Disclaimer: I own nothing, you understand? Nothing. All lines from Buffy
season six definitely don't belong to me.
CHP 4 Who are we again?
I got into town a little later than I thought I would, sometime around ten that night. I found a dodgy hotel room right outside town and stowed most of my gear and left my car there. According to angel, I wouldn't need a car too badly in this town. I got myself cleaned up from my trip and took off walking toward the closest of sunny-dale's many cemeteries. I stretched and yawned as I was walking and I could feel the stake stuck into my jacket dig into my back, pulled by the almost new leather jacket fresh from the Angel collection; I was still getting used to how it fit me. I made a quick round of the town over the next few hours, getting a feel for the territory and making sure I knew how to get around if I had to. The last time I was here wasn't that long ago, but now I was looking for different things like the magic box and Buffy's house (seemed empty) and a few other hot spots like the bronze. Finally I headed back to the hotel to get some sleep before the big day tomorrow. Tomorrow I would meet the slayer head to head and face to face.
Waking up early has never been one of those things I was good at, thus the lack of my presence in the army. I meant to wake up at about eight, but somehow eight turned into ten thirty and I was still in bed. I looked at the clock and it took me a second to remember how to count before I realized how late I was. I rolled out of bed and into some clothes, grabbing my gun and my backpack before I took off. I dropped the car off at a house of this guy I know from Cleveland, he said it was okay. I ran the rest of the way into town but stopped about a block from the magic box to catch my breath and tried to dry myself off before stepping around the corner just in time to see a redhead, willow I guess, walking with a tall dark brown haired man, probably Xander. I started toward the shop thinking that if Buffy wasn't there then those two would almost definitely know where I could find her. Before I got even halfway there I saw a figure in a winter cap and an old brown suit running across the street. At first I though he was smoking something like a cigar; upon closer examination he was the one smoking, literally. Vampire.
I picked up my pace and made it to the door a few seconds later. Bursting through the door I heard some kind of bell go off over my head and found myself looking into the startled faces of the entire Scoobie gang. Most of them looked back at me with mild disinterest but the blond woman sitting down seemed eager to come talk to me. Giles was the one standing and it was he who spoke to me.
"Go ahead and look around. I'll be with you in a moment." And I was suddenly dismissed from their collective minds as they all turned back to look at him. Something important seemed to be going on here. As I watched, Giles began speaking and sat down next to the eager blond as he did so. He said he was going back to England, to stay indefinitely? I knew I couldn't let him do that, in case we needed him for whatever danger was coming Buffy's way. As the gears in my head started turning to figure out how I could convince him of that without telling him who sent me or why, Buffy interrupted my thoughts with her words.
"I can't do this. I just- I need to" and she was on her way out. I can't let that happen.
"I don't think this is such a good idea." I stepped in front of her and she stopped in surprise. She looked at my face and her eyes widened slightly. I continued, "You do know that he's a vampire, right?" I pointed at the blond man in the brown suit sitting on the glass counter.
"Who, Spike? Don't worry about him. He's okay. You're not looking for him, are you?" Dawn stood up and took a step closer to him as she spoke.
"No, I'm not looking for him. I'm looking for Buffy." I looked down at her as I said her name and she was still looking up at me.
"What do you want?" Her voice was quiet; emotional in a more than slightly pissed off way.
"Something's coming. Something bad. You're in danger."
"God! There's always something. This is too much. I just need to-"She made as if to leave but willow stopped her with her voice.
"Buffy, listen." Buffy stopped and turned around in exasperation. Willow continued, "I know this must be awful for you, and I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for-"Buffy cut her off.
"I'm sorry. Everybody's sorry. I know that you guys are just trying to help, but it's just- it's too much. And- and I can't take it anymore. if you guys- if you guys understood how it felt, how it feels. It's like I'm dying and-"I was all caught up in what she said until she fell over. Without thinking I stepped forward and grabbed her just in time to fall over myself and then with the blackness.
The girl lying on top of me groaned and looked up and around. I was instantly awake as soon as she started moving, but kept still until I could figure out where I was or what I was doing that resulted in a girl I didn't know lying on top of me. I smiled up at her in what I thought was a reassuring manner, until she looked back at me in first confusion and then fear. Slowly I heard the sounds of others in the room waking up and I rolled to my right side to look around the room, but in the dark I couldn't tell how many there were. The girl leaned back and said, "Huh?" and then stood up and took a step toward the center of the room then looked to the right and turned on the lights. Assorted groans and sudden motion met her action as the other occupants of the room burst into wakefulness.
The most interesting was a redheaded girl and a brunette guy lying together on the ground. She jerked back with a sound of sudden surprise and widened eyes. He sat up with a start and a similar noise before looking at her with what I guess he thought was a charming smile as he said, "Hey" like he was smooth. Her response was similar, but much less enthused and more questioning. Another couple sitting on a bench together next to a table were leaning against each other; a middle aged gentleman in glasses and a younger blond woman. There was another girl I could see sitting in a chair by herself. The gentleman said, "Hello?" as he looked up at the blond woman as if for the first time and then there was a shout as a very blond man rolled off the countertop and onto the ground. There was an answering scream from a young lady I hadn't seen before and the blond man jumped to his feet
"Who are you people? Please don't hurt me!" The younger brunette was nervous and scared as she curled up into a fetal position with her knees under her chin.
