CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Back at Giles' Slayer Mansion, the group was trying to figure out Alex's sudden appearance of powers. They assumed it wasn't the same as when Maria gained powers because Isabel didn't have the power to teleport. Alex stood in the middle of the room with his eyes closed, while everybody sat in a circle around him.
"Did I move yet?" he called, eyes still closed.
"Does breathing count?" Xander asked.
"Damn it, this sucks! I finally get a cool super human power and it doesn't even work!"
"Maybe you're trying too hard," Liz suggested.
"Yeah maybe," Alex said dejectedly. He really wanted to have a special power. Maybe then he'd be worthy of Isabel.
"Hey Alex!" Rath yelled.
"What?" said Alex. As he turned, the first thing he saw was big blue ball of light flying towards his chest. Alex screamed and shut his eyes, waiting for impact. When he didn't feel anything, he cracked his eye open and glanced around. The room looked different from when he closed them. He was now standing behind Isabel. Everyone looked around the room in awe while Rath had a smug smirk on his face.
"See? I fixed it," Rath said.
"Rath! You damaged my training room!" Giles exclaimed, getting up to inspect the back wall, which currently had a hole in it.
"Don't sweat it, pops," said Zan. He waved his hand over the wall and it was good as new.
"Alex, are you all right?" Isabel asked, worriedly, checking him over with her eyes.
He kissed her forehead, gently. "Yeah, I'm fine."
"Good." She kissed his lips softly before getting up and heading over to Rath, who was still smirking. She slapped him upside the head.
"Ow! What was that for?"
"You nearly hurt Alex!"
"He's fine. I knew he would be," Rath said, still rubbing the back of his head. "An army cannot be trained with pillows. There's got to be little dangers here and there. Besides, I could've healed him if he didn't move."
"Thank you for that little army tidbit," she said sarcastically. "Shoot at my Alex again and there'll be hell to pay," she growled.
"No prob."
Isabel huffed and sat back next to her boyfriend, cooing at him and touching him gently. Kyle watched the exchange with a little envy. He nudged Rath, who was sitting next to him.
"Think you could shoot at me too?" he asked. Rath chuckled and shook his head. It wouldn't work. You needed to have a girl first to get the TLC.
"Well. I think that is enough training for the day," said Giles, finally. "Go home, I'll see you tomorrow, I'm sure."
The Pod Squad got up from their seats and set off to their various homes, leaving the Scooby Gang to think about this new power that Alex seemed to acquire.
"Maybe it's a prophecy thing?" Buffy suggested as they sat in the living room.
"Perhaps," said Giles. "Perhaps it is something else."
"Like what?"
"That, we'll have to figure out." He sighed. "I keep thinking of the prophecy. The part where they say that the protectors have been on the line of good and evil."
"Yeah, so?"
"We understand Isabel because of her past life with Vilandra. She was evil in her past life, but is good now. She walks the line."
"Plus she has a mean streak a mile long," Xander commented.
"Faith was a fighter for good, but she turned to the dark side when she joined with the mayor. She also walks the line."
"Where are you going with this?" asked Willow.
"Just.follow my line of thinking." Giles pulled off his glasses and started cleaning them. "Rath has been on the line also, though not much. He was, for a short time, on Lonnie's side. An evil alien. He walks the line, too."
"But how does Alex walk the line?" Willow asked, seeing where he was going.
"As far as we know, Alex is good. He always has been. It seems he always will be," Giles said.
"So, maybe the prophecy is wrong?"
"Perhaps. Or maybe there are things that we do not know. Things that we need to put into consideration. Is Alex really a protector? Or just another warrior?"
"Remember when the New York crew first came to town?" Dawn said. "They said he was being mindwarped into helping Tess. Maybe that makes him walk the line."
"Yes. Possibly. I will have to study it further. In the meantime, we mustn't tell them anything. We needn't any tension or doubts within the ranks. For this war to be won, we must makes sure everything goes smoothly. No more questions between them. This discussion stays between us, understood?"
They all nodded then went their separate ways.
A full moon shone outside as a dark figure walked away from the window.
*******************************************
"Everyone, we have an announcement to make," Anya stated.
It was twelve o'clock on a Sunday and everyone was gathered in the living room of the Slayer Central. It was the beginning of October. The Scooby Gang had been back in Roswell for an entire month. That's the longest that house had been inhabited by them.
All the individual conversations ended as everyone looked to where the ex- demon and her human boyfriend sat.
"Xander and I are getting married!" Anya announced, happily.
The girls squealed and rushed over to congratulate Anya and Xander. The guys just, sort of sat there in shock.
"This is so great!" Isabel gushed, "So, when is it? What are you going to wear?"
"Xander said I get to pick, so I pick.December first!"
"Oh my God! That only gives us two months to plan everything!" Isabel exclaimed.
"Great, the Christmas Nazi comes around early," Michael muttered under his breath. Max, Kyle and Alex groaned.
"What's the Christmas Nazi?" asked Spike.
"Every Christmas, Izzy goes crazy planning the perfect most anally organized Christmas for Roswell, and wreaks terror upon us poor unsuspecting friends," Michael said.
"I heard that!" Isabel called from across the room.
"Be prepared for lots and lots of work," Kyle muttered.
Max looked over to where Isabel was making big gestures with her hands and talking a mile a minute.
"This is going to be the longest two months ever."
The Crashdown was crowded as was usual after school on a Friday. Teenagers from all over Roswell parked their carcasses in the circular booths of the most popular restaurant in Alientown, USA. The waitresses were in pain from walking around in those little green dresses with the bobbing antennae for hours on end. The cooks sweat in the back above the fiery grills of death and scorching heat. Young parents came in with their four-foot tall brats in tow just waiting to drench the overworked employees in smoothies and drinks of all flavors.
UFO nuts came in from far and wide to investigate the theories and conspiracies surrounding a crash, which took place fifty-four years ago. Their eyes shining behind thick rimmed glasses as the antennaed waitresses showed them photos of their beloved aliens and chuckled as they proceeded to describe an alien, knowing full well that whoever wasn't alien on the staff had at least dated one.
Some of the nuts spoke of the evil intent of such aliens. The intent to take over the world one step at a time. Others spouted theories that the government was their greatest enemy. Ah, Convention time again. It was almost time for the Crash festival. A time for Alien loser freaks from all over the world to preach the high truth; that aliens do exist, for the unbeliever. A belief, that unbeknownst to the normal some, was quite true.
Some think that the thing that man should fear most is the alien and the thing that the alien should fear most was the FBI. Little do they know that the very thing that should strike terror into all men's hearts just walked through the front door.
"Hey Isabel," greeted Liz Parker, tiredly. Today had been a hard day. A really hard day.
"Hey, Liz. Is Michael here?" she asked with a smile while looking behind the petite brunette for her surrogate brother. She could have sworn she just saw a mass of brown hair dash across the kitchen window. The sound of Maria's laughter as she walked out of the back room confirmed it. The chicken ran away.
"He ran, didn't he?" Isabel asked, already knowing the answer. "Damn it! I need somebody to go get the dress designs from Adrean's Wedding Gallery for me. I can't find the guys anywhere!" She shook her head, arms flailing about. Behind her, Alex and Kyle walked right back out the Crashdown doors. "I try to give them one little task and they run! I have so much work to do! I have designs to choose, flowers to arrange, menus to look over. But is anybody helping? No!" she stamped her foot in frustration. "Tell your damn boyfriends and mine that if they don't get off their damn lazy butts right now they will really see the Wedding Nazi. Don't think I don't hear them when they call me that." She spun on her heel and stalked out of the restaurant.
'Sucks to be you!' Maria thought to Michael, chuckling to herself.
"I say it's time we take a stand!" Alex said enthusiastically.
Michael, Rath, Zan, Max, Kyle, Alex and Spike were all seated in Michael and Rath's apartment, the new guy headquarters. They were planning a mutiny against the evil Wedding Nazi. They'd been chased, overused and confused for way too long. It wasn't their wedding. It was Xander's. What did they care if it wasn't perfect. It was only one day.
