There was a plan, but nothing was going according to the plan. Willow and Xander hadn't come back after they went out again to find Shannon. She and Xander could have gone somewhere together but the amount of time was too long for not saying a word. The sun had gone down about an hour ago but she wasn't only patrolling she was trying to find her friends and Xanders evil twin.
"Hello there slayer." Buffy spun around ready for a fight but it was just Spike "What you're not going to greet me with a punch? I must really be becoming one of the inner circle."
"Don't tell me you didn't ask for it." She punched his nose and he would have attacked back if it weren't for the chip in the back of his head. "Look Spike I haven't got time to continue this, but have you seen any of my friends?"
"No one want to play with Buffy any more, about time they all got fed up of you and this slayerette trend." Spike really annoyed Buffy but she didn't tell him that. "Matter of fact I did see one of them late last night he was looking a little pale."
"Xander, was he doing anything evil?" asked Buffy. It couldn't be their Xander as he had rung in to say he was fine, but he did say he was going out again.
"I don't think he really could do anything evil even if he wanted to. You remember that vampire that really had the hots for him for some reason. They were in Weatherly Park together. I saw her dragging his dead body off somewhere."
"Xander." Buffy couldn't believe what she was hearing. She thought about taking it all out on Spike but she knew that she had to find Xander, in the end he may not be dead and hopefully not undead.
"I asked her where her and her friends had disappeared to, but she just said that they weren't in town anymore and she was only staying for a while." Buffy had run off though to save the day and all the other things she did.
Buffy burst into Giles place that was just standing there with a disappointed look on his face. It wasn't her fault that Giles never locked his door. You would think that in a town like Sunnydale someone who knew the truth about it would keep their door locked at most times.
"Giles quick we have got to save Xander. I was at Spike's crypt and he said," Buffy glanced at the couch for a second. Xander was sitting there wondering why he needed to be saved. Shannon was sitting next to him. "And you're right there sitting on the couch. Not quite what I was expecting to see."
"Don't worry I am in danger. I think if I stay sat down on Giles hard couch any longer my bums going to go numb."
"Where have you two been?" Xander and Shannon replied by staring at each other but Buffy realised that she really wasn't bothered by what they had been up to while they were gone. "It doesn't matter, I was just talking to Spike and he said that he saw you been dragged off by Anna."
"I may have noticed that kind of thing and so would Shannon because she's been with me the whole time." Xander looked guilty. He thought for a second and pointed "Evil me has been made even more evil! The evil me, that I'm going to have to go up against, has been turned into a vampire. Damn it! This officially sucks." Xander sat back down on the couch and sulked.
Buffy, Giles and Shannon went to another part of the room to talk about the situation. Xander had been in bad situations before but he had had his friends their to help him.
"Shannon maybe you should take Xander back to his place and look after him while we do some research." Said Giles "I'm not sure if it has to be one on one so maybe there is still something we can do for him."
"What happens if they never meet up for this big battle?" asked Shannon. She had more questions but she couldn't say no to going back with Xander to her place.
"It will happen its part of the spell. Even if Xander didn't have to go through with it I'm sure he wouldn't want to spend the rest of his life hiding. You two better start going while it's still daylight."
"Sure." Shannon walked over to Xander and got his attention by putting her hand on his shoulder. "I think you me need to go back to your house to do some more talking."
"Yeah I think we should definitely do that." Xander quickly got up to get his coat. Together Shannon and Xander were both in a rush to leave.
"I wonder what those two are up?" Giles question was answered by Buffy giving him the whatever look "I do know what they're doing I was trying to be sarcastic or something like that."
"Are you sure that Xander is going to okay if Gerathon turned up. Gerathon I always thought that was a stupid name maybe he should consider having it changed. It makes him sounds like he's a Pokemon."
It had nothing really to do with the first question but Buffy still had to say it.
"If that was to happen Shannons perfectly capable of handling it." Giles didn't look at Buffy when he said it, she could tell he was looking at his bookshelf to avoid eye contact with her.
"There's something you're not telling me about Shannon. I mean she seems to be really good at slaying vampires almost as good as me and [1]--[2][Author ID1: at Sat Oct 13 16:20:00 2001 ]
I'm sure that there isn't any other slayer about at the moment other than Faith. Giles you have to tell me things straightaway so they don't surprise me at the wrong time."
Giles paused for a second. He knew he would have to tell his slayer the truth but he wasn't quite sure how. Buffy didn't deal well with competition as he had discovered from the last two slayers that arrived after Buffys death.
