"Don't mention it, and it is good. It's been my father's for years," Giles answered her a little self-consciously, smiling.
"You know how you have to fold the corners of the pages you like most?" Jenny asked as they rounded the corner. The open door to her classroom was right behind it. "So you can re-read them?"
"Folded the corners?" Giles asked with a weak voice.
Jenny turned around, facing him. Standing in front of the door, Jenny continued, "Yeah, well there were so many this time, I could hardly keep them apart; so I started marking them with different colors."
Giles looked as if he was watching his best friend dying in a car accident, asking, "You marked . . ."
"Yes, but then I spilled coffee over it so I couldn't read it anyway," Jenny added casually.
Giles' eyes were wide, muttering, "It was a first edition."
"Just kidding, Rupert, the book's fine," Jenny said with a smile, pulling said old book from her pile and handed it over.
"Oh, thank god," Giles said with relief, taking the book, and letting himself land against the wall next to door, sighing in relief.
Jenny was smiling brightly, and asked him, "Has anyone ever told you you're kind of a fuddy duddy?"
"I've heard it mentioned a few times, yes," Giles said, looking down a bit in embarrassment.
"Has anyone ever told you you're kind of a sexy fuddy duddy?" Jenny asked with an extremely suggestive smile.
Giles smiled lightly, answering her, "No- . . . no they usually leave that part out. I can't imagine why."
Jenny smirked, and said, "I love it when you squirm."
Giles looked at her from the corner of his eyes, and said, "I trust I gave good squirm. How about we go out tomorrow?"
Jenny took a step closer and said with a husky voice, "I thought we'd stay in." Giles looked at her with wide eyes. "So I can make you really squirm," she finished grinning.
Giles swallowed as he looked in the woman's amazingly sexy eyes. Slowly he bent down. The bell rang, but they didn't notice. They started a gentle kiss. Students passing by made them break apart, and just a little flustered Giles left as Jenny entered her classroom.
-----
He arrived in his library a few moments later, and looked with surprise at two police officers, and an officious-looking, African-American woman in civilian clothes.
"Are you Rupert Giles?" she asked him.
"Uh, yes, yes, that is me. And who are you?" Giles asked.
"I'm homicide detective Winslow, you'll have to come with me," she spoke. The library doors opened emitting Cordelia, wearing a skintight, small, black mini dress.
"Giles," Cordelia whined. "You have to help me get out of this Saturday computer class Miss Calendar demands me to be! I'll do it another day, better yet, I'll prove I can do everything by next Friday - just not nine am on a Saturday! I've got shopping to do!" The police officers and the woman looked astonished at the girl completely ignoring them, and the Brit rubbing the bridge of his nose in frustration. The teen actually had the audacity to casually step in between Giles and the woman, turning her back to the former. It seemed this wasn't an uncommon event.
"Cordelia!" Giles exclaimed with quite some irritation.
"What?" Cordelia asked innocently.
Giles was about to launch in a subtle pointing out she should leave, but realized the American bint most likely wouldn't get it. He could get worked up further afterwards or right away to usher her out, but suddenly an epiphany came to him. "Xander will have to do the makeup class as well," Giles told her, managing not to sound as sneaky as he felt.
"Really?" Cordelia perked up, Giles nodded tiredly. "Oh, never mind then," she added and started to leave again. She stopped and turned around, facing the detective woman, "Now that I'm here and you're here, could you do something about this bogus ticket I've got. It was a- . . ."
"-Cordelia!-" Giles said in irritation. "We're rather /busy/!"
Cordelia turned around to face the librarian, and said, "You don't have yell, I'm not stupid you know, I can take a hint." Cordelia looked down for a moment, blinked, and then asked, "What's the hint?"
"Leave," Giles said very slowly, as if talking to a four-year-old.
"All right already," Cordelia told him with annoyance, and walked away out of the library, speaking, "I'll tell the rest not to come in here until after you spend some time in decaf-land. Shees."
Giles put his glasses back on, sighed, and asked, "Where were we?"
-----
That night Buffy was perfectly on time with the hospital. In fact she was early, but now it was late, and Giles isn't. She was hiding behind a parked van, looking at the hospital back entrance. "'Should I answer that, or just glare?'" Buffy said in annoyance, doing a really mean impersonation of Giles. "'Don't be late,' he says. 'Do that,' he says. 'Your music is noise, not music,' he says. And where is Mr. Snippy? Not here on time where he's supposed to be at least, that's for sure!"
A van arrived, and a man got out, holding a plastic container. Buffy watched as two doctors came from the hospital and took the blood. They thanked him, and the van drove off. Smiling, Buffy started to turn around, saying to herself, "And the two cute doctors take the blond, a nice happy end- . . . wait, since when do surgeons do menial labor?" She turned back around and watched a red convertible pull up next to the doctors. A vampire got out of it, as one of the two dressed as doctors opened the container. Buffy started running toward them, watching as one vampire started drinking from the bag, and the driver got up on the hood over the windshield.
"Hey," the vampire from the car - the leader it seemed - spoke, "Leave some for the rest of us. We're supposed to take it away, not- . . ."
"Shut up!" Buffy growled, and practically flew with her right leg extended at the vamp. She kicked out over the hood, kicking the legs out from under the leader, and before the other two could react, a stake through the heart turned him to dust. Buffy grinned at the other two, leg still on the hood, and she took a provocative stance. She gave the vamps a flirtatious smile, and told them, "Didn't your mommies ever tell you, it's not nice to steal?"
The vamps, already vamped out, lunged at her with a growl. Buffy turned fully around on one leg, bringing the other off the hood, which she had basically used as a bullfighter's red cloth. Her elbow rammed into the first vampire, slamming against the car, and tumbling on it. She grabbed the second vampire by the collar as he came rushing in, smoothly pulled him off his feet and slammed him on the hood of the car, and partially on the second vamp. Buffy was ready to attack the two and finish it when she felt a presence behind her. She whirled around, wondering where this one could have been hiding. Her stake came up and then she brought it down. "Angel!" she said in surprise, stopping the downward motion of the stake on time - and Angel managed to jump back in time.
"Whoa!" he said, holding up his hands to ward her off.
"What are you doing here?" Buffy asked him in surprise, and then one of the two doctor-vampires slammed his fist in the side of her head. Being distracted by Angel had left her vulnerable, and now she fell over with the unexpected impact. Angel jumped in, and slammed his fist in the vamp's face, and he was launched up and over the windshield then landed in the car's seats with a painful growl. The souled vampire jumped onto the hood, just as the second vamp slid off it. Angel ignored it, going up to finish off his vampire.
Buffy got up smoothly, seeing the second vamp charging her. She took a smooth step forward and landed her fist with all her might into the vamp's gut. To her pleasant surprise the vamp doubled over, and coughed hard, trying to regain his balance. The training she'd been getting from Xander definitely was paying off. With a grin she added an uppercut, making sure it wasn't so hard she'd have to chase after a flying vampire. The monster snapped up with a groan, blood flying from its mouth. With a quick movement Buffy's stake stabbed into the heart, and the monster poofed away into dust.
