Disclaimer: Taineyah does not own the Buffy characters or their Universe. She has no intention of offending anyone with this.
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Chapter 1: The Arrival
"Bloody hell, not another one! This house is already crawling with stupid little teeny-boppers." Spike looked at the still bright windows. "Damn it, it's at least another hour before I can escape this house for even a minute."
"You'll just have to deal," Buffy said. "Artemis has finally arrived in Sunnydale and she's not going anywhere until the First is defeated. You should be thankful, at least she's bringing her Watcher with her. That's gonna help the male-female ratio a bit."
"Yeah, just what we need; another American poof in the house."
Buffy rolled her eyes "Thomas isn't American. He's Canadian. And the way I hear it, Canadians are practically British."
"No, Canadians aren't British. They're just plain odd."
"If you're going to be stubborn!" Buffy exclaimed, throwing her hands up in frustration and walking away. Spike smirked triumphantly at her back.
***
"Girls! Artemis and Thomas are here! Come upstairs and meet them," Willow called into the basement, where the Potentials were training.
Giles and the new arrivals were just walking up the driveway. The Potentials all crashed into the living room window to see the new boy. They were shocked by his appearance. Standing at slightly over six feet with long auburn hair pulled back into a ponytail, he gave the impression of being as moody as a vampire, but as kind as the first rains after a drought.
"He's, like, so hot!" one of them said.
"I know!!" another exclaimed.
Giles opened the door and brought the teens in. The girl, who was slightly smaller than Dawn in build and height, had her short blue hair gelled into spikes. She glanced quickly at the room before looking at its inhabitants. The look she gave them had devil-may-care written all over it.
~Frost Queen~ Willow thought to Xander, raising her eyebrow.
~Tell me about it. She's gonna be trouble~ Xander replied. He looked at Buffy, his eyes clouded with concern at this new challenge.
~Think she's gonna pull an Annabelle?~ Buffy asked, mind racing as she imagined all the trouble this new girl could cause.
~I'm not sure...~ Willow was cut off, swiftly.
"I heard that!" Artemis exclaimed, whirling to face the 3 friends.
Willow, Buffy and Xander looked at each other, shocked. There was a brief and deafening silence.
"Aherm," Giles said, startling everyone. "This is Artemis Floyd and her Watcher, Thomas Lavigne. Thomas has a, um, rather extraordinary amount of luggage. Will a couple of you come out to the car and help carry it in?" Giles shook his head at Artemis' strange behaviour.
Spike came out of the kitchen and leaned in the doorway. "What, the stupid bloody poof can't carry his own crap?" he asked.
"My crap?" Thomas mimicked with a straight face as a knife flew precisely between two Potentials' heads and impaled itself solidly into the wood above Spike's head.
Spike looked from Thomas to the knife and back again. Smiling dangerously, Spike launched himself at the young Watcher. Thomas neatly put a hand forward and threw Spike to one side. Spike hit a wall and threw himself at the boy, and was again deflected
"Spike!" Buffy yelled, attempting to rush forward to stop the battling testosterone.
Artemis grabbed her arm. "Don't you dare! This is just getting good."
Buffy struggled against the younger girl's grip. Amazingly, she couldn't free herself. She blinked in surprise as Artemis calmly took hold of her other arm. Artemis didn't even seem to be straining herself.
Spike launched himself off the wall again and actually managed to knock Thomas in the back of the head as he flew past. Despite the pain in his head, Spike knew he had to teach this infant Watcher a lesson, or he'd think that he owned the place. Spike paused at one side, realising that he'd have to use another plan of attack to win this fight. In that split second, Thomas delivered a flying roundhouse to Spike's stomach.
Spike doubled over, appearing to have the wind knocked out of him. Thomas turned to Artemis, demanding that she release Buffy.
"Yeah, whatever," Artemis replied, giving Buffy a little shove.
Thomas berated Artemis for her lack of respect, while Spike quietly snuck up behind him. Artemis smiled insanely as she watched the vampire's silent approach.
Suddenly, Thomas felt a blinding pain crash through his skull. He fell to his knees, stunned. The world around him shimmered and blurred. When it came back into focus, he was staring at a fully vamped Spike.
"All right, let's call it a draw," Thomas muttered thickly, in a mock British accent.
Spike blinked once and de-vamped. "The Search for the Holy Grail!" he cried, astonished.
Buffy drew herself up in front of Spike, distracting him from Thomas. "Just what were you doing?!?" She smacked him across the face and he winced. "Have you gone insane again? We don't hurt houseguests!"
"Couldn't let a child think he could just throw knives at whoever he wanted. Someone'd have lost an eye." Spike turned his attention back to the youth who was now rising to his feet. "You watch Monty Python?"
"Yeah," Artemis sneered. "Can't get him to stop watching it. Hell, he was watching that Monty Python crap when he got the call saying we had to come here. Now, where the hell's your bathroom?"
"Um, I'll take you on the grand tour," said Dawn, trying to avert any further conflict. She knew that things were likely to get even nastier if Artemis didn't get out of Buffy's sight.
"Let's go," Artemis sneered over her shoulder as she started up the stairs.
After looking from person to person for a few seconds, the other Potentials flew out the door to get Thomas's stuff. Buffy glared up the stairs to where her little sister and the new potential had just disappeared. Giles stared at the young Watcher and Spike, who were now debating the merits of various sketches by Monty Python and acting as if they'd been best friends for years.
"Well, that was rather eventful, wasn't it?" he asked Willow and Xander.
"That's an understatement," Xander said, shocked.
"We're gonna have our hands full," agreed Willow, eyes wide.
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I have nothing against Monty Python. In fact, they're one of my favourite comedy troupes. It's just Artemis' character who doesn't like them.
If anyone realises the relationship between Artemis' first and last names (they both have something to do with the_________), they'll get a pat on the head and an ice-cream sundae. (Hint: Artemis is the name of a goddess in either Greek or Roman mythology. For Floyd, think music.)
There's your teaser. Please Review. (I'm assuming you read this already)