A/N: thanks for the reviews and suggestions!!! you guys are AMAZING!!! Keep on reading and you'll find out the answers to your questions!!! :-)
Chapter Eleven: Heat
Buffy paced in her bedroom, her mind swirling with so many thoughts, so many concerns, so many uncertainties. They were going to be facing the biggest battle of their lives a few hours from now. Her years of training was going to be put to the test. This was the Big One.
Suddenly, she heard the sound of someone sitting down loudly – on the roof.
A small smile graced her face, as she figured out who it was. Unlocking her bedroom window, she climbed out of it and up the roof with effortless grace. There, sitting near the edge was Max. She was gazing out into the distance, her dark brown hair billowing behind her courtesy of the light breeze.
"Hey." The X5 greeted her without turning around.
"Hey," Buffy replied easily, flopping down beside her.
For a few seconds, the two of them simply stared at the not-so-beautiful scenery that was Sunnydale in companionable silence.
It was comforting, sitting there, just thinking. Now Buffy knew why Max had such a fondness for high open places like the roof. The stillness was consoling, and it somehow reassured her about her unenthusiastic thoughts of tomorrow's events.
"Did you ever wonder how life would be if you were normal?" Max asked softly.
"Yeah," Buffy replied without hesitation. "If I were normal, so much danger would be gone from my life. Being Chosen was just about the hardest thing that ever happened to me...even until now." She wrapped her arms around her legs, seeking warmth as memories of her first years of being the Slayer came rushing back into her head. "Could you believe that I burned my own school?"
"Not all that hard to believe," Max said with a small laugh. "I torched Manticore myself. The place where I was born...where I lived eight years of my life...it may have been Hell's Kitchen, but nevertheless, it was still my home."
Buffy nodded dismally. "Because of me, my friends' lives are always at risk. And being the Slayer – I've been always drawn to the wrong people. My ex-boyfriend – Angel, a vampire with a soul once turned into the nasty-blood-loving monster called Angelus." Buffy's eyes saddened. "Plunging that sword into his heart had to be the most painful feeling that I had ever felt."
"I know how you feel," Max sympathized, as pain reflected against her brown irises. "My brother Ben – Alec's clone once went on this killing spree. Pulling out people's teeth..."
Buffy cringed. "Amateur dentistry eh?"
Max smiled weakly. "I guess you could call it that. He sorta went psycho. But hey, he's still my brother. And I still loved him. But the only way that he could be saved was either he went back to Manticore or...I killed him myself." A solitary tear slipped down Max's cheek. "I snapped his neck."
The Slayer gulped down the bile that was rising in her throat. She had never realized that she and Max had so much in common. Their lives were almost similar, save for the fact that they lived in totally different worlds.
"Slayers usually don't live past their eighteenth birthdays," Buffy told the dark-haired woman beside her. "And I almost didn't...I died while battling with the Master, an ancient vampire almost impossible to slay. If it wasn't for Xander..." she trailed off, smiling at the thought of one of her bestest friends.
"You died?" Max asked weakly. "I can't believe it...I died too."
Buffy's eyes were wide. Maybe they were twins or something? Maybe they even shared the same fate...or sorta the same fate...so far, all the things that had happened to them before were comparable...strange...very strange...
Before she could share this strange thought to Max, her mobile phone rang. "Excuse me," she said, fumbling for her phone.
"Hello?" She grumbled, annoyed for the interference.
"B?"
It was Faith. Buffy straightened up. "Is something wrong?"
"Nothing much," Faith answered, her voice carrying her usual 'I-don't-really-care-drop-me-into-the-hornet's-nest-what-the-hell' tone that it usually did. "Spike just found this big shiny red scythe sticking out of the stone. He tried pullin' it out, but he couldn't. Said that the Chosen One was the only one capable of pullin' it out."
Buffy frowned. "Well, you're a Chosen One too. Why not just pull it out yourself?"
"Just waitin' for your permission, B."
Buffy smiled. Faith sure had come a long way. "You got it."
"Cool – oh, and by the way. Spike's heading back there – said he needed to tell you sumthin' before the fight with the Big Bad begins. Said it was really important – and that he needed to tell you before anythin' happens to him."
And Faith hung up.
"What'd she call about?" Max asked, curiously.
Buffy was still staring at her phone. "She said Spike wanted to tell me something-- important."
