Xander couldn't believe what he had seen. He had in a way hit Giles
repeatedly over the head until he was at least unconscious. Buffy was sure
going to be pissed off with him. Giles would too of course that was if he
was still alive. It was unfair that he was the one who got the blame after
all it wasn't his fault.
What's with the book?
"It was meant to be a surprise but being the generous demon I am I'll tell you. There should be a spell in here that will expel you from my mind. Well I actually mean your mind. I know this is a little bit selfish but I deserve this after everything I've done for you."
Because everyone knows I love having demons taking over my body.
"That's the spirit." Gerathon continued to search though the book until he stopped and smiled at the page. This comforted Xander in no way.
Normally at this point the running would start or the hiding or shouting for help. Some sort of indication that he was in trouble, but there was no where to run, no where to run and no one would hear him. Xander felt like he was in some sort of horror movie except for the comforting fact that none of it was real. Gerathon began to read the books words, there seemed to be no ingredients needed.
I hope you realise that I object to this one hundred percent.
Gerathon didn't say anything back he continued to read. Xander felt like everything was fading away. There wasn't much of a surrounding but what there was quickly did. Only a few lines were left to be read, then Xander didn't have a clue what would happen. The final syllable of the last word was read. There seemed to be some sort of light show before anything went black.
Damn I missed the light show.
"Hello!" Shannon opened Giles' door yet again it was unlocked that was if the door could lock. She wasn't expecting a big greeting but they could have done more then stared. Buffy and Willow were with Giles who was holding an ice pack to his head. "Giles, looks like someone threw the book at you."
"No they just hit me with it several times."
"Actually out all the answers that could have been given that sounds almost normal. Who or what was it?" Shannon put all her money on a demon not that she had that much money or actually announced the bet outside be mind.
"It was Xander." Replied Buffy. Shannon was disappointed now she lost all the money she that owed to herself then she recalled what Buffy said. That was not what Shannon was expecting to hear.
"You're kidding me right. Somehow I can't believe that it was Xander." Where is Xander anyway? Her first stop of course was to see Xander at his ever so lovely basement but it was empty.
"Yes ha ha it's all a joke Xanders didn't whack me over the head several head I did to add to this big joke we're playing on you. Why are you here?" Giles was stepping on Shannons' turf trying to be sarcastic. She hoped he wasn't going to try staking his vampire friends as his friends included Xander and Shannon didn't want to see Xander as a vampire.
"I got a phone call from Xander saying that my friends never left Sunnydale and I wanted to introduce them to my new friend." Shannon brought out her treasured sword "I was thinking of giving it a name or would that make me sound a little bit psychotic. Wait that should be a reason to give it a name. Ideas are welcomed."
"Nice sword, fed up of using the good old fashioned stake to heart routine?" asked Willow, Shannon wasn't sure if Willow actually liked her. She knew Xander and Willow were close and thought that Shannon was yet another girl taking her best friend away.
"Decapitation so much more fun, but sometimes I make them wait a bit before they lose their heads. Like not so long a go I cut this vampire limbs off before I got to head. That was a fun day."
"I think we're going off topic slightly here. Xander told you that Anna Company was here when they're not and Xander is becoming an amateur physco." Buffy thought that Shannons' sword was cool wouldn't mind slaying a few vamps with it herself, but she had to concentrate on explaining what Giles had told her. "It's not really Xander though. Somehow Gerathon ended up in control of Xanders body. Willows trying to find out why."
Willow was leant over a bunch of Giles' books there were only a few of them left still closed. They had been researching for quite a long time before Shannon had arrived.
"Have you tried looking for him?" Shannon was ready to grab her sword and head back outside to look for him. Though she hadn't known Xander that long she had become particularly fond of him and would happily kill anyone who harmed him. In this case if Gerathon was using Xanders' body then how what could she do? She didn't want to have hurt Xanders body she found that was one of the best parts of him.
"I may have found something." Said Willow "It says here that what could have happen is that when Gerathon was killed and all those souls were released so was his. With no body of its own it caught a ride with someone else's into theirs. In this case Xander and he took over at some point."
"And Xander, what happened to him?" Giles asked he tried to get off the couch to get a closer look at the book Willow was holding but Willow brought it over to him.
"Nothing according to this book he just ended up sharing it with him but Gerathon was stronger and pushed him to back of his own mind."
"The book that Gerathon took I think that it may have been in order to cast Xander out so that he wouldn't have to take a chance of losing his new body. We have to find them as quickly as possible it may already be too late!"