"Don't worry; its okay. I don't know anyone here either." I got caught up looking at this bombshell I'd woken up with. I couldn't remember who she was or how she'd gotten here. Was I that drunk? Absently, I breathed into my hand; I didn't smell like alcohol. I heard the brunette ask her who she was, but I didn't hear her response when the brown haired guy who was with the red head stood up and started panicking about not knowing where he was or who we were.
"It's not just you." The older guy stood up with the voice of reason. I was on my feet by this time still standing up the short steps from the rest of the group. Realizing that I didn't know who I was either almost made me want to start panicking like that other dude.
"Does anyone remember anything?" The older gentleman again. He seemed to be trying to get a grasp on the situation.
"Nope." Kind of a lost sound from the blond behind the counter. Where did he get that ridiculous brown suit? The older guy made some kind of suggestion about all of us being drunk, but it got shot down by the younger brunette saying she doesn't drink and his own blond girl stating the obvious about a lack of booze and then mentioning Allan font, whoever that is. The brunette guy started panicking, waving his arms around and sounding more than a little unstable. I felt the need to step in before things get out of hand.
"Hey, relax man. Look, no one's hurt, right? And none of us look too super dangerous, so we're probably all safe here. Wherever here is." I looked around for the first time noticing we weren't in any normal kind of a place. The red head started looking around noticing all the weird stuff we had all around us until she hit upon a break-through.
"We're in a magic shop, a real magic shop." The lone brunette stood up as she spoke and started looking around.
"Maybe that's it, maybe something magic happened to us." God, cute and smart; could she get any better? The older guy shrugged off the magic suggestion with some weird British accent and then went on to describe himself and try to generally reassure us. It sounded to my like he was more trying to reassure himself than us. The blond man took this moment to chime in and with a plethora of strange British terms, firmly planted himself into the "Nancy tribe". The two of them further went on to establish themselves as family, father and son; quite a touching moment, really. Then the blond woman next to them chimed in about the very nice engagement ring on her finger.
"Oh great, a tarty step-mom who's half old daddy's age."
"Tarty?" the blond.
"Old?! You little twerp, I'm young enough to still get carded."
"Carded!" the red head was smart. "Drivers licenses!" everyone started diving for their wallets or purses. I checked but I didn't have a wallet. I did have a largish wad of cash though. While Alex was reading his license, I noticed the blond that woke up next to me and the young brunette next to her were both looking a little lost as well. He was followed by willow, the red head; and Tara, the lone brunette. While I was watching them, the blond leaned closer to the brunette and read her name off of her necklace: Dawn. Minor byplay led to Rupert and Randy, the father son team, revealing their identities. Alex and willow started to get a little more comfortable together, before Anya made another discovery. She and Rupert owned this magic shop together. The as of yet nameless blond looked to me questioningly, but I had no answers only empty reassurances. "I don't know. I don't have a wallet either." She must have heard some of the lost boy in my voice because she came up close to me and rubbed my back reassuringly.
"It'll be okay. I don't know who I am either." Dawn offered to name us both, but the blond said that's okay, she can name herself.
"I'll name me... Joan." Dawn made a disgusted noise and Joan took affront. Slightly humorous byplay later the two proclaimed themselves sisters and shared a touching hug.
"You never showed me affection like that." All of us turned to look at Randy. "I'd wager."
"We need to figure out what's going on; we need to get help." I mean we had to do something.
"Well looks like mister anonymous fancies himself the boss." Randy seemed disposed of a bad attitude and a sharp tongue. A guy like him would've been taken care of quickly back when I was in the... I don't remember where I was, but I knew it wouldn't fly for long.
"Just because I don't know who I am is no reason for me not to make sense. Look, we have a kid here and we need to take care of her."
"I am not a kid, I am a teenager and I can take care of myself."
"Relax, babe, I didn't mean anything by it. Besides we all need some kind of help here. None of us knows who we really are. I think a hospital's our best bet."
"Uh Yes! Lets, head out." Rupert backed me at least.
"Anybody got any idea how we can get there?" Joan had a good head for details.
"Dad can drive. He's bound to have some classic mid-life crises number. Something red, shiny... shaped like a penis." Randy did have a mouth on him, didn't he. Joan grabbed my arm and looked up at me with those beautiful eyes of hers as she asked, "Do you want me to name you too?" How could I resist those eyes?
"Humm-umma ama" God, what was I saying!? I shook my head and tried again. "I mean yes, I think I would like that a lot." Her beautiful smile blossomed as she pursed her lips in thought.
"I think I'll call you... Michael. Yes, that suits you." I couldn't help but grin at how happy it made her to name me.
"Thank you. I needed that." Without thinking about it I hugged her and we moved toward the door as everyone else bunched up behind us. Joan reached out and opened the door. She slammed it again just as quickly. Outside were two pointy teethed thugs with some kind of face deformity. What the hell was going on? I threw the lock on the door quickly and moved Joan and the others into a circle away from the window.