"Buffy!" Angel warned. Buffy jumped aside as the car drove by, just missing her.
Buffy watched the car, and then turned to Angel. "You let him get away," Buffy accused him, walking over as the souled vampire got up with a little difficulty.
"He surprised me with a brick," Angel told her with a sigh.
Buffy backed off from that thread, and asked him, "Did Giles send you, 'cause he's supposed to be here, but he isn't, and how did you about tonight?"
"It's delivery day. Everyone knows about delivery day. He could just be late," Angel suggested.
Buffy's eyebrows raised in disbelief, and asked, "Giles? The guy who thinks tardiness is like the Eight deadly sin?"
Angel looked at her with widened eyes, replying, "Ah, yeah."
Buffy nodded, and then said, "Can you make sure the good bags get to the hospital? I'll go check on Giles."
-----
Buffy rang the bell a second time, and a disheveled Giles finally opened the door to a crack. He finished putting his glasses on, and said, "Oh, Buffy, why are you here?"
"I was about to ask you the same thing," Buffy said, looking with concern at Giles. Her sensitive nose picked up what had to be alcohol. Giles looked at her. "Hospital? Meals on wheels for vamps? Eight o'clock sharp? Any of this ring a bell to you?"
"Oh, yes, I'm sorry, are you hurt?" Giles asked her absentmindedly.
"No, but- . . ."
Giles cut her off as he started closing the door, "Well, good then." He was about to speak a goodbye when Buffy put her hand against the door. She wanted to talk, but Giles was once more too fast with his tongue for the teen girl. This time he spoke gruffly, impatiently, and very definitely non-Giles, "If you will excuse me, Buffy, I'm trying to do something very important. See you Monday." With a decidedly more loud bang than a smooth closing, the door almost slammed shut. Obviously: Giles was British, even slamming the door he did with a stiff, calm, upper lip. Buffy stood in front of the closed door, blinking. She felt both concern for Giles, as well as hurt that he would treat her so. She left, and eventually the concern marginally won out over the hurt.
Inside Giles finished a phone call, finding out that one Deirdre Paige was dead. He struck her name out on a paper, carrying a few more names: Phillip's (struck out), Thomas Dutch (struck out as well), Himself and Ethan Rayne. Only he and Rayne were not struck out. He gulped down another glass of whisky, went over to a mirror and rolled up a sleeve. He looked hatefully at the tattoo: the same tattoo that Phillip had, the one Giles claimed he didn't know.
-----
Xander groaned as he saw Lotion arriving to their little group of three: Jenny, Willow, and him. Cordelia would undoubtedly arrive a little later, but just on time, to make a dazzling entrance. "Nihau!" Lotion said with a large smile as he and the other two women rounded a corner. Willow, of course, was dressed enticingly these days, and Lotion wasn't one to not wear clothes that accented her curves. Despite being enticing, Willow managed to look smart and respectable and somewhat powerful - the combination was alluring to Xander Harris, and once more he wished he either didn't have all these women attracted to him, or he could just take them all without having to choose. Buffy still held a special place in his heart though - the one girl so . . . He shook his head, it wouldn't do to start remembering that one special, amazing happenstance before everything went to hell. Quite frankly, the blonde Slayer was amazing in the sack, beautiful, sexy, and a great personality - with the exception of that pesky being in love with two- . . . one man and a demon-animated corpse. The corpse part being worse than the more than one part.
"Why, oh why?" Xander muttered in great annoyance - it wasn't that Lotion was a bad person, she was actually quite amazing now that he had let her in. When Spike had attacked, he had even found to his consternation that he managed to qualify her as one of 'his girls' - friends he cared deeply for and would protect with his life. But, and here it was, she /was/ always /extremely/ present, for once he had hoped to have to deal with only two of the women chasing him, and not all three - four counting Buffy. The latter definitely was more than a little interested in him, Xander knew, but she was also interested in Angel in the same way /and/ she knew she was number one with a bullet when it came to the romantic aspect, so she wasn't exactly 'chasing' him, just giving him the occasional reminder that romance was far from out between the two.
Willow grinned at him, and said, "You shouldn't have jinxed it."
As Lotion came to walk next to Xander, Jenny said, "She's from the heartland of China, a tribe so deep away they don't have electricity. If she's even seen a computer before she came to my class, she most certainly hasn't operated one before. She had to learn /really/ from scratch, and needs the most help. Quite smart of you to learn about computers - they'll never go away."
Lotion smiled. "I doubt it's smarts, it's who was in it," Willow muttered under her breath.
"I /heard/ that!" Lotion bit at Willow, who just turned to face the challenge and glared at Lotion. Xander wisely kept his mouth shut. Lotion then added darkly, "Although it's true - doesn't mean I'm not smart."
Jenny up front reached the door to the computer room and unlocked it, smiling. "Take a seat, and don't argue with the girl who'll teach you, Lotion," Jenny said with a grin going to her desk as the three teens entered behind her.
Lotion told Willow, "Don't dare to teach me wrong."
Willow blinked, was about to protest she wasn't that way, but changed her mind to say, "Thanks for the tip." Lotion glared.
Xander in the meantime plonked himself in a seat, and exchanged a look with Jenny that said, 'See what I have to deal with?' Jenny smiled as he turned on the computer. Xander had taken the time earlier to take in Lotion's form - he /was/ still a red-blooded male teen - but it was nothing to prepare him for the next arrival. His eyed opened wide as Cordelia appeared in the doorway, and was certain he heard a cliche, sexy, trumpet sound for a lingerie-wearing girl entering the bedroom somewhere. Cordelia was wearing a black super short mini skirt - loose kind, not the tight ones. It barely covered her ass. Above that was a white, tight, spaghetti-strapped top that was cut deep enough and tight enough to put her breasts on display - to do that the only thing missing was a see-through top. High heels finished her look, and hips swaying she entered the room.
"Good morning, Miss Calendar. Hi, Xander," she singsonged her greeting. "Willow, Lotion," she said with a glare, receiving two in return. Cordelia noticed Willow's new look, and was pissed, but not as pissed as she was at Lotion. The stupid girl was wearing mostly those Chinese / Amazonian clothes. They were hopelessly out of time, so the girl shouldn't be able to look good in them. She should be ridiculed. Her Cordettes did - out of loyalty or fear - but the rest didn't. And no wonder, the buxom Amazon managed to pull it off. She looked amazingly sexy, as well as cute and innocent in them, and tough to top it off. And the addition of more temporary clothing - always mixed with her traditional ones, gave the girl a look that could range from sizzling to cute and back again easily. And it just shouldn't be. Cordelia was pretty certain Xander didn't care that much about image and clothing, but at least Cordelia should have had the satisfaction that Lotion was a laughing stock to the rest of the school.
"All right, everyone, turn on your computers," Jenny said with a smile. "Willow, I think you should focus on helping Cordelia and Lotion, while I help Xander, if they need it, okay?" Willow nodded dutifully.
