Title: Xander Harris: Year One (Chapter Two)
Author: Randall Stone
Disclaimer: All characters are belong to someone else.
Summary: Some are born to destiny. Others make their own.
Notes:
Spoilers: S1-4
Continuity changes: Hopefully everything will be explained in the
text. One note- Veruca tragically stepped in front of a bus the
day before she was going to be turned into a werewolf, so Oz will
be hanging around.
Also, when time periods are skipped, assume that season 4 happened
as in canon except where noted differently. I don't have a whole
lot of changes early on, and I don't want to transcribe the first
few episodes.
Category: B/X, a little B/R early on
Rating: PG-14- nothing worse than what's on the show.
*****
Riley opened the door to the van and stepped out of the way so that
Forrest and Miguel could load the unconscious vampire into the back.
Behind them he could see Graham helping Jose down from the roof of
the mausoleum.
They had almost finished when a group of men walked into view from
another part of the cemetery, placing themselves between the two
groups of Initiative troops. Riley counted five of them. The
apparent leader, a slim peroxide blonde, stepped forward, eyeing
the unconscious vampire.
"Well well, haven't we been busy little beavers."
"Excuse me sir. Can I help you?" Riley attempted to project
'government bureaucrat'. The man seemed to ignore him.
"It's bloody typical, isn't it? You work and you work and you work,
and at the end of the day the army steps in and steals the fruit
of your labors. It's right depressing, really.
"You know what I find is good for depression?" Spike changed into
his game face. "A good spot of violence."
Moving almost faster than Riley could follow, he stepped towards
Miguel, who happened to be closest to him. Spike placed a hand on
either side of Miguel's head and twisted, breaking his neck with a
sickening crunch, then dropping the corpse to the ground.
"There, I'm starting to feel better already."
Spike's minions were shocked when Graham and Riley caught Spike in
the crossfire from their blasters, knocking him unconscious. To
their credit, they recovered quickly, charging at the two soldiers.
Riley and Graham were each able to knock one minion out with well
placed shots, but then the vampires were on them and they were
quickly disarmed.
Riley lost sight of Graham as he discovered that hand to hand combat
with a vampire is not a fun experience. He had been trained in
unarmed combat, of course, and took frequent refresher courses.
However, he focused on using techniques that took advantage of the
size and speed advantages that he enjoyed over most men- advantages
that simply didn't exist when fighting vampires.
These thoughts flashed through Riley's mind as he attempted to keep
the vampire at a distance while he worked out a way to get his stake
(affectionately nicknamed "Plan B") into his hand, and into the
vampire's chest.
The vampire, pleased with the success of his initial charge that
had separated Riley from his blaster, charged in again.
Riley threw a quick jab at the running vampire's chin to slow him
down. The vampire didn't even break stride as it absorbed the blow
and grappleded with Riley, taking them both to the ground.
On the ground the vampire's strength quickly became evident, and he
wound up on top of Riley, with one of his arms placed in a
submission hold.
"Now human, I will feast of your blood. Hmm...perhaps I will also
feed you some of mine, and you can really 'be all you can be'."
The vampire was still laughing at his own joke when he was knocked
out by an electrical blast. Riley looked up to see Jose running
to the battle.
Riley got to his feet and saw that Graham had dispatched the
vampire attacking Forrest in a similar manner. He was surveying
the rest of the battlefield when he heard a wail from Jose.
"No! Mi hermano! No!" Jose ran to Miguel's body and desperately
checked for a pulse. Finding none, he sat for a moment with his
head bowed. Finally reaching some internal conclusion, he gently
closed his dead brother's eyes.
Riley, Graham, and Forrest stood silently behind Jose as he recited
the last rites for his brother. When he had finished, Riley took a
moment to compose himself before issuing orders.
"Agent Caparoja, there's a body bag in the back of the van."
Jose snapped himself to some semblance of military bearing and went
to retrieve the bag.
"Agent Grant, Miller. Stake the follower vamps. We'll take the
leader in for-" A note of steel entered his voice. "-study."
---
Xander was walking home from the Drunken Sailor feeling pretty good
about himself. He'd just reduced Sunnydale's undead population by
one with no help and no backup. Not a bad night for the Zeppo.
Xander's good mood was dampened somewhat when he spotted a trio of
figures walking down the sidewalk across the street from him. In
front was a young lady walking alone. She seemed oblivious to the
dangers of the night in general, and to the two vampires following
behind her in particular.