"Get down over here." Everyone started talking almost at once. Randy did have a valid statement though. Vampires, I heard him say. Well we were in a magic shop, and something inexplicable was happening to all of us. What if vampires and magic and all that stuff really were real? How are we supposed to fight vampires? Remember when I told you willow was smart, "Doors. We need to check for other doors and then make sure they're locked and then put large things in front of them." Alex and willow went off to check that while Joan was having an epiphany.
"Monsters are real! Did we know this?" God she was cute when she didn't know what was going on. I got the idea that she was cute most of the time. Rupert had an idea of his own: he wanted to stay and fight them instead of going to the hospital, using things in the shop. The vampires throughout our whole conversation had been beating on the door and now the one at the window yelled through it that he wanted spike. What the hell was spike? Was that one of us? Randy seemed to know something and ran into the next room.
"I'm cold" Uh-oh that's my cue.
"C'mon babe, here take this." I took off my all leather jacket and wrapped it around her.
"Aww, you're sweet. I knew there had to be a good reason I woke up next to you." She kissed my cheek with a grin and snuggled close. I could get used to this. I hoped I already was used to this. Then Randy came back with a handful of wooden stakes.
"Here, let's give them these." He was praised by his father for good thinking.
"But wait, what are they going to do with them?" Dawn seemed a little worried. Then from the vampire outside, "Slayer, come out and play."
"Slayer, that's just what they said before." A realization and shock dawn over Tara's troubled face. "They're gonna use these spikes to-"
"Slay someone?! A female someone! Who do those jerks think they are?" Joan seemed outraged and confused.
"Blood suckers; they kill by sucking blood. Take it easy Joan." Anya was just full of helpful advice.
"No one is slaying anybody. I won't let them hurt you." This last was mainly to Joan and the look in her eyes said she knew it and believed I meant it, but didn't think it was really worth too much. I wondered what could have made her feel like that. Willow and Alex came around the corner to tell us about the trapdoor in the basement and I sprung at the chance. If there was a way to get out with no losses, and this wasn't our fight, let's do it.
"Let's go while we've still got a shot. We need our memories." The group looked at me for half a second before moving as a group toward the exit toward potential freedom. Suddenly a vampire saw us moving and crashed through the side window another kicked through the door. The group moved first away from the first vampire and then screaming scattered away from the second. Alex hit his knees and began to pray in as many ways as he could think of. Joan grabbed a hold of me and her sister and moved us over toward the counter. The rest of the group gathered around holding each other as the vampires came closer to us. The first grabbed randy and put him back up against the wall of books as he told Randy that he owed them.
"Fine" Randy pulled the stakes out of his coat and threw them on the ground. "Take your damn spikes!" He tried to walk away, but the vampire laughed and pushed him back up against the wall.
"Don't be stupid." That was all I heard he said, as the other vampire got closer and tried to drag Joan away from me.
"Get off her you son of a –"I pulled back on my jacket that she was wearing and another spike fell out of it, this one's handle wrapped in leather strips. I pulled back and with an upper cut I sent the vampire flying a few feet back before I picked up the stake and yelled out, "You will not touch her!" I stabbed him with the stake and he exploded! The other vampire wigged out and tried to get away from me, but I grabbed his arm and spun him back around into my stake. "Don't touch my friends either, you sack of –"I looked around startled to realize what I was about to say. "-trash." I finished lamely as he collapsed into a pile of dust. The whole group was standing there stunned at what had just happened.
"Whoa, what did you just do?" I think I was getting used to Dawn being nervous most of the time.
"I don't know; wasn't it cool?" I was amazed as well, but this was proof that we were facing vampires. I mean, regular people don't explode like that when you stab them, do they? I didn't know but something told me I used to. I realized the door was still wide open and dropped the stake to move forward and slam it shut before starting to move the closest book-case up against it. Joan was the only one to come over and help me move it but it seemed really light to me. Everyone was still more or less standing around as I turned back around to face them.
"I think I know why Michael's the boss." Joan was getting her supportive on, "Did you see how that guy exploded? You're like a superhero or something." It's good to be loved. I was looking around and trying to weigh our options again as Alex fainted. We dragged him over to the counter and propped him up until he came around and I asked willow if she'd been through that trapdoor in the basement.
"No, it was all big, dark, and a little with the scary. Ooh, but there was a lock on it with a key so we made sure it was locked before we came back." She was leaning over Alex and softly stroking his face while looking at Tara for support and I noticed that Tara was standing against the wall hugging herself and looking fondly at them both. I made sure the book case was secure and dropped down the metal brace for the window. Then I got Joan to help me move the big table up against the broken window while randy and Rupert put something against the back door. We all gathered back up in front of the counter and Rupert turned to me to ask, "What do you think about taking the trapdoor exit?"