Xander opened his eyes to find that everything was all blurred. He thought he could see some light coming through the windows.
Oh shit I've died! But at least I went to heaven.
He found the book that the spell had been him while getting off the floor. Maybe it would contain some answers. He made his way out of the building and followed the wall of the building falling over quite a few things. His vision was coming back to him eventually. Xander pinched himself but found that he could feel pain. This ruled out the weird dream explanation. When his sight finally returned he found himself outside the warehouse district of Sunnydale.
"Okay this is not quite what I expected or maybe hell is Sunnydale it does have a Hellmouth after all. Xander as you say this to yourself I hope you realise that you are no longer trapped within your own mind. Yippee!"
He knew what he had to do. He had no idea how long he had been out for but he had to find Buffy and explain what happened. He also would need to explain to Giles and maybe find some way of apologising.
It took a while to get there with the stops he made. Xander had realised that he hadn't eaten anything for quite a few days and brought the best thing for a guy low cash and with little care for his health at the time, junk food with sugary caffeine filled drinks.
He was approaching Giles' after looking in Buffy and Willows dorm room just to find nothing, when he saw Buffy. She looked a little tired. Xander was happy though happier then he had expected to be, but he was very happy. He put his hand on Buffys' shoulder. Next thing he knew he was being thrown and landing on a very hard surface.
"Buffy?"
"No use now we know the truth, Gerathon." She pulled back her fist then punched him. Yet again he found himself unconscious. He should have been getting use to it but instead he just no longer happy.
When he woke up he could hear them talking. His hands were tied behind his back, another thing he was getting fed up of being tied up. She had arrived much like Gerathon had wanted her too so he could start his revenge streak.
"Okay Gerathon give Xander back his body?" Buffy started the questions. He had expected a dark room except for light coming from the torch being held over his head shining brightly in eyes. An attempt to intimidate him.
"Why would I do that?" Instead he was in Giles' place. There was no reason to be scared unless you were afraid of books. He imagined that a book being held up and then someone would be really shocked and scream. The thought almost made him laugh but he didn't think it was the best thing to do in the situation. He did smile slightly though. Xander rethought through what he said and the slight smile and believed that he hadn't done a good thing.
"You think its funny I make probably make it so you'll never be able to laugh again."
"Buffy, you won't hurt me." Wait a go Xander sounded as good as your earlier sentence.
"Really you think that because you're in my friends body I won't risk a little damage so that he could have it back. I don't think he'd mind too much."
"Yes he would though." Maybe I should tell them now before I end up with Buffys' fist in my stomach.
"And what makes you think that?"
"Buffy I am Xander." Xander hoped that she would believe him. "That book I found I'm sure that's the one Gerathon took the spell from to get of me, but instead somehow he got rid of himself. Not the smartest thing in the world to do, I'm happy about it though." Buffy still looked at him with her slayer face, which Xander read as 'I don't believe you and I will be told the truth'. "Ask me any question that no demon would know the answer to."
Buffy thought for a second as whatever question she asked she needed to know the answer to.
"Does the name Natalie Dents ring a bell?"
"I think you mean Natalie French and almost losing my head to a giant praying mantis comes to my mind as well."
"Okay what's your middle name?"
"Nice try Buffy, but that's between me and my birth certificate. And my parents, my family and everyone who was at my christening and also anyone else who got told over the years, but that doesn't include you."
"You know mine and it's only fair that you tell me to prove your not a demon in my friends body."
"Your middle name is Anne that's no way as bad as…hang on I'm still not telling you. Believe that I'm me now?"
"But he could have access to your memories making the test a bit of a waste of time." Xander couldn't believe that at this rate he was going to spend the rest of his life tied to the chair. He saw that Giles was looking at the book hopefully he would find something that made some sense.
"Buffy I think that this may actually be Xander." Buffy walked over and read the bit that Giles pointed out to Buffy what had brought him to that conclusion.
"See I told you I was me."
"Gerathon misread the text. He thought that he was getting rid of you but instead he was getting rid of all evils in you and expelled himself."
"So it's over he's gone." Asked Buffy who walked over and untied Xander then she kind of gave him a hug. "I'm sorry for that but hey you guys did it to me."
"It's not over the evil isn't killed it's just made real so that you can destroy it yourself. Basically you face your own fear."
"Gerathon is walking around again back in demon mode then for all the fun at the soul stealing fair. Sounds like I've got some demon killing to do. Does this adventure ever end?"
