Author's Notes: Yet again, thank you one and all for taking the time to give me feedback on this. Thank you, and please keep leaving it. Feedback IS helping me write this. Coin of the realm here folks.
I am blatantly using some of Caleb's original lines here because they're pretty damn good. Most of Caleb's lines are the property of ME, and are used for their coolness factor.
One of the Slayerettes that went down into the Vineyard wasn't named in the show, so I named her. Xander would know all of the names of all the Potentials. (Hell, he'd probably be the ONLY one...)
This one is going to be a long one...
Almost forgot: Lyrics to the song 'All Around My Hat' belong to Steeleye Span. Pretty much a standard group for RenFairre types. Oh, Sorry for the liberties guys...
Oh, this one is for LF, who couldn't wait to see the smack layeth down. And who will probably kill me for parts of this story. (And you're still a trip. ^_~ )
*___________*__________*
It was already past nightfall as Xander and Dru made their back towards Buffy's house. Drusilla was almost lounging in the passenger seat as they drove, the sounds of a Steeleye Span song coming from the speakers. Out of the corner of her eyes she kept a watch on her... on her Xander. They'd finally had a breakthrough on their sort-of relationship after his conversation-slash-argument with Anya.
Xander for his part was... Satisfied didn't quite cover the feeling. Content? *yea, content pretty much covers it* he thought to himself as he turned left onto Revello Dr.
Unfortunately, the closer he got to Buffy's house the more the feeling of contentedness drained away and was replaced by apprehension.
"What's wrong kitten?"
"I... I don't know Dru. Something is just... Wrong. Don't you feel it, or is just me?"
"The stars have forsaken me kitten. No more stories to tell me, no more visions I fear."
He spared her a glance as they neared the driveway. "Is that because we..."
"Yes kitten." Seeing the look on his face she sat up straight and turned towards him. "Damn it Alexander! Stop it. Just stop it. I knew that this was going to happen and so did you. It was the price." She glared at him for a moment. "Would you rather I had stayed crazy?" When he shook his head emphatically she continued. "I'm about as sane as I'll ever be Xander. I've lost my visions but I'm still a Witch and a Vampire. You needed this in order to become who and what you needed to be. It was fated. Pure and simple."
Xander's face was neutral as he pulled in and parked. Sighing loudly he hung his head for a moment and then laughed ruefully. "Damn." Still laughing he got out and went over to her side of the car, opening the door and 'helping' her out. She didn't need the help, but she doted on the attention that Xander was giving her.
"Come on Dru, let's see what the what is." Xander continued holding her hand as they climbed the short steps and entered the front door.
*__________*_____________*_______________*
One look into the living room was enough to set off the warning bells in Xander's head. Immediately turning to the right he entered the dining room and walked up to Willow and Dawn sitting at the table. Dru had stopped at the door to the room, looking back over her shoulder for a moment at the apprehensive Potentials sitting quietly and fidgeting on the couch, chairs and floor.
"Hey Wills, Danwster, what's up?" One real good look at their faces showed that they were worried about something. "Okay, just what is going on?" At the hesitant looks they shared he sighed heavily, pulled out a chair, and sat down. "Come one Wills... Hey, where's Buffy and..."
"They went to the Winery."
"Excuse me? They did what?" Xander was having a hard time believing what he was hearing.
"Buffy took Faith, Spike, Wood, Kennedy, Rona, Molly, Chao-Ahn, Amanda and Callie with her. They left about 20 minutes ago. She said she was going to get what ever it was that Caleb had that was hers." Even as she said the words Willow and Dawn tensed up for what they were sure was going to be a classic Xander-fit.
They were pleasantly surprised when all he did was exhale explosively and wipe his hands on his face for a moment.
"Why am I not surprised that she would do something like that without me?" The question was obviously rhetorical and the three women did not even try and answer him.
"Oh hello Xander." Giles walked in thru the other doorway and made his way to the table. "I take it you know of Buffy's latest... adventure."