Xander was conducting a fierce internal debate even as he hung a
u-turn and began to follow the vampires. Two on one were poor odds
when the two were human. When they were vampires, it was downright
suicidal. Not that he had ever let that stop him before.
Xander was reaching into his pocket as he made his decision, and
called out to the vampires.
"Hey buddy! Catch!"
The vampires turned to see a glittering object arcing through the
air towards them. The one to Xander's left instinctively reached
out and caught it. He also instinctively cursed and threw the
silver cross to the ground when it burned his hand.
Xander had been running behind the cross as it flew threw the air
and hit the distracted vampire with a tackle that would have made
the Sunnydale High football coach proud. He drove his shoulder
through the vampire's chest, taking them both to the ground where
the vampire's head whiplashed against the concrete.
While the vampire was still stunned Xander pulled out a stake and
drove it through the heart of the creature. He rolled to his feet
as the vampire exploded in a cloud of dust.
And found himself facing a vamped out, fully prepared, and pissed off
vampire. Xander was pretty confident that he could take the vampire
down one on one in an even fight.
That confidence was somewhat shaken when the vampire shrugged off
his first punch and nailed him in the torso. Xander forced down
the part of his mind dwelling on the sound that he was pretty sure
was cracking ribs and focused on his defense.
Xander was able to dodge the next few punches thrown by the vampire
and establish a bit of rhythm to the fight. Apparently the vamp was
a boxer of sorts- he only used his lower body to move around.
Xander could handle boxers.
Swaying away from a vicious right hook, Xander lashed out with his
right foot into the vampire's shin before he could follow up with
his left hand. As the vampire's leg buckled, Xander planted his
right foot and caught the vampire with a vicious left footed
roundhouse that sent him staggering backwards. The kick also
rotated the vampire so that when Xander drew his remaining stake
with his right hand he had a direct line to the vampire's heart.
Unfortunately, Xander had overestimated the amount of damage that he
had done to the vampire. This was understandable, because most
humans would have been knocked out by his kick. However, it didn't
change the fact that there was little that Xander could do when the
vampire caught his arm before he could plunge the stake home.
The vampire locked out Xander's arm, then placed his own shoulder
under Xander's and yanked down hard. Xander couldn't suppress his
scream as he heard a popping sound and fiery pain ran down the
length of his arm. His stake clattered to the ground as his
nerveless fingers could no longer maintain their grip. The vampire
shoved him away contemptuously.
"Foolish human. You'll pay for killing my friend."
Xander couldn't help it. He laughed. It wasn't a happy laugh. It
was a very edgy laugh. It was the kind of laugh that conveyed the
message: "You kill my friends, you ruin my life, you try to destroy
the world, and now you're threatening me?"
Humans instinctively retreat from insanity. This instinct doesn't
go away when the transformation to vampirism takes hold. For this
reason, Xander's adversary actually backed up a few steps before his
conscious mind kicked in and he moved in for the kill. What could a
one armed man do to him?
Xander kicked out high with his right foot, which the vampire
blocked. As he brought his foot down he smashed his heel against
the vampire's knee. There was a satisfying crunch as the vampire
staggered, but kept on his feet. Xander lashed out high again with
his right foot. This time the vampire countered by stepping in
close, removing Xander's leverage.
The vampire caught Xander in a clinch and then stomped down against
Xander's left ankle. He held Xander up as he sagged in his arms
before smashing into Xander's nose with his forehead and dropping
the young man to the ground.
The vampire paused to take stock of himself as Xander rolled away
and curled into the fetal position.
"Man, all this fighting's got me thirsty. I'll have to chase that
girl down after I finish draining you."
With that the vampire walked over and hauled Xander upright by his
collar. He almost expected the kid to spit in his face. He didn't
expect the stream of water that came out of the kids mouth, getting
into his eyes, nose, and mouth. He certainly didn't expect the
burning sensation that felt like acid eating away at his most
delicate tissue.
The vampire collapsed to the ground, screaming and clawing at his
face. Xander fell with him, and spent a short moment contemplating
the vampire's pain with some small feeling of satisfaction.
Then he laboriously rose to his hand and knees and crawled over to
his fallen stake. Grabbing it, he crawled back over to the vampire.
He couldn't resist the temptation to get the last word in as he
drove the stake into the vampire's heart with his left hand.