"Buffy you don't understand. I believe that he still looks like Xander and in the end it will have to be Xander who kills him. He is the evil that you have to dispense of and to him you are the one he has to destroy."
"Oh great fun, why don't we just meet at sunset for a showdown." Xander was not looking forward to going one on one with his evil twin. He always wanted to do more for the group and this was going to be his chance.
"We have to warn Willow, Anya and Shannon they don't know what's going on, especially Anya she doesn't even know that you had a demon in you."
"Shannon's here already." Gerathon was looking for revenge and if they didn't know that Xander was out of there then they were going to find it harder to fight him. He was particularly insistent about killing Shannon, but if he found Anya first she wouldn't know that anything was amiss till it was too late. "We better start looking for them."
She had been out for a few looking for Gerathon and it turned out it was worth the wait. Willow looked could him heading up towards the coffee shop. She had placed herself so that she had a good view of the street. In the crowded area she couldn't make a scene but she could at least get him away from everyone. She got out of her seat and headed to towards him.
"Hey Xander wait up." He turned around to see her. She wondered if there was any Xander left in him.
"Willow just one of the people I wanted to see." They began walking away from the crowds not much conversation went on between them. She didn't know what to say, but it had to involve getting him to Giles.
"So you wanted to see me about something." She asked, Willow was a little worried that everything could go wrong and she could end up dead or running around without a soul.
"Yeah I was thinking about Gerathon and I think there may be something worth looking at the warehouse for. There's also something I wanted to tell you but not here."
"We should really find Buffy or go get Giles before we do that. I mean what happens if we were to get in to trouble or we needed Giles to tell us about it."
"You're right."
"I am?" She wasn't expecting that, she assumed that they would get in to more of a disagreement and then something else would happen. "My lovely basement isn't too far away we could go and use the phone and call them."
They walked together to Xanders basement. Willow wondered if she should continue or wait to get to his place then ring them. She also considered that if they were wrong and it was Xander then they it could be that he could wind up hurt. She wasn't sure how, but it could happen.
Shortly they arrived at Xander and walked around to the back entrance to his basement.
"Willow don't trust me, I mean him!" Willow was sure she just heard Xanders voice but she was looking at him and he had said nothing. The next thing she saw was Xander being tackled by himself. There were two Xanders and they were fighting each other. This was quite strange.
"Okay I'm little confused." She used her powers to separate the two of them. Willow didn't want to see them kill each other before she had any clue what was going on. "Explain or both of you are having you're first flying experience."
"I thought I had got rid of you." One of the Xanders started strangling the other Xander. Willow was expecting them to pretend to be the real Xander; it did make it easier to know which one was going to get it.
"I guess you get the first go then." The throttling Xander was thrown over the hedge. "Xander explain."
"It's really me but Gerathon also gets to run around in a copy of my body and at some point there is gonna be a fight to death. That part I'm not looking forward to that much. Have you seen Anya or Shannon?"
"No, they're probably both out looking for you." It seemed that everyone was looking for someone but she couldn't say the same for the finding. Willow was missing Oz who had gone off to do a gig in LA, but at least she had something to do.
"Great I get to continue with the looking."
Xander seemed to be no where. Shannon didn't know much about where she was in Sunnydale she just knew that Xander wasn't there either. It wasn't like she was actually searching for Xander; she was more searching for a demon disguised as Xander. Shannon considered that might be time to go back to Giles that report that she hadn't found anything, but she was worried that if she did that she may miss Xander. Yet again she reminded herself that it still wouldn't be Xander when she found him.
"Shannon!" someone was calling her name but she could see whom it was. She was sure that the voice had come from around the corner. Only about three people knew she was back in town and she expected it to be one of them. The person called her name again. She was sure the voice was males and it didn't sound like Giles either.
"Xander?" she could see him further down the road. Shannon prepared to do whatever she was going to when they came closer. She would have to knock him out then drag him Giles' where they would put Xander back in control. Thus she didn't really want to hurt him that badly, as Xander wouldn't want his body to be out of order when he got it back. He was only a few meters away now. "Stop there."
"Shannon I know what you're thinking. That I'm Gerathon and I've taken over Xander." He stepped a little closer, but Shannon moved a step backwards. "He did some spell to get rid of me and it didn't go exactly to planned. Now there are two of us walking around Sunnydale and as I didn't want anything to happen to you I went looking. I don't want him harming you."