"Miss Calender," an unexpected voice sounded from the door. Jenny turned around, the others looked up.
"Buff!" Xander called out with a huge grin. "So, are we breaking out of this joint? World coming to an end?" Buffy gave him a smile, while Lotion and Cordelia just looked around. Willow didn't know quite what to say: first she was thinking along the lines of Buffy missed them, when she realized it might be more specifically Xander she was missing - she hoped not.
"Giles didn't show up at the delivery last night, so I went over to check on him, and I . . ." Buffy paused with a frown, ". . . well, I went to his home and found him drunk, and he was really rude to me."
"Giles?" Jenny asked in utter shock. Giles and rude?
"Y-ye-yeah, I knew it," Xander said getting up. "A guy wound as tight as Giles has got to fall apart sooner or later. I've seen it before. My uncle Rory was this perfect pristine accountant by day, and by night; booze, partying and whores. Were there whores?"
Cordelia and Lotion looked shocked at Xander's revelation, while Willow was just mildly so. Rory was actually one of Xander's family members she met and rather liked, although he did have roving eyes. Buffy smiled at Xander, both amused at another insight in his life - this one could be explained both good and bad - as well as hopeful that with Giles that was all it was. And just how bad was that? Both the fact that she hoped that was all it was, and the fact she had too great suspicion there was more. Jenny frowned at Xander, feeling several conflicting emotions burning through her being. For Giles sake, it better not be that - on the other hand, did she want it to be worse? "No whores, Xan," Buffy spoke, and then frowned. "Not that I could see anyhow, the door was never further open than a crack."
Jenny took charge, saying, "Have you noticed anything odd about him lately?"
"She means apart from the usual," Willow chimed in, getting grins from the teens, and a glare from Jenny in answer. Willow shrank behind her computer screen.
"No, nothing unusual," Buffy spoke with a thoughtful look.
"Apart from kissing you yesterday, no," Lotion answered, making everyone look at Jenny, who scowled at the Amazon.
"Nothing," Xander added.
Willow said, "No, he was his usual classical British self."
"Nope," Cordelia answered them, and then added, "Although there were some police officers for him yesterday."
"What!?" multiple voices sounded.
"Yeah, she was a . . . hold on, I know this one," Cordelia replied, frowning, testing words in her mind. "Homocide detective? Is that right?"
"Homicide," Jenny spoke in shock. "Murder."
"Exactly!" Cordelia replied with a big grin.
"And you waited to tell us this until now, why!?" Xander asked her in shock.
Cordelia looked up at him, and spoke indignant, "I didn't think it was important."
"Of course not, because it doesn't involve you," Xander said exasperated and disappointed. "Just when I thought you were improving."
"Hey!" Cordelia said, obviously hurt. "That's not why I didn't- . . ."
Jenny forcefully interrupted, "Buffy, call Giles and ask him, while I try and keep these to apart." Buffy nodded and quickly left, as Xander and Cordelia resumed glaring at each other. Cordelia may have the hots for Xander, but that didn't mean she was going to take an insult lying down.
-----
Buffy entered the library, going for the phone, when she heard something in the back. She frowned, and decided to check it out first. Quickly, but cautiously she walked up the few steps in the back leading to the higher part filled with book cases. She looked left and right in the alleys as she walked all the way to the back. She turned right, and when she was halfway the case it was pushed over. Her super human hearing had alerted her to the attempt a long time ago though, so she easily avoided it as she dashed back to where she came from. She grabbed arm of the figure that had tried to pin her and was making a run for it. When she did so, she called, "Stop!" Her strength made it easier to whirl him around, and she looked with wide eyes at the face set in resignation of being found out. "Hey! You're the guy that sold us the slave girl costumes!" Buffy said, looking at Ethan Rayne, and despite her superior position flushed crimson a bit.
"Yes," Ethan drawled out, and grinned. "You must have fetched a fair price too." A moment later Buffy's fist connect with his chin and his snapped back. He needed to take a step back and steady himself, then felt his painful chin.
"You almost killed us!" Buffy hissed at him.
Ethan then said, "I'm genuinely sorry, can I go now?"
Another fist landed across his chin, and he knew for certain this girl was more than she appeared to be. "No, what are you doing here?" Buffy demanded, folding her arms across her chest. A moment's thought made her add, "Besides trying to kill me and insult me and my friends."
"Uh, snooping around," he just answered.
"Honesty . . . nice touch," Buffy told him with a scowl. "Now tell me, what keeps me from calling the cops and having you locked up."
Ethan grinned like a predator and told her, "You could do that, but then the police would have to arrest Rupert because he's the only one who can answer those pesky questions."
"You know Giles?" Buffy asked him surprised.
"Oh, me and Ripper go way back," Ethan said with an even bigger grin. Buffy glared at him. "Ever heard of the Mark of Eyghon?"
-----
The phone rang for the second time, and finally Giles woke up. He was sitting at his desk and the fumbled for his glasses. Once he put them on, he slowly reached for the phone and picked it up. "Yes?" Giles said, and listened to the other side. "Now Buffy, haven't you understood what I told you yesterday? I will see you on Mon- . . ."
#Heard of the Mark of Eyghon?# Buffy interrupted him, and Giles fell silent, eyes widening.
"Where did you hear that?" he asked in shock.
-----
"I'm standing here with an old friend of yours apparently, Ethan Rayne?" Buffy spoke into the phone behind the library counter.
"Didn't I tell you?" Ethan asked, hands folded across his chest, and smiling superiorly.
#Listen, Buffy. You need to get out of there now, it isn't safe with him,# Giles spoke in hurried tones.
"What's going on, Giles?" Buffy asked ignoring his claim. "You're go- . . ."
There was a crash and a growl, and Phillip Henry, or rather the former Phillip Henry crashed through a door, aiming suddenly at Ethan and Buffy. Buffy went into action immediately. She dropped the horn, jumped over the counter, and blocked a swing from the walking corpse. After that she landed one of her own, making the zombie stagger back.
#Buffy!? Buffy!?# Giles called out, hung up, and unseen by the occupants in the library ran out to get there as fast as possible.
While Buffy fought Phillip, Ethan quickly jumped over the counter as well, and then ran out the library, where Xander and the others just came to check out the loud commotion. "Stop him!" Buffy called as she avoided a swing from the zombie, backing up toward the weapons cage in the side of the library.
On his flight, Ethan saw a watering-can standing on the counter. He grabbed it, and threw it at the advancing young man, who obviously had a set of muscles on him. The can smashed into Xander, and spilled its contents, but that didn't help Ethan one little bit. A moment later two very female hands grabbed his collar, and the owner of those hands lifted him off the floor with a growl. He was easily lifted ten centimeters off the floor, held there and he looked in the beautiful face of Lexa. "Say, weren't you just a guy?" Ethan wondered in surprise. The pissed off girl's eyes twitched, and then she pulled back a fist. The girls following the one holding Ethan were much too late to stop the former to land a solid punch in his gut. "OOF!" he gasped out, doubling over, before the girl grabbed his collar with her punching hand again.
