in the hand that was not clutched to his chest. "I like this face. I'm a vampire. So why should I take it off and pretend to be human? That would be stupid."
Oz couldn't think of an answer, so Buffy turned back to Willow. "Do you want to go with me?" she asked.
"Yeah," Willow said quietly. "I need some, uh, some fresh air."
"I'll go too," Oz said, putting his arm around Willow. She smiled at this little gesture of love and held his hand tightly. Together, the three exited, and then there were two.
Giles, who had backed up considerably against the weapons cage, took off his glasses, wiped them clean, and settled them back on the bridge of his nose. Running a hand through his hair, he made to say something comforting to Xander.
"Shut up," said the vampire as he turned the page with a vengeance. "Don't wanna hear it."