"You sure you want to take an active part in this?" Kyle asked, "I mean, she's your girlfriend. She could always hold out on you."
Alex faltered briefly. "If it goes to the cause," he said finally, "I'm not a slave, and damn it, I'm tired of going in flower stores. The store clerk keeps checking me out."
"Mr. Jamieson?"
"The one and only," said Alex with an involuntary shudder.
"That guy is creepy to the extreme," said Michael. The guys stared at him.
"Are you sure we can't fix him?" asked Kyle.
"Shut up, chia."
Kyle rolled his eyes. "So, what do we do?"
"We go on strike," said Spike.
"And if that doesn't work?"
"We keep running."
"Good plan."
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It was now the middle of October when Michael, Rath and Kyle got an easy out earlier than expected. It was football season and The Comets were going to their first out-of-town game for the season with their new additions. The coach was pleased with his new team members. They were fast, strong and could take out any full back on his team, not to mention they didn't get distracted by cheerleaders. He would have thought they played on the wrong end of the field if it wasn't for their supportive and over-protective girlfriends.
The team gathered at the front of West Roswell High School early Friday morning, before school started. Thirty jocks stood outside in the cool desert air of Roswell New Mexico awaiting the arrival of the bus.
In a corner, away from the crowd stood two people, a team member and his girlfriend. Michael Guerin had his girlfriend wrapped in his arms as they said goodbye.
"Can't I just take my bike? It'd be easier, I could leave when I want and I won't be in danger of catching the bonehead disease," Michael complained.
"You haven't caught it yet, you're probably immune," she laughed. Just then, the bus drove up. "We'll meet you there, okay? We're driving up in the Giles' new minivan and Max's Jeep. We'll reach a few hours after you." She gave him a quick kiss on the lips. "Good luck. Don't do any cheerleaders, or I'll kick your butt," she joked.
He laughed slightly, gave her a deep kiss, then sulked all the way to the bus. Michael made his way to the back of the bus and sat by the window, next to his twin brother and Kyle. Michael and Rath stared out the window at Maria and Faith who were waving enthusiastically. They snickered when they started blowing over-dramatic kisses and wiping away fake tears. They turned back to the front when Maria and Faith disappeared from their view.
"Okay, team," said coach from the front of the bus. "We have a ten hour bus ride ahead of us, so get comfortable. Tomorrow night, we are going to trample the Arizona Rattlesnakes!"
The team cheered and howled. Michael and Rath rolled their eyes.
Five miles into the trip was when the singing started. It started with only the group in front, then spread like wild fire until the whole bus, minus the aliens, were singing.
"Ninety nine bottles of beer on the wall, ninety nine bottles of beer!" the team sang, "Take one down, pass it around, ninety eight bottles of beer on the wall!"
"You're kidding right?" Rath grumbled. Michael grunted and stared out the window.
~Three hours later~
"Twenty seven bottles of beer on the wall, twenty seven bottles of beer, take one down, pass it around, twenty six bottles of beer on the wall."
Michael rubbed his temples with his fingers.
~Three hours later~
"Picture a jockey all dressed in red. Fell off his saddle and busted his head," they sang, "And there was blood on the saddle, blood on the ground. A great big splash of blood all around."
Rath banged his head on the seat in front of him, while Michael used the window, sure that it would work faster.
"Seventh verse, same as the first, a little bit louder and a little bit worse! Picture a jockey all dressed in red."
"Somebody kill me now," Rath groaned.
"Ditto."
**********************************************
Khivar sat behind a big mahogany desk while she stood nervously in front of him, a stack of papers in her hand. His spy was perfectly unsuspectable. She was completely innocent looking and unassuming. The four wouldn't notice her if she stood right in front of them. She was able to spy on them without being caught or suspected. At least Nikaid could do something right.
"What do you have on them?" he asked impatiently.
"Nothing much, sire," she said, softly, "The Seconds have left their charges alone in Roswell. The kings seem to be comfortable in their wait. They do not know that I am here. The princess is still bedding the boy. The Queen is still with the king. Their training sessions have become sparser. It appears that they are comfortable and assume they are safe, my lord," she summed up. "Here is a full report of my observations."
Khivar took the folder and flipped through the pages of writing and pictures.
"Very well. You are dismissed."
The spy bowed before scurrying out of the office.
"Will we be attacking, my lord?"
"No, Nikaid. Not yet," Khivar reprimanded. "Have you no sense of honor? We cannot just attack when their forces are weakened and their protectors are away. We must wait until they are comfortable in their ways. All of them. The General must be there." He stood up and walked to the window. "The victory is sweeter when the spirit is broken. A protector must do just that. Protect. And a warrior must fight. A great warrior, a great general, fights valiantly, always protecting his king. If the king dies under his care, he is useless. His whole army is in his hands. He controls the outcome of war by how well he trains the men and how well he protects his people. If all his people die, his spirit dies as well." Khivar turned to his Second-in-Command. "You are a good soldier, but General you are not. Rath is a general through and through. His instincts are good and his protectiveness is great. He does not merely follow orders, he gives them, and he has the ability to win a war with little casualties." He smirked. "If it wasn't against me, of course." He walked over to Nikaid and sat at the edge of the desk. He ran his hands through his long dark hair, taking it from his cold gray eyes. "A warrior like that has a strong spirit. A spirit that threatens. We must destroy it. Completely. That is why we must wait until they return. They must be there to witness their failure first hand. We must smite them down." He slapped the table with his hand. "Now get away from me. Train the troops and send me Vilandra. We have business to attend to."
Khivar sat back in his comfortable leather office chair. Wolfram and Hart really catered to his comfort. He would have to be sure to reward them once he takes the planet.
*********************
The school day seemed to drag on for Maria Deluca. The teachers droned on and on about whatever subject they were teaching and the clock seemed to taunt her by moving extremely slowly. She couldn't wait for the day to end so she could drive up to meet her Spaceboy. The day hadn't been the same without him. There were no trips to the Eraser Room and no sneaking around the bleachers during History class. All she had to entertain her was Liz. If only the next five minutes would move faster. She was tapping her pencil against the desk in boredom as her Biology teacher droned on about the transport system of plants when the bell finally rang to signal the end of school for the day. She shoved all her books in her bag and rushed out of the room. She jogged past all the classrooms and jumped into the Jetta, heading towards Giles' house to pick up the minivan. As much as she loved her Jetta, it was just not trustworthy enough for a road trip to Arizona. She screeched into the Valenti-Deluca driveway, then ran out of the car and down the street to Slayer headquarters. "Come on, guys, let's go!" she yelled as she came through the door. She walked further into the house and into the living room. There, Anya sat with Buffy, Willow and Tara looking at dress designs. "Hey, Maria!" Willow greeted brightly. "Come, help us choose a design. Anya's narrowed it down to twenty styles for the bride and fifteen for the bridesmaids." "I can't! Don't you remember? Football? Spaceboy? Me, taking car, going on roadtrip? Y'all coming for support? Let's go. Chop chop. Hurry up!" "Maria, calm down. The game isn't 'til tomorrow. Michael isn't going anywhere. We just have to wait until the others get here," Willow said calmly, "Take a seat." Willow waved her hand in Maria's direction. Maria floated over to the couch in the middle of the room, then plopped down. "Oops. Sorry. Still working on that." Maria grumbled under her breath and scowled.