"She isn't to become a watcher that was just the Watchers councils way of keeping an eye on her. As she told you earlier when she discovered that she was to become a watcher she was more interested in the idea of becoming a slayer."
"She was one of ones that was to become a slayer." Interrupted Buffy during Giles big tell the truth speech.
"I was getting to that. For some reason Shannon was showing some of the slayers special powers before she was even chosen. This started a few years ago around about the time you became the slayer.
"The watchers council started an investigation to try to discover why this was happening. The slayer before you was near death when she was found and taken to a hospital. It was thought that she might pull threw at one point but the vampire that had at fought that he had killed a slayer came back to finish her.
"The theory is that Shannon was actually to be the next the slayer but when the previous slayer started to make a recovery it didn't happen. When she did die though for some reason it skipped her and you became the slayer."
"I thought the slayer had to die before the next slayer happened until I kinda cocked up that system."
"It's only a theory Buffy and nobody really understands the slayer and how everything works. This is an old power that goes back to the beginning of mankind. The answer would be a lot easier to explain if she was just half demon or vampire or even a alien from outer space that crashed landed here took the form of Shannon and coincidently had similar powers to that of a slayer."
"Does she have all the slayers powers?"
"If you would let me finish what I was saying I could tell you. I was a friend of her dads, we would catch up whenever he came to London and he was telling me how Shannon was acting differently. She was becoming more aggressive and would pick any fight with anyone, he didn't believe that it was because she had just started kickboxing and was showing a natural talent with the sport. He also mentioned how she had broken her finger at someones house and the doctors were surprised how quickly it had healed.
"Anyway it sounded suspicious of some sort of possession. There's a spell that reveals the demon when the ingredients are eaten. I wasn't too keen on using it but under the orders of the council I did but nothing happened when she ate the very bad tasting strawberry ice cream.
"The council then told me to tell her that her duty was to become a watcher like I was. Shortly after that she started fighting vampires almost as well as a slayer and that gave us the next clue towards what had happened. We believe that the powers that have shown themselves so far are the slayers increased strength and agility. There are still questions to be answered like: will any other skills show, are her powers at their peak, will they increase or weaken now that she's eighteen? They're all pretty similar questions but only time will tell."
"She's got the best of the powers. I feel less unique every day and that they felt I needed more help because they thought I was going to be a bad slayer." Buffy continued to say how everything effected her and why this was a big problem for her. Only Giles could save the day and stop her from whinging.
"Buffy you can't tell anyone this. Only a handful of people know this. The watchers council believe it is yet another mistake that has happened over the past few years and they don't more people to know about it. I only told you because I felt it was best and because I don't give a damn about the council anymore. If Shannon was to know though, I can't think of why she shouldn't know. In fact I'm going to piss off the council even more by telling her."
"Giles why didn't the council tell her? I thought they might be happy to know that there was someone else out there that could stop the vampires."
"I think it had something to do with the fact they knew that they could never really control her or give her a watcher that she even listen to. They didn't want a rogue slayer that they had to claim responsibility for and by continuing to tell her that she was a watcher they believed that this was a way of teaching her how to become a slayer without actually giving a watcher to tell her. It kind of worked for a while but then they became even more busy with you, Kendra then Faith who was their biggest problem."
There was a silence between. They were expecting that one another would say something but no words came out of anyone's mouth for a few moments.
"You can ask questions now Buffy." Said Giles who broke the short silence.
"I think I asked all mine when I thought of them."
Shannon and Xander entered his basement. They were worried that Anya was going to be in there and then they would have a failed attempt at synchronised lying. It was annoying for Shannon though because she thought that she shouldn't have to sneak around.
"Xander when are you going to tell Anya?" she questioned him very early on in the relationship but she didn't want to be the other woman. Shannon wanted to be the woman.
"Tell her what?" Xander knew perfectly well what the question was and he also knew he couldn't avoid it for that long.
"Tell her that we made love, we slept together, we knocked boots, we jumped on the good foot and did the bad thing, that we had sex. However nicely or crudely you want to put it. I'm sure as a guy you have plenty of other ways to describe it and no I'm not asking for a list. I'm not issuing an ultimatum but..."
"You don't know Anya though. She has a bit of a history."
"Oh so she's had a quite a few break ups. She's not the only one in the world and she shouldn't be putting you through a guilt trip because of it."
