Chapter 10

As Xander left the vicinity of his parents house, he wondered to himself what had gone wrong. It was pitch-perfect up till the time Willow had pulled the cross on him. Xander had to admit, he hadn't seen that coming. For a second there he really thought he'd convinced Willow to join him, but now it was obvious that wasn't going to happen. 'Oh well' Xander thought, 'I've asked nicely, next time I'll have to play rough.'

The night was still quite early and Xander only now realised he was starving. He'd fed on Cordelia, but although she was a gourmet meal it wasn't exactly 'all you can eat'. 'Definitely nouvelle cuisine personified' thought Xander in amusement. He decided to head to the Bronze to try and pick up a snack. Because he hadn't missed a school day, having been taken by Drusilla on Friday night, Xander guessed that nobody would know of his disappearance and so he could mingle at the Bronze without causing alarm.

Xander handed over his dollar and entered the Bronze, walking in looking cool and confident which caused him to get several appreciative looks he wouldn't otherwise have gotten. He looked around for a likely volunteer to help him with his growling stomach, when he noticed Harmony alone in the corner crying and nursing one of those girly alcoholic ciders. Xander made his way over and sat down next to her without a word.

After a long moment, Harmony looked up at Xander, too upset to even tell him to get lost. Xander said to her sincerely "I'm sorry about Cordelia. I miss her too."

Harmony sniffled but said nothing, instead taking a sip of her drink and wiping her nose. Xander took her hand in both of his and said to her "Look, I've been snooping around and I think I know who killed Cordy and where we can find him."

This caught Harmony's attention and she looked up at Xander with vengeance in her eyes. She said simply "where?"

Xander stood up and replied "follow me, it's not far".

Harmony followed Xander out of the Bronze, something Aura thought unusual as she returned from the bathroom. 'Still, grief does funny things to people' thought Aura, unwilling to get involved at this time. She would however spread the word at school on Monday that Harmony had wasted no time in catching Cordelia's ex on the rebound after her death two days earlier, because gossip was currency and this was gold.

Xander rounded the corner and headed towards the alley that the abandoned shop opened on to, and where he was sired the previous night. He turned to Harmony who was now having second thoughts and said "It's just in here, we'll look to see if he's there and then call the Police, ok".

Harmony nodded, relieved that they wouldn't be confronting Cordelia's murderer directly. Xander stepped inside without a sound and beckoned for Harmony to follow. Reluctantly Harmony came inside and followed Xander's pointed finger to the far side of the room.

"He's here" said Xander.

"Where?" said Harmony, looking around.

"Here" said Xander, and vamped out.

Giles' Apartment

The gang had been back at Giles' place for a few minutes, and Jenny had just come out of unconsciousness and was holding an ice pack on her forehead. The rest of the group were seated at Giles' dinner table looking thoroughly whipped.

Giles stood and fidgeted with his glasses before speaking. "Buffy, I'm only going to say this once, but I think it needs to be said."

"We will try the spell to return Xander's soul. But, if that doesn't work, you must be prepared to kill Xander. What you saw tonight was a demon in Xander's form, and it must be slayed. I know it's not going to be easy, but it's what must be done."

"I know" said Buffy, still looking at the table. "But right now if there's a chance we can restore his soul, we should try that. We owe him that much. He saved my life last year Giles, and I'm going to make sure I pay him back."

"Alright. We start work tomorrow. The book Jenny is waiting for is arriving by special delivery tomorrow morning. Come by after lunch, we'll start work then" said Giles, addressing Buffy and Willow. "Right now, I think you both should go home, get some rest. There isn't much we can do at this moment."

Abandoned Shop Not far from the Bronze

"I wouldn't do that if I were you" said the voice from the doorway.

"Deadboy!" said Xander in an upbeat tone.

"Speak for yourself" replied Angel. "You can let her go now".

"Oooh, or what? You'll brood me to death? Scary!" mocked Xander.

Angel pulled out a stake that was tucked into his pants. "I was thinking more along the lines of using this" and waved the stake around casually.

Xander turned to face Angel and had his arm around Harmony's throat as she struggled to escape his grip. "Harmony for goodness sakes stop wriggling, you're giving me a woody" said Xander, which only increased her agitation.

Xander turned his attention back to Angel. "You can stay right there deadboy, or I'll snap her neck so fast she'll be dead before you can take a step."

"Either way in about thirty seconds you'll be able to fit into an ashtray" replied Angel, trying to goad Xander into fighting and forgetting about his hostage.

"Well if it doesn't matter either way" said Xander, and ruthlessly wrenched Harmony's head so that her neck snapped like a twig. He pushed her corpse at Angel and ran up the stairs like a gazelle.

Angel heard Harmony's neck break and knew she was dead before she left Xander's hands. He avoided her body and pursued Xander up the stairs as fast as he was able, but not fast enough. Angel got to the door of the room where Xander was sired only to catch a glimpse of Xander's feet as he dived out the window. Reluctantly Angel made his way back downstairs and out to a payphone to make an anonymous call to 911.

After diving out the window Xander rolled expertly to his feet and sprinted away as fast as his legs would carry him. He desperately wanted to fight Angel now he was on roughly equal terms with him, but not while he was unarmed and Angel had a stake. One lucky thrust and it would have been all over. Nor would it have been wise to let Harmony out alive. It would only have put more pressure on his existence if the Police and most of Sunnydale High knew he had murdered Cordelia, even if they didn't know the full story of how he had killed her.

Xander ran for a few more minutes until he was absolutely sure that he wasn't being followed. On the spur of the moment Xander decided to try a hunch. As he was already in the general area, it wouldn't take long to see if his luck had changed for the night. Gradually he made his way to the residence he was seeking, and after scanning the surrounding area and finding it empty he made his way up to the porch and rang the doorbell.

After a few seconds the door opened. "Xander, nice to see you, although it's getting late."

"Yes, sorry about that Mrs Summers, but it's kind of important. Is Buffy home?" asked Xander.

"No, she's out with Willow, although she should be home anytime soon" replied Joyce.

"That's good. Actually it's you I wanted to talk to. Is it alright if I come inside?"

"Of course Xander, come on in" said Joyce, and opened the door wider so Xander could enter.