"Sorry if that wasn't the drink you had in mind."
---
Riley sat in Commander Schultz's office. Schultz was seated in the
chair behind his desk, across from Riley. The Commander was a warm
man with a friendly face. With his slight pot belly and snow white
hair he looked more like somebody's kindly old grandfather than the
head of a high intensity black ops project. The old man only
revealed the steel beneath his facade when he was severely pushed.
Riley had heard that very few people pushed him twice.
His office was decorated in a manner consistent with the Commander's
personality. All of the furniture in the room was made of oak, and
soft lighting illuminated the pictures of Schultz's family that hung
from the walls.
It was a very soothing environment. At the moment, Riley did not
feel very soothed.
"Thank you for your report, Agent Finn. I'll be transferring Hans
Rottenhemd over to bring your unit up to full strength." The
Commander paused and looked Riley in the eye. "Riley, on a more
personal note, you seem pretty hard hit by this whole thing."
"Sir, I can't help but feel that Miguel's death was my fault. If I
had kept a more secure perimeter, or reacted quicker-"
The Commander held up his hand. "Riley, this isn't the first time
you have experienced loss in battle."
"I've lost companions, comrades in arms. This is the first time
that I've lost a man under my command."
The Command sighed sadly. "Then this is your first experience with
the burden of command. Riley, listen to me.
"The old saying that no battle plan survives contact with the enemy
is more than a cliche. It's a simple fact that no matter how well
we prepare, no matter how well we train, every time we go into
battle there is a possibility of our men dying. Over time, these
possibilities add up into a certainty of loss.
"What you have to remember is that we do not fight because we want
to. We fight because we must. Miguel died defending the country
and the people that he loved. His death is tragic, but he came
into this thing with his eyes wide open. I'm sure that if he had
it to do all over again, he would make the same choices."
Riley paused to let Schultz's words sink in.
"Thank you sir. I feel a little better- but I'm still not sure how
well I'll sleep tonight."
"Soldier, the only thing that can help you sleep at night is the
knowledge that you faithfully executed your duty to the best of
your abilities.
"It's a lot of work, but the alternative doesn't bear
contemplation."
---
Xander was reclined in his easy chair contemplating the severe
amount of pain that he was in and trying not to bleed on the
furniture. He had taped up his ankle as best he could with one
hand, and had managed to get his right arm into a sling. The
painkillers that he had taken had had little effect on the sheer
agony that he felt whenever he tried to move either appendage. He
suppressed the pain as much as he could, but he still felt himself
blacking out occasionally.
He still wasn't sure how he had managed to get himself home.
Clearly this wasn't going to work. If he kept throwing himself into
fights the vampires would eventually overwhelm him and put him
under. Or raise him as one of their own.
Xander wasn't the Chosen One. As long as the vampires kept a clear
head while they were fighting him, they could do major damage to his
only human body.
He had to make them feel fear. He had to make them afraid. What
inspires fear in a vampire?
Xander's eyes snapped open as he remembered something that he'd
seen in Giles' book. He laboriously picked up the book from his
end table and flipped to the page. It looked simple enough-
"Guidance and Aid". He even had all of the ingredients in his
apartment- he'd been on a bit of a cooking jag last week and had
bought a ton of herbs and spices.
Xander staggered around his apartment gathering spell components,
forcing down the pain as he prepared for the spell. When he was
finished he knelt in the circle that he had drawn on his floor and
recited the latin phrases that should activate the spell.
While he was wondering if the spell had worked, Xander felt his
consciousness slipping away. He hoped it was because of the magic.
The last thing he saw before falling unconscious was the prize of
his comic book collection on display on the shelf across from him-
the pulp novel THE SHADOW #1: The Living Shadow.
---
When Xander woke, he found himself in a waiting room that wouldn't
have looked out of place at a high class law firm. Plush carpeting
covered the floor, while potted plants decorated the room. A primly
dressed secretary sat behind a large mahogany desk. She was typing
away on what looked like a computer with an LCD screen.
Strangely, all of his injuries were gone.
The receptionist looked up from her computer and saw him.
"Alexander Harris?"
"Yeah?"
"You can go right on in. He's been expecting you."
*****
Will Riley be able to deal with command? What's Spike doing? Just
who is Xander making a deal with? What on earth is Randy thinking?