"No I mean over one thousand years of history." Shannon knew that Anya was older than her but not by a millennium. She was confused. "She had had some bad break ups so she casts some vengeance spells on her unfaithful boyfriends, which got her the gig of vengeance demon for all those scorned girls out there. I cheated on Cordelia with Willow, she came, she lost her powers, and she fell in love with me. It sounds strange but with my history of relationships it's normal."
"So it's not guilt, it's fear. Xander I don't know what you're planning to do? I mean okay you've cheated on her but what would have happened if you wanted to break up with her because you believed the relationship was going nowhere."
"No it's not like. We have a good time and we are in a relationship and I hadn't really had a reason to think about us breaking up. I just want both I guess. Anya and I must have something special going on I guess if I hadn't even consider breaking up with her, but us, we have hit off great! We have so much in common and you've saved my life on several occasions already and..." Xander had to think about what he was going say next. It seemed like everything in his mind was going nowhere. "Shannon I'm happy with Anya and I do really like you but..."
"I'm just a quick little fling which has been set off just because of sexual attraction." Shannon tried to sound like she understood everything but really she was pissed off with Xander, but then she looked at his very cute face and realised that she couldn't stay mad at him. Nevertheless she had been hurt and the only solution was a dramatic exit. "You tell Anya about us and see what happens. I'm just going to off and kill some things while I wait."
With that Shannon did the best classic exit she could do. She opened the basement door and slammed it shut with a loud bang. Even though the door was shut Xander could still hear Shannons feet stomping as she went up the stairs. Best break up ever!
It seemed to him like the first time he had ever woken up. He felt very hungry but this time it was different. He didn't hunger for the souls of the good to increase his power. This time he thirsted for warm blood to trickle down his throat to satisfy the new sensation. He knew what had happened to him he had become a vampire.
This had been his second change within only a few days. It was different though being a vampire was worse then being a human. They were a creature even lower down. Vampires were creatures that sulked around in the shadow looking for a meal and could only appear at night. A demon living within a human body, but that was it they were really neither a demon or human, so they didn't belong in either society. Anything human even if it was just half was despised by demons.
"I think..." he wasn't alone in the sewer; there was a female with him. She turned around when she had heard his movement and he instantly recognised the face. "Hey honey its night time and I think you've just woken up for a new lust for blood."
"You!" shouted Gerathon he ran over put his hand around the females' neck and slammed her against the wall.
"Hey! I don't know if they taught you this in school but when someone gives you a wonderful gift you're meant to say Thankyou. I know you are probably a little grouchy from waking up from your sleep. BUT.THAT'S.NO.EXCUSE." She grabbed his hand and pulled it away from her throat. After that she threw him into the wall in front of her. "See I said that I would sire you and I don't like lying to myself. Plus it can go under the category where the bad guys plan actually went the way they wanted it to."
"No, it didn't." Gerathon had a smirk on his face. He had never even thought about this happening. The plans he had, had seemed to twist and turn further away from the original objective. He had decided that's enough everything would have to be finished tonight before his first dawn arrived as a vampire "I'm not Xander I'm Gerathon and I'm going to get something to eat."
"Wait I'm confused. Last I checked Gerathon was big old ugly demon, not at all nice either and don't forget smelly. Now Xander he's different he's very sexy, with a cute smile and a very nice butt." Anna looked down to check it out "I guess I didn't get the memo saying that all new vampires would be having an identity crisis. Maybe this will remind you."
Anna walked over to the vampire who she fought was the newly raised Xander. She put her arms around him then pressed her lips against his. It did feel different from their last kiss, but she gathered that it was because he was a vampire this time. A confused vampire. Mid kiss his face morphed from human to reveal his new demon half.
"Oh fuck!" Anna put her finger on the wound and then looked at the blood on her finger. When his teeth had changed his into fangs he had cut her lip. Her face had morphed too now due to the anger but she quickly changed it back. "There was no need for that."
"I have to go now." Gerathon was climbing up the ladder already. He pushed the sewer lid up and looked at where the hell he was. He didn't know there were no clues. He was just on yet another street filled with houses and they all looked just the same. He stood up on the concrete and looked down into the sewer from whence he came. Anna was nearly out of there. He picked up the sewer lid and dropped it on her just as she was about to climb out. This made her fall to the bottom. It wouldn't stop her but it would slow her down.
There was someone who was walking down the street he was on away from him. He could see a young blond female. He could see his first feeding.
