CHAPTER 6-The New Girl
Paige strode purposefully down the hall with Randall on his left and Talbot on his right. The strand of hair he had extracted from Willow was still wrapped around his fingers and he was thinking about the girl's future as he headed for his locker.
He smiled thoughtfully.
Willow's future...
In his mind, there really wasn't much of a future for Willow if the Father had anything to say about it. The plan was in motion. Paige, his brothers, and his Initiates were in a position where they could watch Willow. They were also in a position to do more than just watch. They had to prepare her for the Father, and when the time was right, they would make their final move. Paige didn't know when that time would come, but the Father did.
Willow would meet her destiny.
Paige was confident the Brotherhood had accomplished what they had set out to do. They had shaken Willow up and had given her great cause for concern. However, there was still much to do. The Father had given him strict instructions not to harm Willow. It was one thing to frighten her, but to bring physical harm to her would only incur the Father's wrath. With that in mind, Paige had already decided he wouldn't do anything else to the girl until after the weekend.
The day progressed rapidly for Paige. He was in a good mood and was looking forward to his new status as an Elder. It was an honor and a privilege to rise through the Brotherhood from an Initiate to an Elder. It gave him the opportunity to work closely with the Father. He had trained hard to get where he was today and he was extremely proud to have reached his goal.
Now he had much responsibility as an Elder. He also had power.
He couldn't understand why the Prodigal had turned his back on the Brotherhood, renouncing the sacred oath he had taken. It made Paige angry. No one ever left the Brotherhood and lived the next day; except for the Prodigal. The Father strictly forbade it.
It was approaching fourth period as Paige walked alone across the lawn to reach the other side of school where his next class was. That's when he saw Willow sitting on a bench in front of a short wall. She was taking out her lunch. Paige noticed that she was alone.
A grin appeared on his face. This was an opportunity he simply couldn't ignore. He changed his direction and slowly headed toward Willow. Suddenly, he stopped when he saw that someone else had approached Willow.
It was the new girl.
It was Buffy Summers.
What did she want with Willow? Paige wondered. He decided to hang back out of sight beside a tree and watch. Ever since he witnessed Buffy's visions with the Father and Willow in the dream world, he had become curious about her. The Father believed that fate had chosen her for something great.but what?
Paige kept out of sight as he watched Buffy and Willow.
* Buffy approached Willow. "Uh, hi!" she greeted the red-head cheerfully. "Willow, right?"
Willow looked up in surprise. "Why?" she blurted out anxiously. She took a deep breath and looked at Buffy with a mixture of apprehension and curiosity. "I-I mean, hi! Uh, did you want me to move?" *
From his place of hiding, Paige grinned.
* Buffy looked at Willow and smiled. "Why don't we start with, 'Hi, I'm Buffy', and, uh, then let's segue directly into me asking you for a favor." She sat down next to Willow. "It doesn't involve moving, but it does involve hanging out with me for a while."
Willow regarded Buffy suspiciously. "But aren't you hanging out with Cordelia?"
"I can't do both?"
Willow shook her head. "Not legally."
Buffy let out a sigh. "Look, I really wanna get by here. New school. And.Cordelia's been really nice.to me.anyway, but, uhm, I kinda have this burning desire not to flunk all my classes, and I heard a rumor that you were the person to talk to if I wanted to get caught up."
Willow's face seemed to light up as she smiled. "Oh, I could totally help you out! Uh, if you have sixth period free we could meet in the library?"
Buffy blurted out, "Or not!"
Willow looked at her, puzzled.
"Or we could meet some place quieter. Louder. Uh, that place just kinda gives me the wiggins."
"Oh, it has that effect on most kids. I love it, though, it's a great collection, and the new librarian is really cool."
Buffy looked at Willow thoughtfully. "He's new?"
Willow nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, he just started. He was a curator at some British museum, or, or The British Museum, I'm not sure. But he knows everything, and he brought all these historical volumes and biographies-" She noticed the look on Buffy's face. "-and am I the single dullest person alive?"
"Not at all," Buffy assured her.
"Hey!" exclaimed Jesse as he came around the wall to stand in front of Buffy and Willow.