"Nice story get it off a movie. I don't see why I should believe you straight away or jump in to your arms." She wouldn't have minded though they were Xanders arms "It doesn't take Mr genius to lie and I'm no little miss gullible."
"If I was Gerathon the evil cliché mad demon looking for revenge, I think I would have tried to pull some sort of stunt by now." Shannon hated this now she was even more confused and Xander was not helping.
"Fine then why don't we go back to Giles' and then we can straighten this whole thing out." This was Shannons non-violent approach but if he didn't she would have be ever so slightly violent by grabbing his shirt and dragging him there.
"No point Buffy took Giles to the hospital to have his head checked on an account of been hit over the head with a big book several times not because Giles is acting more strange then usual. We could go find Willow but she is also out looking for you." Shannon was considering to changing her plan to dragging him by the collar to the hospital but then the doctors would wonder why she just didn't ring for an ambulance.
"So what are we suppose to do then?" Shannon looked at Xander she didn't care if he may be possessed by a demon she so badly want to make out with him. She knew that he had a girlfriend but who cares about that, Shannon had to face the truth she wanted Xander. She was also happy to face that truth.
"I have plan" please be to go to your basement and do stuff thought Shannon "we head to the warehouse find Gerathon, then kill him and you will know that I'm telling truth."
"Sure it either that or we could try and stare each other out." Shannon knew that looking at him wouldn't be a waste of time. After all it still was Xanders body.
The basement was empty again. Anya was beginning to think that Xander was avoiding her, but she couldn't understand it. She looked at his answer machine there were three messages and they had all been left by her. Anya was starting to think of the paranoid reasons to explain Xanders disappearance. Like he had left town to join the army or a demon had eaten him. There was a knock on the door and she hoped that it was Xander, but she didn't consider the fact that why would Xander knock on his own door?
"Oh hi Buffy." Anya was very disappointed. Buffy definitely wasn't Xander.
"Wow what a warm welcome! Is Xander here?" she asked
"Don't you think if Xander was here we would be having sex."
"Way to use tact Anya sometimes we don't want to hear everything." Buffy didn't really like Anya that much it wasn't that she was horrible she just that she was annoying. It was Willow that really didn't like Anya; she didn't seem to get one with any of the girls Xander went out with. The decision to date her was Xanders though, which brought her back to the reason she had gone to his basement. "Okay then we better talk about the reason Xanders not around."
"He wasn't eaten by a demon has he?"
"No but it does involve a demon." Buffy explained everything to Anya but she was only glad that she hadn't slept with Xander while he was possessed. Then she thought that it wouldn't have mattered anyway. They would have had an excuse if Xander had had a poor performance not that he ever did. Buffy decided it was best to stop Anya round about there.
Anna didn't know why she had returned to Sunnydale. She had had enough problems last time to get Xander and had given up, but she still found herself there. There was one advantage though and that was Shannon who had followed them to LA. She knew Shannon would be waiting for some sign of her vampire friends whereabouts before she could really start the hunt. You didn't need to brilliant at geography to realise that Los Angeles and Sunnydale were not the same place, therefore they were nowhere near each other.
The urge to return had begun about a day a go. She felt like there was something she had to do and she knew it was probably the reason she had stayed longer in Sunnydale last time, but it was stronger than before. The energy of the Hellmouth could have also been a reason for her to come back. It could be some sort of drug, which causes vampires and demons to be drawn even when they've left and couldn't live without it. If that was the case then why was she alone?
Naomi and Lynette didn't want to join Anna. She wasn't quite sure if they actually heard her when she said that she was leaving. They were too busy playing with there food. Anna remembered that she hadn't eaten anything in along time and was now hungry. She saw someone in the distance walking alone, she admired their bravery but they were going to find themselves her next meal. The kill would be quick, as she couldn't be bothered with a game she just wanted to eat. There was a rumbling in her stomach.
The moment she approached her victim she dug her teeth into his neck and began to drink his blood. It was tasty. The warm blood trickled down her throat feeding her hunger. He tried to struggle, but he was quickly losing blood. She removed her teeth from the holes in his neck to let him see the horror of what would be his final sight before he lost consciousness. She spun him around. It was Anna though who was completely shocked by what she saw. She had tried to kill this person before but she had failed and here they were not far from death. Using her nail she let the blood flow from the veins in wrist into his mouth. She wouldn't let him die.
"Drink." Xander drunk her blood without any resistance. This was the first time she had sired anyone. She had attempted it once but decided that she couldn't be bothered with the extra hassle, so she just drunk it, she knew there would be another time for it. Of course it would have to go right. She wouldn't know if she had been successful until the time may rise as a vampire.
