Author: Asrai
E-Mail: ikh@haefft.de
Rating: R
Summary: What if Buffy was the screwed up one?
Spoilers: General spoilers for Btvs seasons 1 - 3
Disclaimers: I don't own Btvs nor do I make any money out of this; no copyright infringement is intended.
Chapter 07 - Dirty Hole
*Buffy smiled a full-blown smile at the boy a few meters before her and was just about to greet him when a hand fell on her shoulder. She flinched and whirled around.
"What are you doing here?" she hissed at Thomas.
He raised his brows. "As far as I remember, we agreed that I'd fetch you from school today. You said you wanted me to improve your fighting skills."
"Oh," Buffy blustered and threw a glance over her shoulder. He was still standing there, talking to his friends and laughing.
"But can't we, like, do it tomorrow? I'm kind of busy this afternoon, you see, there's, um, there's a project in school and I so have to participate."
"Buffy," her watcher sounded amused but stern, "I don't need to remind you of your duties? You can ogle at this boy over there tomorrow. He'll still be there."
Buffy sighed, defeated, and followed him to his car.*
~~~
Monday sucks, that's for sure. Why? Well, it's the day after Sunday and in my book, that's enough to be on my shitlist. I spent the whole Sunday with sleeping and watching silly sitcoms on the TV and it was. nice. Normal, in a way. Went patrolling in the evening and danced off a bit of energy at the Bronze. There were even guys turning their heads after me and one in particular- I don't remember his name but the making out part in the middle of the dance floor was fun. Yep, it's easy to satisfy my ego.
This day, on the other hand. my shift started at seven, dragged along until afternoon and I have that feeling that my boss is still pissed at me for spilling that bit of coffee last week. What an asshole. Pervert would fit, too, I caught him checking out my breasts today. Can you say eeew? And that was just the beginning of the week.
"Hey, girl, you done already? If you want to read the newspaper, you got to buy it."
"Just chill," I snap at the salesman and flip through the newspaper. Politics, politics, weather, sports. obituaries. Bingo. Although it's slightly disturbing that they fill two complete pages. I see the salesman glowering at me and shoot him my sauciest grin.
"Can I buy just this one page?"
"No. So either you pay for the whole damn thing, right now, or you get lost."
"That's cool, too."
Faster than he can see, I grab the newspaper and break into a run. He yells and chases after me- but he's no match, not by a long shot. Bad luck, buddy. Can't have it that Mondays only suck for me.
~~~
The night is quiet as I make my way to another SunnyD cemetery. I already went through Restfield Cemetery, but I came too late; the grave of a woman had already been dug up.
Suddenly, I sense Faith behind me and turn around. She has her hands on her hips and raises her brows as she sees the crossbow I hold in my hands. "You're patrolling?"
"That's what I do, yeah. Hi."
She's probably still mad at me because of this dinner thing two days ago. Expects an apology or something like that. Well, fat chance; she can wait 'til hell freezes over.
"What're you doing with that?" She points to my crossbow, "Not your natural choice of weapon."
I shrug. "Thought I'd train my long-distance fighting skills. By the way, does your watcher-guy have bolts for that baby? I'm kind of short on them."
I could just as well buy some, but hey, I'm still sort of broke. The Council isn't.
"Yeah. You can check in later, Giles will be there. And can you report if you see something unusual?"
"You searching for something special?"
"No.-no. Giles is just paranoid. He's not happy if there isn't stuff to look up. You know, demon-y stuff, or another apocalypse, that really makes his day. Sick."
"I can tell. So. bye then."
"'Til later!"
I watch her skipping down the street, seeming so careless, and I'll admit it- I'm jealous. Just a tiny, little bit, but still. Faith has the life I always dreamed of, successfully combining slaying with a social life; she even has a boyfriend. I snort quietly. Scratch that, I'd only want Xander in my nightmares as my boyfriend. Too dorky. And Willow and Angel for close buds? A wannabe-witch and a souled vampire? Not bloody likely. Social life really isn't all that important anyway.
Someday I might even believe that. When I'm about fifty or something.
I double-check my loaded crossbow, the only weapon besides some knives and stakes that I still have and search for the grave of Albert whatshisname who died two days ago. He should be on top of their dinner list. and bingo. I can hear her chanting a mile away.
