Jinx's hands clenched the edge of her seat as she watched the drama unfolding before her. They were so close, just a few more feet and they would beat the two evil little trolls they were forced to compete against. Jinx could feel a sheen of sweat form on her body and her breath came in short harsh gasps as the seconds ticked down and the combatants of the race neared the finish line.

"Run, you fat son of a bitch…. RUN." She screamed at her favorites.  They were losing  and they had come so close to victory. Groaning in frustration she watched as the other team crossed the line first. Burying her head in her hands she rallied against the injustices of the world. The sound of Dawn's voice brought her crashing back to reality.

"Buffy is going to kick your ass if you wreck anything else with one of your flash floods."

Raising her head Jinx watched the cascade of water streaming down the sides of the TV obliterating the sight of the credits rolling on The Amazing Race. With a flick of her wrist the water stopped, leaving a puddle to form on the carpet and the sound of a steady drip as the TV dried.

"That wasn't a flash flood, it was a minor storm front" she sniffed " And besides Drew and Kevin totally should have won that, I know those Guido's cheated"

" It's just a TV show" Dawn told her with all the natural wisdom of a 15 year old.

"It's just a TV show" Jinx mimicked "Why don't you make yourself useful and go get something to dry this up before your pain in the ass sister comes home"

She watched Dawn flounce up the stairs and scowled at the snotty voice drifting down to her.

" I'm telling her you said that"

"I'm telling,  I'm telling" Jinx's voice dripped with sarcasm. Every time she turned around that kid was skulking around behind her. She was positive Buffy had told Dawn to keep an eye on her. Which mostly ended up as Jinx being a free babysitter without the 15 year old knowing she had one.

Jinx had been there almost a  week and between Buffy, her sister and her friends she was starting to wish the army had just killed her. The last 3 years of her life had certainly been no picnic, but at least she hadn't had to deal with a bunch of snot nosed, holier than thou, kids.  Settling back into the cushions of the couch, she turned her attention to the events of the latest chapter in her life. She had to admit it hadn't been ALL boring.

…………………………….

They had all been at the Magic Box the night she arrived. Willow, Anya  Xander, Buffy and Dawn had been sitting at a big table surrounded by books discussing something they called a freeze monster. It was obvious they had been expecting a mild and weak person by the shock on their faces when she had stormed in swearing. The stupid troll in charge of her relocation had gotten lost at least 15 times en route, and her patience had reached it's peak somewhere around the second detour. Through some miracle he had finally stopped at a gas station , gotten directions and found the way to their destination. She was in the midst of informing him what an incompetent jack ass he was when they entered the shop. Noticing the attention she cut off her diatribe and transferred her ire to the slack jawed faces of the stores occupants.   

"What?" she sneered " You were expecting Mary Poppins?"

Crossing to  room she could feel their  curious stares as she parked herself in a chair and propped her feet up on a pile of books on the table. She may have to stay here for a while but she didn't have to like it. Glaring insolently at the turn her life had taken she proceeded to clean her finger nails and ignore the lot of them. Well she tried anyway, it was rather difficult to ignore a roomful of yipping people, trying to introduce themselves and ask a bunch of stupid questions she had no intention of answering. At least until Buffy dropped a computer printout of her test results on the table, the officer had given her before leaving. From that point on it was easy enough to ignore them because that was the general rule they were applying to her. Caught up in her inner sulk fest she almost didn't realize that the Anya chick was gesturing wildly at the papers and crowing over the fact that she had seen that particular DNA thread before. Sitting up in interest Jinx listened to the girl's explanation.

"I haven't seen one in centuries, these people don't have much call for a vengeance demon, they pretty much take care of their own problems, but there was one who wanted me to strip her husbands powers."  The girl informed the group with a vapid smile.

Jinx stared at her in shock, trying to comprehend what a vengeance demon was doing with these kids. Not to mention wondering what the hell Riley had gotten her into. Focusing on the girl Jinx decided to keep an open mind for the girls brief outline of her heritage.

"So you see about, I'm not sure of the actual time frame just that it was a really long time ago, this group of beings got themselves expelled from the higher plane for trying to stage a coo and take over. "

Jinx noticed Anya's  obvious excitement over being the center of attention. She was really getting into her explanation, waving her hands around and lowering her voice for enhanced drama. As far as Jinx was concerned it was a pathetic display of grandstanding. She could have done sooo much better.

"So The Powers That Be sent them all to earth in human form to die as  wretched mortals. But apparently they had some friends left up there who infused them with some of their former powers along with a whole anti-aging provision"

Jinx watched the faces of the rest of the assembly, they ranged from shock to resignation. It was the boy who recovered first.

