The noise of movement in the main part of the shop drifts over me as I
start to wake. My internal sense of the sun tells me it's about noon. I
quickly put some clothes on before walking over to the door that separates
the training room from the main shop. I open the door gingerly, ready to
slam it closed if I feel my skin start to singe. The sun's rays are
streaming through the window, but falling about halfway across the room, so
I'm safe here in the doorway. I find myself watching the scene before me,
Buffy and Giles talking by the counter, Tara and Willow organising stock. I
think of Buffy's words from the night before as I watch Tara glancing her
girlfriend, my heart goes out to her as I see the pain in her eyes. She
starts to walk towards Willow and then stops, returning to her books. I
promise myself that I'll fix this, not only for my best friend, but also
for the girl who has willingly thrown herself into the Scooby lifestyle and
hasn't received the same willingness to accept her.
"Hey Xanman" I glance up at Buffy; I don't know how long she's been standing there. "Morning, hope I haven't delayed Gile's training schedule too much." "Not at all, I'm training with you today, remember?" I think my expression probably reveals that I hadn't. She glances towards Tara before continuing. "See you in there in a few minutes, ok?" "Ok." I reply as she heads into the back room. I look back to Tara and Willow as I make my way over.
"Hey Wills." She turns and smiles at me, so full of warmth. I'm reminded of the time I was denied Willows smiles, right after the fluke, and I know I need to get those back for Tara. "I think Buffy wanted to speak to you." "Ok, see you latter." I watch her head off towards the back room, and then turn round to face Tara. "Hi." "Hi." She looks at me in surprise from a few seconds before returning to her work. I realise that I can't remember ever saying more than a few non- scooby related words to her. I'm going to have to try a lot harder if I'm going to make up for this. Try to put her at ease, make her laugh, it's something I should have no problem at, right?
"You know when Willow first introduced you to us, and she said you were her friend?" I look to check she's listening, and then continue. "We had a big argument about you. You see I was asking her about you, I asked her if you had a boyfriend. She told me that I wasn't allowed to ask you out. I thought she was ashamed of me. We didn't talk for three days. Obviously I got over it when I eventually found out about you two" "I'm sorry, I.." I cut her off, I can't believe she's apologising for this. "No, you've got nothing to apologise for. I'm just telling you this because, well I realised that I never really made an effort to be your friend when I was alive, I'm just trying to find a way to change that."
She's got a timid smile on her face, her smiles a lot like Willows, there's so much kindness sparkling in her eyes. I can tell that her relationship with Willow is still on her mind though. I reach out and gently touch her arm. "Hey, I know something's going on with you and Willow. I don't know what, but I want you to know that she really does love you. She's just working stuff out." She nod's slightly and I can see tears starting to form in her eyes. I don't really know her well enough, but I pull her into a hug; she doesn't resist and I hold her for a few moments before she pulls away. "Thank you." A pull my best grin. "Your welcome" I pass Willow on my way to the back room, she's looking more downcast than before, and only dimly grins at me as we pass.
I've fought demons of ever size and shape, I've faced off against legendary vampires, I helped defeat a giant demon worm, and I've helped stave off more apocalypses than I care to remember, but I have never fought harder than I am right now.
I duck underneath my attacker's leg, narrowly avoiding a kick to the head that would have sent me flying, and I don't even see the upper cut that lands me on my back. That last hit was so hard that I can't even focus, let alone move, my attacker is standing over me now, staring down at me as I feebly attempt to get up. After a while she extends her arm down to me, helping me back onto my feet.
"Come on, your doing great; just try not to get knocked over so much." "That's great advice Buffy, just great, lot's of help." That earns me an evil stare. "Gile's is the teacher, you can train with him later, just try to go with your instincts." And with that she launches at me again. I'm definitely getting better; I managed to last a whole three minutes last time round. I've seen Buffy fight a lot too, while she's by no means putting everything she's got into the fight, she's not exactly going easy on me either. My train of thought is put on hold as one of her punches gets through, knocking me across the room, and I quickly roll, bringing myself back to my feet before she has time to throw another punch. I take the initiative this time, trying to sweep her legs from under her; she quickly jumps over my leg while trying to give me a kick to the head. While I manage to block that kick while standing up I also throw a punch to her stomach, which she grabs, once again throwing me to my back, I quickly roll before she can follow through.
