Not for the first time Buffy was glad that it was a slow night. She shook her head as she walked down the street, mentally damning her conscience which had demanded her patrolling despite her condition. Giles didn't know about this, there was enough to worry about without her being added to the list. She was just walking round to the front of the Bronze when the first sounds of the fight reached her.
"Oh well, guess nothing was too much to hope for." She muttered as she pulled a stake out and started running in the direction of the fight.
She arrived just in time to see the first vampire disintegrate as it flew through the air away from the fight. Standing back she observed the other two combatants. Neither of them were natural, that much was for sure. One ducked under the other's clumsily delivered right hook, planting a knee in the small of the back and an elbow to the face in fast succession. One straight armed blow to the chest later and it was all over as the vampire fell back against the side of the alley and disintegrated. Buffy moved closer to the figure, who was wincing as he rubbed his shoulder.
"Well, that was good. Not many people can do that." She said
Robert Sherman looked up at the girl who addressed him.
"You should go, It's not safe for you here." He replied.
"You mean you DON'T know who I am?" Buffy looked at him, the look was certainly of someone who was out here doing a job. Clothes, demeanour.... It was all functional, almost as bad as Kendra.
Robert looked at her more closely. Her aura bore some resemblance to that of the chosen one, but only just. had he only taken a glance he could have mistaken it, but it was just too different for it to be so. "I don't know who you are." He replied. "But I know who you aren't and that means it's not safe for you here."
"We can finish this later." Buffy said, gesturing over his shoulder. "Looks like those two had friends."
Robert turned to see the three vampires striding purposefully down the alley toward them. He quickly assumed a fighting stance, gathering again the energy that had dissipated since the last fight. He glanced to his side to see Buffy had likewise assumed a fighting stance beside him.
"Go!" He shouted. "I can take them, but not if I have to protect you at the same time."
"Funny." Buffy replied. "I was just about to say the same thing."
Then the vampires were upon them.
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The security guard paced back and forth across the storeroom. Pausing occasionally to take a mouthful out of what he could only guess to be cheese sandwich he studied the newest arrival. The monolith was certainly one of the less interesting things to come in over the last few days. He walked over to the inventory sheet pinned to the wall and leafed through the pages.
"......Here we are." He muttered to himself as he found the pertaining entry: One monolith of unknown origin, found 5 miles away on the new housing estate. Age indiscernible pending carbon dating. Apparently some "expert" was supposed to have taken a look at it, but the appointment had been postponed. He read the name again. No that couldn't be right he thought to himself, it couldn't be that school librarian his daughter had been complaining about so much.
He never got a chance to finish that thought as a clawed hand gripped the back of his neck and slammed him headfirst into the wall.
Throwing the guard to the floor Spike turned to Dru who was standing in the doorway along with 5 other vampires.
"It's been too long since I did that." He said, looking down at the body writhing in agony on the floor. "He's all yours Dru."
"Don't you want any at all?" She asked, deftly plucking the man off the floor and holding him with his neck exposed.
"No thanks love." He said, pointing at the sandwich on the floor. "I think that's put me off food for the night."
As Dru bit down hungrily on the man's neck he turned to the other vampires, who were still standing in the doorway. "What are you waiting for people?..... I'm not paying you by the hour here." He smiled to himself as the vampires scrambled to work. The slayer had put him through hell ever since he came here. Now he would get to return the favour......Literally
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Robert deflected the first vampire's attack and planted a kick square in it's chest, lifting it clean off it's feet. The energy flowed through him, accelerating and empowering his movements as he fought the vampires.
To his side Buffy grasped one of the vampires by the arm and used all of her strength to swing it round into the wall. The vampire fell backwards onto the floor and lay dazed for a moment. That was all the time needed for the stake to find it's mark.
Robert delivered a series of quick jabs to the face of the vampire he fought, deftly avoiding it's increasingly uncoordinated return blows. None of the vampires had managed to lay a hand on him yet; this was a good thing because he bruised easily.
Buffy turned to face the last of the three vampires.