What's with the book?
"It was meant to be a surprise but being the generous demon I am I'll tell you. There should be a spell in here that will expel you from my mind. Well I actually mean your mind. I know this is a little bit selfish but I deserve this after everything I've done for you."
Because everyone knows I love having demons taking over my body.
"That's the spirit." Gerathon continued to search though the book until he stopped and smiled at the page. This comforted Xander in no way.
Normally at this point the running would start or the hiding or shouting for help. Some sort of indication that he was in trouble, but there was no where to run, no where to run and no one would hear him. Xander felt like he was in some sort of horror movie except for the comforting fact that none of it was real. Gerathon began to read the books words, there seemed to be no ingredients needed.
I hope you realise that I object to this one hundred percent.
Gerathon didn't say anything back he continued to read. Xander felt like everything was fading away. There wasn't much of a surrounding but what there was quickly did. Only a few lines were left to be read, then Xander didn't have a clue what would happen. The final syllable of the last word was read. There seemed to be some sort of light show before anything went black.
Damn I missed the light show.
"Hello!" Shannon opened Giles' door yet again it was unlocked that was if the door could lock. She wasn't expecting a big greeting but they could have done more then stared. Buffy and Willow were with Giles who was holding an ice pack to his head. "Giles, looks like someone threw the book at you."
"No they just hit me with it several times."
"Actually out all the answers that could have been given that sounds almost normal. Who or what was it?" Shannon put all her money on a demon not that she had that much money or actually announced the bet outside be mind.
"It was Xander." Replied Buffy. Shannon was disappointed now she lost all the money she that owed to herself then she recalled what Buffy said. That was not what Shannon was expecting to hear.
"You're kidding me right. Somehow I can't believe that it was Xander." Where is Xander anyway? Her first stop of course was to see Xander at his ever so lovely basement but it was empty.
"Yes ha ha it's all a joke Xanders didn't whack me over the head several head I did to add to this big joke we're playing on you. Why are you here?" Giles was stepping on Shannons' turf trying to be sarcastic. She hoped he wasn't going to try staking his vampire friends as his friends included Xander and Shannon didn't want to see Xander as a vampire.
"I got a phone call from Xander saying that my friends never left Sunnydale and I wanted to introduce them to my new friend." Shannon brought out her treasured sword "I was thinking of giving it a name or would that make me sound a little bit psychotic. Wait that should be a reason to give it a name. Ideas are welcomed."
"Nice sword, fed up of using the good old fashioned stake to heart routine?" asked Willow, Shannon wasn't sure if Willow actually liked her. She knew Xander and Willow were close and thought that Shannon was yet another girl taking her best friend away.
"Decapitation so much more fun, but sometimes I make them wait a bit before they lose their heads. Like not so long a go I cut this vampire limbs off before I got to head. That was a fun day."
"I think we're going off topic slightly here. Xander told you that Anna Company was here when they're not and Xander is becoming an amateur physco." Buffy thought that Shannons' sword was cool wouldn't mind slaying a few vamps with it herself, but she had to concentrate on explaining what Giles had told her. "It's not really Xander though. Somehow Gerathon ended up in control of Xanders body. Willows trying to find out why."
Willow was leant over a bunch of Giles' books there were only a few of them left still closed. They had been researching for quite a long time before Shannon had arrived.
"Have you tried looking for him?" Shannon was ready to grab her sword and head back outside to look for him. Though she hadn't known Xander that long she had become particularly fond of him and would happily kill anyone who harmed him. In this case if Gerathon was using Xanders' body then how what could she do? She didn't want to have hurt Xanders body she found that was one of the best parts of him.
"I may have found something." Said Willow "It says here that what could have happen is that when Gerathon was killed and all those souls were released so was his. With no body of its own it caught a ride with someone else's into theirs. In this case Xander and he took over at some point."
"And Xander, what happened to him?" Giles asked he tried to get off the couch to get a closer look at the book Willow was holding but Willow brought it over to him.
"Nothing according to this book he just ended up sharing it with him but Gerathon was stronger and pushed him to back of his own mind."
"The book that Gerathon took I think that it may have been in order to cast Xander out so that he wouldn't have to take a chance of losing his new body. We have to find them as quickly as possible it may already be too late!"
Xander opened his eyes to find that everything was all blurred. He thought he could see some light coming through the windows.