I'm on my feet in seconds, but she's already swinging at my head again, this time I manage to grasp her arm, twisting it behind her back, I'm about to mime sinking my teeth into her neck when the back of her head collides with my nose, causing me to stagger back. She quickly follows with a kick to the gut that sends me flying into the wall, as I lie on the floor, desperately trying to move, she straddles my chest, pining my arms above my head and holding the ball point pen we've been using as a stake just above my heart.
"See, told you you're doing well, you almost got me that time." "Who say's I haven't." A look of confusion passes over her face; this is the only shot I'm going to have at this. I let my demonic nature come to the surface and feel the extra strength that seems to come with releasing it, then before she can act I flip us over, knocking the pen from her hand and bringing my mouth down to her throat, just enough for her to feel my teeth without drawing blood. I can hear her heart pounding and I let myself feel a twinge of pride for managing to surprise the slayer like that, then I raise my head from her throat and see her slightly flushed face and realise that there might be another reason for the pounding I can hear from her heart. I'm currently pinning her to the floor in such a way that the entire length of my body is pressed firmly against hers, her hands are pressed lightly against my chest, and if anybody saw us right now they would definitely get the wrong impression. Considering what Faith has said a few times about slayers, fighting, and, you know, and especially considering what Buffy herself told me just last night, I'm suddenly feeling very uncomfortable about the situation. In an attempt to lighten the mood I resort to tickling, which result in cries for mercy until she finally manages to throw me off her, then she turns toward me with vengeance in her eyes. "Oh you are so going to pay Xander Harris!"
So this is going to be my first time saving the world since I died, should be fun. We're all walking down to the warehouse now. Buffy and Willow are walking quite a way ahead and are whispering, while I now I shouldn't, I can't help but listen in, especially since they're talking about me. "And he was, you know, on top of you?" "Yeh" "And you liked it?" "Yeh" "But, maybe he didn't notice, I mean, this is Xander. He didn't realise I liked him for like ten years." "But he's a vampire now, they can tell these things." "How?" "I don't know, some vampire sense, they've got really good sight, and smell..." I can't really help myself as I yell out "don't forget really, really good hearing!" they just freeze for a moment before walking on, silently this time. I find Tara's looking at me questioningly. "They were talking about me." "Oh." "Gossiping actually, you should talk to Willow, I'm sure she'd fill you in." "I don't, we haven't, I..." "It's ok; after we've averted the apocalypse do you want to talk about it? It's ok if you don't, I'll be at the magic box anyway." "..." I quickly squeeze her shoulder before drawing my sword, we're almost there now.
It doesn't take long for us to dust the guards, mostly fledglings, that probably mean's that all the tough vampires are inside. A quick look through one of the windows confirms that they aren't ready to start the ceremony yet, while the circle has been drawn, the vampires are still being anointed. The plan is simple, as all our plans are, me and Buffy kill anything that moves while Giles, Tara, and Willow steal the orb of Thesla and the remains of Acathla. The size of the warehouse and the number of vampires limit's our choices about how to enter, in the end there is only one choice. All the vampires look up in surprise as me and Buffy burst through the doors and run straight at the vamps. It doesn't take long for us to be in the thick of things, and I quickly lose track of Buffy and the others as I focus all my attention on not getting killed.
My first sword sweep decapitates two vampires, and I swing my sword underneath my arm, impaling a vampire who ran at me from behind, the wooden imprints on the blade causing him to dust immediately. Swinging my blade round to my left decapitates another vampire, while I duck under the swing of a fifth, a quick kick to the chest knocks him down so that I can concentrate on the two coming at me from either side, grabbing a stake from my pocket I impale both at the same time. Quickly beheading the one I knocked down earlier, I find myself vamp free. Buffy's still fighting about ten, but she doesn't seem to need any help, Giles and Willow have broken off to tackle three that attacked them, leaving Tara with the Orb and the Acathla piece.
That's when I see the vampire striding up behind Tara, he's wearing a modern looking business suit and looks about the same age as me, but something about him just screams old. This is definitely the master vampire, Linus. I quickly throw my sword at him, hoping to finish this quickly, unfortunately he's got the same super quick reflexes that all these old vamps do, and grab's the blade from the air. I'm already running. I've got to get to him before he gets to Tara. The smoke coming of his hand where he's holding the blade of my sword suggests to me that Cordy's had a few charms placed on it, I'm definitely going to have to thank her for that. As I close in on this guy I dive to the floor, picking up my sword from where it had fallen. As I come to my feet I swing for his neck, and stop. I'm mid swing and I can't move. As he turns round to face me I try to call for help, but my immobility seems to extend to every part of me.