**********************************************************
The sun had just set when they finally arrived at Tucson, Arizona. The twins were irritated out of their minds from the ride up. The team hadn't stopped singing until they were 20 miles away from their destination. Actually, they didn't even stop of their own accord. Rath decided to put an end to it when they started singing "The Song that Never Ends" after the third rest stop. Apparently, rest stop translated into an annoying song change. Though Rath had never heard the song before, he was sure it would kill what little sanity he had left, so he decided to try to put the whole bus (minus the driver, of course) to sleep. That gave them about half an hour of sleep before the driver drove straight into a huge pothole, jolting the bus and waking its inhabitants. Let's just say Rath was not too happy. Now, they were all standing in the lobby of the hotel that the school provided for the team. The coach was calling out room numbers and roommates. Michael and Rath got paired together since they didn't get along with anyone on the team besides Kyle. "Now, most of you know the drill. For those who don't lights out at ten. No cheerleaders and no beer. Got that?" The coach looked around as everyone nodded. "Good. You are dismissed. Nobody get lost. If you want to lose yourself, wait until after the big game." The team went in their different directions. Some heading out to town to check out the nightlife, others going to their rooms to watch porn on TV. "What do we do now?" asked Rath as he, Michael and Kyle walked back to their room. "Faith and Maria are miles away. They're not getting here now, and there's no way I'm going anywhere with those other guys." "We could go out on the town. Check out the chicks," Kyle suggested. "Right. And have Maria beat me down? I don't think so," said Michael. He glared at Kyle when he made a whipping motion complete with sound effects. "I'm not whipped." "You so are." "Ugh. Whatever. Let's just go watch TV," he paused. "Or." "What? Or what?" asked Rath as he opened the room door and walked in. "We could go visit Laurie." "Who?" "Laurie Dupree. My.well I guess our sister.sort of." "Oh, you mean that crazy chick that got dad fired?" "Yeah." "Who are we talking about?" Rath asked confused. "Earlier this year, we found Laurie buried in Frasier woods. Somebody was after her and she was really freaked out. So, we started investigating her and guess what we found." "What?" "Her grandfather looked exactly like us. He's our human donor. You know, for the DNA to make us." "So.she's our grand daughter, kind of." "We think that's too creepy, so we're calling her my sister." "Gotcha." "She's rich, right?" Kyle asked. "Yeah." "She's got a pool and a big screen, right?" Kyle probed. "Yeah." "Let's go. Tell her to invite some of her hot rich friends, too," Kyle said excitedly. Michael scowled. "Fine. Let's just go visit your 'sister'. It's not like we have anything better to do." Michael nodded and picked up the phone to call Laurie.
*****************************************************
The next day, the coach had the team run laps around the new football field. To get accustomed to the new grass, he had said. Michael was convinced that he just enjoyed annoying people. The rest of the gang hadn't arrived until late that night after lights out, so he was still kind of pissed about that. He had to do without his Maria for a whole entire day. Top that off with laps at 8:00 am and he was not a happy Czechoslovakian. Rath was in a similar mood. The only one of them that was even slightly happy was Kyle. He and Laurie had hit it off, much to the chagrin of Michael and Rath. They took the whole brother role seriously and immediately began the protect the innocent sister from other men routine. Laurie thought it was cute, but not when she was trying to mack on their cute friend. Michael looked around at his surroundings as he ran. Tucson High School was a big place. The building itself was a light blue color. Around the windows, was a lining of dark blue, which matched the lettering at the side of the building. The front courtyard was covered in crisp green grass, with dark green hedges. The football field was much like the field at West Roswell High, with white bleachers surrounding it. "Okay, men," the coach called from the sidelines. "I want you to relax today. You need to be rested for the game tonight. Meet here at 6:00. Any later and you'll have extra laps when we get back." He glared at them all. "No drinking while we're here. No over partying. No pissing off other players by stealing their girl. Got it? You can go now." The team dispersed, some heading into town while others went back to the hotel. Michael, Rath and Kyle headed back to the hotel to wait for the others. When they entered the twins' room, they were surprised to find the others already there. "How'd you get in?" asked Kyle. Isabel wiggled her fingers in response. "Right. Alien voodoo powers. Should have known." Rath and Michael immediately went to their respective girlfriends, pulling them into deep sucking kisses. "Ahem!" Isabel said, trying to get their attention. "Rath! Michael!" Again, they ignored her. Giving up on being nice, she pulled a pillow from the bed and started whacking them on the head. "Hello! Other People in the room here!" They jumped apart. "God, Izzy!" Maria cried. "Well, you weren't listening," Isabel said, calmly putting the pillow back in place and neatening the bed. "So, what do you guys want to do?" "Let's go explore. I didn't get to look around the last time I was here," Maria said, sitting on Michael's lap. "Shopping?" Isabel said. "Of course," Buffy said. The guys groaned. Shopping with Isabel Evans was almost as fun as pulling out toenails. It was one of the more evil forms of torture. Right between eye gouging and ball twisting. They'd be lucky to escape alive, let alone sane.
*********************************************************
At six o'clock on the dot, the West Roswell High football team started filing in to the locker room at the left side of the football field. Clothes were strewn around the small room as the boys dressed for the game. A few minutes later, the coach walked into the locker room and waited to be acknowledged. When he had the full attention of his boys, he began to talk. "We had a near perfect season last year and I expect us to do the same this year. The Rattlesnakes have defeated us for the past five years. It is time to end the cycle and take the games. We will not be beaten by them again." The team nodded their heads. "I want you to go out there and show 'em that The Comets will not be stopped by anyone. We'll show them we are the best desert team in this circuit. We have strength and strategy and we know how to use it." The coach was pacing in front of them now. "You know what to do, men. Win this game for me, for the school, for yourselves. Make it as clean as you can. If you have to play dirty, do it hard and make it worth it. I want to see touchdowns, men. Only from our side. We have to show them that we are the best on our field and we are the best on any other field in America! Are you with me?" "Yeah!" they team yelled. "You better be! I want to see a win. I want West Roswell High to get the football trophy it deserves!" The team cheered. "Now go out there and win this thing!" The team cheered again, then ran out of the room towards the field. The crowd was huge. One half of the field wore red to support them while the other side wore blue to support the Rattlesnakes. Next to their entrance stood the cheerleading squad, dressed in little red dresses with yellow trimming. Their mascot, a big green alien, was dancing around, waving a silver ray gun around in a shiny red suit. Michael looked around the crowd as he took his place on the bench. Finally, his eyes fell on his girlfriend. She was standing there, waving at him, wearing a pair of tight jeans and a red sweater. Next to her stood Laurie, Faith and the rest of the gang. Each wore the team colors in some way shape or form. He chuckled to himself and shook his head at that thought. Who would have thought that his group of friends would get into school spirit? Who would have thought he would be on the football team with his brother? It was unnatural. He was pulled out of his reverie by the coach's whistle. The game was about to start. They were playing offense, so he and Rath weren't needed yet. They watched as the game started. The Rattlesnakes were pummeling the Comets. Player after player was being crushed into the ground by the ferocious linebackers. Injuries were being dished out like food at an all you can eat buffet. By half time, half the team was moaning and groaning in pain, while the other half dreaded their playing time. The coach was ranting and raving in fury about unfair referees and obvious steroid overdose. Michael and Rath just carried on telepathic conversations with their girlfriends. Kyle had been a part of the offense team and was one of the first to go down. The Rattlesnakes knew a star quarterback when they saw one and went for the jugular first. They knew that Kyle was the team's best player last year and would most likely be the best this year, too. "Okay," the coach was saying, "Guerin, O'Connor, I want you to take out number 13 and number 6. They are the most dangerous right now. They took out most of my best players." 'Are you kidding?!' Maria screamed in Michael's head, 'Those guys are huge!' Michael cringed a little at the tone of Maria's voice. It was enough to break glass. 