"You little . . ." Lexa hissed, and then recognized him. Meanwhile, Buffy had lured the zombie over to the cage, and as it lunged she ducked aside. The zombie stumbled into the cage, and the Slayer slammed the cage shut and locked it afterwards.
"Hey! You're the one who sold the costumes! You gave me all these nice convenient soldier memories!" Lexa spoke with almost happiness. "Let me thank you!" Everyone looked at the happy girl with wide eyes, including Ethan who he just might get lucky. That changed when Lexa once more held him with only one hand, and pulled her right one back into a fist. The fish smashed across Ethan's face, hard enough to snap his head back and make him moan in pain. "Thank you," Lexa said with a grin. She grabbed him with both hands again, and said with a grin, "Thank you for turning my best friends into sex slaves." Lexa's knee crashed into Ethan's groin and croaked out his pain.
"Xander, I think that's about enough, he can still tell us things," Buffy suggested, and then pointed at a chair she placed in the middle of the library. "Put him on the chair, will you?"
Lexa looked at Buffy, and then smiled, "Sure thing, Buff." She started walking over with a groaning Ethan in hands, and placed him in the chair. "There. Oh, one final thing: thank you for giving Lotion better English," Lexa spoke and smashed one final fist into Ethan's face. The man's head snapped back again, making him wheeze out. Some blood flew from his mouth, and came to dribble from his split lip. Lexa's quick foot on the chair kept Ethan from falling backward. She then looked at Buffy, and the Slayer shrugged and smiled.
"Ooh," Lotion said softly, making Jenny, Willow and Cordelia frown at her. Lotion just shrugged.
"Okay, so," Cordelia spoke up, "we got demon guy in the cage, and creepy, bloody guy on chair, now what?"
Willow and Lotion walked over to the cage, and Willow bent forward a little. "Actually," she said with a frown, "I'm not getting close enough to know for sure, but I think- . . ." The demon zombie lurched forward with a grating sound, and crashed against the cage door. Willow jumped back in surprise, and finished, ". . . I think he's dead."
"Apart from the walking, growling, and trying to kill Buffy parts," Cordelia said with annoyance.
At the same time Lotion leaned forward, and poked the zombie in its left eye with her right index finger. The demon made a gurgling sound that was probably a painful howl, and staggered back, keeping away from the door wearily. "So, we kill it?" Lotion asked, looking over her shoulder from her bent over position.
Both Willow and Lexa took a good look at Lotion's bent over backside, and Buffy rolled her eyes at the scene. She said then, "First we need to know how."
"I could beat it out of him," Lexa said indicating Ethan.
Ethan glared at her and said, "Oh, go ahead, and I won't tell a thing."
"I think we should just wait for Giles, and see what he knows," Jenny spoke up with a little authority. The kids nodded their ascent.
"Well, I'm going to get some warm water first, be right back," Lexa told them all and left the library. A little later Xander returned, and settled in with the others to wait, commenting, "I should be able to turn this switch gender thing on and off, that's one serious drawback."
They didn't have to wait long before Giles burst into the library. Giles took a look around the library, noticing everyone was alright, and then focused on Ethan. "Is everyone alright?" he asked.
"Ripper, so good of you to join us," Ethan remarked dryly, voice slurring a bit because of his split lip.
"Why is he calling him 'Ripper'?" Cordelia asked Lotion.
The amazon shrugged, and said, "Beats me."
At the same time Giles burst forward to Ethan, hissing with an angry grimace, "You lying, cheating, thieving, tossing, rotten bastard." A moment later his fist crashed over Ethan's chin who grunted with the impact. Everyone looked with wide eyes at the decidedly non-Giles, non-British behavior.
"Oh," Cordelia said in revelation.
"I told you to get out of town," Giles almost growled.
"You did, I didn't," Ethan told him with a wide grin. "I paid two month's lease for the shop, isn't up for another month."
"You endanger these fine, young people," Giles started.
"And you don't? You've had the dreams, you knew it was coming. You're still here," Ethan told him with a sickening grin.
"Giles," Buffy spoke up. "We don't have time for this pissing contest. What's going on? What's this Mark of Eyghon? How does the zombie fit into it?"
The zombie seemed not to like being called that - with a growl and a burst of strength it forced the cage door open, and it slammed into Jenny who was standing close by looking rather surprised at this very different side of her boyfriend. Jenny went falling to the floor, slipping into unconsciousness. Chaos ensued; Lotion and Cordelia pulled each other back, Xander pulled Willow back, Giles staggered back, Ethan left his chair, and finally Buffy moved forward and landed a solid punch on the zombie, which staggered back, and then went rigid. Everyone looked as the walking corpse started shuddering and trembling. Icky sounds came from it as it started to dissolve. A part of its stomach burst outward, a green goo sliming down from it. Its head split open, more see-through green slime bubbled out from the wounds. The feet and legs were next, dissolving in a disgusting, and disgusting sounding slime. A puddle of it formed as the corpse went lower and lower, dissolving more and more into the goop. Finally only a slime puddle and clothes were left of the corpse - the edge of the puddle touching Jenny's pinky.
"Jenny," Giles said and quickly went over. She moaned as she came to, and Giles helped her up.
"Ugh, I'm going to spend the rest of my life in therapy," Cordelia muttered with disgust at the slime.
"Was that all?" Lotion asked and everyone looked at her. "What?" They shook their heads, and Xander frowned, looking at Jenny. Something . . . there was something . . . then shook his head, dismissing the notion.
"Oh, no! He got away!" Willow commented pointing at the empty chair. Indeed, with everyone's attentions on the dissolving zombie, Ethan Rayne had made a clean get away.
"I'll get Jenny home," Giles said, ushering a weak Jenny toward the exit.
"Giles, we're not done here. What happened? What happened to it? What's this all about? Who's Ethan? And what's the Mark of Eyghon!?" Buffy exclaimed in annoyance.
"That's private, it's none of your business, stay out of it," Giles bit at his Slayer.
"I don't care for private, and I don't care for 'stay out of it'!" Buffy called out with a little anger. "This thing almost hurt some of my friends, we deserve to know what this is!"
Lotion stepped next to Buffy, and spoke, "I don't like it, but pig-nosed girl is right." The Amazon ignored the glare Buffy sent her way.
"I will bring Jenny home," Giles told them and left.
The girls and boy watched him go. Then Buffy took a step forward, turned around, and said, "All right, if he doesn't want to speak, we'll found out for ourselves what this Mark of Eyghon is."
"Who put you in charge?" Lotion asked Buffy with animosity.
"I'm the Slayer," Buffy pointed out.
"So what?" Lotion asked the blonde with narrowed eyes.
Buffy blinked, and said, "It's what I do."
Lotion answered her with a grin, "That means you kill demons - which I can do better anyway - not give commands, bottle blonde."