They're standing over the open grave, Adam and Alinh. Alinh is chanting in a language that sounds like a violin speaking Latin, no joke. Adam follows this chant silently, his head bowed, and I can almost see their magic sparkling in the air. I stand still and wait until the prayer is finished, then I raise the crossbow and step directly behind them.
"Didn't I tell you to change your eating habits?"
They both whirl around, ready to fight the intruder who interrupted their ceremony, but relax when they see me.
"Buffy!" Alinh calls out, and her voice still has that melodic ring form speaking Jirash a moment ago. "We- what a surprise! What are you doing here? Not that it's not good to see you- I mean, Adam and me, we searched for you all over LA! He," she waves her perfectly manicured hand accusingly at Adam, "even wanted to sing! How gruesome!!"
I grin, suddenly very, very giddy, "It's good to see you, too."
~~~
I almost skip down the corridor to the library, too happy to really notice the glances the students throw at my blood red leather pants and the black top that gives a - in my opinion - very good view at my breasts. I stayed up the whole night, laughing and catching up on the latest LA underground gossip. I haven't realized before how much I missed that, talking to friends. With Adam and Alinh I don't have to play some role; they already knew me when I'd been a slayer-in-training, small, stupid and terribly naïve.
I push the doors wide open and whistle through my teeth to draw attention. "Watcher-guy? You there?"
"Buffy?"
He comes out of his office, carrying a cup of tea in one hand and a book in another. Stereotype watcher, how cute.
"That would be me. Still remember me?"
He frowns and takes a sip of his tea before putting the cup and the book on the table. "It's correct that I haven't seen you since your, um, introduction. Faith, however, told me that you've settled into your slaying duties. so you plan to stay?"
"Not if I can help it. So don't even think about writing to you Council- buddies to get me a watcher, 'cause I'll be out of here in a few weeks anyway."
"B-but as a slayer, you are under the supervision of the Council-"
I cut him off, "Forget it. I work better without a British guy who's glued to my ass 24/7, believe me."
That shuts him up; he takes off his glasses and begins to clean them with a handkerchief.
"But that's not why I'm here, changing pleasantries. What I wanted to ask, do you have bolts? I need something to feed to my crossbow."
"Um, yes. I have some stored." he goes over into a cage and opens an armoire- full of weapons. Yum. Oh, goody, I'd love to try some of these axes sometime. While Giles rummages through them, I take a peek at the book he'd been reading. It's some obscure text in I don't know which language, but there's a nice picture with a really ugly demon next to it. Ugh, wouldn't want to fight that, his horns look like they'd be a danger to my newly bought outfit.
"How big is your crossbow, Buffy?"
"I don't know. Rather small. Council standard, I think."
He gives me some bolts and I look at them fleetingly before stuffing them in my bag. "Thanks, so what are you researching? Looks like fun."
He looks at the picture and sighs. "Faith has brought to my attention that there were several unusual looking graves. it's possible that it was only vampires, but I want to make sure that there isn't something different messing with the dead. Did you notice something out of the ordinary?
Oh. I begin to grin when Faith and tagalongs enter the library. She looks surprised to see me.
"Buffy?"
"Hi, sis'. Hi, rest. I just came to fetch my slaying stuff from your watcher."
I stress the 'your watcher' deliberately so she doesn't get the idea that I hang out here for fun, or that I accept Giles as my watcher.
"Don't bother searching for the grave-digging guys. They're a) gone and b) not to find in any book. Trust me."
"You- you saw them?"
"Yeah. They invited me for a cup of coffee, to be exact."
I smile at their confused faces, "It's not like they're dangerous."
Faith seats herself cross-legged on the table. "Sure. So, who are they? The truth, please."
I roll my eyes, but a little, perverse part of me is secretly pleased that she asks me for information. Me, slayer number two and reluctant ally, not her watcher version super-British, nor her perfect friends. I'm pathetic, I know.
"They are twins. Their names are Adam and Alinh and they are half human, half Jirash demon."
"Jirash demons?" Giles asks and hastily leaves through a book. "But they- ah, yes, here it is. Are you sure?"