'It'll be okay,' Michael said, 'I've battled demons and vampires. I think I can handle it.I hope I can handle it.' "How much longer is half-time?" one of the other players asked. The coach looked at his watch. "Another ten minutes." The boy groaned and fell back against his bench. He had been in the first string. He was one of the least injured ones, so he would most likely play in the second half, too. He may be able to play, but that didn't mean he wasn't in pain. A whole lot of pain. Suddenly, they heard screams coming from above the room, out on the field. Michael and Rath looked at each other briefly before rushing out to see what happened. The rest of the room looked after them in astonishment, then strolled out to see what the big deal was. Out on the field was a huge herd of vampires, all dressed in leather. They all had their game faces on, except the leader. The leader was a bulky man. His black hair was greased back, making his large nose more prominent on his pale face. The audience looked on in horror as the leader grabbed a cheerleader and bit into her neck, draining her of her life source. Most of the crowd was frozen for a moment before attempting to escape from the field. The leader calmly looked at all the frightened faces, a smirk playing on his lips. He lifted his leather-clad arms in the air. The signal brought an army of Rattlesnakes team members to the gates of the field. They locked the gates and blocked the entrances. The people were trapped. The newly extended Scooby Gang slowly made their way from the stands onto the field where the vampires stood. The leader looked at them, examining all their faces, until he stopped on one of them. "Slayer," he sneered, with a wicked smile. "I'm sorry, you'll have to specify which slayer you're talking to," Maria said as Michael and Rath walked up to them, their arms crossed in front of them in identical stances. "I'm talking to you, babe," he said as he eyed her up and down. "It's all about the young blood." "Are you calling me old? Because I am not old, buddy," Buffy said. "So it's true. There is more than one slayer. It would be interesting to see how.feared I will become. Imagine this. The vampire that not only kills the Slayer that won't stay dead, but also her other two replacements. Three slayers at once. I will be famous." "Don't you watch TV, dude? Guys who boast before actually doing anything are usually in for the butt kicking of their life," Alex said, unimpressed. "When'll you learn. Kill first, boast later." The vampire glared in anger at the lanky boy. He would not take crap from a human. They were the lesser being. He was above that now, had been for the past hundred and fifty years. He would not be stopped. Slayer or not. He switched to his game face and raised one arm above his head. He made a sign and his minions started crowding around the group. Some of the more athletic humans took the chance to climb over the fence and run for safety. Others scrambled to make an opening in the fence at ground level. The group looked around. Hundreds of vampires to fight against a group of about twenty. As one, the Scooby Gang pulled out weapons from different bags and hidden clothes compartments. The vampires all snarled and lunged in for the attack. The slayers jumped into action swiftly, punching, kicking and staking all vampires within reach. Michael, Rath, Isabel and Alex also helped with the hand to hand combat, using their fighting skills to their advantage in the battle. The others fought as best they could, sticking to groups of at least three that could protect itself. The aliens cheated a little by using their powers to vanquish more numbers at a faster rate. Alex was putting his new power to use, popping out of the fight to help the people to get out of the football field. He used his extra strength to help them open the gate. The people were too scared to question him as they all scampered off the field, screaming bloody murder. Alex popped back into the fight as the last of the humans ran out. His team needed him. Faith Whitman fought beside her alien lover who was using his powers more openly. The field was clear of civilians as far as they could tell and the fray was so confused that it was unlikely that they would be discovered. Faith watched as a vampire ran a long, sharp sword through Liz Parker. She watched in what appeared to be slow motion as her red blood spilled out onto the green grass. Liz looked around helplessly for Max, who hadn't noticed she was hurt, before she collapsed onto the turf. On the other end of the field, Rupert Giles was slumped against the bleachers after being thrown there by one of the vampires. He was unconscious. So much for just a football game. They had to turn this fight around and fast. Spike cracked his neck before jumping back headfirst into the fray. He didn't get to flex his fighting muscles much in Roswell. It seemed they needed to come visit Arizona more often. This was where all the action was at obviously, and the Big Bad was always ready for battle. Stake. Stake. Fry. Stake. Kick. That was Michael's pattern as he worked through the field of vampires. There were hundreds of them at least. Lots of them were from the football team. No wonder they were losing. And why the hell was he thinking about football stats when he should be fighting vampires? Too much Valenti. Had to be. Maria saved the lead vampire for herself. Cocky bastard was looking too smug. She would have to pound that look off his face. "You and me, baby?" the vampire sneered. "I like that. Maybe we should get out of here, have a little fun first. I always wanted to know what drew Angelus and William the Bloody to the slayers. What is it? Is it all that flexibility?" Maria slapped him. "Perv." She proceeded to punch him in the chest, kicked his kneecap, then groin. When he hunched over, she snapped his head back, then tripped him over. "You're really cocky for a stupid guy, you know that?" The vampire growled and kicked back upright. He swung his fists at her head, then kicked her in the stomach. Maria flipped out of reach when he grabbed a sword from one of his fallen minions and swung it at her. He thrust forward, going straight for the soft flesh of her stomach, but was stopped mid-thrust by a strong force. Maria had grabbed the blade of the sword in her hands, twisted it around and yanked it out of his hands. Maria threw the sword up in the air, staked the leader, and then caught it as he turned to dust. "Hmm. Maybe I should have kept him for info.oh well," she said to herself, as she looked over the field of dust. The fight was over and they won. Michael just staked the last vampire and was now making his way over to her. There was a residual fog of vampiric dust floating in the air around the football field. "Hey! Did we win?" a voice called from near the bleachers. They all looked over to find Kyle hobbling over on his sprained ankle, leaning against Laurie. "Valenti, are you kidding me? Now you decide to show up?" Faith said. "Duh. I have to wait for my servants to do all the dirty work, then I can come in and take all the credit," Kyle said with a smile, looking at all of them, "hey, where's Liz?" The entire field froze. The only movement was twenty pairs of eyes darting amongst them to find the familiar face. "Damn! She got stabbed, I saw her, it was over there!" Faith cried, pointing to the left end of the field before taking off to find their fallen friend. "What do you mean you saw?" Max cried, "And you didn't say anything?" "Well, I was kinda busy, Max," Faith said, still searching. The cloud of vampire dust was making their job difficult. "Kind of busy?! This is Liz!" he yelled, shaking her. "I suggest you take your hands off me before I beat you down," Faith said calmly. "I'm sorry, Faith, it's just that she's my soulmate and I love her. I'd die without her." "Yeah. Right," Faith said, going back to looking. "And that's why you didn't even notice she was gone," she muttered under her breath. "What was that?" "I found her! Max come quick!" Maria called. "Liz? Lizzie! You have to wake up, honey." Max ran up and shoved Maria out of the way. He cradled Liz head in his hand and gently shook her shoulder. "Liz? Liz, you have to look at me." "M-maxxx?" she slurred, her eyes fluttering open. Their eyes locked and Max concentrated his entire being on healing his soulmate, on mending her broken flesh and making her whole again. A red glow appeared around his hand as the healing started. The hole in her stomach mended and the blood in her veins stopped pumping out onto her sweater and continued on its journey around her body. Sweat pooled on Max brow as he knitted the cells and tissues together into perfect white skin, with a silvery glow that would form into a handprint. Max collapsed against Isabel as Liz took in a gasping breath. She was healed. She bolted up, and pulled Max into a crushing hug, tears streaming down her face. Max lazily put his hands around her waist and hugged her to him. Faith looked away from the scene, not wanting to hear the sappy recount of how much it hurt to almost lose each other and whatnot. No doubt she could hear it back home. Home. She didn't think she'd consider anywhere home, let alone Roswell, New Mexico. She'd always thought of herself as a city girl, not small town. She guessed it worked because of who was in it. Rath, Michael, Maria, Alex, the Whitman's. They made Roswell for her. Just then, her eyes hit on the slumped body by the bleachers, or rather, the big bulky body standing over the slumped body at the bleachers. "Hey!" she yelled, as the bigger body bent at the waist and pulled Giles up by his jacket collar. The vampire only glanced up at her before bending his head to sink his teeth into his prey. She was too far to reach him in time. "No!" Faith raised her hand above her head, not sure what she was going to do, but doing it anyway. She, and everyone else, was surprised when the vampire flew up into the air, away from Giles and was impaled on a goal post. "Okay," Faith stated after staring at the goal post in shock for about five minutes, "that.was cool."