"Well, It's a fashion statement." She said as she observed the footprint plastered across it's chest.
The vampire leapt at her but Buffy ducked out of the way, sending it tumbling to the floor. However, it was back on it's feet and fighting before she could end it's unlife.
Robert grasped the vampire's leg as it kicked at him and hiked it into the air, sending the vampire tumbling to the ground. He stood over the vampire ready to finish it, and cursed himself for not having built up the energy to do so.
"Forget something?" Buffy shouted as the stake sailed through the air toward him.
He plucked the stake from the air and drove it through the vampire's heart, ending it there and then.
Buffy turned her attention back to her opponent just in time to receive a stinging punch in the face. As she staggered back the vampire kicked out, catching her on the hip and sending her sprawling to the floor. As she lay on the floor the vampire stood over her with an evil smile.
"I'm really going to enjoy this now..." It snarled.
"Then we have something in common." Robert called from behind it.
The vampire turned around in surprise just in time for Robert to grab it and throw it to one side. The vampire landed against the wall, but was up on it's feet almost instantly as Robert charged at it. The vampire caught the kick on it's guard and staggered back a few paces instead of falling over as Robert had intended.
"Getting tired?" The vampire mocked. "All that fighting must be really hard on that frail human body of yours."
Buffy shook her head to clear it as she got up onto her knees. "Maybe Giles was right about me not going anywhere tonight." She muttered.
Robert fell back as he attempted to stop the vampire's furious assault. A split second too late in blocking one of the attacks, the vampire's kick winged him in the side of the ribs, knocking him to the ground. The stake made a clattering noise as it flew from his hand and skittered across the alley floor. Robert didn't notice the amulet as it fell from his neck into the gutter.
Buffy got to her feet and grimaced as she saw the current state of the fight. Shrugging she reached down to one of her boots and pulled out another stake. Leaping at the vampire she plunged the stake into it's back. In reaction the vampire snarled as it threw her off and into a nearby pile of rubbish bags. It turned to face her, then it saw it's hands disintegrating. It looked on in horror for the next half second it took for the decomposition to complete.
Robert groaned as he got up off the floor, and Buffy made similar noises as she extricated herself from the pile of rubbish bags.
"You hurt?" Robert asked, bending down to retrieve the stake that had fallen to the ground when the vampire had died.
"No, I'm okay" She said, slowly getting to her feet. "Almost really."
Robert handed the stake back to Buffy, wincing at the pain in his side. "So I take it that was a fairly normal occurrence here."
"Yep, Sunnydale's your regular Hellmouth town. Full of vampires and demons and whatever category you fall into. What would that be by the way?"
"The "not going to tell you" category." He responded.
"Figures..." Buffy sighed. "Too much to ask for it to be simple. We should go and see my watcher though, an extra pair of slaying hands would be very useful at the moment."
Robert shook his head. "I'm afraid they don't like me very much. I'll be around and I'll help, but it's best the council doesn't know about it."
Buffy shook her head. "We're going to go and see my watcher and I'm not going to take no for an answer. I'll just get the other stake and then we'll go." Buffy turned around to look for the stake, but it wasn't anywhere she could see right away.
"Y'know, forget the stake. It's not important....." She said turning around. She frowned as she scanned the alley, there was no sign of him anywhere.
"Just great....." She muttered under her breath. "Someone else who does the vanishing thing." Just then she caught the glint of light off the amulet lying in the gutter.
"What do we have here..." She said to herself, picking it up.
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Willow Stared forlornly at her plate, no different than it was twenty minutes ago when she had sat down to eat it. The school canteen was buzzing, but the room might as well be empty. Xander wasn't there. She looked up and caught sight of Oz, leaning against the far wall, with the same kind of sadness in his eyes. It was her he was looking at. She looked for a moment at the comfort food nestling on her plate before prodding it listlessly a few times with her fork. When She looked up from her plate Buffy had sat down next to her.
"You've not seen him either huh?" Buffy asked.
"No." Willow shook her head. "I even hacked into the medical records at the hospital last night."