"Actually, I think it might be too dangerous. Whoever is telling these guys to come after us has this place pretty staked out right now, and he seems too together to just forget that we have another exit in here. Plus there was a lock on it, which brings to reason that other people besides us know of it and could have tried to use it before." I took a quick turn around the room; all eyes were on me and they respected what I was saying. Something about this felt familiar. I liked it, but moving on, "I think our best bet is going to be for us to stay here for right now and defend the strong point. They have to come in one at a time and they can't all attack us at once. We're going to be just fine as long as we keep our cool and relax about this while we can." Everyone, more or less, was nodding along in agreement to what I had to say as Joan stepped in.
"I think Michael is right. Lets settle in here for a bit and you never know but our memories could just come back with a little time." She grabbed my arm as if it was the most natural thing in the world for her to be standing at my side. I walked back over and picked up my stake to tuck it in my back pocket as I looked up the stairs.
"I wonder if there are any windows up there." Joan's eyes got big and a mischievous grin sprung its way onto her face as she got her own idea from my idea.
"I don't know, but I think we'd better go check." She said. Following as far as our interlocked fingers would allow us, I was very aware of the other's eyes on us as we made our way up the staircase to the loft of bookshelves above. Once there she backed into the shadows and pulled me close. Our lips met in the first of a wild array of increasingly heated kisses. I had to break our lock for a second as I leaned back to bring her whole face into view gasping for air.
"Should we be doing this? We don't really know who we are. I mean, we could be enemies or something." Her mischievous smile returned in full force as she spun me around and had me up against the wall.
"It is kind of exciting, isn't it? Of course we also don't know when the last time I thanked you for saving my life was, now do we?" If that wasn't enough to shut me up she made sure my mouth was otherwise occupied. She pressed herself up against me and then she was up in my arms with her legs wrapped around me and her lips took on more urgency as her hips started moving more rapidly and she started halfway moaning against me. My hands roamed her tight body as her fingers dug into my back and her mouth went from my mouth to my neck where she bit down as she shook against me. I don't know what it was about that bite, but the sharp pain sent a shudder of pleasure through my body. Slowly she released her teeth and looked first at my eyes and then down at where our bodies still touched. I reluctantly put her down, but didn't let go of her as I followed her gaze and then looked back up at her face and brought her close in to me again so I could lick a bit of my own blood off of her upper lip. Her eyes shining, she responded to my mouth again quickly, this time reaching with her hand sliding down my chest to my belt and –
The front door burst inward as a HUGE vampire stepped in followed quickly by three of his fellow cohorts and then two more pushed through the remains of the door behind them. I didn't even get the chance to look at Joan as I leapt over the rail and did a slow summersault before I landed down on one knee. The vamp swung over my head as I stepped under and around to kick him in the chest and then twisted his arm forward to flip him onto his back. I wrestled with him quite a bit, but noticed randy and Rupert around the edges helping out. Finally, as I stabbed him with the stake from my back pocket and he exploded I was hit over the head with a chair wielded by a vampire. Vaguely I saw randy jump over my head and kick the vampire that hit me. I was up on my feet shortly, only slightly dizzy, and rejoined the fray. Suddenly I looked over at randy as he threw a vamp in my direction and realized that his face was the same as theirs. Randy was a vampire! Next time he got close enough to me I punched him square in the face and knocked him backward to slide along the floor and hit his head against the counter, out cold.
"Hey what'd you do that for?!" I was a little too busy to answer Alex as I was dealing with all the vampires at once. He didn't wait for a response as he tried to help out Rupert and managed to get him out of the way and come back into the fight. Then there was another figure in the fray knocking the vampires back. I swung my gaze in that direction and took a hit on the jaw as I froze distracted by the figure wearing my leather jacket. She moved like I'd never seen anyone move before. Okay, so I couldn't remember anything before today, but she was still amazing. We started working as a team and it wasn't long before there was only one vampire left, but he'd gotten past the two of us and knocked Alex down. With a shout willow lunged forward and pushed against the vamp with both hands. Surprised he flared out with one hand that caught on the pocket in her shirt and something fell out. By this time I'd finally reached the vamp and pulled him back and away from them right into Joan's stake.
"Wow. Is it over?" Alex got up slowly and didn't notice where he put his feet as he crushed the black crystal that'd fallen out of Willow's shirt. Memories came flooding back in a sudden wave of near nausea. I looked at Joan, no Buffy, looking for her reaction to me among other things. She shook her head slightly as she looked around remembering their fight from earlier. She refused to look at me except in a cryptically puzzled glance. She was the first to speak before the rest of the group had fully composed themselves. Unfortunately it wasn't to me.
"Spike, go deal with that shark thing; right now!" He seemed about to protest, but shut his mouth at her head shake and headed for the front door.
"Is everyone alright?" Giles seemed slightly uncomfortable and I had to stop myself from wondering what he and Anya had done while Buffy and I had been upstairs and they thought they were engaged. Everyone checked themselves. I ran my hand to the back of my head where I got hit by the chair, but I wasn't bleeding too much so I figured I'd probably live for another day. I looked over to see Willow sitting by herself while Tara markedly ignored the pleading looks Willow was sending in her direction. Anya was making a big show of being together and happy with Xander, and Giles, after making sure all had answered in the affirmative, was taking an extra long time cleaning his glasses. After he was done, he finally turned to me and cleared his throat before speaking.