*****************************************************
Back at Giles' Slayer Mansion, the group was trying to figure out Alex's sudden appearance of powers. They assumed it wasn't the same as when Maria gained powers because Isabel didn't have the power to teleport. Alex stood in the middle of the room with his eyes closed, while everybody sat in a circle around him.
"Did I move yet?" he called, eyes still closed.
"Does breathing count?" Xander asked.
"Damn it, this sucks! I finally get a cool super human power and it doesn't even work!"
"Maybe you're trying too hard," Liz suggested.
"Yeah maybe," Alex said dejectedly. He really wanted to have a special power. Maybe then he'd be worthy of Isabel.
"Hey Alex!" Rath yelled.
"What?" said Alex. As he turned, the first thing he saw was big blue ball of light flying towards his chest. Alex screamed and shut his eyes, waiting for impact. When he didn't feel anything, he cracked his eye open and glanced around. The room looked different from when he closed them. He was now standing behind Isabel. Everyone looked around the room in awe while Rath had a smug smirk on his face.
"See? I fixed it," Rath said.
"Rath! You damaged my training room!" Giles exclaimed, getting up to inspect the back wall, which currently had a hole in it.
"Don't sweat it, pops," said Zan. He waved his hand over the wall and it was good as new.
"Alex, are you all right?" Isabel asked, worriedly, checking him over with her eyes.
He kissed her forehead, gently. "Yeah, I'm fine."
"Good." She kissed his lips softly before getting up and heading over to Rath, who was still smirking. She slapped him upside the head.
"Ow! What was that for?"
"You nearly hurt Alex!"
"He's fine. I knew he would be," Rath said, still rubbing the back of his head. "An army cannot be trained with pillows. There's got to be little dangers here and there. Besides, I could've healed him if he didn't move."
"Thank you for that little army tidbit," she said sarcastically. "Shoot at my Alex again and there'll be hell to pay," she growled.
"No prob."
Isabel huffed and sat back next to her boyfriend, cooing at him and touching him gently. Kyle watched the exchange with a little envy. He nudged Rath, who was sitting next to him.
"Think you could shoot at me too?" he asked. Rath chuckled and shook his head. It wouldn't work. You needed to have a girl first to get the TLC.
"Well. I think that is enough training for the day," said Giles, finally. "Go home, I'll see you tomorrow, I'm sure."
The Pod Squad got up from their seats and set off to their various homes, leaving the Scooby Gang to think about this new power that Alex seemed to acquire.
"Maybe it's a prophecy thing?" Buffy suggested as they sat in the living room.
"Perhaps," said Giles. "Perhaps it is something else."
"Like what?"
"That, we'll have to figure out." He sighed. "I keep thinking of the prophecy. The part where they say that the protectors have been on the line of good and evil."
"Yeah, so?"
"We understand Isabel because of her past life with Vilandra. She was evil in her past life, but is good now. She walks the line."
"Plus she has a mean streak a mile long," Xander commented.
"Faith was a fighter for good, but she turned to the dark side when she joined with the mayor. She also walks the line."
"Where are you going with this?" asked Willow.
"Just.follow my line of thinking." Giles pulled off his glasses and started cleaning them. "Rath has been on the line also, though not much. He was, for a short time, on Lonnie's side. An evil alien. He walks the line, too."
"But how does Alex walk the line?" Willow asked, seeing where he was going.
"As far as we know, Alex is good. He always has been. It seems he always will be," Giles said.
"So, maybe the prophecy is wrong?"
"Perhaps. Or maybe there are things that we do not know. Things that we need to put into consideration. Is Alex really a protector? Or just another warrior?"
"Remember when the New York crew first came to town?" Dawn said. "They said he was being mindwarped into helping Tess. Maybe that makes him walk the line."
"Yes. Possibly. I will have to study it further. In the meantime, we mustn't tell them anything. We needn't any tension or doubts within the ranks. For this war to be won, we must makes sure everything goes smoothly. No more questions between them. This discussion stays between us, understood?"
They all nodded then went their separate ways.
A full moon shone outside as a dark figure walked away from the window.
*******************************************
"Everyone, we have an announcement to make," Anya stated.
It was twelve o'clock on a Sunday and everyone was gathered in the living room of the Slayer Central. It was the beginning of October. The Scooby Gang had been back in Roswell for an entire month. That's the longest that house had been inhabited by them.
All the individual conversations ended as everyone looked to where the ex- demon and her human boyfriend sat.
"Xander and I are getting married!" Anya announced, happily.
The girls squealed and rushed over to congratulate Anya and Xander. The guys just, sort of sat there in shock.
"This is so great!" Isabel gushed, "So, when is it? What are you going to wear?"
"Xander said I get to pick, so I pick.December first!"
"Oh my God! That only gives us two months to plan everything!" Isabel exclaimed.
"Great, the Christmas Nazi comes around early," Michael muttered under his breath. Max, Kyle and Alex groaned.
"What's the Christmas Nazi?" asked Spike.
"Every Christmas, Izzy goes crazy planning the perfect most anally organized Christmas for Roswell, and wreaks terror upon us poor unsuspecting friends," Michael said.
"I heard that!" Isabel called from across the room.
"Be prepared for lots and lots of work," Kyle muttered.
Max looked over to where Isabel was making big gestures with her hands and talking a mile a minute.
"This is going to be the longest two months ever."
The Crashdown was crowded as was usual after school on a Friday. Teenagers from all over Roswell parked their carcasses in the circular booths of the most popular restaurant in Alientown, USA. The waitresses were in pain from walking around in those little green dresses with the bobbing antennae for hours on end. The cooks sweat in the back above the fiery grills of death and scorching heat. Young parents came in with their four-foot tall brats in tow just waiting to drench the overworked employees in smoothies and drinks of all flavors.
UFO nuts came in from far and wide to investigate the theories and conspiracies surrounding a crash, which took place fifty-four years ago. Their eyes shining behind thick rimmed glasses as the antennaed waitresses showed them photos of their beloved aliens and chuckled as they proceeded to describe an alien, knowing full well that whoever wasn't alien on the staff had at least dated one.
Some of the nuts spoke of the evil intent of such aliens. The intent to take over the world one step at a time. Others spouted theories that the government was their greatest enemy. Ah, Convention time again. It was almost time for the Crash festival. A time for Alien loser freaks from all over the world to preach the high truth; that aliens do exist, for the unbeliever. A belief, that unbeknownst to the normal some, was quite true.
Some think that the thing that man should fear most is the alien and the thing that the alien should fear most was the FBI. Little do they know that the very thing that should strike terror into all men's hearts just walked through the front door.
"Hey Isabel," greeted Liz Parker, tiredly. Today had been a hard day. A really hard day.
"Hey, Liz. Is Michael here?" she asked with a smile while looking behind the petite brunette for her surrogate brother. She could have sworn she just saw a mass of brown hair dash across the kitchen window. The sound of Maria's laughter as she walked out of the back room confirmed it. The chicken ran away.
"He ran, didn't he?" Isabel asked, already knowing the answer. "Damn it! I need somebody to go get the dress designs from Adrean's Wedding Gallery for me. I can't find the guys anywhere!" She shook her head, arms flailing about. Behind her, Alex and Kyle walked right back out the Crashdown doors. "I try to give them one little task and they run! I have so much work to do! I have designs to choose, flowers to arrange, menus to look over. But is anybody helping? No!" she stamped her foot in frustration. "Tell your damn boyfriends and mine that if they don't get off their damn lazy butts right now they will really see the Wedding Nazi. Don't think I don't hear them when they call me that." She spun on her heel and stalked out of the restaurant.
'Sucks to be you!' Maria thought to Michael, chuckling to herself.
"I say it's time we take a stand!" Alex said enthusiastically.
Michael, Rath, Zan, Max, Kyle, Alex and Spike were all seated in Michael and Rath's apartment, the new guy headquarters. They were planning a mutiny against the evil Wedding Nazi. They'd been chased, overused and confused for way too long. It wasn't their wedding. It was Xander's. What did they care if it wasn't perfect. It was only one day.