"You know a human would be dead by now, their heart unable to able to pump, their lungs unable to inflate." I desperately want to kill this guy now. "But of course you're not human. But you're not a vampire either. Not really. A vampire doesn't defend humans. A vampire doesn't have a soul. So you're nothing, you're scum." Ok, I'd settle for Buffy killing him, or Giles. Right now I'd settle for anything where this guy is dust. "Let's see if we can't solve that." I feel weird, very, very strange. I should be scared, but I'm not. I'm, I'm, happy? Very, very happy. And getting happier. What is this freak doing to me? I'm feeling, what am I feeling? Bliss I think, well I can barely think. Bliss, that means something. Bliss, perfect happiness, this freak knows about Angels curse. He's trying to raise Acathla. He, he, he knows magic. And he's about 100 years old. Shit. I know who this freak is.
...for he has done more damage than even the most foul creatures of the
night. He has interfered with our most sacred practices. He has taken
punishment of the murder of our beloved daughter into his own hands.
He has shown himself to be unfit to be among our kind, so he will be
thrown to the likes of which he allies himself. They shall decide his
fate, for we will have nothing more to do with a creature that would
so disrespect the memory of his betrothed, the daughter of our clan.
I've got to focus. Willow has told me about magic many times, usually trying to get me to participate. It's all about energy, about focus, about direction. I dig down, tapping into those places in my mind that I will not normally venture, the parts of me which are demonic, the parts of me which are primal and animal, I take their power and release it, hoping to break whatever spell is keeping me immobile. I feel my feature change and a loud growl escapes my lips, while I still can't move, Linus' face now shows pain and concentration, I continue to struggle, doing everything I can to be free of this spell. From my left I can hear Tara muttering a spell; my growl obviously got her attention. Suddenly the spell breaks and I collapse to the floor, my limbs feel like Jello though, and I'm forced to watch Linus escape into the sewers as the last sounds of battle ring out around me.
"Well he came from LA, he was trying to raise Acathla, and he tried to get rid of my soul with some sort of happiness spell, so I think it's a safe bet that this guy has some sort vendetta against Angel." I'm not sure why I don't tell them everything I know, but something makes me keep it to myself. "It's probably a good idea to keep Wesley updated, he might go back to LA now that the Acathla things bust." "Or he might extend his vendetta to us." Willow's not normally the one to bring the gloomy point up, but of course she's right. "Look, it's still a while till the sun comes up, why doesn't everyone go get some sleep, I'll phone Wesley and see if he's come up with anything."
"Hey Xanman" I glance up at Buffy; I don't know how long she's been standing there. "Morning, hope I haven't delayed Gile's training schedule too much." "Not at all, I'm training with you today, remember?" I think my expression probably reveals that I hadn't. She glances towards Tara before continuing. "See you in there in a few minutes, ok?" "Ok." I reply as she heads into the back room. I look back to Tara and Willow as I make my way over.
"Hey Wills." She turns and smiles at me, so full of warmth. I'm reminded of the time I was denied Willows smiles, right after the fluke, and I know I need to get those back for Tara. "I think Buffy wanted to speak to you." "Ok, see you latter." I watch her head off towards the back room, and then turn round to face Tara. "Hi." "Hi." She looks at me in surprise from a few seconds before returning to her work. I realise that I can't remember ever saying more than a few non- scooby related words to her. I'm going to have to try a lot harder if I'm going to make up for this. Try to put her at ease, make her laugh, it's something I should have no problem at, right?
"You know when Willow first introduced you to us, and she said you were her friend?" I look to check she's listening, and then continue. "We had a big argument about you. You see I was asking her about you, I asked her if you had a boyfriend. She told me that I wasn't allowed to ask you out. I thought she was ashamed of me. We didn't talk for three days. Obviously I got over it when I eventually found out about you two" "I'm sorry, I.." I cut her off, I can't believe she's apologising for this. "No, you've got nothing to apologise for. I'm just telling you this because, well I realised that I never really made an effort to be your friend when I was alive, I'm just trying to find a way to change that."