Xander appeared behind them. "You guys busy?" he asked. "Are we interrupting? We're interrupting." He tossed his book bag to Jesse.
"Hey," Buffy greeted them with a glance toward Willow.
Willow smiled and looked at Xander. "Hey!"
Jesse gave Buffy a wave. "Hey, there." He dropped Xander's bag next to his own.
Willow smiled at Buffy. "Buffy, this is Jesse, and that's Xander." Then she remembered that Xander had already met Buffy earlier in the morning. She looked up at him, hoping Xander wouldn't fall for the new girl.
Xander, however, was grinning like a fool in love. "Oh, me and Buffy go waaay back, old friends, very close. Then there's that period of estrangement where I think we were both growing as people, but now here we are, like old times. I'm quite moved."
Jesse looked at him as if he had just lost his mind. "Is it me, or are you turning into a bibbling idiot?"
Xander frowned. "No, it's, uh, it's not you."
"Well, it's nice to meet you guys," Buffy said. She looked at Willow for help. "I think."
Xander hopped over the wall and he retrieved his bag. He began to dig through it.
"Well, you know," Jesse began with a shrug, "we wanted to welcome ya, make ya feel at home, unless you have a scary home."
Xander pulled out a wooden stake from his bag and held it toward Buffy. "And to return this." He pointed the sharp end toward the ground. "The only thing I can think is that you're building a really little fence." He handed it to her.
Buffy took the stake from him. "Hah! No, uhm, a-a-actually it was for self-defense. Everyone has them in LA." She shrugged. "Pepper spray is so passe'."
Xander smiled at her. "So what do you do for fun?" He sat down next to her. "What do you like? What do you look for in a man? Let's hear it."
Buffy looked at him.
Jesse spoke up before she could respond to Xander's barrage of questions. "If you have any dark, painful secrets you'd like us to publish?"
"Gee," Buffy said, looking from Jesse, to Xander, and to Willow, "everyone wants to know about me." She looked concerned. "How keen."
Xander shrugged. "Well, not much goes on in a one Starbucks town like Sunnydale. You're pretty big news."
"I'm not," Buffy protested. "Really." *
Paige remained where he was, unnoticed by anyone. He saw Cordelia approaching the group and she looked troubled.
* Cordelia stopped beside Jesse, and she looked at Buffy with concern. "Are these guys bothering you?" she asked.
"Uh." Buffy shook her head. "No."
Willow was quick to come to Buffy's defense as she looked at Cordelia and shook her head. "She's not hanging out with us."
Jesse stood up and he tried the old charm. "Hey, Cordelia!"
Cordelia put up her hand and she didn't even look at him. "Oh, please!" To Buffy, she said, "I don't mean to interrupt your downward mobility, but I just wanted to tell you that you won't be meeting Coach Foster-the woman with the chest hair-because Gym was canceled due to the extreme dead guy in the locker."
Buffy stared at her. "What?"
"What are you talking about?" Willow asked.
Cordelia shrugged. "Some guy was stuffed in Aura's locker."
"Dead?" Buffy pressed.
"Totally dead. Way dead."
"It's not just a little dead then?" Xander inquired sarcastically.
Cordelia gave him the look. "Don't you have an elsewhere to be?"
Jesse moved closer to her. "Y'know, if you need a shoulder to cry on, or just to nibble on."
Cordelia glared at him.
"How did he die?" Buffy asked.
"I don't know." She shrugged.
"Well, were there any marks?"
She looked at her. "Morbid much? I didn't ask!"
Buffy suddenly looked troubled. "Uhm, I gotta book. I'll see you guys later." Before anyone could say anything, she got up and hurried away.
They all watched her leave.
"What's her deal?" Cordelia asked no one in particular. *
Paige had seen more than enough. He was more curious about the new girl than even before. He followed her at a distance. It wasn't difficult to stay with her. Buffy's mind was on other things and she never noticed she was being followed.
Paige maintained his distance and followed Buffy to the girls' locker room, but he soon realized that Buffy was not going to be able to get inside. Principal Bob Flutie was just exiting through the locker room's doors and he locked the door behind him. When he turned around, he discovered Buffy standing in front of him.