"I believe you were saying something about impending danger...?"
CHP 4 Who are we again?
I got into town a little later than I thought I would, sometime around ten that night. I found a dodgy hotel room right outside town and stowed most of my gear and left my car there. According to angel, I wouldn't need a car too badly in this town. I got myself cleaned up from my trip and took off walking toward the closest of sunny-dale's many cemeteries. I stretched and yawned as I was walking and I could feel the stake stuck into my jacket dig into my back, pulled by the almost new leather jacket fresh from the Angel collection; I was still getting used to how it fit me. I made a quick round of the town over the next few hours, getting a feel for the territory and making sure I knew how to get around if I had to. The last time I was here wasn't that long ago, but now I was looking for different things like the magic box and Buffy's house (seemed empty) and a few other hot spots like the bronze. Finally I headed back to the hotel to get some sleep before the big day tomorrow. Tomorrow I would meet the slayer head to head and face to face.
Waking up early has never been one of those things I was good at, thus the lack of my presence in the army. I meant to wake up at about eight, but somehow eight turned into ten thirty and I was still in bed. I looked at the clock and it took me a second to remember how to count before I realized how late I was. I rolled out of bed and into some clothes, grabbing my gun and my backpack before I took off. I dropped the car off at a house of this guy I know from Cleveland, he said it was okay. I ran the rest of the way into town but stopped about a block from the magic box to catch my breath and tried to dry myself off before stepping around the corner just in time to see a redhead, willow I guess, walking with a tall dark brown haired man, probably Xander. I started toward the shop thinking that if Buffy wasn't there then those two would almost definitely know where I could find her. Before I got even halfway there I saw a figure in a winter cap and an old brown suit running across the street. At first I though he was smoking something like a cigar; upon closer examination he was the one smoking, literally. Vampire.
I picked up my pace and made it to the door a few seconds later. Bursting through the door I heard some kind of bell go off over my head and found myself looking into the startled faces of the entire Scoobie gang. Most of them looked back at me with mild disinterest but the blond woman sitting down seemed eager to come talk to me. Giles was the one standing and it was he who spoke to me.
"Go ahead and look around. I'll be with you in a moment." And I was suddenly dismissed from their collective minds as they all turned back to look at him. Something important seemed to be going on here. As I watched, Giles began speaking and sat down next to the eager blond as he did so. He said he was going back to England, to stay indefinitely? I knew I couldn't let him do that, in case we needed him for whatever danger was coming Buffy's way. As the gears in my head started turning to figure out how I could convince him of that without telling him who sent me or why, Buffy interrupted my thoughts with her words.
"I can't do this. I just- I need to" and she was on her way out. I can't let that happen.
"I don't think this is such a good idea." I stepped in front of her and she stopped in surprise. She looked at my face and her eyes widened slightly. I continued, "You do know that he's a vampire, right?" I pointed at the blond man in the brown suit sitting on the glass counter.
"Who, Spike? Don't worry about him. He's okay. You're not looking for him, are you?" Dawn stood up and took a step closer to him as she spoke.
"No, I'm not looking for him. I'm looking for Buffy." I looked down at her as I said her name and she was still looking up at me.
"What do you want?" Her voice was quiet; emotional in a more than slightly pissed off way.
"Something's coming. Something bad. You're in danger."
"God! There's always something. This is too much. I just need to-"She made as if to leave but willow stopped her with her voice.
"Buffy, listen." Buffy stopped and turned around in exasperation. Willow continued, "I know this must be awful for you, and I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for-"Buffy cut her off.
"I'm sorry. Everybody's sorry. I know that you guys are just trying to help, but it's just- it's too much. And- and I can't take it anymore. if you guys- if you guys understood how it felt, how it feels. It's like I'm dying and-"I was all caught up in what she said until she fell over. Without thinking I stepped forward and grabbed her just in time to fall over myself and then with the blackness.
The girl lying on top of me groaned and looked up and around. I was instantly awake as soon as she started moving, but kept still until I could figure out where I was or what I was doing that resulted in a girl I didn't know lying on top of me. I smiled up at her in what I thought was a reassuring manner, until she looked back at me in first confusion and then fear. Slowly I heard the sounds of others in the room waking up and I rolled to my right side to look around the room, but in the dark I couldn't tell how many there were. The girl leaned back and said, "Huh?" and then stood up and took a step toward the center of the room then looked to the right and turned on the lights. Assorted groans and sudden motion met her action as the other occupants of the room burst into wakefulness.
The most interesting was a redheaded girl and a brunette guy lying together on the ground. She jerked back with a sound of sudden surprise and widened eyes. He sat up with a start and a similar noise before looking at her with what I guess he thought was a charming smile as he said, "Hey" like he was smooth. Her response was similar, but much less enthused and more questioning. Another couple sitting on a bench together next to a table were leaning against each other; a middle aged gentleman in glasses and a younger blond woman. There was another girl I could see sitting in a chair by herself. The gentleman said, "Hello?" as he looked up at the blond woman as if for the first time and then there was a shout as a very blond man rolled off the countertop and onto the ground. There was an answering scream from a young lady I hadn't seen before and the blond man jumped to his feet
"Who are you people? Please don't hurt me!" The younger brunette was nervous and scared as she curled up into a fetal position with her knees under her chin.