Find out in the next installment of... Xander Harris: Year One
--Randy
Author: Randall Stone
Disclaimer: All characters are belong to someone else.
Summary: Some are born to destiny. Others make their own.
Notes:
Spoilers: S1-4
Continuity changes: Hopefully everything will be explained in the
text. One note- Veruca tragically stepped in front of a bus the
day before she was going to be turned into a werewolf, so Oz will
be hanging around.
Also, when time periods are skipped, assume that season 4 happened
as in canon except where noted differently. I don't have a whole
lot of changes early on, and I don't want to transcribe the first
few episodes.
Category: B/X, a little B/R early on
Rating: PG-14- nothing worse than what's on the show.
*****
Riley opened the door to the van and stepped out of the way so that
Forrest and Miguel could load the unconscious vampire into the back.
Behind them he could see Graham helping Jose down from the roof of
the mausoleum.
They had almost finished when a group of men walked into view from
another part of the cemetery, placing themselves between the two
groups of Initiative troops. Riley counted five of them. The
apparent leader, a slim peroxide blonde, stepped forward, eyeing
the unconscious vampire.
"Well well, haven't we been busy little beavers."
"Excuse me sir. Can I help you?" Riley attempted to project
'government bureaucrat'. The man seemed to ignore him.
"It's bloody typical, isn't it? You work and you work and you work,
and at the end of the day the army steps in and steals the fruit
of your labors. It's right depressing, really.
"You know what I find is good for depression?" Spike changed into
his game face. "A good spot of violence."
Moving almost faster than Riley could follow, he stepped towards
Miguel, who happened to be closest to him. Spike placed a hand on
either side of Miguel's head and twisted, breaking his neck with a
sickening crunch, then dropping the corpse to the ground.
"There, I'm starting to feel better already."
Spike's minions were shocked when Graham and Riley caught Spike in
the crossfire from their blasters, knocking him unconscious. To
their credit, they recovered quickly, charging at the two soldiers.
Riley and Graham were each able to knock one minion out with well
placed shots, but then the vampires were on them and they were
quickly disarmed.
Riley lost sight of Graham as he discovered that hand to hand combat
with a vampire is not a fun experience. He had been trained in
unarmed combat, of course, and took frequent refresher courses.
However, he focused on using techniques that took advantage of the
size and speed advantages that he enjoyed over most men- advantages
that simply didn't exist when fighting vampires.
These thoughts flashed through Riley's mind as he attempted to keep
the vampire at a distance while he worked out a way to get his stake
(affectionately nicknamed "Plan B") into his hand, and into the
vampire's chest.
The vampire, pleased with the success of his initial charge that
had separated Riley from his blaster, charged in again.
Riley threw a quick jab at the running vampire's chin to slow him
down. The vampire didn't even break stride as it absorbed the blow
and grappleded with Riley, taking them both to the ground.
On the ground the vampire's strength quickly became evident, and he
wound up on top of Riley, with one of his arms placed in a
submission hold.
"Now human, I will feast of your blood. Hmm...perhaps I will also
feed you some of mine, and you can really 'be all you can be'."
The vampire was still laughing at his own joke when he was knocked
out by an electrical blast. Riley looked up to see Jose running
to the battle.
Riley got to his feet and saw that Graham had dispatched the
vampire attacking Forrest in a similar manner. He was surveying
the rest of the battlefield when he heard a wail from Jose.
"No! Mi hermano! No!" Jose ran to Miguel's body and desperately
checked for a pulse. Finding none, he sat for a moment with his
head bowed. Finally reaching some internal conclusion, he gently
closed his dead brother's eyes.
Riley, Graham, and Forrest stood silently behind Jose as he recited
the last rites for his brother. When he had finished, Riley took a
moment to compose himself before issuing orders.
"Agent Caparoja, there's a body bag in the back of the van."
Jose snapped himself to some semblance of military bearing and went
to retrieve the bag.
"Agent Grant, Miller. Stake the follower vamps. We'll take the
leader in for-" A note of steel entered his voice. "-study."
---
Xander was walking home from the Drunken Sailor feeling pretty good
about himself. He'd just reduced Sunnydale's undead population by
one with no help and no backup. Not a bad night for the Zeppo.
Xander's good mood was dampened somewhat when he spotted a trio of
figures walking down the sidewalk across the street from him. In
front was a young lady walking alone. She seemed oblivious to the
dangers of the night in general, and to the two vampires following
behind her in particular.
