* * * * *
"What are you going to do for tonight?" Willow whispered as she picked up the used candles.
"Tonight?" Xander asked blankly.
"Well you can't really go home. I mean your parents were really going at it." He frowned and she hurried on. "You could spend the night at my house. It'll be like old times...except without the s'mores. Oh, and I wouldn't make you play Clue until two in the morning because I know you hate it when I win, which was every time we play. Not that we would play, because we're kind of old for playing Clue and it's a school night and..."
"Excuse me?" Cordelia said from behind them. They turned and faced her.
"My boyfriend is not spending the night at your house."
"Boyfriend?" Xander asked looking at Cordelia as if for the first time.
"Well....only in the loosest sense," Cordelia said grudgingly. "If you tell anyone I will deny it."
"Well, he can't go home," Willow said tersely, feeling her stomach knot up at Cordelia using the b-word. Buffy shot her a sympathetic look from behind Cordelia.
"I guess he can come home with me," Cordelia said frowning. "I can sneak him in the back way...Rosmerta should be asleep by now..."
"Rosmerta?" Buffy asked.
"The maid," Cordelia said arching a perfectly shaped eyebrow at her.
"Enough," Giles said interrupting them. "Xander you can sleep on my couch tonight. I owe you that for creating friction between you and your father."
"Are you sure?" Willow asked. "My mom won't mind."
"I mind. And don't you think Oz would mind?" Cordelia said pointedly.
"No," Willow said quickly, not really knowing whether her laid back boyfriend would mind or not. "It's just Xander."
"Guys," Buffy said stepping up to them. "We're all tired. Xander will go home with Giles and we can all get some sleep. Tomorrow we'll figure out how to catch this thing."
"Fine," Cordelia said walking over and kissing Xander on the lips. "I'll see you tomorrow."
Xander nodded looking slightly taken aback by the kiss. Willow watched as his eyes followed Cordelia walk out the door. She stepped up to him.
"See you tomorrow," she said awkwardly getting another nod in return.
She turned to a waiting Buffy and started the short walk home.
* * * * *
The Library. He had to get to the Library. Something had gone terribly wrong. He ran blindly through the woods not knowing where he was going. North, South, East or West, they didn't mean anything in the never ending trees. Not for the first time he wished he had paid attention in Boy Scouts. He had tried drawing upon the knowledge that he had gained as a Halloween soldier, but came up blank.
He heard a car horn a little ways off and his pointy ears pricked up as he made his way in the direction it had come from. After what seemed like hours he came out on a clearing occupied by four or five cars with couples in them. He realized he was on Make-Out point, where he and Cordelia had been attacked by Oz less than a month ago. Occupied couples were oblivious to his presence as he ran past them and down the highway that led to town.
He heard a car coming up the road and instinctively moved to the brush by the side of the road. As the car grew nearer he was able to make out it's sleek form past the headlights with and then the license plate that read "Queen C". Cordy!
He jumped out of the bushes and stood in the middle of the road expecting her to slam on her brakes. He had to talk to her, had to convince her that it was him. He saw her scream as she approached and then a split second later he saw determination cross her face as the car sped up.
She's not going to stop! His brain screamed at him. He tried to run for the cover of the bushes again but he had hesitated too long. He roared in pain as the car hit him full force in the side sending him flying over the bushes and rolling down the steep side of the hill. After what seemed an eternity he finally came to a stop at the bottom of the hill. His head was spinning as he stared up at the stars in the sky.
She hit me, he thought to himself, That crazy girl hit me.
It was his last thought before the pain made him black out.
* * * * *
"I'm telling you, Giles, it tried to attack me!" Cordelia said as she followed him around the library the next morning.
"Are you sure?" He asked pouring his morning tea into a cup.
"Yes! That thing was after me."
"How did you get away?" Giles asked curiously as he took a sip of tea.
"I hit it," Cordelia said.
"Cordelia," Giles said pausing in his tea drinking to give her a reproachful look. "The Walken demon is very dangerous and shouldn't be trifled with. Especially if it was really trying to attack you. If it was really after you, you wouldn't have gotten away. I can't imagine how you managed to escape just by punching it, unless, as I suspect, it wasn't interested in you in the first place."