"Don't worry; its okay. I don't know anyone here either." I got caught up looking at this bombshell I'd woken up with. I couldn't remember who she was or how she'd gotten here. Was I that drunk? Absently, I breathed into my hand; I didn't smell like alcohol. I heard the brunette ask her who she was, but I didn't hear her response when the brown haired guy who was with the red head stood up and started panicking about not knowing where he was or who we were.
"It's not just you." The older guy stood up with the voice of reason. I was on my feet by this time still standing up the short steps from the rest of the group. Realizing that I didn't know who I was either almost made me want to start panicking like that other dude.
"Does anyone remember anything?" The older gentleman again. He seemed to be trying to get a grasp on the situation.
"Nope." Kind of a lost sound from the blond behind the counter. Where did he get that ridiculous brown suit? The older guy made some kind of suggestion about all of us being drunk, but it got shot down by the younger brunette saying she doesn't drink and his own blond girl stating the obvious about a lack of booze and then mentioning Allan font, whoever that is. The brunette guy started panicking, waving his arms around and sounding more than a little unstable. I felt the need to step in before things get out of hand.
"Hey, relax man. Look, no one's hurt, right? And none of us look too super dangerous, so we're probably all safe here. Wherever here is." I looked around for the first time noticing we weren't in any normal kind of a place. The red head started looking around noticing all the weird stuff we had all around us until she hit upon a break-through.
"We're in a magic shop, a real magic shop." The lone brunette stood up as she spoke and started looking around.
"Maybe that's it, maybe something magic happened to us." God, cute and smart; could she get any better? The older guy shrugged off the magic suggestion with some weird British accent and then went on to describe himself and try to generally reassure us. It sounded to my like he was more trying to reassure himself than us. The blond man took this moment to chime in and with a plethora of strange British terms, firmly planted himself into the "Nancy tribe". The two of them further went on to establish themselves as family, father and son; quite a touching moment, really. Then the blond woman next to them chimed in about the very nice engagement ring on her finger.
"Oh great, a tarty step-mom who's half old daddy's age."
"Tarty?" the blond.
"Old?! You little twerp, I'm young enough to still get carded."
"Carded!" the red head was smart. "Drivers licenses!" everyone started diving for their wallets or purses. I checked but I didn't have a wallet. I did have a largish wad of cash though. While Alex was reading his license, I noticed the blond that woke up next to me and the young brunette next to her were both looking a little lost as well. He was followed by willow, the red head; and Tara, the lone brunette. While I was watching them, the blond leaned closer to the brunette and read her name off of her necklace: Dawn. Minor byplay led to Rupert and Randy, the father son team, revealing their identities. Alex and willow started to get a little more comfortable together, before Anya made another discovery. She and Rupert owned this magic shop together. The as of yet nameless blond looked to me questioningly, but I had no answers only empty reassurances. "I don't know. I don't have a wallet either." She must have heard some of the lost boy in my voice because she came up close to me and rubbed my back reassuringly.
"It'll be okay. I don't know who I am either." Dawn offered to name us both, but the blond said that's okay, she can name herself.
"I'll name me... Joan." Dawn made a disgusted noise and Joan took affront. Slightly humorous byplay later the two proclaimed themselves sisters and shared a touching hug.
"You never showed me affection like that." All of us turned to look at Randy. "I'd wager."
"We need to figure out what's going on; we need to get help." I mean we had to do something.
"Well looks like mister anonymous fancies himself the boss." Randy seemed disposed of a bad attitude and a sharp tongue. A guy like him would've been taken care of quickly back when I was in the... I don't remember where I was, but I knew it wouldn't fly for long.
"Just because I don't know who I am is no reason for me not to make sense. Look, we have a kid here and we need to take care of her."
"I am not a kid, I am a teenager and I can take care of myself."
"Relax, babe, I didn't mean anything by it. Besides we all need some kind of help here. None of us knows who we really are. I think a hospital's our best bet."
"Uh Yes! Lets, head out." Rupert backed me at least.
"Anybody got any idea how we can get there?" Joan had a good head for details.
"Dad can drive. He's bound to have some classic mid-life crises number. Something red, shiny... shaped like a penis." Randy did have a mouth on him, didn't he. Joan grabbed my arm and looked up at me with those beautiful eyes of hers as she asked, "Do you want me to name you too?" How could I resist those eyes?
"Humm-umma ama" God, what was I saying!? I shook my head and tried again. "I mean yes, I think I would like that a lot." Her beautiful smile blossomed as she pursed her lips in thought.
"I think I'll call you... Michael. Yes, that suits you." I couldn't help but grin at how happy it made her to name me.
"Thank you. I needed that." Without thinking about it I hugged her and we moved toward the door as everyone else bunched up behind us. Joan reached out and opened the door. She slammed it again just as quickly. Outside were two pointy teethed thugs with some kind of face deformity. What the hell was going on? I threw the lock on the door quickly and moved Joan and the others into a circle away from the window.