Xander was conducting a fierce internal debate even as he hung a
u-turn and began to follow the vampires. Two on one were poor odds
when the two were human. When they were vampires, it was downright
suicidal. Not that he had ever let that stop him before.
Xander was reaching into his pocket as he made his decision, and
called out to the vampires.
"Hey buddy! Catch!"
The vampires turned to see a glittering object arcing through the
air towards them. The one to Xander's left instinctively reached
out and caught it. He also instinctively cursed and threw the
silver cross to the ground when it burned his hand.
Xander had been running behind the cross as it flew threw the air
and hit the distracted vampire with a tackle that would have made
the Sunnydale High football coach proud. He drove his shoulder
through the vampire's chest, taking them both to the ground where
the vampire's head whiplashed against the concrete.
While the vampire was still stunned Xander pulled out a stake and
drove it through the heart of the creature. He rolled to his feet
as the vampire exploded in a cloud of dust.
And found himself facing a vamped out, fully prepared, and pissed off
vampire. Xander was pretty confident that he could take the vampire
down one on one in an even fight.
That confidence was somewhat shaken when the vampire shrugged off
his first punch and nailed him in the torso. Xander forced down
the part of his mind dwelling on the sound that he was pretty sure
was cracking ribs and focused on his defense.
Xander was able to dodge the next few punches thrown by the vampire
and establish a bit of rhythm to the fight. Apparently the vamp was
a boxer of sorts- he only used his lower body to move around.
Xander could handle boxers.
Swaying away from a vicious right hook, Xander lashed out with his
right foot into the vampire's shin before he could follow up with
his left hand. As the vampire's leg buckled, Xander planted his
right foot and caught the vampire with a vicious left footed
roundhouse that sent him staggering backwards. The kick also
rotated the vampire so that when Xander drew his remaining stake
with his right hand he had a direct line to the vampire's heart.
Unfortunately, Xander had overestimated the amount of damage that he
had done to the vampire. This was understandable, because most
humans would have been knocked out by his kick. However, it didn't
change the fact that there was little that Xander could do when the
vampire caught his arm before he could plunge the stake home.
The vampire locked out Xander's arm, then placed his own shoulder
under Xander's and yanked down hard. Xander couldn't suppress his
scream as he heard a popping sound and fiery pain ran down the
length of his arm. His stake clattered to the ground as his
nerveless fingers could no longer maintain their grip. The vampire
shoved him away contemptuously.
"Foolish human. You'll pay for killing my friend."
Xander couldn't help it. He laughed. It wasn't a happy laugh. It
was a very edgy laugh. It was the kind of laugh that conveyed the
message: "You kill my friends, you ruin my life, you try to destroy
the world, and now you're threatening me?"
Humans instinctively retreat from insanity. This instinct doesn't
go away when the transformation to vampirism takes hold. For this
reason, Xander's adversary actually backed up a few steps before his
conscious mind kicked in and he moved in for the kill. What could a
one armed man do to him?
Xander kicked out high with his right foot, which the vampire
blocked. As he brought his foot down he smashed his heel against
the vampire's knee. There was a satisfying crunch as the vampire
staggered, but kept on his feet. Xander lashed out high again with
his right foot. This time the vampire countered by stepping in
close, removing Xander's leverage.
The vampire caught Xander in a clinch and then stomped down against
Xander's left ankle. He held Xander up as he sagged in his arms
before smashing into Xander's nose with his forehead and dropping
the young man to the ground.
The vampire paused to take stock of himself as Xander rolled away
and curled into the fetal position.
"Man, all this fighting's got me thirsty. I'll have to chase that
girl down after I finish draining you."
With that the vampire walked over and hauled Xander upright by his
collar. He almost expected the kid to spit in his face. He didn't
expect the stream of water that came out of the kids mouth, getting
into his eyes, nose, and mouth. He certainly didn't expect the
burning sensation that felt like acid eating away at his most
delicate tissue.
The vampire collapsed to the ground, screaming and clawing at his
face. Xander fell with him, and spent a short moment contemplating
the vampire's pain with some small feeling of satisfaction.
Then he laboriously rose to his hand and knees and crawled over to
his fallen stake. Grabbing it, he crawled back over to the vampire.
He couldn't resist the temptation to get the last word in as he
drove the stake into the vampire's heart with his left hand.