He shows me a picture of a human looking demon, except for the pitch-black skin and the white horns all over its body.
"That one looks like their dad."
"B-but they never mate with humans, it's unheard of. Jirash are extremely violent and strong, no normal human woman would survive, ahm-"
"Look, I didn't ask for the specifics. I know that they're not dangerous. They only have to eat the hearts of recently deceased people every few days. That's why they dig up graves, no biggie. They good thing is, they stake the vampires they find in their coffins. Makes my work easier."
"And you know them?" Xander speaks up, "like, in the friendly kind of knowing? Wasn't there a paragraph in the slayer handbook about killing demons?"
"I never read the damn thing. What about you, sis'?"
Faith shrugs and grins, "Giles told me that it would be of no use for me. I'm five by five without it. But Xander has a point. Do you ask every demon if it's dangerous before sticking pointy things through its body?"
"No. But I didn't exactly meet them in a graveyard. Anyway, it's not important, they are harmless. Was there anything else? 'Cause my break ends in about five minutes."
"Did you know that they were in Sunnydale messing with the graves before meeting them?" Giles asks.
"Yeah. I don't know any other people who eat dead people."
"And you couldn't have told us that a little earlier?" Faith suddenly snaps at me. Well, if she's unfriendly, I'll do the same.
"Why? It was none of your business."
"It's sure my business if there's demons in Sunnydale! Slayer here, remember?"
"Don't get your knickers in a twist."
Oops. I spent way too much time around a Brit if I start talking like that. But really, what's her problem? She doesn't tell me anything either, and I'm not her pet slayer reporting dutifully every detail to her. No way.
"Buffy, as a slayer it is your duty to report anomalies to your watcher. As you have no watcher, the person you report to would be Faith or me. In this case your neglect didn't cause any harm, but it would have spared some of hours of useless research."
Giles is in full lecturing, holier-than-thou watcher mode, complete with cleaning his glasses. My butt, I'm going to hurl. Time to get outta here.
"You know what? I don't report to anyone but me. I'm not part of your little gang and I don't want to be one. I do my job but it's not your concern how I do it."
I breeze out of the library, head high, but my former good mood is gone.
E-Mail: ikh@haefft.de
Rating: R
Summary: What if Buffy was the screwed up one?
Spoilers: General spoilers for Btvs seasons 1 - 3
Disclaimers: I don't own Btvs nor do I make any money out of this; no copyright infringement is intended.
Chapter 07 - Dirty Hole
*Buffy smiled a full-blown smile at the boy a few meters before her and was just about to greet him when a hand fell on her shoulder. She flinched and whirled around.
"What are you doing here?" she hissed at Thomas.
He raised his brows. "As far as I remember, we agreed that I'd fetch you from school today. You said you wanted me to improve your fighting skills."
"Oh," Buffy blustered and threw a glance over her shoulder. He was still standing there, talking to his friends and laughing.
"But can't we, like, do it tomorrow? I'm kind of busy this afternoon, you see, there's, um, there's a project in school and I so have to participate."
"Buffy," her watcher sounded amused but stern, "I don't need to remind you of your duties? You can ogle at this boy over there tomorrow. He'll still be there."
Buffy sighed, defeated, and followed him to his car.*
~~~
Monday sucks, that's for sure. Why? Well, it's the day after Sunday and in my book, that's enough to be on my shitlist. I spent the whole Sunday with sleeping and watching silly sitcoms on the TV and it was. nice. Normal, in a way. Went patrolling in the evening and danced off a bit of energy at the Bronze. There were even guys turning their heads after me and one in particular- I don't remember his name but the making out part in the middle of the dance floor was fun. Yep, it's easy to satisfy my ego.
This day, on the other hand. my shift started at seven, dragged along until afternoon and I have that feeling that my boss is still pissed at me for spilling that bit of coffee last week. What an asshole. Pervert would fit, too, I caught him checking out my breasts today. Can you say eeew? And that was just the beginning of the week.
"Hey, girl, you done already? If you want to read the newspaper, you got to buy it."
"Just chill," I snap at the salesman and flip through the newspaper. Politics, politics, weather, sports. obituaries. Bingo. Although it's slightly disturbing that they fill two complete pages. I see the salesman glowering at me and shoot him my sauciest grin.