"What kind of powers are we talking here An'"

Jinx smirked at the question and turned her attention back Anya. This ought to be good.

"Well as far as I can remember the powers were separated between the men and the women. The men got to control fire and earth and the women got water and wind. Personally I think the men got the better deal."

Jinx did laugh at that comment, obviously the girl hadn't considered what a blessing it was to be able to put out a fire ball coming at you at 90 miles an hour. Realizing the noise was drawing their attention back to her, she returned to her nails.

"Oh yah, and they read minds too."

It was right about then that all hell broke loose. Apparently a little water damage didn't faze them but the thought of someone poking around in their precious little minds was a big problem.

Somebody has something to hide, she sing songed to herself.

She had already done a quick surface scan and could have told them that their stupid little secrets held no interest for her. Well maybe one mind was worth the effort, she amended. Buffy's mind seemed to be holding a wealth of info but she decided to hold off on an extensive mental probe until her strength was back up.

Tuning out the uproar her presence was causing she picked up one of the many books littering the table. Flipping through the pages she paused at the picture of a demon who enjoyed eating the spleens of his victims. Wondering again who the hell these kids were she felt the gaze of the youngest member of the group. Meeting the girls nervous eyes with a steady look, she gestured to the picture.

" I dated him, he was a stallion in bed"

…………………….     

Grinning at the memory of Dawn's disgusted look, Jinx rummaged through the pockets of her coat searching for her cigarettes. Finding them she lit up and took great satisfaction at the curls of smoke filling the room. Buffy hated it when she smoked in the house, with that in mind she had done so at every opportunity.

The girl just pissed her off. She had everything a young woman could want friends,  good looks, a chosen profession but all she could do was whine about her lot in life.  Sure she had died a few times but Christ get over it. So men kept leaving her, big deal, she should try living 500 some odd years and them she could talk about men leaving her.  But no it was all 'I was in heaven, I don't feel alive anymore someone please save me from myself'  It was all a bunch of crap as far as Jinx was concerned. Buffy needed to grow up and move on or a good kick in the ass whichever came first.

"It will probably be the kick in the ass" Jinx told the silent room

The fact that Buffy was a slayer had given her a moment of pause when discovered. At least that explained why Riley had thought she would be safe here. What Riley didn't know however was that a slayer's house was probably the worst place for her. Jacob hated slayers and if he found out she was staying with one heads were going to roll, namely Buffy's.  She didn't want to tell Buffy about Jacob, in fact she never wanted to think about him again. There was too much pain and disillusion down that road, but for the sake of her own safety she had too. She had only given Buffy the bare facts, that Jacob was the male equivalent to her and that he was her ex-boyfriend. She left out the details of what had made him go slightly insane and chain her to a wall for the better part of the last three years,  that was her business  and she didn't need a slayer's nose in it. Firmly steering her memories away from that painful subject Jinx heard Willow and Buffy enter the kitchen.

"Is she smoking again. I can smell smoke. Do you smell smoke Will?"

Jinx grinned the girl really made it too easy. Sitting up she waited for the anticipated lecture. Which didn't come, the witch was in lecture mode at the moment.

"Yes I smell smoke Buf, but that's not the issue right now. You need to go ask him if he knows anything about this Jacob guy.  Spike hangs around the clubs he might have heard something.  I don't get this whole stalling Buffy thing your doing. It's not like he's going to say no. But for the last week you've shot down any idea we have had with Spike in the subject line. We haven't gotten anywhere on our own, you need to go talk to him."

Jinx could hear the resolve in Willow's voice.

'Yah Buffy'. Jinx quietly said to the empty room  "why won't you go talk to Spike, could it have something to do with the little house crashing party you two had last week that you would rather die…..again.. than tell your friends about"

Jinx had gotten around to a full scan of Buffy's mind about mid week and was still laughing her ass off at the contents. Little miss priss had more than a few skeletons in her closet. Well skeletons and one bad ass vampire, she quickly adjusted. Leaning over the edge of the couch she listened for Buffy's reply. She heard  the slamming of the door and Buffy's parting comment.

"Fine. I'm going. But he's not going to be any help. He's too busy getting drunk in those places to actually learn anything useful."

Jinx settled back on the couch now anticipating the return of the slayer. Picking up the remote she started  flipping through the channels. Things were about to get a whole hell of a lot more interesting around here. Grinning at the thought  she wondered how well Buffy was going to take the news that she wasn't the only one in the house who knew how much stamina Spike had in bed.