Xander didn't know what to say. He couldn't just mess around with Anya and treat her as a safety. She was just staring at him. He had started off by saying `I have something that I have to tell you...' and that had been it so far. He couldn't just finish it there and run out of his basement screaming his head off while ripping out his hair. It might make her think that he was just having really early mid life crisis.
He still had time to come up with a lie. He had paused the sentence at just the right place to cause dramatic tension. With a lie the long pause would be an over exaggeration but what could be so important that he had to tell her. I'm gay. No, that wasn't quite the lie he was looking for.
"Anya, I, I slept with Shannon." He had finally said it. There was nothing to do now except wait for the consequences.
"What?!" Anya raised her voice but there was a hurt and confused expression on her face. "How, why did you?" She didn't really know what to say.
Xander sat down next to her and tried put his hands on her. Anya just moved away from him.
Gerathon had caught up with the girl. He put his hand on her shoulder to stop her. She just moved it off.
"Xander I don't want to talk you yet."
"It was last night when we had searched the warehouse and come up with nothing. On the way back we took a shortcut through a graveyard. It was stupid but we just wanted to get back. Of course you take a walk through a cemetery you're gonna run into some vampires. I had fallen over and the last vampire started to strangle me. Shannon saved my life when she staked it but you know it turned to dust. She landed on top of me. We started to kiss and then it lead to stuff."
"I don't really want to hear the details." Anya's eyes were welling up with tears. She was trying to do her best not to be upset, but her boyfriend had just told her that he had cheated on her.
"I was just describing the situation." He wanted her to understand he didn't want to many questions he couldn't answer at the end. "I think it happened because we were in a life threatening situation and it made everything seem sexy. I guess it also made it worse because there was already a sexual attraction between the two of us."
Gerathon hit Shannon to the ground. She looked at him wondering why her Xander would have done such a thing then he revealed that it wasn't her Xander. She jumped to her feet with her mind on set on the task of killing Gerathon.
Shannon made the first move with a blow to the right side of his face. The impact made him turn his head but it didn't make him move his feet backwards one step. He turned his head back to face her but this time it had an evil grin on it.
She hated seeing Xanders beautiful features being turned in the vampire's game face. It was hard to hit him. After all it was like hitting Xander but she also knew that wasn't him. It wasn't even Xanders real body with a demon in it. This was why she knew it was okay for her to stake him. The problem was that she had left the real Xanders house in such a dramatic exit she forgot to pick up her stake on the way out.
"So are you leaving me for her?" asked Anya who was sure that this was the end of her relationship.
"No, that's why I'm telling you this. I didn't think it would be fair on you to keep this a secret. I want our relationship to be honest."
"Well the truth hurts. I've been cheated on before Xander and you know that. That's how I became a vengeance demon." She had thought of the spells that she had cast on the men but even though she was angry with him she couldn't hurt him.
"I want us to work through it and I want us to be together. I guess it made me realise how much I wanted to be with you. I love you." Xander was worried that if he kept speaking this way that it was going to make him sound like he was about to propose to her. For him saying I love you was a big step. He didn't think he had really told any girlfriend of his that before. Oh wait! Yes I did with Ampata just before she tried to drain the life out of me. Maybe that was why he didn't say it that easily anymore. He never told Cordelia it when he was dating her.
"You've cheated before though." Oh great I forgot thought Xander "I just don't know whether I trust you anymore. I want some place to think over things."
Anya left the basement but not like Shannon had. She left quietly. He had two relationships this morning but now when both had left the basement he knew he had made the right decision.
Shannon got up from against the tree she had just been thrown at. A small branch had fallen on the ground after her impact. She finally had her stake.
She attacked Gerathon with a double kick to throw him off balance. Then Shannon whacked the palm of her hand against his nose to make it bloody. He tried to punch her but she was able to block it. Holding on to his arm she twisted him around then stuck the stake in his heart and pushed him away to turn to dust.
"Well I guess that's some of my anger gone." She felt better after her little fight she had even saved the day now. Everything could go back to normal.
The teeth broke the skin and the pain surged through her body. Shannon could feel the blood leaving her making her feeler weaker and colder. She didn't understand though she had staked him. A stake to the heart killed all vampires. A big stick of wood in the vital organ normally killed a lot of things. Shannon didn't understand.
"Giles said that in the end it's going to be me that has to kill him. You know the whole face your fear thing, destroy the evil within." Xander had explained to her about him and Gerathon "It's scary that I'm going to have to have this big one off. All on my own with no help."