"You could say that." Xander sighed and then looked over at Willow. "Okay Wills... would you pull up the floor plan for the place and then Dru-n-I'll scoot that way."
Willows face turned a little pale and she spared a glance to her computer then she sighed in resignation. She suddenly looked at Xander a bit warily as his head snapped up when she did so. "I... I don't have any floor plans."
"What's the matter Wills, I can't believe that you couldn't find some plans with your cyber skills." Something was not right here.
"Uhmm... well, Buffy never asked me for any, and, and things have been so busy and then Spike and Buffy started arguing and Faith and Wood were arguing and then Buffy she just decided that they were going and it'sallgettingsomessedup."
Dawn had put her hands over her ears in plenty of time before Xander exploded. "You have got to be fucking kidding me!" The back of his chair literally bounced off the floor as it was flung there by Xander as he stood up. "Did they do ANY recon of the place?!"
"Buffy said she and Faith did a look-see and they saw a Bringer go in the entrance." Dawn replied from the other side of the table.
"That's it?" Xander couldn't believe what he was hearing. No one could be that... He turned to Giles with an incredulous look on his face. "You let her take 6 newbies into a trap? Come on G-man, I said it before... An unknown man breezes into town, says he has something of yours. This thing's has "trap" written all over it. What the Hell does it take?"
"Yes, well." Giles looked extremely uncomfortable. "Buffy has been... reluctant to listen to me after the... Uhmm... incident involving Spike."
"Okay..." Xander turned his head and looked at Willow. "And you are here because?"
Buffy says I'm her most powerful weapon. She wanted me to keep the other Potentials safe if anything happened."
At seeing his frown Dawn added "Spike said it could be something called 'old bait-and-switch'."
Xander's pissed off attitude dropped down a couple of notches as he mentally reviewed the situation. Dru kept her position at the door just watching him as he worked thru whatever it was he was thinking. He started mumbling to himself and Willow started smiling.
Suddenly, Xander stood up straight and motioned to Willow Giles and Dawn. "Right. This is just gonna blow. Giles, Wills, get changed. Now. Battle clothes."
At their dumbfounded looks he continued. "Come on you two, saddle up, let's go! I want you ready five minutes ago!" Turning to face Dawn, he looked at her with a slightly sad smile. "Come on Dawn Patrol... Need to get you outfitted before we go."
"Huh?" Was her reply as she followed Xander outside towards his car.
"What is going on here?" Anya's voice came from the doorway as she and Andrew started out the door.
Xander ignored his Ex's question as he popped the trunk of the car open and started rooting around. Drusilla leaned in to take a look and he swatted he hand away from a silver cylinder. "Careful what you tug on Dru, you never quite know what it might be attached to."
"Xander, I'm talking to you."
"Piss off Anya, I'm busy."
He could almost hear the blink-blink of everyone's eyes but he didn't have the time.
"Okay Dawnie, here's the dealio." Xander drew out a pistol and several clips from the trunk. Turning her towards the roadway he stood behind her and placed the gun in her hand. "Okay, now this is a Berretta 9 millimeter pistol. You hold it like this and this is the safety..."
Xander continued to give her an impromptu lesson on the pistol as Anya tried in an increasingly loud voice to get his attention. Giles and Willow had just come out of the house and were walking up as Xander finally got tired of listening to her bitch about how Dawn shouldn't have a gun and whirled on her. "Anya. Shut the FUCK up!"
Drusilla had to restrain herself from laughing at the way the ex-Demon's mouth dropped open at his exclamation.
"I... I say."
"Don't start with me Giles." Was all Xander had to say over his shoulder at the older man. Willow opened and closed her mouth a couple of times but managed to refrain from saying anything, being content to just watch what Xander was teaching Dawn. Closely.
"Okay, you set now Dawnie?" At her confident nod he smiled at her with the lopsided smile that reminded her why she'd had a crush on him for years. "Good. Now repeat the drill to me."
