FOOLS FOR LIFE:

CHAPTER 10: INQUIRIES MADE

Anya's smile faded. "Oh. It's you. What do you want?"

Buffy puckered her lips slightly and said "Oh I'm doing fine, thanks for asking. How are you?"

Anya pulled a face. "Yes well, I'll have you know I've learned perfectly well how to do fake polite conversation by now. Except I save that for paying customers. Which you are not." She hesitated for a moment and her face lit up a bit. "Are you?"

Buffy shook her head. "No, sorry, not today." Anya's face fell again. "Well if you need to do some research, you know where the books are, just.....be quick okay? And don't bother the customers."

"No it's not that either, I just need to talk to you about something."

"Ah." Anya said. "Look if this is about that whole thing with Spike, it was just meaningless, spur-of-the-moment sex, okay? I haven't 'claimed' him in any way and you're free to continue your raw, sexual adventures with him."

"No, that's not what this is....'raw'? Wha-what do you mean 'raw'? Why do you say 'raw'?"

Anya fiddled with the cash register and shrugged a little. "That's what he said, that you were so 'raw'. He sounded pretty impressed. If I hadn't been so caught up in my own little rant I would've guessed sooner it was you he was talking about. I mean, who else has he been obsessing over the past two years."

Buffy blushed slightly and cleared her throat, but before she could reply Anya looked her up and down and continued. "I was a little surprised though, you never struck me as the 'raw' type with sex. More the sweety- sappy type of lover that you see on those afternoon TV shows with the sheet pulled up all the way and the heavy filters that make everything fuzzy, and.."

"YES! Yes, well. Ahem, let's not go into our views on each other's....nature. I just wanted to..."

"Hey I don't care what your view on me is. It's you people who always tell me things like "Shut up Anya, it's not proper to describe the details of how you like to play games like 'The Little Mermaid That Could' or 'Big Man Off Campus'" or ..."

"OKAY, Anya, I got it! It's not what I'm here for. And I'm not here to discuss you and Spike. I got what happened, I do. That night.....that whole confrontation with Xander... wasn't fun for any of us."

Anya sort of shook her head and shrugged at the same time. "Well certainly not at the end. The first half was a kinda fun at least..." Buffy looked at the ceiling for a moment as her mouth tightened a little. Anya didn't notice and continued.

"But eh, have you....seen Xander since then?" For a moment she looked sad and vulnerable.

Buffy shook her head. "No, I hear he's working though. I guess he's dealing."

Anya's face hardened again. "Well, isn't that great. Yeah I'm sure he's dealing. Men always 'deal' just fine with the messes they make of your life! Well anyway, what DO you want? I'm very busy."

"I wanted to ask you about your friend. The other vengeance demon that was at my house, on my birthday."

Anya frowned. "Halfrek? What do you want with her?"

"Well, it's....come to my attention that she's been having...contact with Spike. And they seemed to know each other that day, and I can't figure what the deal is and I thought you might know something."

Anya shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I noticed they knew each other but I didn't think much of it. As immortal demons, you run into people every now and then, you know?"

"I really don't." Buffy said with a smile. "But I get what you mean. So she's never mentioned him? I mean I take it you've known her for a while."

Anya looked thoughtful. "Oh, only about a 100 years. A little more maybe. She's not been at it nearly as long as I am, you know. I mean, as I ...was. She took some revenge on her father in the late 19th century. D'Hoffryn saw talent and recruited her. She went along with me on more than a few trips seeing how I was, you know, pretty seasoned." The tone of pride was unmistakable. "Taught her a trick or two. She was a quick study though, pretty competitive."

"A hundred years?" Buffy thought for a moment. Spike had been turned into a vampire about a 100 years ago. Probably a coincidence, but still, as demons went, they were sort of the same 'generation' then weren't they?

"So, in the times that you were both vengeance demons, you never saw Spike, or heard about her and him?"

"No, but she could have met him along the way. A 100 years is plenty of time to meet people in. But on the other hand, not even all that likely. Vengeance demons and vampires rarely mingle really."

"Really, how come?"

"Well now," Anya said as if that should be obvious. "Vampires are a bit...well you know...simple really. They just follow their instincts and satisfy their needs and wants. Us Vengeance Demons, we have a job. A mission to fulfill." She gave a tired sigh. "Not to mention quotas to keep. Anyway, we just move in different circles and have a different lifestyle and...attitude to the whole demon thing."

She grabbed some of the papers on the counter and began to pile them up. "Sometimes I think vampires have the better idea, but then again, we are usually the enterprising types. D'Hoffryn doesn't recruit the lazy and forgiving, you know."

She put the shipping lists away and walked out from behind the counter as she started to go over the shelves. Buffy followed her at a slow pace. "No I don't imagine he does. But....does that mean...do you think it's possible they knew each other BEFORE they were demons then?"

Anya stopped and thought for a second. "It's..possible. I mean anything's possible."

"You don't know much of her life as a human?"

"We...tend to not talk about the past much. I mean we usually were hurt in some bad way you know. And the story of how we were recruited and what special vengeance we took that made D'Hoffryn notice us is usually the only thing we care to talk about. At least you can brag about that a little. You know 'Oh I turned this guy into a dung beetle and fed him to the cat.' Stuff like that, but not much else. It's just a thing."

Buffy nodded and brooded for a moment. Then she thought of something. "Do you know what nationality she had before she became a demon? Where she lived, what country?"

Anya stopped again and thought. Then she turned to Buffy and nodded. "Now that you mention it, yes.....England."

Buffy nodded back. Again, nothing big. And far from conclusive, but still....some little things started to click, and fall into place.

TBC

It is the time...of R&R ;-)