"You won't be alone, I'll make sure I'm there. I'll be the one cheerleading in the background." They had laughed and then they had kissed.
References
1. file://localhost/tmp/uploads/147349.html#author1
2. file://localhost/tmp/uploads/147349.html#author1
"Hello there slayer." Buffy spun around ready for a fight but it was just Spike "What you're not going to greet me with a punch? I must really be becoming one of the inner circle."
"Don't tell me you didn't ask for it." She punched his nose and he would have attacked back if it weren't for the chip in the back of his head. "Look Spike I haven't got time to continue this, but have you seen any of my friends?"
"No one want to play with Buffy any more, about time they all got fed up of you and this slayerette trend." Spike really annoyed Buffy but she didn't tell him that. "Matter of fact I did see one of them late last night he was looking a little pale."
"Xander, was he doing anything evil?" asked Buffy. It couldn't be their Xander as he had rung in to say he was fine, but he did say he was going out again.
"I don't think he really could do anything evil even if he wanted to. You remember that vampire that really had the hots for him for some reason. They were in Weatherly Park together. I saw her dragging his dead body off somewhere."
"Xander." Buffy couldn't believe what she was hearing. She thought about taking it all out on Spike but she knew that she had to find Xander, in the end he may not be dead and hopefully not undead.
"I asked her where her and her friends had disappeared to, but she just said that they weren't in town anymore and she was only staying for a while." Buffy had run off though to save the day and all the other things she did.
Buffy burst into Giles place that was just standing there with a disappointed look on his face. It wasn't her fault that Giles never locked his door. You would think that in a town like Sunnydale someone who knew the truth about it would keep their door locked at most times.
"Giles quick we have got to save Xander. I was at Spike's crypt and he said," Buffy glanced at the couch for a second. Xander was sitting there wondering why he needed to be saved. Shannon was sitting next to him. "And you're right there sitting on the couch. Not quite what I was expecting to see."
"Don't worry I am in danger. I think if I stay sat down on Giles hard couch any longer my bums going to go numb."
"Where have you two been?" Xander and Shannon replied by staring at each other but Buffy realised that she really wasn't bothered by what they had been up to while they were gone. "It doesn't matter, I was just talking to Spike and he said that he saw you been dragged off by Anna."
"I may have noticed that kind of thing and so would Shannon because she's been with me the whole time." Xander looked guilty. He thought for a second and pointed "Evil me has been made even more evil! The evil me, that I'm going to have to go up against, has been turned into a vampire. Damn it! This officially sucks." Xander sat back down on the couch and sulked.
Buffy, Giles and Shannon went to another part of the room to talk about the situation. Xander had been in bad situations before but he had had his friends their to help him.
"Shannon maybe you should take Xander back to his place and look after him while we do some research." Said Giles "I'm not sure if it has to be one on one so maybe there is still something we can do for him."
"What happens if they never meet up for this big battle?" asked Shannon. She had more questions but she couldn't say no to going back with Xander to her place.
"It will happen its part of the spell. Even if Xander didn't have to go through with it I'm sure he wouldn't want to spend the rest of his life hiding. You two better start going while it's still daylight."
"Sure." Shannon walked over to Xander and got his attention by putting her hand on his shoulder. "I think you me need to go back to your house to do some more talking."
"Yeah I think we should definitely do that." Xander quickly got up to get his coat. Together Shannon and Xander were both in a rush to leave.
"I wonder what those two are up?" Giles question was answered by Buffy giving him the whatever look "I do know what they're doing I was trying to be sarcastic or something like that."
"Are you sure that Xander is going to okay if Gerathon turned up. Gerathon I always thought that was a stupid name maybe he should consider having it changed. It makes him sounds like he's a Pokemon."
It had nothing really to do with the first question but Buffy still had to say it.
"If that was to happen Shannons perfectly capable of handling it." Giles didn't look at Buffy when he said it, she could tell he was looking at his bookshelf to avoid eye contact with her.
"There's something you're not telling me about Shannon. I mean she seems to be really good at slaying vampires almost as good as me and [1]--[2][Author ID1: at Sat Oct 13 16:20:00 2001 ]
I'm sure that there isn't any other slayer about at the moment other than Faith. Giles you have to tell me things straightaway so they don't surprise me at the wrong time."
Giles paused for a second. He knew he would have to tell his slayer the truth but he wasn't quite sure how. Buffy didn't deal well with competition as he had discovered from the last two slayers that arrived after Buffys death.