Oh shit I've died! But at least I went to heaven.
He found the book that the spell had been him while getting off the floor. Maybe it would contain some answers. He made his way out of the building and followed the wall of the building falling over quite a few things. His vision was coming back to him eventually. Xander pinched himself but found that he could feel pain. This ruled out the weird dream explanation. When his sight finally returned he found himself outside the warehouse district of Sunnydale.
"Okay this is not quite what I expected or maybe hell is Sunnydale it does have a Hellmouth after all. Xander as you say this to yourself I hope you realise that you are no longer trapped within your own mind. Yippee!"
He knew what he had to do. He had no idea how long he had been out for but he had to find Buffy and explain what happened. He also would need to explain to Giles and maybe find some way of apologising.
It took a while to get there with the stops he made. Xander had realised that he hadn't eaten anything for quite a few days and brought the best thing for a guy low cash and with little care for his health at the time, junk food with sugary caffeine filled drinks.
He was approaching Giles' after looking in Buffy and Willows dorm room just to find nothing, when he saw Buffy. She looked a little tired. Xander was happy though happier then he had expected to be, but he was very happy. He put his hand on Buffys' shoulder. Next thing he knew he was being thrown and landing on a very hard surface.
"Buffy?"
"No use now we know the truth, Gerathon." She pulled back her fist then punched him. Yet again he found himself unconscious. He should have been getting use to it but instead he just no longer happy.
When he woke up he could hear them talking. His hands were tied behind his back, another thing he was getting fed up of being tied up. She had arrived much like Gerathon had wanted her too so he could start his revenge streak.
"Okay Gerathon give Xander back his body?" Buffy started the questions. He had expected a dark room except for light coming from the torch being held over his head shining brightly in eyes. An attempt to intimidate him.
"Why would I do that?" Instead he was in Giles' place. There was no reason to be scared unless you were afraid of books. He imagined that a book being held up and then someone would be really shocked and scream. The thought almost made him laugh but he didn't think it was the best thing to do in the situation. He did smile slightly though. Xander rethought through what he said and the slight smile and believed that he hadn't done a good thing.
"You think its funny I make probably make it so you'll never be able to laugh again."
"Buffy, you won't hurt me." Wait a go Xander sounded as good as your earlier sentence.
"Really you think that because you're in my friends body I won't risk a little damage so that he could have it back. I don't think he'd mind too much."
"Yes he would though." Maybe I should tell them now before I end up with Buffys' fist in my stomach.
"And what makes you think that?"
"Buffy I am Xander." Xander hoped that she would believe him. "That book I found I'm sure that's the one Gerathon took the spell from to get of me, but instead somehow he got rid of himself. Not the smartest thing in the world to do, I'm happy about it though." Buffy still looked at him with her slayer face, which Xander read as 'I don't believe you and I will be told the truth'. "Ask me any question that no demon would know the answer to."
Buffy thought for a second as whatever question she asked she needed to know the answer to.
"Does the name Natalie Dents ring a bell?"
"I think you mean Natalie French and almost losing my head to a giant praying mantis comes to my mind as well."
"Okay what's your middle name?"
"Nice try Buffy, but that's between me and my birth certificate. And my parents, my family and everyone who was at my christening and also anyone else who got told over the years, but that doesn't include you."
"You know mine and it's only fair that you tell me to prove your not a demon in my friends body."
"Your middle name is Anne that's no way as bad as…hang on I'm still not telling you. Believe that I'm me now?"
"But he could have access to your memories making the test a bit of a waste of time." Xander couldn't believe that at this rate he was going to spend the rest of his life tied to the chair. He saw that Giles was looking at the book hopefully he would find something that made some sense.
"Buffy I think that this may actually be Xander." Buffy walked over and read the bit that Giles pointed out to Buffy what had brought him to that conclusion.
"See I told you I was me."
"Gerathon misread the text. He thought that he was getting rid of you but instead he was getting rid of all evils in you and expelled himself."
"So it's over he's gone." Asked Buffy who walked over and untied Xander then she kind of gave him a hug. "I'm sorry for that but hey you guys did it to me."
"It's not over the evil isn't killed it's just made real so that you can destroy it yourself. Basically you face your own fear."
"Gerathon is walking around again back in demon mode then for all the fun at the soul stealing fair. Sounds like I've got some demon killing to do. Does this adventure ever end?"
"Buffy you don't understand. I believe that he still looks like Xander and in the end it will have to be Xander who kills him. He is the evil that you have to dispense of and to him you are the one he has to destroy."