"Anyone tries to break in, don't try and hold the whole house." She started a little hesitantly, but gained in confidence as she continued. "Retreat to the basement, all Potentials armed with weapons. Knock out all the light bulbs except the ones at the top of the stairs and use the backlighting to help me aim. Center mass. Anything that's alive when it hits the bottom of the stairs, let the Potentials handle, to make sure that we don't get swamped. Oh, and whatever I do, don't let Andrew anywhere near the gun."
"You got it Dawn Patrol. You're 'On the Bounce'. Just remember, you're in charge here and we'll be back as soon as possible." He looked over his shoulder at the Potentials that were standing on the porch. Polly, the little redheaded one, gave him a thumbs-up indicating that Dawn in charge was cool and he breathed a little easier.
Dawn's face lit up in a wide smile as Xander pulled her into a quick hug. She yelped a little as Dru suddenly did the same and whispered into her ear: "Be careful Little Key, he truly loves you and it would break his heart if anything happened to you."
Giles and Willow were standing there with their mouth's hanging open. At least they did until Xander started issuing orders again. "Dru you and Willow take the back please. I need you two to put your heads together and get some Witchy stuff going when we get there."
"What do you have in mind kitten?" Dru almost purred.
"We'll need a way to get in if the entrance is blocked, some basic attack type stuff. And possibly some healing type magics if it's gone as FUBARed as I think it will. Giles, you're riding shotgun." He paused in order to grab a roughly two and a half foot long gun out of the trunk before slamming it shut. "And I mean that literally." He handed it to Giles and looked him up and down. "Please tell me you know how..." The rest of his question was rendered moot as Giles grinned a decidedly evil grin and loaded the weapon loudly. "Cool."
"Xander!"
"What?! Anya I so do not have the time!"
"Why on earth did you give Dawn a pistol? What are you doing?" Anya was really working on pissed at this point and Andrew drew back a little. He'd seen her pissed enough times to know that being in her sights wasn't healthy.
Xander waived his three compatriots towards the car doors as he turned towards Anya. "I gave her the pistol so she can defend the place in the slim chance this is a trick to pull us away from the house. As to why her... He looked Anya and Andrew up and down for a moment. "The place needed adult supervision while we're gone."
He turned and slid behind the wheel and then looked up at her. "Dawn's it. You're not."
*___________*____________*_________________*
As Xander sped towards the Vineyard he and Giles talked about what had happened after he and Dru had left and Dru and Willow conversed quietly about magical spells that were available to them.
"Okay G-man, repeat that last bit again. And try and use smaller words, K?"
Giles sighed for probably the tenth time in the last 5 minutes and tried not to watch outside the car window as the car was going almost twice the posted limit.
"I'm not sure myself what happened Xander. All I know is that Buffy and Spike had an argument sometime early this morning after you and Drusilla left. I don't know what it was about, as I was sleeping until the volume grew a bit much for suitable slumber."
Xander watched Dru wince slightly as Giles said this, and he knew that even as she was talking to Willow, she was also paying close attention to him and Giles. He still had no clue what Dru and Spike had talked about, but it was obvious from Dru's reaction that she had an idea why he and Buffy were fighting. *Oh well... No biggee. I may trust the SoB a little but I still don't like the bastard.*
Giles in the meantime had been continuing without him. "Obviously, something had set of Faith and Robin as well... I'm fairly sure it was your cowboy act last night."
"Tough." Seeing Giles' mouth start to open he quickly added "Look G-man, there's just something not right about him. Admit it, he's just too convenient. It's just too coincidental."
Giles finally started to put his glasses back on after cleaning them meticulously. "Yes well..."
Xander sighed a little himself.
Sensing the uncomfortable-ness coming from the front seat Willow suddenly leaned forward and tapped Xander on the Shoulder.
"Xander? Turn the radio up. Please? This one of my favorites... Wait a minute, when did you start listening to Steeleye Span? I thought that you didn't like them."
