Part 5:

"What's the matter, Xander?" Amy asked, slowly walking toward him. "Aren't you happy to see me?"

About a minute from now Xander would call himself incredibly stupid for not figuring it out immediately. It was after dark, it was Sunnydale, and he was facing a girl he had seen dead three weeks ago. He should have known at once what was happening, realized the danger he was in.

As it was, though, he could only stare at the blonde girl as she came closer, not believing what he saw.

"A-Amy?"

"You already said that," she smiled.

She was dressed like he had never seen her before. Skintight black Jeans, a barely-there top, heavy makeup on her face. Her crimson lips were spread in a seductive smile.

"I ... I saw you dead," he mumbled, the realization slowly making its way to the front of his brain.

"What can I say?" Amy loosely wrapped her arms around his neck, only a hair's breath separating their bodies. "I got better."

Xander's eyes widened as her face changed, ridges appearing on her brow, eyes turning amber, fangs lengthening. He immediately tried to push her away, but her arms constricted around his neck like a steel vise and held him fast.

"I've come to thank you," she said in conversational tone. "I mean, if it hadn't been for you I would probably never have cast another magical spell in my life and would not be dead right now."

She pressed her body against his until their faces were but millimeters apart.

"I think I should return the favor."

Adrenaline thundered through Xander's veins and a brief flashback to last year's Halloween brought memories of combat training he had never gone through. With a burst of fear-driven strength he managed to break free of Amy's hold and kicked her away, immediately turning to run for all his legs were worth.

Amy, having fallen on her behind, just smiled.

"Thicken," she murmured, her hand sparkling with magic.

The air around Xander seemed to turn into glue, trapping him like a fly in amber. He pushed against it with all his might, but his legs refused to move. Behind him Amy slowly got up, having all the time in the world.

"It's quite impolite to just run away from a girl when she's talking to you, Xander."

"You're not Amy," Xander forced out between clenched teeth. "You're just a monster wearing her face!"

"You think?" Amy frowned as if considering that idea. "Well, you may be on to something there. Still, I do remember that you are the guy who caused my death. Or Amy's death, if you want to split hairs. What matters is that, one way or another, I wouldn't be the girl I am today if it wasn't for you, Xander."

She moved closer again, baring her fangs.

"And I really need some closure on that. I hope you understand."

#

Despite being tired Cordelia had not gone home to sleep as she had originally intended. There were too many things going through her head at the moment, a statement that would have amazed many of the people who thought they knew her. So she took her car and just drove around town a bit, hoping to clear her head.

There were, of course, all the things Giles had said today. Something very strange was going on in Sunnydale, even stranger than usual, and despite her frequent protests about not wanting to be involved in any of it she could not help but be worried. More or less against her will she had become part of a group that regularly got involved in end-of-the-world situations and her mind would just have to deal with that.

Then there was that strange friendship forming between her and Faith. It had begun the night of the cursed candy when the two of them had been the only clear heads around to ride herd on quite a few crazy super-powered people. She was not quite sure how it had happened, but she liked Faith and since that night they had hung out several times. It helped, of course, that Faith had no problems keeping up in the wit department, even though her mouth was quite dirty and she was not at all someone Cordelia would ever have considered having for a friend.

And finally there was, of course, Xander. The immature idiot who had ruined her life as queen of Sunnydale High. Well, that was not quite correct, she had to admit. It had taken two to ruin that and he had not exactly forced her to head into the closets with him. At first she had written it off to temporary insanity, maybe an overdose of hormones or something.

She could not deny one thing, though. She missed him. Missed his jokes, missed his presence, missed the way he kissed her. Every time she saw him a part of her was tempted to just tell him that she forgave everything and kiss him.

It was not that easy, of course. Xander had hurt her and he probably did not even understand how deeply. She had completely abandoned her old life for him, could he not see that? She had given up the security of being the supreme and indestructible queen of school to let him into her heart, even though she had not realized it at that point. Was it too much to ask for him to appreciate that?

No matter his gestures and tokens of affection he had never left any doubt about who came first where his heart was concerned. It was not her. It was Buffy, always Buffy. Cordelia did not blame the Slayer for that, certainly not. Oh, there had been times when it had been tempting to blame Buffy's coming to Sunnydale for everything bad that had ever happened in her life, but that was not it.

The sad thing was that, even if Xander had ever gotten to Buffy, he would probably have treated her no different, she was sure. Cordelia had not missed Xander's jealous looks at Oz when the guitarist had started dating Willow. The redhead had had a crush on Xander forever, even Cordelia had seen that. He had never noticed, of course, at least not as long as she remained his best friend and the only male whom she associated with. Xander was completely unable to appreciate or even see what he had as long as he had it.

She wondered whether that had changed now. His words a few weeks ago when they had defeated those demonic assassins had almost tempted her to believe that. Almost.

She just did not know. She just did not know whether she had it in herself to risk being hurt by him again.

A movement on the road ahead brought her out of her deep thoughts. Two people were standing in the middle of the street, one of them seemingly frozen in a very awkward posture. Was that not ... Xander?

"What the hell is going on?" Cordelia mumbled to herself, driving closer.

Things happened very, very fast then. The headlights of her car fell on the person standing next to Xander, who turned to look at the approaching car. Cordelia saw the stark outlines of a vampire face and reacted instinctively. Her foot hit the gas pedal for all it was worth. The vampire raised its hand, maybe hoping to stop the car somehow, but was too slow. Two tons of metal hit the creature at more than forty miles an hour and sent it flying into the night.

Cordelia brought the car to a screeching halt even as Xander suddenly found himself able to move again. He wasted no time making use of that newfound freedom.

"Get in, quickly!" Cordelia opened the passenger's side door for him and he promptly dove in. Moments later the car launched back into motion.

"You all right?" Cordelia asked once they had brought a few streets between them and the vampire.

"Thanks to you," he panted, giving her a grateful smile. "Your timing is excellent, Cordy."

"Of course," she simply said as if it was the most natural thing in the world. "You can show your appreciation by paying for that dent in my hood."

"Any money I might impossibly find in my wallet is yours."

They stayed silent for a moment, then Cordelia turned to look at him again.

"I only saw that vampire's face for a moment, but wasn't that ...?"

"Yeah, it was," Xander sighed, closing his eyes. "Amy."

Cordelia just nodded, turning at the next intersection to head for the library.

TO BE CONTINUED