She's got a timid smile on her face, her smiles a lot like Willows, there's so much kindness sparkling in her eyes. I can tell that her relationship with Willow is still on her mind though. I reach out and gently touch her arm. "Hey, I know something's going on with you and Willow. I don't know what, but I want you to know that she really does love you. She's just working stuff out." She nod's slightly and I can see tears starting to form in her eyes. I don't really know her well enough, but I pull her into a hug; she doesn't resist and I hold her for a few moments before she pulls away. "Thank you." A pull my best grin. "Your welcome" I pass Willow on my way to the back room, she's looking more downcast than before, and only dimly grins at me as we pass.
I've fought demons of ever size and shape, I've faced off against legendary vampires, I helped defeat a giant demon worm, and I've helped stave off more apocalypses than I care to remember, but I have never fought harder than I am right now.
I duck underneath my attacker's leg, narrowly avoiding a kick to the head that would have sent me flying, and I don't even see the upper cut that lands me on my back. That last hit was so hard that I can't even focus, let alone move, my attacker is standing over me now, staring down at me as I feebly attempt to get up. After a while she extends her arm down to me, helping me back onto my feet.
"Come on, your doing great; just try not to get knocked over so much." "That's great advice Buffy, just great, lot's of help." That earns me an evil stare. "Gile's is the teacher, you can train with him later, just try to go with your instincts." And with that she launches at me again. I'm definitely getting better; I managed to last a whole three minutes last time round. I've seen Buffy fight a lot too, while she's by no means putting everything she's got into the fight, she's not exactly going easy on me either. My train of thought is put on hold as one of her punches gets through, knocking me across the room, and I quickly roll, bringing myself back to my feet before she has time to throw another punch. I take the initiative this time, trying to sweep her legs from under her; she quickly jumps over my leg while trying to give me a kick to the head. While I manage to block that kick while standing up I also throw a punch to her stomach, which she grabs, once again throwing me to my back, I quickly roll before she can follow through.
I'm on my feet in seconds, but she's already swinging at my head again, this time I manage to grasp her arm, twisting it behind her back, I'm about to mime sinking my teeth into her neck when the back of her head collides with my nose, causing me to stagger back. She quickly follows with a kick to the gut that sends me flying into the wall, as I lie on the floor, desperately trying to move, she straddles my chest, pining my arms above my head and holding the ball point pen we've been using as a stake just above my heart.
"See, told you you're doing well, you almost got me that time." "Who say's I haven't." A look of confusion passes over her face; this is the only shot I'm going to have at this. I let my demonic nature come to the surface and feel the extra strength that seems to come with releasing it, then before she can act I flip us over, knocking the pen from her hand and bringing my mouth down to her throat, just enough for her to feel my teeth without drawing blood. I can hear her heart pounding and I let myself feel a twinge of pride for managing to surprise the slayer like that, then I raise my head from her throat and see her slightly flushed face and realise that there might be another reason for the pounding I can hear from her heart. I'm currently pinning her to the floor in such a way that the entire length of my body is pressed firmly against hers, her hands are pressed lightly against my chest, and if anybody saw us right now they would definitely get the wrong impression. Considering what Faith has said a few times about slayers, fighting, and, you know, and especially considering what Buffy herself told me just last night, I'm suddenly feeling very uncomfortable about the situation. In an attempt to lighten the mood I resort to tickling, which result in cries for mercy until she finally manages to throw me off her, then she turns toward me with vengeance in her eyes. "Oh you are so going to pay Xander Harris!"
So this is going to be my first time saving the world since I died, should be fun. We're all walking down to the warehouse now. Buffy and Willow are walking quite a way ahead and are whispering, while I now I shouldn't, I can't help but listen in, especially since they're talking about me. "And he was, you know, on top of you?" "Yeh" "And you liked it?" "Yeh" "But, maybe he didn't notice, I mean, this is Xander. He didn't realise I liked him for like ten years." "But he's a vampire now, they can tell these things." "How?" "I don't know, some vampire sense, they've got really good sight, and smell..." I can't really help myself as I yell out "don't forget really, really good hearing!" they just freeze for a moment before walking on, silently this time. I find Tara's looking at me questioningly. "They were talking about me." "Oh." "Gossiping actually, you should talk to Willow, I'm sure she'd fill you in." "I don't, we haven't, I..." "It's ok; after we've averted the apocalypse do you want to talk about it? It's ok if you don't, I'll be at the magic box anyway." "..." I quickly squeeze her shoulder before drawing my sword, we're almost there now.
