Summary: Certain books have found their way to Sunnydale, pre-Buffy.
Disclaimer: I dun' own nuttin'!
Feedback, it makes me write faster. (You know you want to do the feedback thing.)
* * *
The next night, just as Xander had sat down to start cataloging his new acquisitions, his dad thumped on the door.
"Boy! One of your friends've come t'see ya!," Tony Harris bellowed.
"Coming," Xander said. "Hold on while I hide the girl!"
"Hah!," Tony said as he moved back to the sofa to watch Baywatch.
At the front door, Xander was surprised to see two of the changed vampires from the Bronze. He didn't recognise them. The couple were dressed in something approximating their best, the woman in makeup, the man in a suit.
"Hi, uh, what can I do for you?," he asked.
"I'm Lasombra, and this is Elizabeth," the male one said. "She's Ventrue."
"Good, great for you," Xander said. "I didn't think the blood drive was until next week."
"Ha, ha," the woman said slowly. "Look, we wanted to sort some things out with this Slayer of yours, and talk to you about some things."
Xander wordlessly stepped to one side, not inviting them in. They crossed the threshold. Xander mentally ticked something off in his mind.
"My room is this way. Mind the bottles here, mind the paper once we're there."
The two vampires exchanged looks silently. /Disorganised./
"You're remarkably trusting," Lasombra said.
Xander held up his right hand. He'd removed his glove, and the line of black metal flowing to his index finger stood out on his pale skin. "I have reason. You're still reliant on the Rite's changes."
They had reached his room. Xander sat down on his chair, gesturing for the other two to sit on his bed.
"Start at the start, and when you have reached the end, end," he said.
Lasombra cleared his throat, then began. "Well, my, er, our breed of vampire has organised somewhat. The Whitewolf breed will meet once a year with a representative from each of the clans. We want to ask what the Slayer considers grounds for Slaying."
Xander looked slightly embarassed. "She's a seventeen year old girl. I don't know, it could be your nailpolish. Seriously, though, don't kill anyone, don't end the world, don't torture. That's good enough for me."
"We also want to ally ourselves with you, as far as it is possible for us," Elizabeth said.
* * *
"Oh... poor little vampires want to look pretty?"
"Just do it, you fucking Fiend."
Crystalline. "If that is what you wish to call me. Degenerates."
Cajoling. "We'll pay."
Smooth, laughing. "You'll pay. Come here, sit down."
* * *
Once Xander had finished talking with the two vampires, he'd gone to the Library to meet with the others.
"Do you really think that's a good idea, Xander?"
"I don't know. I do think that it's the only way we're going to know what's going through their heads," Xander replied.
"Hey, Xander, can I borrow your copy of the Maleficarus?," Jesse asked. He was doing a crossword while the others talked a bit.
"Sure, I'll bring it tomorrow."
"Um, Xander, you've only got their word that the other Whitewolf vampires will listen, you know," Willow pointed out.
Xander sighed. "What can I do?"
"Stake 'em," Angel said, coming out of the darkness.
"Love to," Giles said. "Unfortunately, there's the middling detail of souls."
"Oh," Angel said. "I'll track them, then."
"Okay, I bagged three normal vamps and a Dracula knockoff last night," Buffy announced.
"Wonderful," Giles said. "Details?
* * *
"Jessica..."
"What? How do I look?"
"My God, you look /horrible/!"
Sound of door slamming.
"What, poor little vamp don't like her permanent plastic surgery?"
"What did you do to me?!"
"Never forget you asked for it."
* * *
The next day, the teenagers were on a field trip to the Sunnydale Zoo. Xander, Jesse and Willow found Buffy, who was glaring at a group walking away from her.
"Hey! Buffy!," Xander shouted.
"You missed it!," Willow added.
"Missed what?," Buffy asked.
Jesse was only too happy to answer. "Two zebras doing the nasty! And--"
Willow thwapped the walking hormone with her bag.
"It was like the Heimlich, with stripes," Willow said.
"And I missed it," Buffy said, sarcasm dripping from her words. "Yet somehow I'll find the courage to live on."
"Where were you?," Jesse asked.
"Looking at the fishes," the Slayer said. She looked bored out of her skull.
"Was it cool?," Willow inquired.
"It was fishes," Buffy said, mistress of cool adjectives.
"I'm feelin' you're not in the school trip spirit here, Buff," Xander said.
"Well, it would...," Buffy tried to find the words. "It's nothing, I... we do the same thing every year. Same old, same old."
"Buffy, this isn't about the animals," Xander explained.
"This is about not being in class," Jesse finished. Both were grinning madly.
"You know, you're right!," the Slayer realised, brightening up. "Suddenly the animals look all sparkly and new."
"Gotta have perspective," Xander, Philosophizer Extra-ordinaire, said.
Buffy looked over at the Hyena House. Four students had just finished taunting one of the more... diligent... students.
"What are Kyle and his buds doing with Lance?," Willow asked.
"The same thing they do every day," Jesse observed morosely.
"What is it with these guys?," Buffy wondered out loud, exasperated.
"They're obnoxious. Professionally," Willow explained.
"Well, every school has 'em," Xander added. "So, you start a new school, you get your desks, some blackboards and some mean kids."
"And teachers," Jesse added.
"Well, I'd better go extract Lance before--," Buffy began.
"Me and Jesse'll do it," Xander interrupted. "This job doesn't involve actual Slaying."
"You don't think we should go in?," Buffy asked Willow.
They decided to go in, but were stopped by the zoo keeper.
* * *
Inside, the two boys found the four bullies trying to throw Lance into the hyena enclosure.
"Why don't you pick on someone your own species?," Xander challenged them.
"Yeah, I mean who let you guys out of your cages?," Jesse added, not to be out done.
"What, are *you* gonna get in my face?," Kyle snapped.
Xander took off his glove and baseball cap. The lines of black metal stood out in the dark against his pale skin.
A growl from the hyenas turned the sixes heads towards them. Lance took the chance while Kyle and his cohorts were distracted to run for the exit.
The four bullies and Jesses' eyes glowed yellow. In Xander's case, the lines on his head flowing down to his right shoulderblade glowed.
* * *
Post-fic Comments:
Anyone like the Fiend/Degenerates part? Anyone need it explained?