"Oh yes, because it didn't go after Xander at all did it? Face it Giles, that thing has it out for humans now. Besides, how dense do you think I am?" Cordelia said, "Punching it? Please! I hit it with my car."
"You what?" Giles asked spluttering his tea all over his tweed vest.
"Daddy's going to kill me too. It left a huge dent. Do you think he'll believe me if I say I hit a deer?"
"You hit a deer?" Willow asked her eyes big and sad. Cordelia turned to see Oz and her at the counter having walked in at the end of the conversation.
Cordelia sighed. "I hit the demon, it was after me. Can we move on?" She turned back to Giles. "I told him I was attacked by a bear when wolf boy here decided to shred my hood. I don't know how many wildlife stories he'll buy."
"Yeah," Oz said, "Sorry about that."
"Where did you hit it?" Giles asked.
"Near Make-Out Point."
"In the woods?" Willow said softly. "When we were doing the spell I could see it running through the woods."
"Me too," Cordelia said nodding.
"Yes, well in a way we were channeling it," Giles said. "We had to picture it in order to erase Xander's scent from it's senses."
"Where is Xander?" Cordelia asked looking around the library.
"He and Buffy went for donuts,"
"Ooh! Jellies?" Willow asked eagerly.
"Jellies, cream filled, plain, you name it," Buffy said emerging from behind the bookshelves that led to the back exit. Xander carried a large box of donuts and set it on the table. "Breakfast of Champions."
"Breakfast of fatties," Cordelia said eying the box. "Oh, is that one with sprinkles?"
Xander picked it up and held it out to her. "Go on. You're too skinny anyway."
Cordelia opened her mouth to say something in response and then realized that he had just complimented her....sort of. She blinked in surprise and took the donut. She wondered if the whole boyfriend comment last night had gone to his head. She hoped not. It wasn't like she was ready to make it well known that she, Cordelia Chase, a May Queen, was dating Xander Harris, Loser Boy.
They took their seats around the table, each one grabbing a donut and falling into the routine that they had developed over the last couple of months. Buffy opened up the discussion by getting straight tot he point. "So, Giles. What's the plan on capturing this thing? And what do we do with it after we capture it?"
"It simplifies things quite a bit now that we know that it isn't attacking humans," Giles said. "At least now we won't have to worry about our safety, unless we prompt it to violent action."
"Hello!" Cordelia said setting her donut down in disgust. "Did you not hear a word I said? It came after me."
"It did?" Buffy asked shooting a shocked look in Giles' direction.
"Last night, when I was driving home. It was just waiting for me there in the middle of the highway."
"And it attacked you?" Xander asked looking confused.
"I didn't give it a chance to," Cordelia said. "I floored it and went at it."
Xander laughed. "You hit him?"
Cordelia hit his arm, "It's not funny, Xander. It dented my car."
This only made Xander laugh harder.
"She's right Xander, it's not funny," Buffy said. "Giles if this thing is attacking people we have to stop it."
"I'm not sure that was an actual attack," Giles said frowning. "It hardly matches the way that the Walken demon attacks it's prey. And from what we saw while doing the spell, chances are it just ate. Which makes it very unlikely that it would venture another kill so soon afterwards"
"That didn't stop it from attacking Xander," Willow said speaking up.
"That's different," Giles said. "It sniffed the dead vampires' blood on Xander. It was fooled into thinking that Xander was the vampire reincarnated. There is a very powerful curse binding the demon to attacking vampires only."
"But it can be tricked into killing despite that curse," Buffy said glancing at the disturbed look on Xander's face. "I'll feel safer once we got that thing off the streets of Sunnydale."
"Well I was hoping that perhaps we'd be able to observe it for a bit. It hasn't been spotted in over seven hundred years. It's feeding habits alone would be fascinating to document ..." he trailed off at the unbelieving looks of the teenagers staring back at him. He sighed. "Oh very well then, we'll capture it tonight. Is anyone going to eat that last jelly?"
* * * * *
A/N: I'm glad you're enjoying the story. Much more to come! Please review.