"Awesome!" Jewel exclaimed, her bright blue eyes shining with admiration as Dawn recounted to her about Buffy's many adventures. The young transgenic had found her way into the kitchen, looking for some 'food for thought', and was immediately crowded around by the potentials, bombarding her with a number of questions about being a super soldier, as Max and Alec weren't too keen on telling them about their transgenic-history.
Jewel however, was more than willing to tell them her stories from the past if they trade her with stories of their own. Now, she sat in the kitchen, among the potentials and the Slayer's sister, gulping down a variety of junk foods (food that she had never eaten in her life, as Manticore served them only 'balanced diets', and as TC was short on them), her discussion with Max and Alec regarding the 'war' momentarily forgotten.
"You mean, she died twice?" Jewel shook her head in disbelief. "Amazing."
Dawn nodded somberly. "She saved us all."
Jewel swallowed the rest of her soda, before spluttering it all out. "What is that freakin' smell?" she scrunched up her face, as a sweet, sticky smell floated into the room. Everyone in the kitchen turned to look at her, all sporting puzzled expressions.
"What smell?" Kennedy asked, sniffing the air. "I don't smell anything."
"Me neither," Dawn said shaking her head.
Jewel's eyes narrowed, and suddenly, they widened. "Oh shit," she swore, clapping a hand on her forehead, as she glanced around fervently – searching for something – or rather, someone.
"Where the hell is Max?" She asked, finally figuring out what that scent was. And slowly, she was panicking. Things could get ugly when an X5 female was in heat. Especially if there was another X5 male hanging around.
"What -?" Dawn was about to ask, when a deafening crash sounded in the living room. Everyone instantaneously rushed out of the kitchen, with Jewel in front, her expression panicked. They entered the living room, only to see Max approaching a very astonished bleached-blonde man dressed in a leather duster, with a sultry expression on her face.
Alec was standing on top of the stairs, his face going from furious to confused. Max was inches from the blonde man, and after milliseconds of deciding, the scent of Max's pheromones finally won him out, and he trudged down the steps, one by one, a look of utter fierceness on his handsome face.
Uh-oh. Jewel thought with a grimace. Not good.
Spike stared at Max, in total bewilderment. Was she – seducing him? What the bloody hell is going on here? He tried saying out loud, but found that he couldn't. His lips were clamped shut by pure shock. The Potential slayers had gathered outside the kitchen door, all at loss on what to do. A beautiful raven-haired girl was standing in front of them, and she seemed to be the only one who knew what was going on.
And as for Alec - . He stood on top of the staircase, his hazel-green eyes blazing. Murder was written all over his face, and Spike knew that he was in big trouble. And what he had done to get himself into this kind of mess – he had no idea. He looked at Max, once again, and finally made a decision to push her away. But just before he raised his hands, the black-haired girl yelled: "DON'T TOUCH HER!"
Spike jumped back.
"Jewel, what's going on?" a familiar voice asked. It was Buffy.
"Max is in heat," Jewel bit out through gritted teeth. "I'll explain what that is later. What we need to do now, is to keep all males away from Max and get her into an empty room and lock her in there while someone keeps Alec distracted. "
No one was too keen on keeping Alec 'distracted'.
Spike was immediately ushered down into the basement were the rest of the gang was currently planning, unaware of what was happening above ground.
Jewel sighed and blew out a breath of air. "Fine, I'll do it." And she muttered crossly under her breath. "The last time I did this, I ended up with two broken ribs, a sprained ankle, a fractured jaw, and a bleeding forehead."
And with a deep breath, she launched herself at Alec as he tried to get past her to Max who was being dragged out of the room by Buffy and several other potential slayers as she kicked and screamed.
Alec hit her on the face, while kicking her hard in her midsection. She flew across the room, her head spinning. But nevertheless, she got up and attacked, landing a good hard slap across Alec's face just as Max and the others disappeared up the stairs and into Buffy's bedroom.
Alec was immediately drawn out of his drunken state. "Thank god," Jewel breathed fingering her cheek where a bruise was slowly starting to grow. Hey, it could've been worse. She could've ended up with two broken ribs, a sprained ankle, a fractured jaw, and a bleeding forehead.
"Sorry," Alec apologized sheepishly. "I couldn't help myself."
Jewel waved it away. "No big."
Just one big black-eye.
A/N: How'd you like this chapter? Let me know please...I had fun writing the heat part...hahaha!! The look on Spike's face!!! BWAHAHAHA!!!! :-) Review!