Buffy growled at Lotion, "Now listen here, you ribbon-freak . . ."
Before Lotion could get physical, Cordelia stepped in and spoke, "Hey, now, we're in this together . . ."
"What do you think you're going to do?" Buffy taunted the cheerleader angrily. "Do our hair and makeup?"
Things went from bad to worse from there on in, to Xander's and Willow's astonishments. Xander turned his head and looked at his childhood friend, who looked up at him and shrugged pitifully as the three girls continued their verbal assaults on each other. "Guys!" No real answer, except for the continuing bickering and insults. "Girls? . . . YO!" Xander called out, finally getting the three girls' attention. "Thank you, it seems there's an estrogen overload going on around her. No offense, but you seem to be /this/ close to tossing tampons at each other."
"Of course not, right?" Buffy said with trepidation.
"Sorry, Buffy, but you three seem to be ready to put on a good catfight show for Xander," Willow said nervously, and then grinned at the perturbed looks of the three girls. "I'm certain he'd get a thrill out of it, but I know Xander, he's more concerned with this Mark of Eyghon thing and if it could hurt any of us."
Cordelia, Buffy and Lotion looked at Xander - an odd mixture of speculation and accusation of his male interests. "Why thank you, Willow," Xander said sarcastically.
"Your welcome, Xan," Willow told him innocently.
"The witch is right," Lotion grumbled, folding her arms across her ample chest. "The four of us all hate each other, I think Xander should be in charge, before we /do/ start a catfight."
Buffy seemed to want to protest for a moment, but then deflated. Cordelia didn't mind, and so four girls looked expectantly at Xander. Xander blinked, and opened his mouth, and kept it open for a moment. -Oh, great, what have I got myself into now. Think, Xander, think! What would Giles do? Run away and have a good time with his girlfriend . . . AAAH!-
"Well?" Cordelia prompted impatiently.
"Okay, okay," Xander said with a nervous smile. "First we got to figure out this Eyghon, and Mark of him, it, whatever. Willow?"
"I could check out the net, but I think this is more something for Giles' books," Willow answered him.
"All right," Xander said, nodding. "You go check out his books. Lotion, you help her out." Lotion nodded, and she and Willow walked off to the book cases. Xander thought onward - he was behind with the computer, and so he said, "Buffy, you check out the internet, just in case."
"Okay," Buffy spoke a little subdued.
"I'll go check out Giles files and see if he left something there," Xander decided, and Buffy went off.
Cordelia stepped in front of Xander with a big smile. Xander looked at her. "What about me?" Cordelia asked, and Xander kept looking at her. "Come on, I care about Giles. I want to help. I can help."
Xander blinked and said, "All right, you help me."
-----
Xander and Cordelia came out of Giles office, and Xander looked suspiciously flustered. Add to that a smiling Cordelia, and the three other girls were all narrowing their eyes at the cheerleader captain. "Okay, I just found out Giles has the best and most extensive bill history and notes of everyone - I'm betting the British IRS will give him a medal one of these days - but nothing on Eyghon, or Mark of. Oh, and Giles played the guitar, I even found this picture." Xander held up the picture of a young Giles in a leather jacket holding a guitar.
"That's Giles!?" Buffy exclaimed in shock at the 100 different Rupert Giles. Ripper indeed, if he wasn't Giles- don't go there. Xander nodded at her question and the others looked just as astonished at the picture.
Xander then asked, "Have any of you got something useful?"
"Nothing on the internet," Buffy supplied, now looking through a book herself, Cordelia's and Xander's flushed state put aside for more important stuff.
"I got something on the mark," Willow supplied and leafed back in her book. She'd already told the two girls, but repeated now, "Marks of different demons, Eyghon one of them, the demon itself - and it is a demon - isn't discussed here. It seems that as far back as the Roman empire, and probably further back, ancient sects have summoned demons into themselves. Usually during orgies and bacchanals one person would be temporarily possessed by a demon, and it gave the possessed all kinds of advantages, usually euphoria, bigger sexual highs and stuff like that."
"Giles and orgies is definitely an association I could have lived without," Xander commented with a distasteful face.
"Oh! Oooh! Here it is, Eyghon!" Lotion called out in triumph. With a grin of accomplishment she slammed the book down in the middle of the round table. Those who were on the wrong side of the table walked around so they could see. The book about A4 in size, had one large page decorated with the mark. Next to it was the accompanying text.
"That's not Egyptian!" Willow called out, looking at the drawing, "No wonder I was looking in the wrong books, that's Etruscan. Any . . ."
"Willow," Xander interrupted her dryly, but smiling.
"Oh, sorry, putting geekiness on hold," she said with a self-conscious grin, which Xander returned.
Lotion started reading out loud, "'The Mark of Eyghon. Used to summon the demon Eyghon - also known as the sleep walker - to our world and place him inside a host. The demon can only survive in this world by taking an unconscious host.' There's the orgies bit . . . Ah! 'Once summoned Eyghon can also take possession of the dead, but its demonic energies are too great and will disintegrate the host swiftly.'"
"Zombie turning to puddle of goo, check, I think we've got our demon," Xander commented dryly.
"Oh, 'if the demon does not find another unconscious or dead host, he cannot go on living,'" Lotion finished reading.
"Well, then the demon is gone, isn't it?" Cordelia asked the others with relief. "None of us is dead, right? He couldn't have jumped into any of us?"
"Jenny," Xander said softly.
"She was unconscious," Buffy realized solemnly, everyone else looking stricken..
Xander then spoke out loud in frustration, "Damn it! I knew it! I felt something odd about her, like chi, similar to the zombie. Must have been the demonic energies entering her, but I dismissed it, I thought it was just the what was left of the zombie. Shit!"
-----
"Thank you," Buffy said, and put the phone down. "There's no answer at Miss Calendar's, and Giles phone is disconnected or not functioning."
"All right," Xander said in answer. "You guys keep working on a way to kill Eyghon without hurting Miss Calender. Since I'm the strongest, I should go and check up on Giles."
Before Xander could leave, Buffy grabbed his arms and pleaded heartfelt, and with puppy-dog eyes, "Xan, he's my Watcher, and I think you're better at this research stuff anyway."
After a moment Xander sighed and said, "Okay, go."
"Thank you," Buffy smiled at him, and ran off out the library.
"Wimp," Cordelia accused Xander, who looked at him. "One set of teary eyes and you cave."
Xander looked over to her, and said, "Get back to work, we need to save Miss Calendar."
-----
Giles looked at Jenny. His apartment was lightly lit. She was so beautiful sitting next to him. "Well, I should get you home," he said with a nervous smile.
"/Or/ you could take advantage of my weakened stated," Jenny suggested seductively.
"Ah, well, it's not safe around me right now," he said weakly.
"Nothing is safe in this world, Rupert, don't you know that by now?" Jenny asked with a smile and moved closer to Giles.
"I never meant to get you into this," Giles apologized.