"She isn't to become a watcher that was just the Watchers councils way of keeping an eye on her. As she told you earlier when she discovered that she was to become a watcher she was more interested in the idea of becoming a slayer."
"She was one of ones that was to become a slayer." Interrupted Buffy during Giles big tell the truth speech.
"I was getting to that. For some reason Shannon was showing some of the slayers special powers before she was even chosen. This started a few years ago around about the time you became the slayer.
"The watchers council started an investigation to try to discover why this was happening. The slayer before you was near death when she was found and taken to a hospital. It was thought that she might pull threw at one point but the vampire that had at fought that he had killed a slayer came back to finish her.
"The theory is that Shannon was actually to be the next the slayer but when the previous slayer started to make a recovery it didn't happen. When she did die though for some reason it skipped her and you became the slayer."
"I thought the slayer had to die before the next slayer happened until I kinda cocked up that system."
"It's only a theory Buffy and nobody really understands the slayer and how everything works. This is an old power that goes back to the beginning of mankind. The answer would be a lot easier to explain if she was just half demon or vampire or even a alien from outer space that crashed landed here took the form of Shannon and coincidently had similar powers to that of a slayer."
"Does she have all the slayers powers?"
"If you would let me finish what I was saying I could tell you. I was a friend of her dads, we would catch up whenever he came to London and he was telling me how Shannon was acting differently. She was becoming more aggressive and would pick any fight with anyone, he didn't believe that it was because she had just started kickboxing and was showing a natural talent with the sport. He also mentioned how she had broken her finger at someones house and the doctors were surprised how quickly it had healed.
"Anyway it sounded suspicious of some sort of possession. There's a spell that reveals the demon when the ingredients are eaten. I wasn't too keen on using it but under the orders of the council I did but nothing happened when she ate the very bad tasting strawberry ice cream.
"The council then told me to tell her that her duty was to become a watcher like I was. Shortly after that she started fighting vampires almost as well as a slayer and that gave us the next clue towards what had happened. We believe that the powers that have shown themselves so far are the slayers increased strength and agility. There are still questions to be answered like: will any other skills show, are her powers at their peak, will they increase or weaken now that she's eighteen? They're all pretty similar questions but only time will tell."
"She's got the best of the powers. I feel less unique every day and that they felt I needed more help because they thought I was going to be a bad slayer." Buffy continued to say how everything effected her and why this was a big problem for her. Only Giles could save the day and stop her from whinging.
"Buffy you can't tell anyone this. Only a handful of people know this. The watchers council believe it is yet another mistake that has happened over the past few years and they don't more people to know about it. I only told you because I felt it was best and because I don't give a damn about the council anymore. If Shannon was to know though, I can't think of why she shouldn't know. In fact I'm going to piss off the council even more by telling her."
"Giles why didn't the council tell her? I thought they might be happy to know that there was someone else out there that could stop the vampires."
"I think it had something to do with the fact they knew that they could never really control her or give her a watcher that she even listen to. They didn't want a rogue slayer that they had to claim responsibility for and by continuing to tell her that she was a watcher they believed that this was a way of teaching her how to become a slayer without actually giving a watcher to tell her. It kind of worked for a while but then they became even more busy with you, Kendra then Faith who was their biggest problem."
There was a silence between. They were expecting that one another would say something but no words came out of anyone's mouth for a few moments.
"You can ask questions now Buffy." Said Giles who broke the short silence.
"I think I asked all mine when I thought of them."
Shannon and Xander entered his basement. They were worried that Anya was going to be in there and then they would have a failed attempt at synchronised lying. It was annoying for Shannon though because she thought that she shouldn't have to sneak around.
"Xander when are you going to tell Anya?" she questioned him very early on in the relationship but she didn't want to be the other woman. Shannon wanted to be the woman.
"Tell her what?" Xander knew perfectly well what the question was and he also knew he couldn't avoid it for that long.
"Tell her that we made love, we slept together, we knocked boots, we jumped on the good foot and did the bad thing, that we had sex. However nicely or crudely you want to put it. I'm sure as a guy you have plenty of other ways to describe it and no I'm not asking for a list. I'm not issuing an ultimatum but..."
"You don't know Anya though. She has a bit of a history."
"Oh so she's had a quite a few break ups. She's not the only one in the world and she shouldn't be putting you through a guilt trip because of it."