* "Oh, Buffy!" Flutie exclaimed. "Uh, what do you want?"
Buffy hesitated. "Uhm, is there a guy in there that's dead?"
He regarded her suspiciously. "Where did you hear that? Okay. Yes! But he's not a student! Not currently."
"Do you know how he died?"
"What?"
"I mean-how could this have happened?"
"Well, that's for the police to determine when they get here. But this structure is safe," he said, reassuring her, "we have inspections, and I think there's no grounds for a lawsuit."
Buffy made a face. "Was there a lot of blood? Was there any blood?"
Flutie looked at her. "I would think you wouldn't want to involve yourself in this kind of thing."
"I don't. Could I just take a peek?"
"Unless you already are involved."
Buffy backed off. "Never mind."
Flutie let down his guard a little. "Buffy, I understand this is confusing. You're probably feeling a lot right now. You should share those feelings." Then, he added, "With someone else."
He walked away.
Buffy waited. Then she tried the door, only to find that it was locked. She looked around to make certain she was alone. She pulled the door open with a quick tug, splintering the lock. With one last look around, Buffy slipped inside. *
Paige stepped out from hiding and he approached the door. He stepped into the girl's locker room and he peeked around a row of lockers. He saw Buffy uncovering a body from a blanket that had been covering it. She appeared to be looking at the exposed neck area.
* "Oh, great!" she said, under her breath. *
She covered the body back up with the blanket, turned around, and started to leave. Suddenly, just before she got to the door, she stopped and turned her head, puzzled. She had the strangest feeling she wasn't alone. She looked toward the lockers and listened.
Finally, she decided that it was just her imagination. She left the locker room.
Paige came around the corner of the lockers when she was gone. He satisfied himself that Buffy wasn't returning, nor was there anyone else coming, and then he approached the body. He pulled back the blanket and looked at the body. It was a young man, and there were teeth marks on his neck.
Paige thought about the visions, the dreams he had witnessed with Willow and the Father. The Father had admitted to him that Buffy Summers did have a destiny to follow. Now he was beginning to understand exactly what that destiny was.
"I'll be a son-of-a-bitch," he said out loud, amazed. "The new girl is the Slayer."
***********************
Paige needed Talbot and Randall to keep others out of the men's room. He needed to contact the Father, and the best time to do that was during class. There was less of a chance for someone to walk in on him.
Paige faced the mirror. Not many were aware of the power mirrors contained. There was great magic in mirrors. The Father understood mirrors well, and he had taught Paige of their usefulness as well. Mirrors could be used as doorways, or windows. All that was needed was a link to the other side.
Paige placed a gem on the sink in front of the mirror.
The surface of the mirror wavered. Paige's reflection disappeared only to be replaced by the Father's.
The Father regarded Paige with a knowing look. "I've been expecting you, my son."
Paige stared at him. "You know!" His voice was full of wonder and amazement.
"In the girl's dreams, I suspected." The Father paused. "But you are correct. Now I know there can be no other explanation. Buffy Summers is the Vampire Slayer." He smiled. "Heinrich would be pleased to have her."
The Elder frowned in thought. "I don't understand, Father. Why take Willow for the Ritual of Longevity if you can take the Slayer?"
"I had not realized the Slayer was here until I was in her dreams. I should have known, however, because Sunnydale sits upon the Hellmouth." He paused. "As for Willow, she is the one, my son. You do not see it, but I do. You see her as a simple girl." He smiled. "She is much more than simple. Do NOT make the mistake of underestimating her."
Paige looked at the image of the Father in the mirror.
Then, there was a sudden commotion behind him. Someone was entering into the men's room.
The Father looked at Paige. He had one more thing to say. "The Prodigal is returning to Sunnydale."
Paige couldn't contain his surprise. "What? Father, when?"
"Soon. He must come back to us, my son." He nodded with determination. "He will come back to us."
The Father's image wavered.
Paige wanted to ask more, but the connection was gone. He saw in the mirror who had entered the men's room, and he began to turn his head. "Hello, Har-"
A fist connected to his face.