Jenny just smiled, and moved onto his lap, straddling him, and told him, "I'm in it now." She leant down sexily and started placing a kiss on his lips.
Rupert had some self control and pushed her back gently. He told her softly, "This isn't right."
Jenny laughed out loud, almost hysterically. "This isn't right," she mocked almost evilly. "You always were weak, Rupert, you should just take what you want," Jenny said, and Giles frowned, slowly starting to realize what happened. Jenny spoke again, her voice rapidly growing into a heavy, eery, demonic voice, "You were never worthy of me." Her head morphed into a green and brown with black spots, scaly one with large pointy ears. Jenny or Eyghon's demonic claws wrapped around Giles' throat as he looked at her in shock. She started squeezing, and said, "What will you do now? Kill your girlfriend?" EyghonJenny grinned evilly as he started choking Giles with the relentless claws.
The door crashed open, revealing Buffy. "Get away from him!" she shouted, stepping into the apartment. Jenny had looked up instantly at the appearance of the Slayer, and growled in annoyance. She let Giles go and jumped over the couch at Buffy. Giles gasped for air and got himself off the couch, staggering to the right side of his living room.
Buffy easily avoided Jenny's first punch, and landed a punch to her gut. Eyghon threw a punch that would have connected a few months earlier, now she neatly twisted aside, and immediately kicked Jenny in the gut. The possessed techno-pagan staggered back, and tumbled backward over the couch, taking the piece of furniture with her. She got back up smoothly and growled at Buffy. She took a glance at Giles sitting against the wall, and Buffy warned, "Don't you dare."
The demonic Jenny laughed, and said, "Three down, two to go." She then ran and crashed through a window to leave.
"Giles!" Buffy then exclaimed going over to the old man. "Come on, we've got to fight this; the guys are already on it."
"I told you to stay out of this!" Giles told her bitterly.
"No, I'm the Slayer remember? We fight these things. It's my duty to do so, got the whole super powers deal going on here," Buffy told him desperately, while he just tried to wave her away.
"My god what have I done," Giles said weakly.
"Giles, you're scaring me," Buffy said weakly, instantly showing she really was just a teenager.
"I'm sorry, Buffy," he said weakly.
"Don't be sorry, be Giles!" Buffy exclaimed with desperation and fear, and he just painfully looked at her. She asked, "What's wrong? We always do this. We research, I slay, and the others are just as much into the actual slaying things these days it seems. This is no different."
"This /is/ different," Giles spat out.
"Why?"
Giles sighed in shame, admitting, "Because I /created/ it!"
-----
"I was twenty-one," Giles said, the two of them sitting in the couch at his table. "I was studying history at Oxford . . . and the occult by night. I hated it. A tedious grind of everlasting boredom. I dropped out and went to London."
Buffy listened patiently, watching Giles taking a sip from a Scotch. "I fell in with the worst crowd that would have me," he said, giving a bitter smile. "We practiced magics - small stuff for pleasure or gain . . . Until Ethan and I stumbled upon something much bigger."
"Eyghon," Buffy supplied.
Giles took another sip, nodding. "One of us would be put to sleep, and the others summoned him. It was an incredible rush . . ." Giles gave a momentary smile, which faltered when he remembered what he was thinking about. "God, we were such fools."
"You couldn't control it," Buffy surmised.
Giles nodded, finishing another draught of the strong liquid, and explained, "One of us - Randall - couldn't control it. Eyghon swallowed him whole. We tried to exorcize the demon; it killed Randall . . . we killed Randall." He looked nervously at Buffy, who looked back at him without knowing what to say. "We thought we were rid of Eyghon after that, but now its back. It killed the others."
"'Three down, two to go.' It's going after Ethan," Buffy said, getting up. "I better get to him, before it does."
"We," Giles corrected, finishing the drink and getting up.
"Giles, speed is of the essence, and you're barely mobile," Buffy told him with a frown. Giles looked at his drunken state and nodded defeated, sitting back down. Buffy started to leave.
"Buffy," Giles called out. The Slayer turned to him. "I don't know how to kill it without killing Jenny," he told her.
"Don't worry, Xander and the others are on it," Buffy said, giving him a confident smile.
"Xander /andtheothers/!?" Giles asked in surprise.
Buffy was nervous. Self-conscious and embarrassedly she explained, "Ah, well, you see Cordelia, Lotion and I . . . uh, our tempers flared and uh . . . we were getting close to becoming intimate with each other's teeth, and . . . well, Willow and Xander stopped us, and we kinda . . . uh . . . decided Xander should be in charge to keep us from . . . eh . . . beating each other into the hospital."
Giles looked at her as if he didn't know whether to cry or laugh - undoubtedly hysterically if he had done so. Then he said, "He's a great fighter, but a . . ."
"He did good, /is/ doing good, they'll figure it out," Buffy spoke quickly, and then gestured to the door. He nodded, and she was off.
-----
"Nothing, nothing, nada, nothing," Xander muttered in frustration as he turned pages, skimming the text.
Lotion next to him nodded, acknowledging the same problem, "This sucks."
"The way to kill a demon, chop off its head," Cordelia read out loud, and then took a sip from her glass of water.
Frustrations getting the better of him, Xander spoke, "Oh, that's a brilliant idea. We'll have a headless Miss Calendar walking through the school. Hey, Miss Calendar, want us to smear some sunburn lotion on the top of your neck?"
"Hey, I'm trying to help, there's nothing here, I'm frustrated, give me a break!" Cordelia shouted back at him from her table.
Xander got up pissed, "Give you a break!? I think I've given you a thousand breaks already. I should just toss you out!" Lotion watched as Cordelia got up herself, while Willow tried to continue working.
Cordelia was just as frustrated, and she may be interested in Xander romantically, her very nature made it impossible for her not to respond. "Now listen here, you nincompoop! I don't deserve this kind of abuse! I'm helping out! I'm frustrated we can't find anything! I'm not stupid, or a self-absorbed bitch!"
"Anymore," Lotion supplied with a cheeky grin.
"Right," Cordelia said, and then flicking her eyes to Lotion with annoyance. The slight distraction made her aware of the glass of water she was still holding, and just as Xander started his reply, she tossed the contents in his face.
A wet open-mouth Lexa now stood across from Cordelia. She closed her mouth and it was a miracle steam didn't float up from her. "All right! /That's/ IT!" Lexa yelled, in anger. "Girl or no girl, I'm gonna kick your ass!"
"-QUIET!-" Xander, Cordelia, and Lotion looked at the suddenly standing and very angry Willow. With her long wavy hair, and her skirt, the suddenly rage-induced confidence made her sexy as hell. She ordered, "You two quit it right this instant! We're here trying to save Jenny's life, and there is no way we're going to do that with you two yelling and smashing each other's brain in! So if you two aren't quiet, and giving me a hundred and ten percent, -get out of my library-!" Willow pointed to the exit resolutely.
"We'll be good," Cordelia whimpered.
"Yes, ma'am," Xander said unconsciously channeling private Harris.