"Get down over here." Everyone started talking almost at once. Randy did have a valid statement though. Vampires, I heard him say. Well we were in a magic shop, and something inexplicable was happening to all of us. What if vampires and magic and all that stuff really were real? How are we supposed to fight vampires? Remember when I told you willow was smart, "Doors. We need to check for other doors and then make sure they're locked and then put large things in front of them." Alex and willow went off to check that while Joan was having an epiphany.
"Monsters are real! Did we know this?" God she was cute when she didn't know what was going on. I got the idea that she was cute most of the time. Rupert had an idea of his own: he wanted to stay and fight them instead of going to the hospital, using things in the shop. The vampires throughout our whole conversation had been beating on the door and now the one at the window yelled through it that he wanted spike. What the hell was spike? Was that one of us? Randy seemed to know something and ran into the next room.
"I'm cold" Uh-oh that's my cue.
"C'mon babe, here take this." I took off my all leather jacket and wrapped it around her.
"Aww, you're sweet. I knew there had to be a good reason I woke up next to you." She kissed my cheek with a grin and snuggled close. I could get used to this. I hoped I already was used to this. Then Randy came back with a handful of wooden stakes.
"Here, let's give them these." He was praised by his father for good thinking.
"But wait, what are they going to do with them?" Dawn seemed a little worried. Then from the vampire outside, "Slayer, come out and play."
"Slayer, that's just what they said before." A realization and shock dawn over Tara's troubled face. "They're gonna use these spikes to-"
"Slay someone?! A female someone! Who do those jerks think they are?" Joan seemed outraged and confused.
"Blood suckers; they kill by sucking blood. Take it easy Joan." Anya was just full of helpful advice.
"No one is slaying anybody. I won't let them hurt you." This last was mainly to Joan and the look in her eyes said she knew it and believed I meant it, but didn't think it was really worth too much. I wondered what could have made her feel like that. Willow and Alex came around the corner to tell us about the trapdoor in the basement and I sprung at the chance. If there was a way to get out with no losses, and this wasn't our fight, let's do it.
"Let's go while we've still got a shot. We need our memories." The group looked at me for half a second before moving as a group toward the exit toward potential freedom. Suddenly a vampire saw us moving and crashed through the side window another kicked through the door. The group moved first away from the first vampire and then screaming scattered away from the second. Alex hit his knees and began to pray in as many ways as he could think of. Joan grabbed a hold of me and her sister and moved us over toward the counter. The rest of the group gathered around holding each other as the vampires came closer to us. The first grabbed randy and put him back up against the wall of books as he told Randy that he owed them.
"Fine" Randy pulled the stakes out of his coat and threw them on the ground. "Take your damn spikes!" He tried to walk away, but the vampire laughed and pushed him back up against the wall.
"Don't be stupid." That was all I heard he said, as the other vampire got closer and tried to drag Joan away from me.
"Get off her you son of a –"I pulled back on my jacket that she was wearing and another spike fell out of it, this one's handle wrapped in leather strips. I pulled back and with an upper cut I sent the vampire flying a few feet back before I picked up the stake and yelled out, "You will not touch her!" I stabbed him with the stake and he exploded! The other vampire wigged out and tried to get away from me, but I grabbed his arm and spun him back around into my stake. "Don't touch my friends either, you sack of –"I looked around startled to realize what I was about to say. "-trash." I finished lamely as he collapsed into a pile of dust. The whole group was standing there stunned at what had just happened.
"Whoa, what did you just do?" I think I was getting used to Dawn being nervous most of the time.
"I don't know; wasn't it cool?" I was amazed as well, but this was proof that we were facing vampires. I mean, regular people don't explode like that when you stab them, do they? I didn't know but something told me I used to. I realized the door was still wide open and dropped the stake to move forward and slam it shut before starting to move the closest book-case up against it. Joan was the only one to come over and help me move it but it seemed really light to me. Everyone was still more or less standing around as I turned back around to face them.
"I think I know why Michael's the boss." Joan was getting her supportive on, "Did you see how that guy exploded? You're like a superhero or something." It's good to be loved. I was looking around and trying to weigh our options again as Alex fainted. We dragged him over to the counter and propped him up until he came around and I asked willow if she'd been through that trapdoor in the basement.
"No, it was all big, dark, and a little with the scary. Ooh, but there was a lock on it with a key so we made sure it was locked before we came back." She was leaning over Alex and softly stroking his face while looking at Tara for support and I noticed that Tara was standing against the wall hugging herself and looking fondly at them both. I made sure the book case was secure and dropped down the metal brace for the window. Then I got Joan to help me move the big table up against the broken window while randy and Rupert put something against the back door. We all gathered back up in front of the counter and Rupert turned to me to ask, "What do you think about taking the trapdoor exit?"
"Actually, I think it might be too dangerous. Whoever is telling these guys to come after us has this place pretty staked out right now, and he seems too together to just forget that we have another exit in here. Plus there was a lock on it, which brings to reason that other people besides us know of it and could have tried to use it before." I took a quick turn around the room; all eyes were on me and they respected what I was saying. Something about this felt familiar. I liked it, but moving on, "I think our best bet is going to be for us to stay here for right now and defend the strong point. They have to come in one at a time and they can't all attack us at once. We're going to be just fine as long as we keep our cool and relax about this while we can." Everyone, more or less, was nodding along in agreement to what I had to say as Joan stepped in.
