See Prologue For Disclaimer.

Chapter Three
3 chicks and alcohol


Buffy , Xander, and Anya sat on one of the many couches in the middle of a nearly deserted Bronze. Willow and Tara sat on one of the other couches, appearing to not want to get too close, but not wanting to be all that far apart either. Spike, again, opted for a stool, which he moved nearby. He came along, not making enough noise to attract too much of Xanders attention, who surely would have objected otherwise. All of their hands held various drinks, and not a one of them was more than half full. In several cases, said drinks sat near their empty predecessors.

For much time they had spoken of nothing but the general idiocy and annoyance of life and the world. After a while, they had moved on to the far more gruesome topic: Patrols. You see, just about everyone was very comfortable as they were, at the moment. Not a one of them really felt like leaving they seats for any reason whatsoever. With the possible exception of refills. This talk about vampires and such inevitably brought attention to the fact that Spike was in attendance. A fact that highly annoyed Alexander.

"Hey, captain Peroxide! What are you doing here, anyway?" Xander shouted out, and from how unaware of his own volume he seemed, it was obvious that he was more than a little inebriate. The fact that he downright giggled at his own standard quip made it even more obvious.

Spike seemed to consider commenting on this, then decided that he wouldn't get his usual satisfaction out of the verbal confrontation. Besides, Buffy always seemed to get upset during his and Harris's fights, and so far he'd been rather enjoying himself. As far as he could enjoy himself with Buffy and the scoobies. "Well, I just happened to have come across a rather interesting tidbit. Decided you might want ta know. But It's not that important, I suppose it could wait til later." He stood up off his stool, and finished off his beer with one swift raising of the bottle. He moved to the table between the two couches and picked up a few of the empties. He noticed a few near-done drinks and looked to their owners.

"Want another, Red?" To which Willow absent-mindedly. "Pixie?" He asked, and Tara broke her staring match with Willow's thighs. She looked up, shaking her head, and looked to Spike confusedly. "You want another?" He explained, indicating the glass, still leaning over the table. She nodded, and he picked up the glasses.

He turned, and smiled at the way the two of them acted. He liked the two of them. No matter what the Twip had to say about him, those two had seemed to accept him. He would like to think that it was his good looks winning over two more young ladies that had done it, but the girls appreciation of each other had shown him that he'd need quite a few more beers before he could fool himself into thinking that. He walked up to the bar, ordered another for himself and the others, and stood calmly while the Bartender fixed them.

He looked back at the group and cancelled one of the drink orders; Willow had already fallen asleep on Tara's shoulder. Anya would have to drive her home. She had not had more than a single drink, and she didn't have far to drive, anyway. He listened to them, pretending not to look right at them. He listened to Willows' deep rhythmic breathing, watched Tara stroking her hair absentmindedly. He watched Buffy starring into space, a contentment about her, and a slight smile on her face. He couldn't see Xander and Anya's faces from this angle, but at the moment, he didn't really feel like looking away from Buffy's face.

It was there that he found an amazing, classical beauty, an elegance, a grace that he could never have imagined in a human. There was something very different about her. Besides the whole 'chosen one' thing. It was something that he'd always known, since the first time he'd seen her, he just couldn't bring himself to acknowledge it until recently. He felt very much at peace looking over like this. Which is why the bartender giving him a few drinks didn't give him the pleasure it usually did. He picked up the beverages, and walked over to the others, and gave Tara her drink. He sat, opting instead for one of the comfy chairs instead of a stool. Xander stood at that time, with slight difficulty, declaring that he must desperately use 'the facilities'. This perked an eyebrow or two, until they realized he meant the restroom.

Spike sat and started to go to work on his drink. Before long Xander had returned, and Spike found that he had been staring at Buffy. He really didn't want to get into any sort of confrontation, and he decided that he'd rather leave now and retain the fantasy that he'd had a 'fun night out with friends.' He stood up, waved goodbye to the Scoobies, and went to the bar to pay his tab. He was lucky that night. He had just enough alcohol in him to let him think he was actually out with friends, not with occasional associates.

Not long after, Anya spoke. "I think I should take Xander home."

"Why Honey? We're having a great time!" Harris said.

"Because, you get tired faster when you're drinking, and I wanted us to try that thing I showed you from that website,"

Xander, though not exactly at his peak, could still tell that something completely inappropriate for a rated-R story was about to be typed. Um, I mean said. However, being Not on his best condition, could think of nothing better to intturrupt her than yelling, then turning it into a laugh. "Um," He said, now having the others full attention, "Ok. We should go. I'll see you guys tomorrow then." the two of them stood, paid, and left.