Willow nodded with satisfaction and went to sit back down. "Hey," Lotion spoke in confusion, "I thought Xander was in charge, and since when is this /your/ library?"
"Are you messing with me," Willow growled at the Amazon, neither of them free of the effects of frustration and stress about not fining one.
"Focus here!" Xander called out, refinding some of his equilibrium. "How do we get Eyghon out of Jenny without killing her?"
"Get it a new corpse to jump in?" Cordelia wondered out loud.
"What? Dig one up out of a cemetery?" Lotion asked her in confusion.
Xander shook his head sadly, "Or lure her in one, but that still won't make it jump bodies. It can only manifest fully in a living body."
"Oh!" Willow exclaimed, and then her face lit up. Gesturing with her hand they should follow her, Willow continued, "Oh, oh, I got it! I got it!" She ran out the library.
"She's good," Xander said with a huge grin, as he and the remaining two girls started following.
"How do you know that? We don't even know what she's got," Lotion questioned him curious.
"We get Angel!" Willow called behind her as they caught up with the redhead.
Cordelia blinked, "Angel!? What can h- . . ."
Her eyes widened then and she turned her head to look at Lotion jogging next to her. Reluctantly both of them admitted to each other, "She /is/ good."
-----
Buffy opened the door to Ethan's shop, and found the man in a defensive stance holding a heavy object - a fire extinguisher it seemed. "Ah, it's you," he said, lowering his weapon just a bit - enough to show he wasn't going to attack her right away, but kept it high enough to use defensively right away.
"Ethan," Buffy said surly, walking in.
"Are you here to reel me in, so to speak?" the British man asked her warily.
"No," Buffy spoke taking another step closer. She looked up at him, and said, "I would prefer to let Eyghon take you apart, but if you're dead, Eyghon will come after Giles. Keeping you alive, means keeping him alive."
"I am grateful for your altruism," Ethan commented dryly.
Buffy gave him a quick glare, and then - looking around the barren shop - she asked, "Is there a backdoor to this place?"
"Yes, it's in the back," he told her sarcastically.
"Okay, I think we should go out that way, make sure we can leave that way at least," Buffy said, taking charge.
"Ladies first," Ethan said gesturing to the back. Buffy looked at him suspicious. Ethan offered in explanation, "You know us Brits, we're sticklers for etiquette - we'd pause saving or destroying the world to get our afternoon tea."
Buffy shrugged and walked forward. "We should also- . . ." she started. She stopped talking with a groan as the extinguisher slammed on the back of her head and neck. Completely unprepared for the impact, she slumped into unconsciousness.
"Nighty night," Ethan commented with a smile.
-----
With a light groan Buffy awoke, and frowned. Why was she face down on a stretcher or table? And why were her hands bound wrapped tightly around said rather wide table? The events slammed back into her, and she pulled with her hands. Give someone a long enough lever, a solid place to stand on and he'll move the world also works the other way. Someone may be strong enough to actually move the world all on his own, but if he or she can't get the leverage, the world won't budge a millimeter, no matter how hard he or she tried. So too with rope. Buffy quickly found there was no way for her to tear the rope apart. Trying to reach the knot proved futile too as she found the man responsible with her eyes.
"Ah, good of you to wake up," the Brit spoke with a smile as he wheeled over a cart with ink - tattoo ink.
"Ethan," Buffy spoke with a little fear, moving her hands and rope below the table up and down, left and right. "It isn't safe here, I can protect you, you let me go."
"No, you protecting me, is why you're there," Ethan said, firing up the tattoo needle, "you my dear, are going to take Eyghon off my back." He moved his needle over to her neck, much to Buffy's apprehension as well as relief. It didn't seem he was going to kill her. "Now hold still, you don't want me to accidentally harm you, do you?" Buffy gritted her teeth as Ethan prepared to tattoo her with something. Her eyes widened a moment when the rope snagged onto something, it felt like a nail or something. Quickly she started to slide the rope forcefully along its edge. "Oh, and don't worry, this will only hurt a bit, just until the fiery agony will kick in," Ethan said with an evil smile.
-----
"There, done," Ethan said, with a smile. He looked down at his handy work, while Buffy continued to shave the rope along the nail, having had to force back crying at indeed, agony. "I was never much of an artist, but it looks pretty good even if I do say so myself."
-----
Giles' eyes widened at the sudden flash in his mind. He half fell to the ground, seeing flashes of Buffy tied to the table; the mark of Eyghon tattooed on the back of her neck. A similar vision to the dreams and visions he'd been plagued with for a while. "Buffy," he said shocked. "No!"
"Ethan," he then growled. He got up, and went out the door.
-----
Buffy watched as Ethan casually put the needle away, and then grabbed a bottle with a liquid. She just managed to make out HCl on the label. Buffy wasn't too good at chemistry, but she new HCL: hydrochloride acid. Her eyes widened with fear, and she started moving the rope along the nail much faster.
"Oh, don't worry, this isn't for you, it's for me," Ethan said as he rolled up his sleeve revealing quite muscular arms. And why the hell did she focus on that? Stupid Slayer hormones! Ethan uncorked the bottle, and brought it closer to his arm - to his tattoo. He took a deep breath, and then placed the mouth of the bottle on his skin, tipping it over. "NNGGhh!" he groaned as the acid started burning away the upper layer of his skin, and with it: the Mark of Eyghon.
It took Ethan about fifteen seconds to move the acid over every part of the tattoo and remove it completely. When he did, he breathed a sigh of relief and put the bottle back with the rest. Then he got out some bandages and started bandaging the wound he gave himself. When he was done with that, he said, "I hate to mutilate and run, but goodbye anyway. Have fun with the demon." He then started to leave, but stopped in his tracks halfway to the front door. There was an eery silence, an eery green glow coming through the front windows and door, and an equally eery and chilling sensation in the air. A moment later there was a silhouette in the door window, one that promptly opened the door.
A demonic Jenny walked in grinning. "Ethan, it's time," Eyghon spoke with a heavy voice. She hesitated, sniffed the air, and switched her gaze to Buffy, and then her deadly smile returned. She pushed Ethan aside and advanced on Buffy, who just finished sawing through the rope. It split apart, and she got off the table. She slammed her fist into Eyghon's chest and the demonic being staggered a few steps back. She kicked out, but Eyghon blocked it, and then slammed a fist across her left cheek. Buffy staggered back as well, and tumbled over the table, which Eyghon picked up. Buffy shook her head to clear it and got up, kicking out, but hitting the table instead of the demon. Eyghon then charged forward, pushing Buffy along and slamming her against the wall, and the table against her. The Slayer groaned out, slumping down a bit as Eyghon tossed the table aside.
Giles chose that moment to enter the shop. "No! Eyghon! Take me instead!" he called out seeing what was happening, and Eyghon slowly turned around regarding Giles.
Eyghon smiled, and decided Giles was a tastier morsel. He walked over. Buffy was back up, and yelled, "NO!" She then quickly ran in between Eyghon and Giles, and she said, "No further."