It doesn't take long for us to dust the guards, mostly fledglings, that probably mean's that all the tough vampires are inside. A quick look through one of the windows confirms that they aren't ready to start the ceremony yet, while the circle has been drawn, the vampires are still being anointed. The plan is simple, as all our plans are, me and Buffy kill anything that moves while Giles, Tara, and Willow steal the orb of Thesla and the remains of Acathla. The size of the warehouse and the number of vampires limit's our choices about how to enter, in the end there is only one choice. All the vampires look up in surprise as me and Buffy burst through the doors and run straight at the vamps. It doesn't take long for us to be in the thick of things, and I quickly lose track of Buffy and the others as I focus all my attention on not getting killed.
My first sword sweep decapitates two vampires, and I swing my sword underneath my arm, impaling a vampire who ran at me from behind, the wooden imprints on the blade causing him to dust immediately. Swinging my blade round to my left decapitates another vampire, while I duck under the swing of a fifth, a quick kick to the chest knocks him down so that I can concentrate on the two coming at me from either side, grabbing a stake from my pocket I impale both at the same time. Quickly beheading the one I knocked down earlier, I find myself vamp free. Buffy's still fighting about ten, but she doesn't seem to need any help, Giles and Willow have broken off to tackle three that attacked them, leaving Tara with the Orb and the Acathla piece.
That's when I see the vampire striding up behind Tara, he's wearing a modern looking business suit and looks about the same age as me, but something about him just screams old. This is definitely the master vampire, Linus. I quickly throw my sword at him, hoping to finish this quickly, unfortunately he's got the same super quick reflexes that all these old vamps do, and grab's the blade from the air. I'm already running. I've got to get to him before he gets to Tara. The smoke coming of his hand where he's holding the blade of my sword suggests to me that Cordy's had a few charms placed on it, I'm definitely going to have to thank her for that. As I close in on this guy I dive to the floor, picking up my sword from where it had fallen. As I come to my feet I swing for his neck, and stop. I'm mid swing and I can't move. As he turns round to face me I try to call for help, but my immobility seems to extend to every part of me.
"You know a human would be dead by now, their heart unable to able to pump, their lungs unable to inflate." I desperately want to kill this guy now. "But of course you're not human. But you're not a vampire either. Not really. A vampire doesn't defend humans. A vampire doesn't have a soul. So you're nothing, you're scum." Ok, I'd settle for Buffy killing him, or Giles. Right now I'd settle for anything where this guy is dust. "Let's see if we can't solve that." I feel weird, very, very strange. I should be scared, but I'm not. I'm, I'm, happy? Very, very happy. And getting happier. What is this freak doing to me? I'm feeling, what am I feeling? Bliss I think, well I can barely think. Bliss, that means something. Bliss, perfect happiness, this freak knows about Angels curse. He's trying to raise Acathla. He, he, he knows magic. And he's about 100 years old. Shit. I know who this freak is.
...for he has done more damage than even the most foul creatures of the
night. He has interfered with our most sacred practices. He has taken
punishment of the murder of our beloved daughter into his own hands.
He has shown himself to be unfit to be among our kind, so he will be
thrown to the likes of which he allies himself. They shall decide his
fate, for we will have nothing more to do with a creature that would
so disrespect the memory of his betrothed, the daughter of our clan.
I've got to focus. Willow has told me about magic many times, usually trying to get me to participate. It's all about energy, about focus, about direction. I dig down, tapping into those places in my mind that I will not normally venture, the parts of me which are demonic, the parts of me which are primal and animal, I take their power and release it, hoping to break whatever spell is keeping me immobile. I feel my feature change and a loud growl escapes my lips, while I still can't move, Linus' face now shows pain and concentration, I continue to struggle, doing everything I can to be free of this spell. From my left I can hear Tara muttering a spell; my growl obviously got her attention. Suddenly the spell breaks and I collapse to the floor, my limbs feel like Jello though, and I'm forced to watch Linus escape into the sewers as the last sounds of battle ring out around me.
"Well he came from LA, he was trying to raise Acathla, and he tried to get rid of my soul with some sort of happiness spell, so I think it's a safe bet that this guy has some sort vendetta against Angel." I'm not sure why I don't tell them everything I know, but something makes me keep it to myself. "It's probably a good idea to keep Wesley updated, he might go back to LA now that the Acathla things bust." "Or he might extend his vendetta to us." Willow's not normally the one to bring the gloomy point up, but of course she's right. "Look, it's still a while till the sun comes up, why doesn't everyone go get some sleep, I'll phone Wesley and see if he's come up with anything."