Shadowed Soul

Part 2: The Scoop

Note: please review and let me know what you think.

Buffy was sitting at her kitchen table waiting for dawn to come home from her first day of school so they could head to the Magic Box for an 'urgent' meeting according to Giles.  There was always something going on that was 'urgent' in Sunnydale but Buffy knew they would be able to handle pretty much anything these days.  With the addition of Dawn to the team and the return of Willow and Giles from England, the Scooby gang was stronger than ever.

She didn't mind too much that Dawn was late since it usually gave her some alone time but too much alone time was never good.  Alone time led to thinking and Buffy didn't usually like to think too much about how her life was going. 

Willow had moved out when she got back from her trip to the witch coven in England since there was a lot of bad feelings and damage left from the magic incident only a few months before.  As it turned out, Willow had invoked too much magic in her rampage and was now unable to totally go without it.  Giles had said the magic was now part of her and he spent the entire summer helping her learn to control her powers.  Buffy and Dawn knew that the witch had learned a lot over the past few months but they couldn't just forgive and forget like it never happened.  Buffy slowly allowed Willow to join her on the occasional patrol and she came to realize that Willow was still a very powerful witch.  She used her powers with a new degree of self control that surprised Buffy.

Dawn was now back in school.  She was trying really hard to stay on track this year with her classes and was training with Buffy every chance she got.  Buffy knew that Dawn was still a human with only human strength, but they had decided together that she needed to learn to fight and defend herself against the many demons that roamed the streets.  The younger sister was actually a quick learner and Buffy helped her learn to use all the weapons and to fight without them.  'Can't always reach for a weapon' she had told her although Buffy wouldn't tell her sister where she had come up with that idea.

Anya and Xander never got back together over the summer.  Xander tried his hardest but Anya was just too hurt to try and rekindle any sort of relationship with him.  Anya still had her demons powers but she didn't do much vengeance demon work lately.  She said that after the whole Willow situation, she just didn't have it in her anymore.  She re-opened the magic shop with Giles though, and business was going pretty well seeing as how the place was pretty much destroyed only a short time ago.

After realizing it was futile to keep trying with Anya, Xander pretty much tried to keep himself busy doing work and training.  Ever since he was the key figure in saving the world from Willow, he has been pushing himself to the limit on his training for fighting evil.  He set up a workout room in his apartment since it was too awkward to work out in the Magic Box with Anya there.  He became very adept in hand-to-hand fighting and that, with the addition of his increasing strength, was making him a very formidable ally to patrol with.

Buffy eventually started to drift into more painful reflection and thought of Ihim/I.  At first everything seemed like a bad dream playing itself over and over again.  But the more she thought about it, the more she realized it wasn't all bad.  He had comforted her when she needed it even when her friends wouldn't have understood her pain.  He never judged her when she poured her heart out to him; he just listened and was there for her.  It was so much better with him before that night….

She was interrupted from her thoughts when Dawn came in the back door.  "Hey Buffy."

"Oh, hey Dawnie."

"Am I interrupting something?"

"Hmm?  Oh sorry, no you aren't.  Just thinking."

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Nah, lets just head over to the Magic Box.  Giles wanted everyone to meet there today.  Said it was urgent."

"Isn't it always?"

"Yeah, but we are already late so I guess we should hurry up."

When they entered the Magic Box, everyone was already there waiting for them.  Anya was behind the cash register helping a customer.  Willow was sitting at the table reading through a new demon bestiary book that Anya had just got in.  Xander was sitting next to her eating a sandwich.  Giles was standing next to the table with an impatient look on his face.

"Well I guess now that you have decided to join us, we can begin the meeting" said Giles.

"Sorry, it was my fault" replied Dawn with a sad puppy-dog face.

"Well….I guess we can forgive you this time.  Just try to be on time next time." He gave in.

Buffy decided to get to the point.  "So Giles, what's this big urgent news you had to give us today?"

"Yeah, what kind of trouble is brewing today?" added Xander.

"Well," he began, "I don't know if it is apocalyptic information but there are rumors of a new force destroying the demon population all over the southwest.  I am sure you have noticed the decline in demon and vampire activity recently."

"And this is a bad thing because?" interrupted Buffy.

"Well it seems this 'thing' that is killing all the demons has been slowly moving in this general direction.  The latest incident involving this 'thing' occurred at a secluded demon bar out in the desert.  It seems a gang of demons stormed a small town near there and looted anything of worth and killing over thirty people.  These demons stopped at the bar to celebrate and soon after, the bar exploded killing them all.  No one knows who was responsible at the moment."

"It was probably the shadow" Anya chimed in as she was closing the front doors for the day.

"The what?" they all answered in unison.  They were all startled by Anya's input.

"The shadow.  I heard from a few demon friends of mine that there is some guy they call the shadow running around enacting vengeance on demons.  I figured it was just some rumor since not many people would be dumb enough to attack large masses of demons at a time all by themselves" she explained.

"Astounding" said Giles.

"So what's the problem then Giles?  So what if some guy is fighting back against these demons.  We do it all the time." Buffy asked.

Giles replied, "it might not present a problem at the moment, but anyone who could do damage like that to groups of demons couldn't be completely human.  I suggest you keep your guard up while on patrol for the time being.  At least until we can rule out this 'shadow' as a threat.  Heading in this direction could mean an interest in the hellmouth or even an interest in Buffy or Dawn."

"Don't worry g-man, we'll keep a look out for this shadow guy." Xander said as he was getting his stuff together to leave.

Anya stopped everyone from leaving, "I think you guys should stay indoors if the shadow is coming here.  Some of the strongest demons I know are afraid of this guy, so there is no telling how powerful he is.  I hear he attacks fast and hard without even saying a word, some don't even see him coming."

Xander thought about his ex-love's words for a moment. "Well I guess now that you have scared the bejesus out of me, I will go home and break out the big weapons to protect myself."

"Well, everyone stay together on patrols and keep a look out for him but try to avoid engaging in any form of contact with him until we know more." Ordered Giles.

TBC…..