"I think Michael is right. Lets settle in here for a bit and you never know but our memories could just come back with a little time." She grabbed my arm as if it was the most natural thing in the world for her to be standing at my side. I walked back over and picked up my stake to tuck it in my back pocket as I looked up the stairs.
"I wonder if there are any windows up there." Joan's eyes got big and a mischievous grin sprung its way onto her face as she got her own idea from my idea.
"I don't know, but I think we'd better go check." She said. Following as far as our interlocked fingers would allow us, I was very aware of the other's eyes on us as we made our way up the staircase to the loft of bookshelves above. Once there she backed into the shadows and pulled me close. Our lips met in the first of a wild array of increasingly heated kisses. I had to break our lock for a second as I leaned back to bring her whole face into view gasping for air.
"Should we be doing this? We don't really know who we are. I mean, we could be enemies or something." Her mischievous smile returned in full force as she spun me around and had me up against the wall.
"It is kind of exciting, isn't it? Of course we also don't know when the last time I thanked you for saving my life was, now do we?" If that wasn't enough to shut me up she made sure my mouth was otherwise occupied. She pressed herself up against me and then she was up in my arms with her legs wrapped around me and her lips took on more urgency as her hips started moving more rapidly and she started halfway moaning against me. My hands roamed her tight body as her fingers dug into my back and her mouth went from my mouth to my neck where she bit down as she shook against me. I don't know what it was about that bite, but the sharp pain sent a shudder of pleasure through my body. Slowly she released her teeth and looked first at my eyes and then down at where our bodies still touched. I reluctantly put her down, but didn't let go of her as I followed her gaze and then looked back up at her face and brought her close in to me again so I could lick a bit of my own blood off of her upper lip. Her eyes shining, she responded to my mouth again quickly, this time reaching with her hand sliding down my chest to my belt and –
The front door burst inward as a HUGE vampire stepped in followed quickly by three of his fellow cohorts and then two more pushed through the remains of the door behind them. I didn't even get the chance to look at Joan as I leapt over the rail and did a slow summersault before I landed down on one knee. The vamp swung over my head as I stepped under and around to kick him in the chest and then twisted his arm forward to flip him onto his back. I wrestled with him quite a bit, but noticed randy and Rupert around the edges helping out. Finally, as I stabbed him with the stake from my back pocket and he exploded I was hit over the head with a chair wielded by a vampire. Vaguely I saw randy jump over my head and kick the vampire that hit me. I was up on my feet shortly, only slightly dizzy, and rejoined the fray. Suddenly I looked over at randy as he threw a vamp in my direction and realized that his face was the same as theirs. Randy was a vampire! Next time he got close enough to me I punched him square in the face and knocked him backward to slide along the floor and hit his head against the counter, out cold.
"Hey what'd you do that for?!" I was a little too busy to answer Alex as I was dealing with all the vampires at once. He didn't wait for a response as he tried to help out Rupert and managed to get him out of the way and come back into the fight. Then there was another figure in the fray knocking the vampires back. I swung my gaze in that direction and took a hit on the jaw as I froze distracted by the figure wearing my leather jacket. She moved like I'd never seen anyone move before. Okay, so I couldn't remember anything before today, but she was still amazing. We started working as a team and it wasn't long before there was only one vampire left, but he'd gotten past the two of us and knocked Alex down. With a shout willow lunged forward and pushed against the vamp with both hands. Surprised he flared out with one hand that caught on the pocket in her shirt and something fell out. By this time I'd finally reached the vamp and pulled him back and away from them right into Joan's stake.
"Wow. Is it over?" Alex got up slowly and didn't notice where he put his feet as he crushed the black crystal that'd fallen out of Willow's shirt. Memories came flooding back in a sudden wave of near nausea. I looked at Joan, no Buffy, looking for her reaction to me among other things. She shook her head slightly as she looked around remembering their fight from earlier. She refused to look at me except in a cryptically puzzled glance. She was the first to speak before the rest of the group had fully composed themselves. Unfortunately it wasn't to me.
"Spike, go deal with that shark thing; right now!" He seemed about to protest, but shut his mouth at her head shake and headed for the front door.
"Is everyone alright?" Giles seemed slightly uncomfortable and I had to stop myself from wondering what he and Anya had done while Buffy and I had been upstairs and they thought they were engaged. Everyone checked themselves. I ran my hand to the back of my head where I got hit by the chair, but I wasn't bleeding too much so I figured I'd probably live for another day. I looked over to see Willow sitting by herself while Tara markedly ignored the pleading looks Willow was sending in her direction. Anya was making a big show of being together and happy with Xander, and Giles, after making sure all had answered in the affirmative, was taking an extra long time cleaning his glasses. After he was done, he finally turned to me and cleared his throat before speaking.
"I believe you were saying something about impending danger...?"