"He's not a hospital case." Buffy commented. "This is a good thing."
"Unless he's a morgue case." Willow said quietly.
"Now listen. He's going to be okay." Buffy remonstrated. "Except for when I beat seven shades of hell out of him for being such a jerk and not telling us."
Willow almost managed a smile.
"You know you've got to talk to Oz." Buffy continued. "He's moping almost as badly as you are, and he didn't even like Xander that much."
"I know." Willow answered, looking at Oz on the other side of the room. "Every time I see him it's like "Look, there's somebody in pain, And I caused that." It's because of me that Oz is hurting so much, and it's because of me that Xander went AWOL in the first place." Willow looked back down at her food, she could feel the lump in her throat.
"Okay, I'm not helping you with the feeling good about yourself bit." Buffy said. "I would stay, but I have one Cordelia to find and....... It could get ugly. Believe it or not I think she actually does care about him."
"Cordelia...." Willow stared listlessly down at her food. "She does. That's someone else who's life I get to throw into turmoil."
"Promise me you'll talk to Oz.... You know it isn't going to get easier if you leave it, and it might just make you feel better."
"Okay." Willow across at Buffy. "Oh, and Giles wanted to talk to you. He seemed more worked up than usual."
"He's probably just worried too..... But I'll swing by there anyway, just in case." As Buffy got up from the table a mischievous grin sprouted on her face. "Or maybe he wanted me to help fit the new door."
Willow couldn't help but smile at that.
"Right, now I've got you smiling my work here is done. I'll see you in English class." Buffy said as she walked out of the canteen.
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Buffy deftly stepped around the one remaining door and into the library. Greeted by the usual plethora of arcane and occult books and the unusual sight of Cordelia siting in the library on her own, buried in one of the books.
Cordelia looked up as Buffy entered.
"Giles told me about Xander." She said simply.
"You seem to be handling it well." Buffy commented.
"I know how to hide these things." She responded. "Besides, I look much better when I'm acting happy and jubilant."
Buffy nodded. "So where's Giles?"
Giles chose just that moment to emerge from his office, carrying a particularly old and dusty tome.
"Speak of the devil...." Buffy commented.
"....And he doth appear." Giles muttered. "I'm glad you came. The situation doesn't appear to be particularly fortuitous."
"What is it? Is the world going to end? Am I going to die again? 'Cause that's something I'd rather not do."
"Possibly both." Giles answered. "I've found mention of the demon Acathla in several books of prophecy Including the Codex. The demon Acathla will rise and............"
"I'm going do die?...... Again?" Buffy cut in.
"Worse." Cordelia answered for Giles.
"How can it be worse than dying?" Buffy's voice was rising in pitch.
"If the prophecy reads correctly,... Then you will be turned, and before the end of the week." The pain in Giles' eyes was evident as he said the words.
"Where? Show me!" Buffy shouted.
Cordelia pulled one of the books across and started reading from it. "And in this time the Chosen one shall become as those she fights: Shunned by the daylight for her thirst for blood."
For a brief moment there was utter silence.
"That's fairly specific." Buffy finally said in a fairly subdued tone. "So what about this demon Acathla then?" She said, almost collapsing into a chair.
"The demon Acathla...." Giles said, putting the book down and picking another up. ".....Came forth to swallow the world. He was slain by a great warrior who pierced his heart before he could draw breath to perform the act. Acathla turned to stone, powerful demons sometimes do. And he was buried where neither man or demon would want to look."
"Stabbed through the heart,.... Dead. Right?" Buffy asked.
"No. Merely dormant. According to the books, the sword that pierced his heart remains there. If anyone were ever to remove it....."
"They'd get to be king?" Buffy asked sarcastically.
Giles looked raised an eyebrow and looked dumbfounded at her.
"Oh, come on. Did they not have The sword in the stone when you were a kid?" Buffy responded.
"If anyone were to remove it...." Giles continued. "...The demon will rise, creating a vortex that will suck this world, and everything in it down to Hell."