**********************************
TO BE CONTINUED- - -
Paige strode purposefully down the hall with Randall on his left and Talbot on his right. The strand of hair he had extracted from Willow was still wrapped around his fingers and he was thinking about the girl's future as he headed for his locker.
He smiled thoughtfully.
Willow's future...
In his mind, there really wasn't much of a future for Willow if the Father had anything to say about it. The plan was in motion. Paige, his brothers, and his Initiates were in a position where they could watch Willow. They were also in a position to do more than just watch. They had to prepare her for the Father, and when the time was right, they would make their final move. Paige didn't know when that time would come, but the Father did.
Willow would meet her destiny.
Paige was confident the Brotherhood had accomplished what they had set out to do. They had shaken Willow up and had given her great cause for concern. However, there was still much to do. The Father had given him strict instructions not to harm Willow. It was one thing to frighten her, but to bring physical harm to her would only incur the Father's wrath. With that in mind, Paige had already decided he wouldn't do anything else to the girl until after the weekend.
The day progressed rapidly for Paige. He was in a good mood and was looking forward to his new status as an Elder. It was an honor and a privilege to rise through the Brotherhood from an Initiate to an Elder. It gave him the opportunity to work closely with the Father. He had trained hard to get where he was today and he was extremely proud to have reached his goal.
Now he had much responsibility as an Elder. He also had power.
He couldn't understand why the Prodigal had turned his back on the Brotherhood, renouncing the sacred oath he had taken. It made Paige angry. No one ever left the Brotherhood and lived the next day; except for the Prodigal. The Father strictly forbade it.
It was approaching fourth period as Paige walked alone across the lawn to reach the other side of school where his next class was. That's when he saw Willow sitting on a bench in front of a short wall. She was taking out her lunch. Paige noticed that she was alone.
A grin appeared on his face. This was an opportunity he simply couldn't ignore. He changed his direction and slowly headed toward Willow. Suddenly, he stopped when he saw that someone else had approached Willow.
It was the new girl.
It was Buffy Summers.
What did she want with Willow? Paige wondered. He decided to hang back out of sight beside a tree and watch. Ever since he witnessed Buffy's visions with the Father and Willow in the dream world, he had become curious about her. The Father believed that fate had chosen her for something great.but what?
Paige kept out of sight as he watched Buffy and Willow.
* Buffy approached Willow. "Uh, hi!" she greeted the red-head cheerfully. "Willow, right?"
Willow looked up in surprise. "Why?" she blurted out anxiously. She took a deep breath and looked at Buffy with a mixture of apprehension and curiosity. "I-I mean, hi! Uh, did you want me to move?" *
From his place of hiding, Paige grinned.
* Buffy looked at Willow and smiled. "Why don't we start with, 'Hi, I'm Buffy', and, uh, then let's segue directly into me asking you for a favor." She sat down next to Willow. "It doesn't involve moving, but it does involve hanging out with me for a while."
Willow regarded Buffy suspiciously. "But aren't you hanging out with Cordelia?"
"I can't do both?"
Willow shook her head. "Not legally."
Buffy let out a sigh. "Look, I really wanna get by here. New school. And.Cordelia's been really nice.to me.anyway, but, uhm, I kinda have this burning desire not to flunk all my classes, and I heard a rumor that you were the person to talk to if I wanted to get caught up."
Willow's face seemed to light up as she smiled. "Oh, I could totally help you out! Uh, if you have sixth period free we could meet in the library?"
Buffy blurted out, "Or not!"
Willow looked at her, puzzled.
"Or we could meet some place quieter. Louder. Uh, that place just kinda gives me the wiggins."
"Oh, it has that effect on most kids. I love it, though, it's a great collection, and the new librarian is really cool."
Buffy looked at Willow thoughtfully. "He's new?"
Willow nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, he just started. He was a curator at some British museum, or, or The British Museum, I'm not sure. But he knows everything, and he brought all these historical volumes and biographies-" She noticed the look on Buffy's face. "-and am I the single dullest person alive?"
"Not at all," Buffy assured her.
"Hey!" exclaimed Jesse as he came around the wall to stand in front of Buffy and Willow.