"No I mean over one thousand years of history." Shannon knew that Anya was older than her but not by a millennium. She was confused. "She had had some bad break ups so she casts some vengeance spells on her unfaithful boyfriends, which got her the gig of vengeance demon for all those scorned girls out there. I cheated on Cordelia with Willow, she came, she lost her powers, and she fell in love with me. It sounds strange but with my history of relationships it's normal."
"So it's not guilt, it's fear. Xander I don't know what you're planning to do? I mean okay you've cheated on her but what would have happened if you wanted to break up with her because you believed the relationship was going nowhere."
"No it's not like. We have a good time and we are in a relationship and I hadn't really had a reason to think about us breaking up. I just want both I guess. Anya and I must have something special going on I guess if I hadn't even consider breaking up with her, but us, we have hit off great! We have so much in common and you've saved my life on several occasions already and..." Xander had to think about what he was going say next. It seemed like everything in his mind was going nowhere. "Shannon I'm happy with Anya and I do really like you but..."
"I'm just a quick little fling which has been set off just because of sexual attraction." Shannon tried to sound like she understood everything but really she was pissed off with Xander, but then she looked at his very cute face and realised that she couldn't stay mad at him. Nevertheless she had been hurt and the only solution was a dramatic exit. "You tell Anya about us and see what happens. I'm just going to off and kill some things while I wait."
With that Shannon did the best classic exit she could do. She opened the basement door and slammed it shut with a loud bang. Even though the door was shut Xander could still hear Shannons feet stomping as she went up the stairs. Best break up ever!
It seemed to him like the first time he had ever woken up. He felt very hungry but this time it was different. He didn't hunger for the souls of the good to increase his power. This time he thirsted for warm blood to trickle down his throat to satisfy the new sensation. He knew what had happened to him he had become a vampire.
This had been his second change within only a few days. It was different though being a vampire was worse then being a human. They were a creature even lower down. Vampires were creatures that sulked around in the shadow looking for a meal and could only appear at night. A demon living within a human body, but that was it they were really neither a demon or human, so they didn't belong in either society. Anything human even if it was just half was despised by demons.
"I think..." he wasn't alone in the sewer; there was a female with him. She turned around when she had heard his movement and he instantly recognised the face. "Hey honey its night time and I think you've just woken up for a new lust for blood."
"You!" shouted Gerathon he ran over put his hand around the females' neck and slammed her against the wall.
"Hey! I don't know if they taught you this in school but when someone gives you a wonderful gift you're meant to say Thankyou. I know you are probably a little grouchy from waking up from your sleep. BUT.THAT'S.NO.EXCUSE." She grabbed his hand and pulled it away from her throat. After that she threw him into the wall in front of her. "See I said that I would sire you and I don't like lying to myself. Plus it can go under the category where the bad guys plan actually went the way they wanted it to."
"No, it didn't." Gerathon had a smirk on his face. He had never even thought about this happening. The plans he had, had seemed to twist and turn further away from the original objective. He had decided that's enough everything would have to be finished tonight before his first dawn arrived as a vampire "I'm not Xander I'm Gerathon and I'm going to get something to eat."
"Wait I'm confused. Last I checked Gerathon was big old ugly demon, not at all nice either and don't forget smelly. Now Xander he's different he's very sexy, with a cute smile and a very nice butt." Anna looked down to check it out "I guess I didn't get the memo saying that all new vampires would be having an identity crisis. Maybe this will remind you."
Anna walked over to the vampire who she fought was the newly raised Xander. She put her arms around him then pressed her lips against his. It did feel different from their last kiss, but she gathered that it was because he was a vampire this time. A confused vampire. Mid kiss his face morphed from human to reveal his new demon half.
"Oh fuck!" Anna put her finger on the wound and then looked at the blood on her finger. When his teeth had changed his into fangs he had cut her lip. Her face had morphed too now due to the anger but she quickly changed it back. "There was no need for that."
"I have to go now." Gerathon was climbing up the ladder already. He pushed the sewer lid up and looked at where the hell he was. He didn't know there were no clues. He was just on yet another street filled with houses and they all looked just the same. He stood up on the concrete and looked down into the sewer from whence he came. Anna was nearly out of there. He picked up the sewer lid and dropped it on her just as she was about to climb out. This made her fall to the bottom. It wouldn't stop her but it would slow her down.
There was someone who was walking down the street he was on away from him. He could see a young blond female. He could see his first feeding.
Xander didn't know what to say. He couldn't just mess around with Anya and treat her as a safety. She was just staring at him. He had started off by saying `I have something that I have to tell you...' and that had been it so far. He couldn't just finish it there and run out of his basement screaming his head off while ripping out his hair. It might make her think that he was just having really early mid life crisis.