"Can I buy just this one page?"
"No. So either you pay for the whole damn thing, right now, or you get lost."
"That's cool, too."
Faster than he can see, I grab the newspaper and break into a run. He yells and chases after me- but he's no match, not by a long shot. Bad luck, buddy. Can't have it that Mondays only suck for me.
~~~
The night is quiet as I make my way to another SunnyD cemetery. I already went through Restfield Cemetery, but I came too late; the grave of a woman had already been dug up.
Suddenly, I sense Faith behind me and turn around. She has her hands on her hips and raises her brows as she sees the crossbow I hold in my hands. "You're patrolling?"
"That's what I do, yeah. Hi."
She's probably still mad at me because of this dinner thing two days ago. Expects an apology or something like that. Well, fat chance; she can wait 'til hell freezes over.
"What're you doing with that?" She points to my crossbow, "Not your natural choice of weapon."
I shrug. "Thought I'd train my long-distance fighting skills. By the way, does your watcher-guy have bolts for that baby? I'm kind of short on them."
I could just as well buy some, but hey, I'm still sort of broke. The Council isn't.
"Yeah. You can check in later, Giles will be there. And can you report if you see something unusual?"
"You searching for something special?"
"No.-no. Giles is just paranoid. He's not happy if there isn't stuff to look up. You know, demon-y stuff, or another apocalypse, that really makes his day. Sick."
"I can tell. So. bye then."
"'Til later!"
I watch her skipping down the street, seeming so careless, and I'll admit it- I'm jealous. Just a tiny, little bit, but still. Faith has the life I always dreamed of, successfully combining slaying with a social life; she even has a boyfriend. I snort quietly. Scratch that, I'd only want Xander in my nightmares as my boyfriend. Too dorky. And Willow and Angel for close buds? A wannabe-witch and a souled vampire? Not bloody likely. Social life really isn't all that important anyway.
Someday I might even believe that. When I'm about fifty or something.
I double-check my loaded crossbow, the only weapon besides some knives and stakes that I still have and search for the grave of Albert whatshisname who died two days ago. He should be on top of their dinner list. and bingo. I can hear her chanting a mile away.
They're standing over the open grave, Adam and Alinh. Alinh is chanting in a language that sounds like a violin speaking Latin, no joke. Adam follows this chant silently, his head bowed, and I can almost see their magic sparkling in the air. I stand still and wait until the prayer is finished, then I raise the crossbow and step directly behind them.
"Didn't I tell you to change your eating habits?"
They both whirl around, ready to fight the intruder who interrupted their ceremony, but relax when they see me.
"Buffy!" Alinh calls out, and her voice still has that melodic ring form speaking Jirash a moment ago. "We- what a surprise! What are you doing here? Not that it's not good to see you- I mean, Adam and me, we searched for you all over LA! He," she waves her perfectly manicured hand accusingly at Adam, "even wanted to sing! How gruesome!!"
I grin, suddenly very, very giddy, "It's good to see you, too."
~~~
I almost skip down the corridor to the library, too happy to really notice the glances the students throw at my blood red leather pants and the black top that gives a - in my opinion - very good view at my breasts. I stayed up the whole night, laughing and catching up on the latest LA underground gossip. I haven't realized before how much I missed that, talking to friends. With Adam and Alinh I don't have to play some role; they already knew me when I'd been a slayer-in-training, small, stupid and terribly naïve.
I push the doors wide open and whistle through my teeth to draw attention. "Watcher-guy? You there?"
"Buffy?"
He comes out of his office, carrying a cup of tea in one hand and a book in another. Stereotype watcher, how cute.
"That would be me. Still remember me?"
He frowns and takes a sip of his tea before putting the cup and the book on the table. "It's correct that I haven't seen you since your, um, introduction. Faith, however, told me that you've settled into your slaying duties. so you plan to stay?"
"Not if I can help it. So don't even think about writing to you Council- buddies to get me a watcher, 'cause I'll be out of here in a few weeks anyway."
"B-but as a slayer, you are under the supervision of the Council-"
I cut him off, "Forget it. I work better without a British guy who's glued to my ass 24/7, believe me."
That shuts him up; he takes off his glasses and begins to clean them with a handkerchief.