"That easy? Just pull the sword out?" Buffy asked.
"Not quite. A complex ritual is involved." Giles looked down at the book as he spoke. "However, should Angelus endeavour to perform the ritual there is a good chance he should succeed."
"And we're all preoccupied while he sets it up..... Not bad." Buffy commented. "Okay.... Can you find out more about the me becoming a Vampire part: See if there's an escape clause anywhere, 'cause I really like my reflection." She said, getting up to walk out of the Library.
"You aren't going to help?" Giles asked.
"I need to study for my finals." Buffy responded. "Otherwise if the world doesn't end and I'm still in the land of the living, I'll fail all my exams and get kicked out of school. I don't know about you, but that's not a chance I want to take." She said walking up to and through the library doors.
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Willow Paced in front of Oz's locker. She hadn't managed to work up the courage to talk to him at lunch, and this was the last chance she would get before school finished. As she paced back and forth, occasionally stopping to fiddle with her backpack she caught sight of Oz making his way along the corridor. As Oz approached she made her way over to him.
"Oz!" She exclaimed.
"That's me." Was his subdued reply.
"We....Uh...." Willow floundered as she tried to broach the subject.
"Need to talk?" Oz asked. "I know. I spent most of the weekend thinking about it."
"And....What did you think?" Willow asked hesitantly.
"Do you know what I want?"
"E-Flat, Diminished ninth?" Willow suggested.
"I was thinking on more of a non-musical level." Oz Said.
"Oh."
"What I want..." Oz started. "...Is to be happy. You make me happy, but mostly that involves you being happy too...." Oz knew he was going to have to make a dramatic exit soon, this bowing out speech was cutting him up more than he liked. "....And I can't stand for you to be apart from the person you're meant to be with.
"You're..... Breaking up with me?" Willow's eyes widened as she digested the information.
"I'm not Xander." Oz stated. "And he's who you're meant to be with. Everyone figured that out except him. But now he knows, you two should be together. I can't stand in the way of that."
"I don't know what to say..." Willow's voice was little more than whisper.
"Say that we can still be friends." Oz replied. "But don't say it yet. This still hurts, and I still need some space." Oz turned to walk away.
"Oz?" Willow called, surprised at how cracked her own voice sounded "Will you be okay?"
Oz turned back half way and nodded. "As long as you're happy." He replied.
Willow stood in subdued silence as she watched Oz walk off down the corridor. After what seemed an eternity he rounded the corner and disappeared from view. Willow let out the breath she hadn't realised she had bee holding, and started making her way toward the library.
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"Maybe I shouldn't be out .... y'know, with people about..." Willow complained as Buffy half dragged her in the direction of the Bronze. "When you break things they make you pay for them."
"Don't tell me you haven't got used to the new you yet." Buffy answered back. "You were on fire today! I could still be off my game, but I don't usually spend that much quality time with the floor when I'm training, or when I'm fighting for that matter."
Willow cast a reluctant glance at Buffy. "But what about the part where there are people?"
Buffy stopped walking. "You can't just hide away forever because of what's going on."
"Can't I?"
"No." Buffy replied indignantly. "You're stronger than that and we both know it. Things happen,... And you can't let them do that to you. Besides, we have to celebrate your impending slayerness. Giles said you should be ready for patrol by tomorrow night. This might be the only normal fun you get to have for a while.
Inside The Bronze, Xander looked up from his table as the new arrivals walked in through the door. He knew it was her, he had known long before she walked in. Buffy was with her, he could see that now. As he caught Buffy's eye he set his drink down on the table, inwardly smiling to himself as he waited for the reaction.
"Ladies....." He started as they strode over towards him.
Xander saw the blow almost before Buffy launched it, but his better judgement convinced him not to stop it. It was a carefully weighted blow and Xander knew it should have had him sprawling on the floor, so he let it carry him backwards and knock him off the stool on which he was perching.
"OW!... And why?" He said as he slowly got up off the floor.
"That..." Buffy said as she stood over him. "Was for letting us think you were dead."