Eyghon just waved Jenny's hand and Buffy was pushed aside, launched off her feet by some invisible force. With a growl she punched Giles in the gut, and tossed him over. Eyghon was standing over Giles and was about to strike when the door opened, the bell sounding again. "Hey, she-bitch!" Lexa called out, bringing Eyghon's attention to her and Lotion who came in with her. Eyghon sneered.
"Yeah, you, with the ugly face," Lotion added with a deadly smirk.
Eyghon growled and turned around as Lexa and Lotion advanced. Eyghon used two hands now, one on either teen, just like he used it on Buffy earlier. To the demon's surprise it was as if pushing the two with his hands and they were able to push back, keeping from being launched off their feet. Then two feet kicked out landing squarely on Eyghon's chest and he staggered back.
The door to the shop opened again, and Angel came in. "Well, hop to it, Vampire Guy, do your worst, we don't have all night," Lexa told him, pointing at Eyghon with his thumb. The souled vampire gave Lexa a quick annoyed look and then charged forward. He punched Eyghon in the gut, and then grabbed him turning him around. As an out of breath Willow and Cordelia entered, Angel grabbed Eyghon by Jenny's neck, and started squeezing.
Lexa went to help Buffy up, even as Willow went to Giles who said in panic and anger, "He's killing him."
"No, trust me," Willow quickly said, "this will work."
Jenny's body was starting to run out of air, and then the demonic visage on her face disappeared. She jerked back, as Angel did the same. His hands left her throat, and instinctively she sucked in air. Giles came over holding her, as Angel jerked further back. Some ethereal growls, not coming from Angel's mouth came from him. He jerked back and forward, while he looked on with wide eyes and gasped on occasion. Inside him the growls continued, as he went further rigid, his chest showed something trying to pull it apart. His face momentarily changed to that of Eyghon, then it disappeared again. Several more growls and jerks later, he went quiet and sank to the floor on his ass.
Buffy quickly went over, as did Willow. Buffy then looked at Willow and said, "You knew that if Eyghon was in trouble, he would jump to the nearest dead body."
"And it jumped," Angel said, while catching his breath. He slowly got up, helped by Buffy, and he added, "the demon inside me hasn't had a good fight in a century, he was just itching for one."
"Winner and still champion," Buffy said with a little pride, as Lexa looked at the scene with annoyance.
Giles took Jenny along in a hug toward the exit. Lotion blinked looking around the shop, and said, "Uh, Ethan-guy got away again, I think."
"Damn," Lexa pouted, tapping her foot. "And I was looking forward to beating him into the hospital too."
"Harsh," Buffy replied, smiling. "I was only going for blood."
"That's me, no mercy," Lexa added with a grin.
Lotion blinked, and said, "You two would make good Amazons." Buffy, Cordelia, and Willow scowled at the Amazon.
Cordelia lighted up, and said, "Well at least it's over. It is over, right?"
-----
Sunnydale Highschool
Monday
The three of them walked across the school grounds. The Scooby Gang, minus one, the Three Musketeers: amazing friends. Three girls all, all three wearing skirts. "Did you guys hear me? 'Hey, she-bitch.' I've always wanted to say that," Lexa spoke with a huge grin.
Buffy and Willow smiled large smiles. It had to be the thousandth time they had heard it over the past day and the night before, but they still couldn't keep their smiles of their faces. "That's like what? The millionth time you said that?" Unfortunately for Lexa, the same could not be said for the queen of Sunnydale High who just arrived. Unfortunately for Willow and Buffy, although Cordelia rolled her eyes, she wasn't speaking with a dismissing tone.
"What do you want, Cordelia?" Willow told the cheerleader with a glare.
"I can't say 'hi' to a friend?" Cordelia said indicating the only person who could contest Cordelia's title of 'Queen'.
"You didn't say 'hi'," Buffy pointed out with folded arms.
"Hi," Cordelia greeted Lexa with a smile, who grinned at her.
Willow then said, rather rudely, "Now you said 'hi'."
Cordelia rolled her eyes, turned to walk away, and as she did so, told Willow dismissively, "Pissy." As Cordelia walked off, Willow looked perturbed.
"I wasn't pissy, was I?" Willow asked uncertain.
"I bit more with the piss, than with the 'y'," Lexa told her with a smile.
Buffy nodded, and told Willow, "Sorry, Will."
-----
"Jenny," Giles said, slowing the other teacher down. Jenny walked over to the stairs, and Giles slid next to her, students walking around them in the halls. "I-I wanted to ask how you were."
Jenny stepped onto the stairs and turned around. "Good," she answered him, and then made a not-quite gesture with her mouth and head. "Well, not hair-in-the-wind-sound-of-music-in-the-mountains- good, but I'm coping."
"Ah, yes, I wanted to tell you I would like to help . . . with the coping," Giles replied nervously. "W-we could talk, if you want?"
Jenny thought it over, and said, "Yeah, that would be great, sometime."
Giles smiled weakly and reached over to her. Jenny flinched back, folded her arms defensively over her chest, and repeated, "Sometime." She then turned to her left and continued up the stairs.
Giles watched her go, and then turned away, walking onward. He found Buffy there, waiting, and she asked, "How is it?"
"Music doesn't sound in the mountains," Giles answered her.
Buffy smiled weakly, telling him, "Don't know what it means, but it doesn't sound good."
"She might never forgive me. I don't know if she should," Giles told Buffy sadly as they walked onward.
The Slayer turned around, and stopped. "Perhaps you should," she told him.
Giles looked down, giving her a weak smile. "And you?, I'm sorry you had to witness me like that," Giles said guiltily, leaning back against a wall. Buffy did the same next to him.
Buffy grinned warily, and said, "Good, a little less at first. I must admit, seeing that side of you scared me at first. You are always . . . such an adult, and now I find out you're a person."
"Yes, most adults are," Giles answered wryly. "Some are even shortsighted foolish ones."
Buffy smiled at up at him, stood away from the wall, and said, "At least we've learned something: we have at least that in common." Giles smiled again. She then pulled out a CD and said, "You know I think the others are ready to be training again. I brought this music in case Xander doesn't want to think yet." Giles eyebrows raised, and Buffy smiled. "Come one, you know you want to say it, it will make you feel better."
"That's not music, it's meaningless sounds," Giles said half for real, half dryly.
"See, that's the spirit," she said and turned around. Giles followed her.
"The Bay City Rollers, now that's music," he said as he pushed open a door, Buffy easily walking underneath his arm, groaning.
To Be Continued . . .
Author's Notes:
Sorry it took so long. It just refused to come out, same thing with Buffy Z the next episode I'll be focusing on now. Took a week this thing, and I know it isn't so good, TOO much like the episode. Anyway, the next double episode I'll use as well, except that I'm going to make it VERY different, just a few basic events should stay the same. After that, there would be only one episode left of which would mostly stay the same, and then it's all new stuff, with the exception of a few snippets here and there. I hope you guys like it anyway!