Part Two: A Few Small Errands
Buffy stood stark naked, in front of her closet, looking for something to wear.
After a short child to eat, Buffy had made her way home and taken a shower to wash away all the grime and blood from the boardinghouse. Now, she just had a few things to do, and she could start the awesome mayhem she had planned. She just needed the right outfit.
"Animal prints? Oh, Buffy, Buffy, Buffy...what were you thinking!" She tossed the leopard skin jacket to the floor with a "humph!"
She pulled out a dress. "Pale yellow? Below the knee? Sheesh, note to soulless self—Laura Ashley is not for big girls!" The dress joined the pile of rejected clothes.
"No—not bad, but definitely not good—my fingers burn from touching it..." Buffy drew back from the closet and folded her arms with a sigh. "I'm gonna have to go for the big guns." Reaching into the far back of the closet, Buffy found the perfect thing.
The dress she had worn two years ago on her date with that guy, Owen. It was a sort of golden-brown sleeveless dress, loose and very short. "Now this is cute," she held it up in front of her. "Not sure I still have the body for it, or the hair color...but it is nice, a return to innocence, yet...a slutty innocence." Buffy pulled the dress on. "It'll totally work until I steal some new clothes." She slipped on a pair of shoes and was out the door.
Once she was outside she stopped for a second. "Now, should I burn the house down now, or later?" She shrugged and continued walking. Angelus would know the best thing to do.
Buffy had expected the library to be empty. After all, Giles was out cold and the Scoobs were all at home. What she hadn't counted on was Quentin Travers still hanging around.
"Ah, Miss Summers, I see you have returned, once more the victor."
"Well, I have returned," she quipped with a wicked grin. As Quentin talked, Buffy wandered around the room.
"Well. As Mr. Giles has told you, this evening you were part of a test, the Cruciamentum, a time honored tradition in the Watcher's Council. You have returned, unscathed, from your battle with the vampire foe, and are to be commended." He held out his hand to Buffy, who was standing close to him. She had been looking elsewhere, but her eyes now focused hungrily on Quentin.
"Actually, that's where you're wrong," she told him, turning her head away as he let his hand drop. Buffy snapped her head back to Quentin, her faced morphed into her game face—her eyes were now yellow, her face contorted, making her forehead bump and ridged. "I kinda died, thanks to your Council." Buffy lunged, grabbing him towards her and biting his neck. His blood spilt into her throat, and she could feel the demon howling in ecstasy, in the freedom and power of taking a life, and the pure pleasure gotten from the taste of it.
She let him drop while he was on the edge of life. "Now," she began, "I could use these last few minutes of your pathetic life to bore you with a serious speech about how I'm going to rain down the horror, but hey, that's the old Buffy! The new Buffy wants to have fun, you know?" She walked away into Giles's office, leaving Quentin gasping and wide-eyed on the floor, blood trickling out of the punctures.
"Let's see, Orb of Thesulah, check..." Buffy picked up the glass ball sitting on Giles's desk, "Now just need to find that pesky spell..." She ripped open a few drawers, tipped over a bookcase, looked through the filing cabinet until she found the floppy disk and printout of the re-insoulment curse.
Buffy left the office to find Quentin had died. "Hey, you died on me—that's just so mean!" Buffy threw down the Orb and watched it smash to pieces. "Cool!" She snapped the floppy disk in two and then, finding a matchbook in Quentin's jacket, set the printout on fire. While she watched the paper smoke and curl on the library floor, her legs crossed Indian style she said aloud, "This feels good, like a karmic unburdening, or...something."
Buffy looked up at the clock. Four fifteen in the morning—that was just enough time to lose Angel's soul.
A/N: My opinions on Buffy's clothing are my own. And I really loved that dress from Never Kill a Boy on the First Date. Also, to make things clear, her speech to Joyce last chapter were the remnants of old Buffy. From here on, the new Buffy is sex and quips. And maybe some pouting.