"Oh great fun, why don't we just meet at sunset for a showdown." Xander was not looking forward to going one on one with his evil twin. He always wanted to do more for the group and this was going to be his chance.
"We have to warn Willow, Anya and Shannon they don't know what's going on, especially Anya she doesn't even know that you had a demon in you."
"Shannon's here already." Gerathon was looking for revenge and if they didn't know that Xander was out of there then they were going to find it harder to fight him. He was particularly insistent about killing Shannon, but if he found Anya first she wouldn't know that anything was amiss till it was too late. "We better start looking for them."
She had been out for a few looking for Gerathon and it turned out it was worth the wait. Willow looked could him heading up towards the coffee shop. She had placed herself so that she had a good view of the street. In the crowded area she couldn't make a scene but she could at least get him away from everyone. She got out of her seat and headed to towards him.
"Hey Xander wait up." He turned around to see her. She wondered if there was any Xander left in him.
"Willow just one of the people I wanted to see." They began walking away from the crowds not much conversation went on between them. She didn't know what to say, but it had to involve getting him to Giles.
"So you wanted to see me about something." She asked, Willow was a little worried that everything could go wrong and she could end up dead or running around without a soul.
"Yeah I was thinking about Gerathon and I think there may be something worth looking at the warehouse for. There's also something I wanted to tell you but not here."
"We should really find Buffy or go get Giles before we do that. I mean what happens if we were to get in to trouble or we needed Giles to tell us about it."
"You're right."
"I am?" She wasn't expecting that, she assumed that they would get in to more of a disagreement and then something else would happen. "My lovely basement isn't too far away we could go and use the phone and call them."
They walked together to Xanders basement. Willow wondered if she should continue or wait to get to his place then ring them. She also considered that if they were wrong and it was Xander then they it could be that he could wind up hurt. She wasn't sure how, but it could happen.
Shortly they arrived at Xander and walked around to the back entrance to his basement.
"Willow don't trust me, I mean him!" Willow was sure she just heard Xanders voice but she was looking at him and he had said nothing. The next thing she saw was Xander being tackled by himself. There were two Xanders and they were fighting each other. This was quite strange.
"Okay I'm little confused." She used her powers to separate the two of them. Willow didn't want to see them kill each other before she had any clue what was going on. "Explain or both of you are having you're first flying experience."
"I thought I had got rid of you." One of the Xanders started strangling the other Xander. Willow was expecting them to pretend to be the real Xander; it did make it easier to know which one was going to get it.
"I guess you get the first go then." The throttling Xander was thrown over the hedge. "Xander explain."
"It's really me but Gerathon also gets to run around in a copy of my body and at some point there is gonna be a fight to death. That part I'm not looking forward to that much. Have you seen Anya or Shannon?"
"No, they're probably both out looking for you." It seemed that everyone was looking for someone but she couldn't say the same for the finding. Willow was missing Oz who had gone off to do a gig in LA, but at least she had something to do.
"Great I get to continue with the looking."
Xander seemed to be no where. Shannon didn't know much about where she was in Sunnydale she just knew that Xander wasn't there either. It wasn't like she was actually searching for Xander; she was more searching for a demon disguised as Xander. Shannon considered that might be time to go back to Giles that report that she hadn't found anything, but she was worried that if she did that she may miss Xander. Yet again she reminded herself that it still wouldn't be Xander when she found him.
"Shannon!" someone was calling her name but she could see whom it was. She was sure that the voice had come from around the corner. Only about three people knew she was back in town and she expected it to be one of them. The person called her name again. She was sure the voice was males and it didn't sound like Giles either.
"Xander?" she could see him further down the road. Shannon prepared to do whatever she was going to when they came closer. She would have to knock him out then drag him Giles' where they would put Xander back in control. Thus she didn't really want to hurt him that badly, as Xander wouldn't want his body to be out of order when he got it back. He was only a few meters away now. "Stop there."
"Shannon I know what you're thinking. That I'm Gerathon and I've taken over Xander." He stepped a little closer, but Shannon moved a step backwards. "He did some spell to get rid of me and it didn't go exactly to planned. Now there are two of us walking around Sunnydale and as I didn't want anything to happen to you I went looking. I don't want him harming you."
"Nice story get it off a movie. I don't see why I should believe you straight away or jump in to your arms." She wouldn't have minded though they were Xanders arms "It doesn't take Mr genius to lie and I'm no little miss gullible."