"You sure you want to take an active part in this?" Kyle asked, "I mean, she's your girlfriend. She could always hold out on you."
Alex faltered briefly. "If it goes to the cause," he said finally, "I'm not a slave, and damn it, I'm tired of going in flower stores. The store clerk keeps checking me out."
"Mr. Jamieson?"
"The one and only," said Alex with an involuntary shudder.
"That guy is creepy to the extreme," said Michael. The guys stared at him.
"Are you sure we can't fix him?" asked Kyle.
"Shut up, chia."
Kyle rolled his eyes. "So, what do we do?"
"We go on strike," said Spike.
"And if that doesn't work?"
"We keep running."
"Good plan."
*********************************************
It was now the middle of October when Michael, Rath and Kyle got an easy out earlier than expected. It was football season and The Comets were going to their first out-of-town game for the season with their new additions. The coach was pleased with his new team members. They were fast, strong and could take out any full back on his team, not to mention they didn't get distracted by cheerleaders. He would have thought they played on the wrong end of the field if it wasn't for their supportive and over-protective girlfriends.
The team gathered at the front of West Roswell High School early Friday morning, before school started. Thirty jocks stood outside in the cool desert air of Roswell New Mexico awaiting the arrival of the bus.
In a corner, away from the crowd stood two people, a team member and his girlfriend. Michael Guerin had his girlfriend wrapped in his arms as they said goodbye.
"Can't I just take my bike? It'd be easier, I could leave when I want and I won't be in danger of catching the bonehead disease," Michael complained.
"You haven't caught it yet, you're probably immune," she laughed. Just then, the bus drove up. "We'll meet you there, okay? We're driving up in the Giles' new minivan and Max's Jeep. We'll reach a few hours after you." She gave him a quick kiss on the lips. "Good luck. Don't do any cheerleaders, or I'll kick your butt," she joked.
He laughed slightly, gave her a deep kiss, then sulked all the way to the bus. Michael made his way to the back of the bus and sat by the window, next to his twin brother and Kyle. Michael and Rath stared out the window at Maria and Faith who were waving enthusiastically. They snickered when they started blowing over-dramatic kisses and wiping away fake tears. They turned back to the front when Maria and Faith disappeared from their view.
"Okay, team," said coach from the front of the bus. "We have a ten hour bus ride ahead of us, so get comfortable. Tomorrow night, we are going to trample the Arizona Rattlesnakes!"
The team cheered and howled. Michael and Rath rolled their eyes.
Five miles into the trip was when the singing started. It started with only the group in front, then spread like wild fire until the whole bus, minus the aliens, were singing.
"Ninety nine bottles of beer on the wall, ninety nine bottles of beer!" the team sang, "Take one down, pass it around, ninety eight bottles of beer on the wall!"
"You're kidding right?" Rath grumbled. Michael grunted and stared out the window.
~Three hours later~
"Twenty seven bottles of beer on the wall, twenty seven bottles of beer, take one down, pass it around, twenty six bottles of beer on the wall."
Michael rubbed his temples with his fingers.
~Three hours later~
"Picture a jockey all dressed in red. Fell off his saddle and busted his head," they sang, "And there was blood on the saddle, blood on the ground. A great big splash of blood all around."
Rath banged his head on the seat in front of him, while Michael used the window, sure that it would work faster.
"Seventh verse, same as the first, a little bit louder and a little bit worse! Picture a jockey all dressed in red."
"Somebody kill me now," Rath groaned.
"Ditto."
**********************************************
Khivar sat behind a big mahogany desk while she stood nervously in front of him, a stack of papers in her hand. His spy was perfectly unsuspectable. She was completely innocent looking and unassuming. The four wouldn't notice her if she stood right in front of them. She was able to spy on them without being caught or suspected. At least Nikaid could do something right.
"What do you have on them?" he asked impatiently.
"Nothing much, sire," she said, softly, "The Seconds have left their charges alone in Roswell. The kings seem to be comfortable in their wait. They do not know that I am here. The princess is still bedding the boy. The Queen is still with the king. Their training sessions have become sparser. It appears that they are comfortable and assume they are safe, my lord," she summed up. "Here is a full report of my observations."
Khivar took the folder and flipped through the pages of writing and pictures.
"Very well. You are dismissed."
The spy bowed before scurrying out of the office.
"Will we be attacking, my lord?"
"No, Nikaid. Not yet," Khivar reprimanded. "Have you no sense of honor? We cannot just attack when their forces are weakened and their protectors are away. We must wait until they are comfortable in their ways. All of them. The General must be there." He stood up and walked to the window. "The victory is sweeter when the spirit is broken. A protector must do just that. Protect. And a warrior must fight. A great warrior, a great general, fights valiantly, always protecting his king. If the king dies under his care, he is useless. His whole army is in his hands. He controls the outcome of war by how well he trains the men and how well he protects his people. If all his people die, his spirit dies as well." Khivar turned to his Second-in-Command. "You are a good soldier, but General you are not. Rath is a general through and through. His instincts are good and his protectiveness is great. He does not merely follow orders, he gives them, and he has the ability to win a war with little casualties." He smirked. "If it wasn't against me, of course." He walked over to Nikaid and sat at the edge of the desk. He ran his hands through his long dark hair, taking it from his cold gray eyes. "A warrior like that has a strong spirit. A spirit that threatens. We must destroy it. Completely. That is why we must wait until they return. They must be there to witness their failure first hand. We must smite them down." He slapped the table with his hand. "Now get away from me. Train the troops and send me Vilandra. We have business to attend to."
Khivar sat back in his comfortable leather office chair. Wolfram and Hart really catered to his comfort. He would have to be sure to reward them once he takes the planet.
*********************
The school day seemed to drag on for Maria Deluca. The teachers droned on and on about whatever subject they were teaching and the clock seemed to taunt her by moving extremely slowly. She couldn't wait for the day to end so she could drive up to meet her Spaceboy. The day hadn't been the same without him. There were no trips to the Eraser Room and no sneaking around the bleachers during History class. All she had to entertain her was Liz. If only the next five minutes would move faster. She was tapping her pencil against the desk in boredom as her Biology teacher droned on about the transport system of plants when the bell finally rang to signal the end of school for the day. She shoved all her books in her bag and rushed out of the room. She jogged past all the classrooms and jumped into the Jetta, heading towards Giles' house to pick up the minivan. As much as she loved her Jetta, it was just not trustworthy enough for a road trip to Arizona. She screeched into the Valenti-Deluca driveway, then ran out of the car and down the street to Slayer headquarters. "Come on, guys, let's go!" she yelled as she came through the door. She walked further into the house and into the living room. There, Anya sat with Buffy, Willow and Tara looking at dress designs. "Hey, Maria!" Willow greeted brightly. "Come, help us choose a design. Anya's narrowed it down to twenty styles for the bride and fifteen for the bridesmaids." "I can't! Don't you remember? Football? Spaceboy? Me, taking car, going on roadtrip? Y'all coming for support? Let's go. Chop chop. Hurry up!" "Maria, calm down. The game isn't 'til tomorrow. Michael isn't going anywhere. We just have to wait until the others get here," Willow said calmly, "Take a seat." Willow waved her hand in Maria's direction. Maria floated over to the couch in the middle of the room, then plopped down. "Oops. Sorry. Still working on that." Maria grumbled under her breath and scowled.