Willow, having woken up at Xanders yelling, looked around, and decided to go back to sleep on Tara's shoulder, nestling closer. Tara had smiled, though Buffy couldn't tell if the smile was one of Humor at Anya's foolishness, or if Tara happened to be thinking along Anya's lines about Willow. The trail of thoughts that proceeded to run through Buffy's head were rather interesting, but she shook her head to expel them.

"So." Buffy began, Trying to think of some relevant topic for discussion. "What do you think of those two guys?"

Tara looked at her, then over her shoulder, then back to Buffy. "The ones at the bar?"

Buffy shook her head. "No, Jay and Bob."

Tara thought for a second. "Well, unless you didn't notice, I don't tend to take much interest in their type, but I suppose you might find them attractive."

Buffy looked confused for a moment. "No, not like that, I mean what do you think about them?" She tried to think of the right words. "Do you think that they are, you know, trustworthy, or trouble, or something like that?"

Tara seemed to be thinking deeply, and had her arm around Willows shoulder. "I don't think they're as much trouble as half the people that come through here. Might even come in handy from time to time." She said this, hugging Willow again. "But they are most definitely strange. Then again they are form New Jersey." It was clear that she meant something by that, but Buffy was neither capable, nor inclined to divine it. "Who knows? All I know is that I'm thankful for what they did." She said this, hugging Willow closer to her again, and this time the sleeping redhead awoke. It was clear from the grin on her face and the looking in her eye what she was thinking about as far as Tara was concerned, and it wasn't long before the three of them were getting ready to leave.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Jay picked up his duffle bag, opened it, and smiled. "Don't worry Lunchbox, got some right here." They picked up their things, and headed back out of the dark alley. Jay was considering wether they should go and get a hotel room before or after they smoked a nice fatty. He thought hard about this, an already difficult activity for him, and wasn't really watching where he was going as he crossed the road. As he and Bob passed another group of men, he bumped into one of them, and was knocked out of his deep thought.

"Watch it!" The stranger shouted.

"You watch it, bitch!" Jay shouted back. The stranger looked menacingly at him. "What? You gonna say something?"

The young man starred at him with a good deal of disgust in his eyes. "About a hundred things. But I doubt I can express myself monosyllabically enough for you to understand me!" He growled almost, and then stepped forward.

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Jay shouted.

"Marcus!" One of the other men of the group shouted back to the young stranger, and after a moment of intense staring, he went to catch up with his comrades. Jay stared after him for a second, then continued on their way to the park.

"Man, I don't even know what that Meant and I'm insulted!" Jay shouted. Bob looked at him for a moment, then shook his head. His friends foolishness amazed him sometimes.


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Marcus and his fellows reached the alley that Joreck had been seen entering. The leader of his troop spoke. "Try and find any evidence to see if he was attacked here, or if he realized he was being tailed, or what. Look around. James, Eric, keep watch." Marcus let his true face show, and allowed his night senses to take over. He could see it almost immediately. Dust.

"Over here." He said, lowering his head to the ground. His leader stood nearby, while Marcus smelled the air. "He was attacked here. He was dusted around here." He spoke, motioning to the entrance of the alley, looking sharply at the ground for traces of dust, and smelling as well. "A few hours ago at least." He moved across the alley, trying to find the scent of humans. His mind was still distracted though, quite angry at those two arrogant fools he'd ran into on the road. Oh, how He'd wanted to rip open that scrawny bastard's throat right there. He could still smell his stink. He tried to clear his mind of anger and focus on his job here, finding that easier said than done. "There's at least one human. I think two." He said, not actually smelling two human scents; the smell of smoke covered just about everything in here. But he knew that the others would accept him saying so, for it was known that the slayer usually fought with a friend." He looked around. Again, desperate for any evidence about the talisman. But he knew ful well what had happened without seeing proof of it. "She must have taken it."

His leader nodded. "Indeed. Most unfortunate for her. We will have to track her down tonight, before she has the opportunity to stash it anywhere. Or discern its purpose." He scowled. Cast in darkness, His form was naught but a moving part of it; A shade within the darkness, A shadow in the black. His form was as a nightmare, all the more terrifying, even to his brood, because his face was unseen. In the light, even the most Horrifying beast cannot compare to the incomprehensible evils of the Impenetrable cloak of darkness. Marcus, already kneeling, felt quite inclined to drive his face to the ground, hoping to hide from this face of blackness, this image of nothingness.

Then his master burst forth from the shadow like Death from the loins of Hell. And he stood. And his master spoke, every word a chill in his spine, A shard of Ice in his mind.

"Our prey awaits, as does our destiny. Let us not keep them waiting unduly."



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reveiws Appreciated, Even flames.... (I'm So lonely.;) )
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------