"If I was Gerathon the evil cliché mad demon looking for revenge, I think I would have tried to pull some sort of stunt by now." Shannon hated this now she was even more confused and Xander was not helping.
"Fine then why don't we go back to Giles' and then we can straighten this whole thing out." This was Shannons non-violent approach but if he didn't she would have be ever so slightly violent by grabbing his shirt and dragging him there.
"No point Buffy took Giles to the hospital to have his head checked on an account of been hit over the head with a big book several times not because Giles is acting more strange then usual. We could go find Willow but she is also out looking for you." Shannon was considering to changing her plan to dragging him by the collar to the hospital but then the doctors would wonder why she just didn't ring for an ambulance.
"So what are we suppose to do then?" Shannon looked at Xander she didn't care if he may be possessed by a demon she so badly want to make out with him. She knew that he had a girlfriend but who cares about that, Shannon had to face the truth she wanted Xander. She was also happy to face that truth.
"I have plan" please be to go to your basement and do stuff thought Shannon "we head to the warehouse find Gerathon, then kill him and you will know that I'm telling truth."
"Sure it either that or we could try and stare each other out." Shannon knew that looking at him wouldn't be a waste of time. After all it still was Xanders body.
The basement was empty again. Anya was beginning to think that Xander was avoiding her, but she couldn't understand it. She looked at his answer machine there were three messages and they had all been left by her. Anya was starting to think of the paranoid reasons to explain Xanders disappearance. Like he had left town to join the army or a demon had eaten him. There was a knock on the door and she hoped that it was Xander, but she didn't consider the fact that why would Xander knock on his own door?
"Oh hi Buffy." Anya was very disappointed. Buffy definitely wasn't Xander.
"Wow what a warm welcome! Is Xander here?" she asked
"Don't you think if Xander was here we would be having sex."
"Way to use tact Anya sometimes we don't want to hear everything." Buffy didn't really like Anya that much it wasn't that she was horrible she just that she was annoying. It was Willow that really didn't like Anya; she didn't seem to get one with any of the girls Xander went out with. The decision to date her was Xanders though, which brought her back to the reason she had gone to his basement. "Okay then we better talk about the reason Xanders not around."
"He wasn't eaten by a demon has he?"
"No but it does involve a demon." Buffy explained everything to Anya but she was only glad that she hadn't slept with Xander while he was possessed. Then she thought that it wouldn't have mattered anyway. They would have had an excuse if Xander had had a poor performance not that he ever did. Buffy decided it was best to stop Anya round about there.
Anna didn't know why she had returned to Sunnydale. She had had enough problems last time to get Xander and had given up, but she still found herself there. There was one advantage though and that was Shannon who had followed them to LA. She knew Shannon would be waiting for some sign of her vampire friends whereabouts before she could really start the hunt. You didn't need to brilliant at geography to realise that Los Angeles and Sunnydale were not the same place, therefore they were nowhere near each other.
The urge to return had begun about a day a go. She felt like there was something she had to do and she knew it was probably the reason she had stayed longer in Sunnydale last time, but it was stronger than before. The energy of the Hellmouth could have also been a reason for her to come back. It could be some sort of drug, which causes vampires and demons to be drawn even when they've left and couldn't live without it. If that was the case then why was she alone?
Naomi and Lynette didn't want to join Anna. She wasn't quite sure if they actually heard her when she said that she was leaving. They were too busy playing with there food. Anna remembered that she hadn't eaten anything in along time and was now hungry. She saw someone in the distance walking alone, she admired their bravery but they were going to find themselves her next meal. The kill would be quick, as she couldn't be bothered with a game she just wanted to eat. There was a rumbling in her stomach.
The moment she approached her victim she dug her teeth into his neck and began to drink his blood. It was tasty. The warm blood trickled down her throat feeding her hunger. He tried to struggle, but he was quickly losing blood. She removed her teeth from the holes in his neck to let him see the horror of what would be his final sight before he lost consciousness. She spun him around. It was Anna though who was completely shocked by what she saw. She had tried to kill this person before but she had failed and here they were not far from death. Using her nail she let the blood flow from the veins in wrist into his mouth. She wouldn't let him die.
"Drink." Xander drunk her blood without any resistance. This was the first time she had sired anyone. She had attempted it once but decided that she couldn't be bothered with the extra hassle, so she just drunk it, she knew there would be another time for it. Of course it would have to go right. She wouldn't know if she had been successful until the time may rise as a vampire.