As he turned up the volume he smiled at her over his shoulder. "It's all Dru's fault... She's a bad influence on me."
Dru smirked a vicious little smile. *Bad influence? I'll give kitten a 'bad influence'* She twirled her fingers a little and mumbled under her breath.
Willow had a big smile on her face as she sat back and listened to the song while Giles could be herd grumbling about pending apocalypses and the intrinsic value of music. Xander was pretty much ambivalent until he actually listened to the lyrics... and then he could hear Dru's voice inside his head.
All around my hat,
All around my room
I will wear the green willow
I will chase my Red Willow
All around my hat,
All around my room
For a twelvemonth and a day
For a fortnight and a day
And if anyone should ask me the reason why I'm wearing it,
And if anyone should ask me the reason why I'm chasing her
It's all for my true love,
It's all for my Xander
Who is far, far away
Who is three feet away
Xander's face alternated between pale and a splotchy red as Drusilla's voice echoed in his head twisting the words of the song around. His hands were almost leaving fingerprints in the steering wheel; he was gripping it so tightly. He looked in the rear view mirror and saw her staring at him, a slight smile on her face and shuddered as she licked her top lip with her delicate pink tongue.
"Xander! I say... You're all over the road. What is the matter with you?" Giles was looking a little pasty himself as the car swerved wildly for a moment.
Xander spared another glance into the rear view mirror. "Trust me G-man... you DON"T want to know."
*__________*___________*___________*
Xander saw some figures hunched down near the entrance to the Vineyard and just said the hell with it and drove right up to the doors, his headlights almost blinding the people there.
"Well, at least she left someone to cover her six." He muttered as he put the car in park and turned off the engine.
Faith, Chao-Ahn and Callie walked up as they exited the automobile and Xander headed for the trunk.
"Yo Boy-toy, didn't think you'd show."
"Well you know me Faith... better late than never." Xander was sliding a combat vest on and getting the last of his weapons in place. "Dru, Wills, any idea what's going on?" he asked waving towards the building.
"B put us out here as her rear guard."
"You just following orders now Faith?" He could almost see her hackles rise at this comment and the Hyena part of him was bouncing around in his head just waiting for her to take charge.
He was disappointed as Faith managed to keep her tongue in check. It was obvious that she had changed more than he'd realized the last few years.
"Kitten..."
He shrugged, knowing that Drusilla would understand. "Gotcha. Sorry Faith. Just wound up."
"It's cool Boy-toy"
"Thanks. Dru? Wills? Anything?" At the shaking of their heads he sighed and shook his head also. *Murphy must just love me* he mused quietly to himself.
Xander looked up at the pretty Potential that was trying to look over his shoulder into the trunk, shaking his head as if to clear it. "Callie right?" At her nod he continued. "You know how to use a pistol Callie?" he asked her.
"Nope."
"Okay." He handed her a black canvas bag. "Mind carrying this for me?" He asked as he slid a stubby shotgun into its sheath on his back, the pistol grip of it just visible over his right shoulder.
"What's in it?"
"Grenades and ammo. Just in case."
"Cool." Her face lit up with a wicked smile as she hefted the bag. "Just call me 'Santa's Little Helper'."
Xander looked up at the evil grin on Drusilla's face and just managed to blurt out "Don't. Just do not say it. Please Dru."
Callie looked back and forth between the mischievously smiling Vampire and Xander. "He's right, don't say it." She smirked up at them for a moment. "At least not here in front of everyone."
*Okay, that's it. Let's get to the fight. It's safer there*
*__________*___________*___________*
It was worse than Xander had feared and it was a running fight just to get to the cellar entrance.
It was obvious that that was where Buffy had led her team due to the stiff resistance that they encountered.
Unfortunately for the Bringers, Xander didn't play fair and bring medieval weapons with him. The 45 caliber Colt pistols in his hands bucked as he killed a Bringer with each pull of the trigger.