Xander appeared behind them. "You guys busy?" he asked. "Are we interrupting? We're interrupting." He tossed his book bag to Jesse.
"Hey," Buffy greeted them with a glance toward Willow.
Willow smiled and looked at Xander. "Hey!"
Jesse gave Buffy a wave. "Hey, there." He dropped Xander's bag next to his own.
Willow smiled at Buffy. "Buffy, this is Jesse, and that's Xander." Then she remembered that Xander had already met Buffy earlier in the morning. She looked up at him, hoping Xander wouldn't fall for the new girl.
Xander, however, was grinning like a fool in love. "Oh, me and Buffy go waaay back, old friends, very close. Then there's that period of estrangement where I think we were both growing as people, but now here we are, like old times. I'm quite moved."
Jesse looked at him as if he had just lost his mind. "Is it me, or are you turning into a bibbling idiot?"
Xander frowned. "No, it's, uh, it's not you."
"Well, it's nice to meet you guys," Buffy said. She looked at Willow for help. "I think."
Xander hopped over the wall and he retrieved his bag. He began to dig through it.
"Well, you know," Jesse began with a shrug, "we wanted to welcome ya, make ya feel at home, unless you have a scary home."
Xander pulled out a wooden stake from his bag and held it toward Buffy. "And to return this." He pointed the sharp end toward the ground. "The only thing I can think is that you're building a really little fence." He handed it to her.
Buffy took the stake from him. "Hah! No, uhm, a-a-actually it was for self-defense. Everyone has them in LA." She shrugged. "Pepper spray is so passe'."
Xander smiled at her. "So what do you do for fun?" He sat down next to her. "What do you like? What do you look for in a man? Let's hear it."
Buffy looked at him.
Jesse spoke up before she could respond to Xander's barrage of questions. "If you have any dark, painful secrets you'd like us to publish?"
"Gee," Buffy said, looking from Jesse, to Xander, and to Willow, "everyone wants to know about me." She looked concerned. "How keen."
Xander shrugged. "Well, not much goes on in a one Starbucks town like Sunnydale. You're pretty big news."
"I'm not," Buffy protested. "Really." *
Paige remained where he was, unnoticed by anyone. He saw Cordelia approaching the group and she looked troubled.
* Cordelia stopped beside Jesse, and she looked at Buffy with concern. "Are these guys bothering you?" she asked.
"Uh." Buffy shook her head. "No."
Willow was quick to come to Buffy's defense as she looked at Cordelia and shook her head. "She's not hanging out with us."
Jesse stood up and he tried the old charm. "Hey, Cordelia!"
Cordelia put up her hand and she didn't even look at him. "Oh, please!" To Buffy, she said, "I don't mean to interrupt your downward mobility, but I just wanted to tell you that you won't be meeting Coach Foster-the woman with the chest hair-because Gym was canceled due to the extreme dead guy in the locker."
Buffy stared at her. "What?"
"What are you talking about?" Willow asked.
Cordelia shrugged. "Some guy was stuffed in Aura's locker."
"Dead?" Buffy pressed.
"Totally dead. Way dead."
"It's not just a little dead then?" Xander inquired sarcastically.
Cordelia gave him the look. "Don't you have an elsewhere to be?"
Jesse moved closer to her. "Y'know, if you need a shoulder to cry on, or just to nibble on."
Cordelia glared at him.
"How did he die?" Buffy asked.
"I don't know." She shrugged.
"Well, were there any marks?"
She looked at her. "Morbid much? I didn't ask!"
Buffy suddenly looked troubled. "Uhm, I gotta book. I'll see you guys later." Before anyone could say anything, she got up and hurried away.
They all watched her leave.
"What's her deal?" Cordelia asked no one in particular. *
Paige had seen more than enough. He was more curious about the new girl than even before. He followed her at a distance. It wasn't difficult to stay with her. Buffy's mind was on other things and she never noticed she was being followed.
Paige maintained his distance and followed Buffy to the girls' locker room, but he soon realized that Buffy was not going to be able to get inside. Principal Bob Flutie was just exiting through the locker room's doors and he locked the door behind him. When he turned around, he discovered Buffy standing in front of him.