Xander put on his best sheepish expression as he finished getting to his feet. "Oh... that." he responded meekly.
Willow couldn't restrain herself any longer and lunged at Xander, wrapping her arms around him.
"I missed you too Wills." he said, extricating himself from her embrace.
"You could at least have told us you were okay." Willow admonished. "We were worried."
"I was kinda cut off." Xander responded as he sat back down on his stool. "It's a crime y'know. You go for some quality soul searching and away time,.... And they don't even have a phone."
"So you're okay then?" Willow asked.
"Never better." Xander replied. "I'm a new man."
"With even worse eating habits." Buffy commented, pointing at the plate that sat on the table next to Xander.
"That...." Xander said, picking up his fork and eating a mouthfull. "Is Black pudding." Off Buffy and Willow's looks of confusion he explained. "It's British."
"Is this the new you too?" Willow asked, picking up Xander's drink and taking a sip... Seconds later she spat out the half mouthfull and slammed the glass back down on the table in disgust.
"Xander Harris!" She exclaimed. "There's.... drink in this drink!"
Xander simply shrugged.
"You of all people should know what that does to people." Willow shouted at him.
Xander raised a hand to silence Willow. "After the last couple of days I think I need it."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Buffy had paled noticeably and had a look of pure horror on her face.
"killing Angelus wasn't easy, I needed a break." Xander said casually.
"No..." Buffy gasped. "You didn't..."
"Well, I couldn't listen to you on your guilt trip for another second. I swear I'd have gone insane if I had to put up one more time with you moaning about how much you love him and how you can't kill him no matter how many innocent people he hurts."
Buffy looked at Xander through tear streaked vision. "You are about this far from me knocking your teeth out through the back of your skull." She said suprisingly calmly.
"This had to be done Buffy." Willow reminded her. "You know that the last thing Angel would have wanted was for us to let him go around killing and maiming. He would have wanted us to stop him." Willow drew in a deep breath. "Even if it meant killing him."
"I suppose you're right." Buffy sighed. "I just didn't expect you to actually do it. I guess love must be a powerful motivator."
"I mean wow!.... You slayed a vampire for me!" Smiling, Willow slid her hand across the table toward Xander's.
"Well, after you, I just knew that the next person he would have had attacked was Cordy...." As Xander looked across at Willow straight into her eyes, he imagined he could see her heart shattering into a thousand tiny little pieces as the look of pure despair and horror started to form on her face. He inwardly smiled to himself as he continued. "If I let anything happen to her I ..... I just don't think I could live with myself."
It was a moment before Willow managed a reaction. Stifling an already quiet whimper with her hand, she pushed away from the table and ran as fast as she could toward the exit, barging aside several people on her way out.
"Can we still be friends?" Xander called sarcastically after her as she ran out.
Buffy jumped up from her seat, staring at Xander, her eyes wells of pure rage. "You don't even deserve this piece of advice." She half said, half snarled. "But I'm going to put this down to the drink. Go home, sleep it off, and hope that you still have a friend in the morning." With that she turned and started after Willow.
After a few moments more a figure emerged from the crowd. He sat down at Xander's table with a pint, the lights glinting of the peroxide bleached hair.
"That was brilliant!" Spike laughed, slapping Xander on the back. "Better than bloody Coronation Street!"
"I'm glad you liked it." Xander responded, taking another chunk out of the black pudding and suppressing his vampire face with some difficulty.
"So, I'm curious. What's the next move?" Spike asked.
"Fifty dollars says they go straight to the library." Xander dropped a fifty dollar bill onto the table.
"Pah! I could have told you that." Spike said contemptfully, snatching the money off the table. "The question is what your next move is going to be."
"My suprise." Xander said.
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"So you believe there's some kind of outside influence that's causing this .... reprehensible behaviour?" Giles queried as he emerged, book laden from the stacks. Willow sat with red, bleary eyes and blank expression at the table.
"There has to be something causing it." Buffy said as she took the pile of books from Giles' failing grasp. "This just .... wasn't Xander. More like when he was hyena boy or something."