He still had time to come up with a lie. He had paused the sentence at just the right place to cause dramatic tension. With a lie the long pause would be an over exaggeration but what could be so important that he had to tell her. I'm gay. No, that wasn't quite the lie he was looking for.
"Anya, I, I slept with Shannon." He had finally said it. There was nothing to do now except wait for the consequences.
"What?!" Anya raised her voice but there was a hurt and confused expression on her face. "How, why did you?" She didn't really know what to say.
Xander sat down next to her and tried put his hands on her. Anya just moved away from him.
Gerathon had caught up with the girl. He put his hand on her shoulder to stop her. She just moved it off.
"Xander I don't want to talk you yet."
"It was last night when we had searched the warehouse and come up with nothing. On the way back we took a shortcut through a graveyard. It was stupid but we just wanted to get back. Of course you take a walk through a cemetery you're gonna run into some vampires. I had fallen over and the last vampire started to strangle me. Shannon saved my life when she staked it but you know it turned to dust. She landed on top of me. We started to kiss and then it lead to stuff."
"I don't really want to hear the details." Anya's eyes were welling up with tears. She was trying to do her best not to be upset, but her boyfriend had just told her that he had cheated on her.
"I was just describing the situation." He wanted her to understand he didn't want to many questions he couldn't answer at the end. "I think it happened because we were in a life threatening situation and it made everything seem sexy. I guess it also made it worse because there was already a sexual attraction between the two of us."
Gerathon hit Shannon to the ground. She looked at him wondering why her Xander would have done such a thing then he revealed that it wasn't her Xander. She jumped to her feet with her mind on set on the task of killing Gerathon.
Shannon made the first move with a blow to the right side of his face. The impact made him turn his head but it didn't make him move his feet backwards one step. He turned his head back to face her but this time it had an evil grin on it.
She hated seeing Xanders beautiful features being turned in the vampire's game face. It was hard to hit him. After all it was like hitting Xander but she also knew that wasn't him. It wasn't even Xanders real body with a demon in it. This was why she knew it was okay for her to stake him. The problem was that she had left the real Xanders house in such a dramatic exit she forgot to pick up her stake on the way out.
"So are you leaving me for her?" asked Anya who was sure that this was the end of her relationship.
"No, that's why I'm telling you this. I didn't think it would be fair on you to keep this a secret. I want our relationship to be honest."
"Well the truth hurts. I've been cheated on before Xander and you know that. That's how I became a vengeance demon." She had thought of the spells that she had cast on the men but even though she was angry with him she couldn't hurt him.
"I want us to work through it and I want us to be together. I guess it made me realise how much I wanted to be with you. I love you." Xander was worried that if he kept speaking this way that it was going to make him sound like he was about to propose to her. For him saying I love you was a big step. He didn't think he had really told any girlfriend of his that before. Oh wait! Yes I did with Ampata just before she tried to drain the life out of me. Maybe that was why he didn't say it that easily anymore. He never told Cordelia it when he was dating her.
"You've cheated before though." Oh great I forgot thought Xander "I just don't know whether I trust you anymore. I want some place to think over things."
Anya left the basement but not like Shannon had. She left quietly. He had two relationships this morning but now when both had left the basement he knew he had made the right decision.
Shannon got up from against the tree she had just been thrown at. A small branch had fallen on the ground after her impact. She finally had her stake.
She attacked Gerathon with a double kick to throw him off balance. Then Shannon whacked the palm of her hand against his nose to make it bloody. He tried to punch her but she was able to block it. Holding on to his arm she twisted him around then stuck the stake in his heart and pushed him away to turn to dust.
"Well I guess that's some of my anger gone." She felt better after her little fight she had even saved the day now. Everything could go back to normal.
The teeth broke the skin and the pain surged through her body. Shannon could feel the blood leaving her making her feeler weaker and colder. She didn't understand though she had staked him. A stake to the heart killed all vampires. A big stick of wood in the vital organ normally killed a lot of things. Shannon didn't understand.
"Giles said that in the end it's going to be me that has to kill him. You know the whole face your fear thing, destroy the evil within." Xander had explained to her about him and Gerathon "It's scary that I'm going to have to have this big one off. All on my own with no help."
"You won't be alone, I'll make sure I'm there. I'll be the one cheerleading in the background." They had laughed and then they had kissed.
References
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