**********************************************************
The sun had just set when they finally arrived at Tucson, Arizona. The twins were irritated out of their minds from the ride up. The team hadn't stopped singing until they were 20 miles away from their destination. Actually, they didn't even stop of their own accord. Rath decided to put an end to it when they started singing "The Song that Never Ends" after the third rest stop. Apparently, rest stop translated into an annoying song change. Though Rath had never heard the song before, he was sure it would kill what little sanity he had left, so he decided to try to put the whole bus (minus the driver, of course) to sleep. That gave them about half an hour of sleep before the driver drove straight into a huge pothole, jolting the bus and waking its inhabitants. Let's just say Rath was not too happy. Now, they were all standing in the lobby of the hotel that the school provided for the team. The coach was calling out room numbers and roommates. Michael and Rath got paired together since they didn't get along with anyone on the team besides Kyle. "Now, most of you know the drill. For those who don't lights out at ten. No cheerleaders and no beer. Got that?" The coach looked around as everyone nodded. "Good. You are dismissed. Nobody get lost. If you want to lose yourself, wait until after the big game." The team went in their different directions. Some heading out to town to check out the nightlife, others going to their rooms to watch porn on TV. "What do we do now?" asked Rath as he, Michael and Kyle walked back to their room. "Faith and Maria are miles away. They're not getting here now, and there's no way I'm going anywhere with those other guys." "We could go out on the town. Check out the chicks," Kyle suggested. "Right. And have Maria beat me down? I don't think so," said Michael. He glared at Kyle when he made a whipping motion complete with sound effects. "I'm not whipped." "You so are." "Ugh. Whatever. Let's just go watch TV," he paused. "Or." "What? Or what?" asked Rath as he opened the room door and walked in. "We could go visit Laurie." "Who?" "Laurie Dupree. My.well I guess our sister.sort of." "Oh, you mean that crazy chick that got dad fired?" "Yeah." "Who are we talking about?" Rath asked confused. "Earlier this year, we found Laurie buried in Frasier woods. Somebody was after her and she was really freaked out. So, we started investigating her and guess what we found." "What?" "Her grandfather looked exactly like us. He's our human donor. You know, for the DNA to make us." "So.she's our grand daughter, kind of." "We think that's too creepy, so we're calling her my sister." "Gotcha." "She's rich, right?" Kyle asked. "Yeah." "She's got a pool and a big screen, right?" Kyle probed. "Yeah." "Let's go. Tell her to invite some of her hot rich friends, too," Kyle said excitedly. Michael scowled. "Fine. Let's just go visit your 'sister'. It's not like we have anything better to do." Michael nodded and picked up the phone to call Laurie.
*****************************************************
The next day, the coach had the team run laps around the new football field. To get accustomed to the new grass, he had said. Michael was convinced that he just enjoyed annoying people. The rest of the gang hadn't arrived until late that night after lights out, so he was still kind of pissed about that. He had to do without his Maria for a whole entire day. Top that off with laps at 8:00 am and he was not a happy Czechoslovakian. Rath was in a similar mood. The only one of them that was even slightly happy was Kyle. He and Laurie had hit it off, much to the chagrin of Michael and Rath. They took the whole brother role seriously and immediately began the protect the innocent sister from other men routine. Laurie thought it was cute, but not when she was trying to mack on their cute friend. Michael looked around at his surroundings as he ran. Tucson High School was a big place. The building itself was a light blue color. Around the windows, was a lining of dark blue, which matched the lettering at the side of the building. The front courtyard was covered in crisp green grass, with dark green hedges. The football field was much like the field at West Roswell High, with white bleachers surrounding it. "Okay, men," the coach called from the sidelines. "I want you to relax today. You need to be rested for the game tonight. Meet here at 6:00. Any later and you'll have extra laps when we get back." He glared at them all. "No drinking while we're here. No over partying. No pissing off other players by stealing their girl. Got it? You can go now." The team dispersed, some heading into town while others went back to the hotel. Michael, Rath and Kyle headed back to the hotel to wait for the others. When they entered the twins' room, they were surprised to find the others already there. "How'd you get in?" asked Kyle. Isabel wiggled her fingers in response. "Right. Alien voodoo powers. Should have known." Rath and Michael immediately went to their respective girlfriends, pulling them into deep sucking kisses. "Ahem!" Isabel said, trying to get their attention. "Rath! Michael!" Again, they ignored her. Giving up on being nice, she pulled a pillow from the bed and started whacking them on the head. "Hello! Other People in the room here!" They jumped apart. "God, Izzy!" Maria cried. "Well, you weren't listening," Isabel said, calmly putting the pillow back in place and neatening the bed. "So, what do you guys want to do?" "Let's go explore. I didn't get to look around the last time I was here," Maria said, sitting on Michael's lap. "Shopping?" Isabel said. "Of course," Buffy said. The guys groaned. Shopping with Isabel Evans was almost as fun as pulling out toenails. It was one of the more evil forms of torture. Right between eye gouging and ball twisting. They'd be lucky to escape alive, let alone sane.
*********************************************************
At six o'clock on the dot, the West Roswell High football team started filing in to the locker room at the left side of the football field. Clothes were strewn around the small room as the boys dressed for the game. A few minutes later, the coach walked into the locker room and waited to be acknowledged. When he had the full attention of his boys, he began to talk. "We had a near perfect season last year and I expect us to do the same this year. The Rattlesnakes have defeated us for the past five years. It is time to end the cycle and take the games. We will not be beaten by them again." The team nodded their heads. "I want you to go out there and show 'em that The Comets will not be stopped by anyone. We'll show them we are the best desert team in this circuit. We have strength and strategy and we know how to use it." The coach was pacing in front of them now. "You know what to do, men. Win this game for me, for the school, for yourselves. Make it as clean as you can. If you have to play dirty, do it hard and make it worth it. I want to see touchdowns, men. Only from our side. We have to show them that we are the best on our field and we are the best on any other field in America! Are you with me?" "Yeah!" they team yelled. "You better be! I want to see a win. I want West Roswell High to get the football trophy it deserves!" The team cheered. "Now go out there and win this thing!" The team cheered again, then ran out of the room towards the field. The crowd was huge. One half of the field wore red to support them while the other side wore blue to support the Rattlesnakes. Next to their entrance stood the cheerleading squad, dressed in little red dresses with yellow trimming. Their mascot, a big green alien, was dancing around, waving a silver ray gun around in a shiny red suit. Michael looked around the crowd as he took his place on the bench. Finally, his eyes fell on his girlfriend. She was standing there, waving at him, wearing a pair of tight jeans and a red sweater. Next to her stood Laurie, Faith and the rest of the gang. Each wore the team colors in some way shape or form. He chuckled to himself and shook his head at that thought. Who would have thought that his group of friends would get into school spirit? Who would have thought he would be on the football team with his brother? It was unnatural. He was pulled out of his reverie by the coach's whistle. The game was about to start. They were playing offense, so he and Rath weren't needed yet. They watched as the game started. The Rattlesnakes were pummeling the Comets. Player after player was being crushed into the ground by the ferocious linebackers. Injuries were being dished out like food at an all you can eat buffet. By half time, half the team was moaning and groaning in pain, while the other half dreaded their playing time. The coach was ranting and raving in fury about unfair referees and obvious steroid overdose. Michael and Rath just carried on telepathic conversations with their girlfriends. Kyle had been a part of the offense team and was one of the first to go down. The Rattlesnakes knew a star quarterback when they saw one and went for the jugular first. They knew that Kyle was the team's best player last year and would most likely be the best this year, too. "Okay," the coach was saying, "Guerin, O'Connor, I want you to take out number 13 and number 6. They are the most dangerous right now. They took out most of my best players." 'Are you kidding?!' Maria screamed in Michael's head, 'Those guys are huge!' Michael cringed a little at the tone of Maria's voice. It was enough to break glass. 