*Earplugs. Next time, bring earplugs* His ears were beginning to ring in the enclosed hallway from the blasts.
Xander led the way, with Giles a step and a half behind him and to his left, the occasional blast from his shotgun not helping Xander's hearing in any way. Faith, Callie and Cho-Ahn made up the second rank while Drusilla and Willow followed behind. Xander spared a glance backwards in order to check on 'his' two girls. Neither one of them looked to be in much discomfort. For that matter, neither did Faith and the two SiT's... *What the Hell?* He looked a little closer and finally noticed a slight shimmer-sheen in the air. *Damn... they must have set up some kind of sound buffer spell. Cool*
The last Bringer between them and the cellar flopped down the staircase out of the way and landed on the floor in a sprawling bloody mess.
All activity in the room halted for a moment as the retort from the pistol echoed through the cellar.
"Is this a private party or is everyone invited?" Xander used one of his standard smart-ass comments even as he looked around the room trying to take stock on their status.
*Shit. What a cluster.*
Spike was lying on his ass in a giant puddle of what looked to be wine appearing much the worse for wear. Kennedy was nearby looking real groggy, obviously out of the fight for the time being. Buffy was unconscious up against a wall. Molly was only a small broken figure over on the other side of the room. Wood was bleeding profusely from the head and had a short sword stabbed deeply into a dying Bringer. In the center of the room there was a tall figure in a Preacher's outfit holding Rona up by her throat.
The same Preacher looked up at the newcomer's arrival. "Oh, good. There's more of you." He said in an almost bored voice and then roughly threw Rona across the room.
Xander had almost managed to draw a bead on him when he felt himself pushed a little to the side from behind.
"Kennedy!" Willow blew past him, any thought of a unified front going south fast as she made her way towards her girlfriend.
At the same time, Faith hurtled past him growling wildly and attacked the man who was obviously the 'bad-guy' Caleb.
*Damn it!* "Shit, SHit, SHIt, SHIT!" Xander punctuated each expletive with a blast from a pistol that downed a Bringer. Faith was too tied up with Caleb for him to get a decent shot at the bastard. As the last shot went off he motioned Giles towards Buffy. He moved much faster than Xander would have expected someone his age to be able to.
Several more Bringers attacked him and Callie in hand to hand and it took them several precious moments to kill them, earning themselves a couple of wounds in the process. Xander took several hits intended for Drusilla as he fought to keep his enemies away from her.
Caleb blocked just about everything Faith was throwing at him and the few blows that did get through didn't seem to even phase him. It was obvious that he was playing with her.
"Well, you're the other one, aren't you. Your Cain to her Abel." He spoke in an unhurried voice, as if this fight was of no consequence to him" No offense meant to Cain, of course."
"Bite me!" Faith growled.
"A whore like you?" He cocked his head and looked at her for a moment before kicking her squarely in the stomach. As she doubled over, he walked to her side and kicked out again sending her across the room and into a stack of barrels. "I don't think so."
Cho-Ahn was the next to attack the Preacher but he calmly blocked every one of her sword blows as if he was merely passing the time. "See, that's what's wrong with the world today. Too many whores. See there's Good folk, Bad folk," he paused in his speech just long enough to grab Chao-Ahn's arm as she swung at him, effortlessly breaking her arm he then grabbed her face. "Clean folk, Dirty folk... and little whores."
The snapping of Cho-Ahn's neck seemed to echo through the room.
Buffy looked up groggily from where Giles was helping her to her feet.
Spike was coiling to charge, his face murderous, as Kennedy
and Willow looked on in horror, and
Wood was propped up in the corner, a vicious looking knife half buried in his
stomach and his face turning a decidedly gray color.
Caleb casually dropped her to the ground and dusted off his hands. "Next?"
Standing next to Xander, Callie suddenly screamed loudly. "NO!" and threw her short sword at Caleb.
