Title: A mercenary's tale (Part 3)

Author: Michael Dunbar

Summary: A personal vendetta takes Xander back to Sunnydale.

Disclaimer: Nothing, I own nothing. Joss owns Buffy. Whoever owns the resident evil tale owns that.

Timeline: After season 6

Rating: R for bad language

Spoilers: Season 6

Author's notes: I thought I'd try past tense; if it spoils the part just tell me.

() is for thoughts

"" is for speech and sarcastic comments.

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A sigh escaped Xander's lips; his mind gets distracted by the lights that shine in the window of the speeding jeep. His back tingled with a slight cramp, the effects of sleeping in the back seat of a car started to show themselves, unfortunately.

The Glock 21 Xander is fond of is laid on his chest, in it's holster, and his fingers are entwined strongly around it, in his line of work it pays to be prepared all of the time.

Xander twisted his neck to view the front seat; over the top of the seat he saw the blonde hair of Leticia.

Tiredness had crept up on Leticia slowly, and after a few hours of driving she had felt the need to sleep, so she and Jack had switched seats without any argument from him, they were and always will be the best of friends.

From the back, to Xander, she seemed to be resting, as her head lolled back and forth every time the car jittered on the road.

Xander's neck cracked as he twisted it back and his eyes focused once again on the lights that shine onto his face.

Vampires, who'd believe that creatures exist that are three times as strong as any man and drink blood?

Not Jack and Leticia that's for sure, they hadn't believed a word he had spoken and he couldn't blame them for it either. To Xander, his entire life could very well have been a TV show, a book or even a story told to children to scare the wits out of them. But he had lived it, and to him it was more than just a story, it was the thing that had created every single one of the nightmares that haunts him, the things that haunt him in his dreams every time he closes his eyes.

(They will see. it's harder to deny the truth when it's dusted in front of your face)

Xander had thought that Jack and Leticia would have been more open minded, after all they had fought, in the past, creatures that had wanted to eat them or bits of them. But it seemed they were just as gullible and naïve as the world had wanted them, born to believe in truth, justice and that humans are, and will always be, the top of the food chain.

A nice dream, but that's all it has ever been to Xander.

The cramp in Xander's back gets too much for him and he decided to sit, after pulling himself up, he sighed as his back unwound and a loud crack greeted his ears. Xander placed the gun at the side of him and pulled himself forward to look out of the front window of the car, over Leticia's shoulder.

"So. Are we there yet?"

Jack grunted in reply but nothing akin to a language Xander understands.

"That means" Leticia's voice cut into Xander's wise-cracking thinking time "nearly"

"Oh." Xander smiled as the blonde sat up and craned her neck from side to side "You know, my hands work wonders on muscles"

"I bet"

"Some muscles more than others" He replied with a smirk

"We need somewhere to stay once we reach Sunnydale" Leticia replied, changing the subject "Have any idea's stud?"

"Well, at the wonderful little town that is Sunnydale you have two choices, the rat infested motel Del a Ruiz, or the 3 star hotel Champoo, Sunnydale's claim to fame. Although there is a chance the town changed since I left. A chance. But not much"

"You actually have a hotel called Champoo?" Leticia grinned

"Me? Don't tie this in with me lady, I disowned that town a loooong time ago" Xander sat back "I'm what you might call a traveller, the one with no home"

"A bum?" Leticia offered with a sly smile.

"Prefer the term "homeless mercenary" myself"

Xander looked out the window, a sign catching his eye "Sunnydale 25 miles" and he sighed. He contemplated the reasons for coming back to the god forsaken town that had nearly killed him a thousand times over; the last time had been too much for even his psyche.

"Why did you leave?" Leticia asked, breaking into his thinking, turning his head to look at her Xander didn't reply he just shrugged.

"These so called vampires?" She offered with a grin.

(Time to pull out the big guns)

Xander calmed himself before doing what he did; he always needed to calm himself before he let anyone see the scar. He pulled the collar of his jacket down and heard the gasp from Leticia, the response he had expected and had gotten from everyone that had seen it; only 3 people had seen it or he had allowed to see it.

Several holes lined Xander's neck from his collarbone to just under his jaw and they are surrounded by a brown mark that seemed, to Leticia, to look like a large burn mark.

As Xander placed his collar back she didn't reply, she didn't know how to.

Xander smiled, a calm smile, and shrugged.

"That's what you get for being the slayer's friend"