"Hmnn" Giles mused. "So, he's capricious, callous and generally nasty to those closest to him."
"Any idea what it could be?" Buffy asked.
"You know, I do believe I've seen it before." Giles answered. "At the start of the school year, when you came back."
"They tried to raise The Master." It was only the second time Willow had spoken since entering the library. "We,.... Buffy stopped them."
"And Buffy's behaviour was not unlike how you describe Xander's now."
"Can you explain that in English please mister psychology." Buffy wryly commented.
"Angelus is .... was a very powerful vampire." Giles explained. "Defeating him would have taken a significant toll on even you, let alone Xander. Before you jump to conclusions think back to your fight with The Master."
"But Xander didn't have a mark on him." Willow pointed out.
Giles took his glasses off and proceeded to rub the bridge of his nose. "This is perplexing." He muttered.
"Oh! And he was drinking." Willow added.
"And not just any drinks. We're talking the kind of smelly, nasty, high alcohol things that you drink." Buffy clarified. "And while we're there, when did you start Xander on yucky British food?"
"I don't recall introducing Xander to the finer points of British cuisine, but do go on. I'm sure this will be ... enlightening." Giles said with a perplexed look.
"Black pudding." Buffy started. "And why do they call it black pudding anyway? I can see with it being mostly black, but it looks more like a sausage than a pudding. Do you realise how much thought time I'm going to waste on that now?"
"I'm not quite sure where Xander came across black pudding." Giles said, putting his glasses back on. "But I can say with some certainty that it wasn't me. I can't bring myself to eat the stuff."
"So it does taste as horrible as it looks?" Buffy questioned.
"No, not at all." Giles replied. "It's actually quite good. It's just that.... And you're probably going to call me a squeamish old man...."
"You're a squeamish old man." Buffy interrupted.
"Thank you." Giles said as he shook his head in exasperation. "Ever since I learned about the vampires and the demons I've never been able to bring myself to eat something the main constituent of which is blood."
"Say that again." Buffy said with a slight edge to her voice.
"Ever since..." Giles began.
"Not that bit." Buffy interrupted. "Black pudding is blood?"
"It's not quite that simple, but essentially I suppose so." Giles replied. "Why you don't think..." He said as he caught up to Buffy's thinking.
"Actually I do." Buffy said. "But we need to find out.... Full research mode?" she said looking at Giles.
"No." Willow muttered from where she sat. "Not Xander too."
Buffy turned to look at Willow. "We're going to find out, and no matter what we'll find a way to get him back for you." She turned back to Giles. "We need Oz and... god help us even Cordelia. Do you think you can phone them?"
Giles nodded. "I'll see what I can do."
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"Mind me asking why we're out here instead of in there killing them?" Spike said to Xander as they sat in Spike's car in the school car park.
"Right now they're freaking out in there." Xander explained. "Y'know... Xander wouldn't do this, there must be something causing this, blah blah blah. And they'll have called for everyone, including..." Xander watched as the van pulled onto the car park. "Oz." He said on cue.
"Ah, good." Spike smiled. "I was afraid we weren't going to see any killing tonight."
The van pulled to a stop just to the side of the entrance to the school building and Oz got out, somewhat languidly and started towards the entrance. Oz stopped in his tracks and sniffed at the air as if to identify a strange smell. After a few moments he started off again, shaking his head to himself.
"Looks like he might have rumbled you." Spike observed from in the car.
"So I might be needing a fast getaway." Xander said. You mind not watching? We might want to keep the car ticking over."
"S'pose so." Spike grumbled. "Now get in there and do me proud."
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Inside the library Willow looked up from her books as she heard the faint noise. "Did you hear that?" She called across to Buffy. "Was that the door?"
"Don't know." Buffy replied. I'll go and check on it. Stay here, I'll be back in no time."
Buffy had been gone barely moments when Willow heard the shout that was unmistakably Oz. Giles emerged from the stacks just as Willow stood up to shout for him.
"I heard that too, come on!" He pre-empted.