* "Oh, Buffy!" Flutie exclaimed. "Uh, what do you want?"
Buffy hesitated. "Uhm, is there a guy in there that's dead?"
He regarded her suspiciously. "Where did you hear that? Okay. Yes! But he's not a student! Not currently."
"Do you know how he died?"
"What?"
"I mean-how could this have happened?"
"Well, that's for the police to determine when they get here. But this structure is safe," he said, reassuring her, "we have inspections, and I think there's no grounds for a lawsuit."
Buffy made a face. "Was there a lot of blood? Was there any blood?"
Flutie looked at her. "I would think you wouldn't want to involve yourself in this kind of thing."
"I don't. Could I just take a peek?"
"Unless you already are involved."
Buffy backed off. "Never mind."
Flutie let down his guard a little. "Buffy, I understand this is confusing. You're probably feeling a lot right now. You should share those feelings." Then, he added, "With someone else."
He walked away.
Buffy waited. Then she tried the door, only to find that it was locked. She looked around to make certain she was alone. She pulled the door open with a quick tug, splintering the lock. With one last look around, Buffy slipped inside. *
Paige stepped out from hiding and he approached the door. He stepped into the girl's locker room and he peeked around a row of lockers. He saw Buffy uncovering a body from a blanket that had been covering it. She appeared to be looking at the exposed neck area.
* "Oh, great!" she said, under her breath. *
She covered the body back up with the blanket, turned around, and started to leave. Suddenly, just before she got to the door, she stopped and turned her head, puzzled. She had the strangest feeling she wasn't alone. She looked toward the lockers and listened.
Finally, she decided that it was just her imagination. She left the locker room.
Paige came around the corner of the lockers when she was gone. He satisfied himself that Buffy wasn't returning, nor was there anyone else coming, and then he approached the body. He pulled back the blanket and looked at the body. It was a young man, and there were teeth marks on his neck.
Paige thought about the visions, the dreams he had witnessed with Willow and the Father. The Father had admitted to him that Buffy Summers did have a destiny to follow. Now he was beginning to understand exactly what that destiny was.
"I'll be a son-of-a-bitch," he said out loud, amazed. "The new girl is the Slayer."
***********************
Paige needed Talbot and Randall to keep others out of the men's room. He needed to contact the Father, and the best time to do that was during class. There was less of a chance for someone to walk in on him.
Paige faced the mirror. Not many were aware of the power mirrors contained. There was great magic in mirrors. The Father understood mirrors well, and he had taught Paige of their usefulness as well. Mirrors could be used as doorways, or windows. All that was needed was a link to the other side.
Paige placed a gem on the sink in front of the mirror.
The surface of the mirror wavered. Paige's reflection disappeared only to be replaced by the Father's.
The Father regarded Paige with a knowing look. "I've been expecting you, my son."
Paige stared at him. "You know!" His voice was full of wonder and amazement.
"In the girl's dreams, I suspected." The Father paused. "But you are correct. Now I know there can be no other explanation. Buffy Summers is the Vampire Slayer." He smiled. "Heinrich would be pleased to have her."
The Elder frowned in thought. "I don't understand, Father. Why take Willow for the Ritual of Longevity if you can take the Slayer?"
"I had not realized the Slayer was here until I was in her dreams. I should have known, however, because Sunnydale sits upon the Hellmouth." He paused. "As for Willow, she is the one, my son. You do not see it, but I do. You see her as a simple girl." He smiled. "She is much more than simple. Do NOT make the mistake of underestimating her."
Paige looked at the image of the Father in the mirror.
Then, there was a sudden commotion behind him. Someone was entering into the men's room.
The Father looked at Paige. He had one more thing to say. "The Prodigal is returning to Sunnydale."
Paige couldn't contain his surprise. "What? Father, when?"
"Soon. He must come back to us, my son." He nodded with determination. "He will come back to us."
The Father's image wavered.
Paige wanted to ask more, but the connection was gone. He saw in the mirror who had entered the men's room, and he began to turn his head. "Hello, Har-"
A fist connected to his face.
**********************************
TO BE CONTINUED- - -