"Yes." He replied as he calmly caught the sword. He looked it over for a moment before staring straight at Xander. His eyes widened slightly as he took in Xander's appearance. "You're the one who sees everything, aren't you? Well, let's see what we can't do about that." He reared his hand back and threw the sword in a blinding flash directly for Xander's face.
It was a toss-up between Xander and Caleb to see who was more surprised as the sword stopped dead in the air about a foot in front of Xander and then fell to the floor with a clang.
Drusilla laid her hand on Xander's shoulder and smiled wickedly at Caleb over it. "No." she said calmly and then: "Fool!" she hissed at him.
"You! Another whore, this time a Vampire one. What is it with this little tramp group and their pet Vampires?" Caleb mused aloud. "He spun in a slow circle "Can't you people see they're Evil? And you claim to be good."
"Good. Evil. I'm the guy with the guns. " Xander calmly said and then he pointed his pistols at Caleb and pulled the triggers until both of them locked back on an empty firing chamber.
He couldn't quite believe his eyes when the hammer-like blows from the bullets failed to knock Caleb down.
"Why won't you just die?!" he yelled at the only slightly bleeding figure standing in front of him.
"I have her Power!" Caleb ranted as he glared at Xander. "I am her right hand man! You think your pitiful little pistols can stop me?! I am her Harbinger, I am... "
"oh shit."
And those were the last words to come out of Caleb's mouth as the blessed silver slug from the Mossberg shotgun blew the top half of his head off.
Xander slowly lowered the weapon towards the floor as wisps of smoke trailed out of the muzzle.
The remaining Bringers (all three of them) fled at the death of their God's pet, and the Scoobies slowly gathered around the body of their fallen foe.
"We won." Buffy said quietly, the first to break the silence since Caleb's body hit the floor.
Almost everyone was wounded in one way or another and they all looked beat down and depressed for having won.
"Buffy? You alright? 'Cause you kinda look like you got the beat shit out of you." Xander commented as he looked at the still shaky Slayer.
"I... I'm hurt. But I'll be okay. I think."
"You know, that's almost a damn shame." Xander replied bitterly. He was shaking slightly from the built up adrenaline.
"What?!" Came out of the throats of almost everyone present. Everyone except Drusilla and Faith both of whom stood, one on each side of him.
"Look around you. Look Damn it!" Xander pointed over to where a severely wounded and silently crying Rona was sitting next to the dead bodies of Molly and Cho-Ahn. Robin sat propped up against the wall holding onto his still bleeding stomach.
Buffy finally looked over at the bodies and she sagged against Giles in a state of shock.
Xander stared hard into the face of one Buffy Summers. "You better hope like hell that there IS something important in here Buffy. You'd better pray that something, anything can make this cluster-fuck worthwhile. 'Cause from where I stand this ain't much of a victory."
No one had much to say after that comment and Xander just sighed and ran his hands across his face. Shaking his head he headed towards Rona, helped her to her feet and slowly headed towards the doorway out of the cellar-turned-slaughterhouse. Faith walked over towards Robin but he waived her away for the moment.
Drusilla stood there for a moment, just looking at Buffy, not saying anything. Then she quietly turned and made her way over towards Xander and Rona.
"Find your damn prize Buffy. I'll be upstairs trying to put the pieces together again for you" Xander said in a clear voice.
His last few sentences where muttered as he and Dru almost carried Rona up the stairs towards fresh air, but everyone could hear him perfectly in the quiet room.
"Like always."
"We won..." He looked over Rona's head at Drusilla wearily. "Sheeea... Bull-shit."
End of Chapter 9.
Stay tuned for another chapter within two weeks or so.
Same Grrr time. Same Grrr Channel.
AN: The only type of Hyena that is monogamous is the Aardwolf according to all the data I can find. They are not the same as normal Hyenas and are nowhere near as dangerous. Normal Hyenas live in packs and the females are dominant. Kinda explains Xander's attraction to Faith considering their first 'mating' huh?
QSK