"But that's not why I'm here, changing pleasantries. What I wanted to ask, do you have bolts? I need something to feed to my crossbow."
"Um, yes. I have some stored." he goes over into a cage and opens an armoire- full of weapons. Yum. Oh, goody, I'd love to try some of these axes sometime. While Giles rummages through them, I take a peek at the book he'd been reading. It's some obscure text in I don't know which language, but there's a nice picture with a really ugly demon next to it. Ugh, wouldn't want to fight that, his horns look like they'd be a danger to my newly bought outfit.
"How big is your crossbow, Buffy?"
"I don't know. Rather small. Council standard, I think."
He gives me some bolts and I look at them fleetingly before stuffing them in my bag. "Thanks, so what are you researching? Looks like fun."
He looks at the picture and sighs. "Faith has brought to my attention that there were several unusual looking graves. it's possible that it was only vampires, but I want to make sure that there isn't something different messing with the dead. Did you notice something out of the ordinary?
Oh. I begin to grin when Faith and tagalongs enter the library. She looks surprised to see me.
"Buffy?"
"Hi, sis'. Hi, rest. I just came to fetch my slaying stuff from your watcher."
I stress the 'your watcher' deliberately so she doesn't get the idea that I hang out here for fun, or that I accept Giles as my watcher.
"Don't bother searching for the grave-digging guys. They're a) gone and b) not to find in any book. Trust me."
"You- you saw them?"
"Yeah. They invited me for a cup of coffee, to be exact."
I smile at their confused faces, "It's not like they're dangerous."
Faith seats herself cross-legged on the table. "Sure. So, who are they? The truth, please."
I roll my eyes, but a little, perverse part of me is secretly pleased that she asks me for information. Me, slayer number two and reluctant ally, not her watcher version super-British, nor her perfect friends. I'm pathetic, I know.
"They are twins. Their names are Adam and Alinh and they are half human, half Jirash demon."
"Jirash demons?" Giles asks and hastily leaves through a book. "But they- ah, yes, here it is. Are you sure?"
He shows me a picture of a human looking demon, except for the pitch-black skin and the white horns all over its body.
"That one looks like their dad."
"B-but they never mate with humans, it's unheard of. Jirash are extremely violent and strong, no normal human woman would survive, ahm-"
"Look, I didn't ask for the specifics. I know that they're not dangerous. They only have to eat the hearts of recently deceased people every few days. That's why they dig up graves, no biggie. They good thing is, they stake the vampires they find in their coffins. Makes my work easier."
"And you know them?" Xander speaks up, "like, in the friendly kind of knowing? Wasn't there a paragraph in the slayer handbook about killing demons?"
"I never read the damn thing. What about you, sis'?"
Faith shrugs and grins, "Giles told me that it would be of no use for me. I'm five by five without it. But Xander has a point. Do you ask every demon if it's dangerous before sticking pointy things through its body?"
"No. But I didn't exactly meet them in a graveyard. Anyway, it's not important, they are harmless. Was there anything else? 'Cause my break ends in about five minutes."
"Did you know that they were in Sunnydale messing with the graves before meeting them?" Giles asks.
"Yeah. I don't know any other people who eat dead people."
"And you couldn't have told us that a little earlier?" Faith suddenly snaps at me. Well, if she's unfriendly, I'll do the same.
"Why? It was none of your business."
"It's sure my business if there's demons in Sunnydale! Slayer here, remember?"
"Don't get your knickers in a twist."
Oops. I spent way too much time around a Brit if I start talking like that. But really, what's her problem? She doesn't tell me anything either, and I'm not her pet slayer reporting dutifully every detail to her. No way.
"Buffy, as a slayer it is your duty to report anomalies to your watcher. As you have no watcher, the person you report to would be Faith or me. In this case your neglect didn't cause any harm, but it would have spared some of hours of useless research."
Giles is in full lecturing, holier-than-thou watcher mode, complete with cleaning his glasses. My butt, I'm going to hurl. Time to get outta here.
"You know what? I don't report to anyone but me. I'm not part of your little gang and I don't want to be one. I do my job but it's not your concern how I do it."
I breeze out of the library, head high, but my former good mood is gone.