'It'll be okay,' Michael said, 'I've battled demons and vampires. I think I can handle it.I hope I can handle it.' "How much longer is half-time?" one of the other players asked. The coach looked at his watch. "Another ten minutes." The boy groaned and fell back against his bench. He had been in the first string. He was one of the least injured ones, so he would most likely play in the second half, too. He may be able to play, but that didn't mean he wasn't in pain. A whole lot of pain. Suddenly, they heard screams coming from above the room, out on the field. Michael and Rath looked at each other briefly before rushing out to see what happened. The rest of the room looked after them in astonishment, then strolled out to see what the big deal was. Out on the field was a huge herd of vampires, all dressed in leather. They all had their game faces on, except the leader. The leader was a bulky man. His black hair was greased back, making his large nose more prominent on his pale face. The audience looked on in horror as the leader grabbed a cheerleader and bit into her neck, draining her of her life source. Most of the crowd was frozen for a moment before attempting to escape from the field. The leader calmly looked at all the frightened faces, a smirk playing on his lips. He lifted his leather-clad arms in the air. The signal brought an army of Rattlesnakes team members to the gates of the field. They locked the gates and blocked the entrances. The people were trapped. The newly extended Scooby Gang slowly made their way from the stands onto the field where the vampires stood. The leader looked at them, examining all their faces, until he stopped on one of them. "Slayer," he sneered, with a wicked smile. "I'm sorry, you'll have to specify which slayer you're talking to," Maria said as Michael and Rath walked up to them, their arms crossed in front of them in identical stances. "I'm talking to you, babe," he said as he eyed her up and down. "It's all about the young blood." "Are you calling me old? Because I am not old, buddy," Buffy said. "So it's true. There is more than one slayer. It would be interesting to see how.feared I will become. Imagine this. The vampire that not only kills the Slayer that won't stay dead, but also her other two replacements. Three slayers at once. I will be famous." "Don't you watch TV, dude? Guys who boast before actually doing anything are usually in for the butt kicking of their life," Alex said, unimpressed. "When'll you learn. Kill first, boast later." The vampire glared in anger at the lanky boy. He would not take crap from a human. They were the lesser being. He was above that now, had been for the past hundred and fifty years. He would not be stopped. Slayer or not. He switched to his game face and raised one arm above his head. He made a sign and his minions started crowding around the group. Some of the more athletic humans took the chance to climb over the fence and run for safety. Others scrambled to make an opening in the fence at ground level. The group looked around. Hundreds of vampires to fight against a group of about twenty. As one, the Scooby Gang pulled out weapons from different bags and hidden clothes compartments. The vampires all snarled and lunged in for the attack. The slayers jumped into action swiftly, punching, kicking and staking all vampires within reach. Michael, Rath, Isabel and Alex also helped with the hand to hand combat, using their fighting skills to their advantage in the battle. The others fought as best they could, sticking to groups of at least three that could protect itself. The aliens cheated a little by using their powers to vanquish more numbers at a faster rate. Alex was putting his new power to use, popping out of the fight to help the people to get out of the football field. He used his extra strength to help them open the gate. The people were too scared to question him as they all scampered off the field, screaming bloody murder. Alex popped back into the fight as the last of the humans ran out. His team needed him. Faith Whitman fought beside her alien lover who was using his powers more openly. The field was clear of civilians as far as they could tell and the fray was so confused that it was unlikely that they would be discovered. Faith watched as a vampire ran a long, sharp sword through Liz Parker. She watched in what appeared to be slow motion as her red blood spilled out onto the green grass. Liz looked around helplessly for Max, who hadn't noticed she was hurt, before she collapsed onto the turf. On the other end of the field, Rupert Giles was slumped against the bleachers after being thrown there by one of the vampires. He was unconscious. So much for just a football game. They had to turn this fight around and fast. Spike cracked his neck before jumping back headfirst into the fray. He didn't get to flex his fighting muscles much in Roswell. It seemed they needed to come visit Arizona more often. This was where all the action was at obviously, and the Big Bad was always ready for battle. Stake. Stake. Fry. Stake. Kick. That was Michael's pattern as he worked through the field of vampires. There were hundreds of them at least. Lots of them were from the football team. No wonder they were losing. And why the hell was he thinking about football stats when he should be fighting vampires? Too much Valenti. Had to be. Maria saved the lead vampire for herself. Cocky bastard was looking too smug. She would have to pound that look off his face. "You and me, baby?" the vampire sneered. "I like that. Maybe we should get out of here, have a little fun first. I always wanted to know what drew Angelus and William the Bloody to the slayers. What is it? Is it all that flexibility?" Maria slapped him. "Perv." She proceeded to punch him in the chest, kicked his kneecap, then groin. When he hunched over, she snapped his head back, then tripped him over. "You're really cocky for a stupid guy, you know that?" The vampire growled and kicked back upright. He swung his fists at her head, then kicked her in the stomach. Maria flipped out of reach when he grabbed a sword from one of his fallen minions and swung it at her. He thrust forward, going straight for the soft flesh of her stomach, but was stopped mid-thrust by a strong force. Maria had grabbed the blade of the sword in her hands, twisted it around and yanked it out of his hands. Maria threw the sword up in the air, staked the leader, and then caught it as he turned to dust. "Hmm. Maybe I should have kept him for info.oh well," she said to herself, as she looked over the field of dust. The fight was over and they won. Michael just staked the last vampire and was now making his way over to her. There was a residual fog of vampiric dust floating in the air around the football field. "Hey! Did we win?" a voice called from near the bleachers. They all looked over to find Kyle hobbling over on his sprained ankle, leaning against Laurie. "Valenti, are you kidding me? Now you decide to show up?" Faith said. "Duh. I have to wait for my servants to do all the dirty work, then I can come in and take all the credit," Kyle said with a smile, looking at all of them, "hey, where's Liz?" The entire field froze. The only movement was twenty pairs of eyes darting amongst them to find the familiar face. "Damn! She got stabbed, I saw her, it was over there!" Faith cried, pointing to the left end of the field before taking off to find their fallen friend. "What do you mean you saw?" Max cried, "And you didn't say anything?" "Well, I was kinda busy, Max," Faith said, still searching. The cloud of vampire dust was making their job difficult. "Kind of busy?! This is Liz!" he yelled, shaking her. "I suggest you take your hands off me before I beat you down," Faith said calmly. "I'm sorry, Faith, it's just that she's my soulmate and I love her. I'd die without her." "Yeah. Right," Faith said, going back to looking. "And that's why you didn't even notice she was gone," she muttered under her breath. "What was that?" "I found her! Max come quick!" Maria called. "Liz? Lizzie! You have to wake up, honey." Max ran up and shoved Maria out of the way. He cradled Liz head in his hand and gently shook her shoulder. "Liz? Liz, you have to look at me." "M-maxxx?" she slurred, her eyes fluttering open. Their eyes locked and Max concentrated his entire being on healing his soulmate, on mending her broken flesh and making her whole again. A red glow appeared around his hand as the healing started. The hole in her stomach mended and the blood in her veins stopped pumping out onto her sweater and continued on its journey around her body. Sweat pooled on Max brow as he knitted the cells and tissues together into perfect white skin, with a silvery glow that would form into a handprint. Max collapsed against Isabel as Liz took in a gasping breath. She was healed. She bolted up, and pulled Max into a crushing hug, tears streaming down her face. Max lazily put his hands around her waist and hugged her to him. Faith looked away from the scene, not wanting to hear the sappy recount of how much it hurt to almost lose each other and whatnot. No doubt she could hear it back home. Home. She didn't think she'd consider anywhere home, let alone Roswell, New Mexico. She'd always thought of herself as a city girl, not small town. She guessed it worked because of who was in it. Rath, Michael, Maria, Alex, the Whitman's. They made Roswell for her. Just then, her eyes hit on the slumped body by the bleachers, or rather, the big bulky body standing over the slumped body at the bleachers. "Hey!" she yelled, as the bigger body bent at the waist and pulled Giles up by his jacket collar. The vampire only glanced up at her before bending his head to sink his teeth into his prey. She was too far to reach him in time. "No!" Faith raised her hand above her head, not sure what she was going to do, but doing it anyway. She, and everyone else, was surprised when the vampire flew up into the air, away from Giles and was impaled on a goal post. "Okay," Faith stated after staring at the goal post in shock for about five minutes, "that.was cool."
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