"Sorry if that wasn't the drink you had in mind."
---
Riley sat in Commander Schultz's office. Schultz was seated in the
chair behind his desk, across from Riley. The Commander was a warm
man with a friendly face. With his slight pot belly and snow white
hair he looked more like somebody's kindly old grandfather than the
head of a high intensity black ops project. The old man only
revealed the steel beneath his facade when he was severely pushed.
Riley had heard that very few people pushed him twice.
His office was decorated in a manner consistent with the Commander's
personality. All of the furniture in the room was made of oak, and
soft lighting illuminated the pictures of Schultz's family that hung
from the walls.
It was a very soothing environment. At the moment, Riley did not
feel very soothed.
"Thank you for your report, Agent Finn. I'll be transferring Hans
Rottenhemd over to bring your unit up to full strength." The
Commander paused and looked Riley in the eye. "Riley, on a more
personal note, you seem pretty hard hit by this whole thing."
"Sir, I can't help but feel that Miguel's death was my fault. If I
had kept a more secure perimeter, or reacted quicker-"
The Commander held up his hand. "Riley, this isn't the first time
you have experienced loss in battle."
"I've lost companions, comrades in arms. This is the first time
that I've lost a man under my command."
The Command sighed sadly. "Then this is your first experience with
the burden of command. Riley, listen to me.
"The old saying that no battle plan survives contact with the enemy
is more than a cliche. It's a simple fact that no matter how well
we prepare, no matter how well we train, every time we go into
battle there is a possibility of our men dying. Over time, these
possibilities add up into a certainty of loss.
"What you have to remember is that we do not fight because we want
to. We fight because we must. Miguel died defending the country
and the people that he loved. His death is tragic, but he came
into this thing with his eyes wide open. I'm sure that if he had
it to do all over again, he would make the same choices."
Riley paused to let Schultz's words sink in.
"Thank you sir. I feel a little better- but I'm still not sure how
well I'll sleep tonight."
"Soldier, the only thing that can help you sleep at night is the
knowledge that you faithfully executed your duty to the best of
your abilities.
"It's a lot of work, but the alternative doesn't bear
contemplation."
---
Xander was reclined in his easy chair contemplating the severe
amount of pain that he was in and trying not to bleed on the
furniture. He had taped up his ankle as best he could with one
hand, and had managed to get his right arm into a sling. The
painkillers that he had taken had had little effect on the sheer
agony that he felt whenever he tried to move either appendage. He
suppressed the pain as much as he could, but he still felt himself
blacking out occasionally.
He still wasn't sure how he had managed to get himself home.
Clearly this wasn't going to work. If he kept throwing himself into
fights the vampires would eventually overwhelm him and put him
under. Or raise him as one of their own.
Xander wasn't the Chosen One. As long as the vampires kept a clear
head while they were fighting him, they could do major damage to his
only human body.
He had to make them feel fear. He had to make them afraid. What
inspires fear in a vampire?
Xander's eyes snapped open as he remembered something that he'd
seen in Giles' book. He laboriously picked up the book from his
end table and flipped to the page. It looked simple enough-
"Guidance and Aid". He even had all of the ingredients in his
apartment- he'd been on a bit of a cooking jag last week and had
bought a ton of herbs and spices.
Xander staggered around his apartment gathering spell components,
forcing down the pain as he prepared for the spell. When he was
finished he knelt in the circle that he had drawn on his floor and
recited the latin phrases that should activate the spell.
While he was wondering if the spell had worked, Xander felt his
consciousness slipping away. He hoped it was because of the magic.
The last thing he saw before falling unconscious was the prize of
his comic book collection on display on the shelf across from him-
the pulp novel THE SHADOW #1: The Living Shadow.
---
When Xander woke, he found himself in a waiting room that wouldn't
have looked out of place at a high class law firm. Plush carpeting
covered the floor, while potted plants decorated the room. A primly
dressed secretary sat behind a large mahogany desk. She was typing
away on what looked like a computer with an LCD screen.
Strangely, all of his injuries were gone.
The receptionist looked up from her computer and saw him.
"Alexander Harris?"
"Yeah?"
"You can go right on in. He's been expecting you."
*****
Will Riley be able to deal with command? What's Spike doing? Just
who is Xander making a deal with? What on earth is Randy thinking?
Find out in the next installment of... Xander Harris: Year One
--Randy
