Chapter 8 – Future Partners
Xander woke up feeling rather well. He had a dreamless and peaceful sleep. His parents seemed to still be knocked out from the booze last night, so he took a quick shower, got dressed and he was out of the door in less than fifteen minutes. It was a beautiful Californian day, sun high in the sky and no clouds in sight.
He was so happy that he began whistling while walking to school. At that precise moment, if the Master or Angelus appeared in front of him, he would probably tell them to sit down and tell some dirty jokes.
Damn, he was He-Man. Defender of the Secrets of Castle Grayskull. The Most Powerful Man in the Universe. Heir to Power.
And his best bud was She-Ra. Princess of Power. Heir to Honor.
He stopped walking when the thought hit. Damn, the Hellmouth was strange. But he never thought it would be this strange.
He continued the trek to the utmost evil in the known world, Sunnydale High. But he kept on whistling. When he was about a couple of blocks from school, he noticed it: someone or something was following him. And being followed on a Hellmouth was not of the good.
He deviated from his way a bit, taking two unnecessary turns, extending his walk quite a bit. But it didn't help. Whoever, or whatever it was, it was pretty good in doing it. So, he had two options: run away or face it.
He optioned for both, run away and face it in a crowded place. So, his best option at the moment was school. He set a brisk pace, and the tail followed him until he approached the school. When Xander felt he was close enough to confront whatever it was and not cause too large a ruckus if it was avoidable, he turned around.
What he saw struck him quite oddly.
It was a dog. An adult siberian husky, if he was not mistaken. Light brown with blue eyes and a pink nose. And quite well treated to be abandoned. Xander calmed down some, but his hellmouth paranoia didn't diminish in full. It could be some sort of disguised demon.
"Hey, boy, come on, go home. Stop following me, all right?" he asked, turning around and walking to school.
The dog followed his footsteps. Xander turned again.
"C'mon, boy, go home. This is a school. A human school with a very annoying principal. Dogs aren't allowed, ok?"
The dog sat down, looking at him as if saying 'What's that gotta do with me?'
"Go home, please?" Xander pleaded, but the husky remained impassive. The teenager walked a few more steps, a couple of people already noticing the situation. He turned one last time, the dog had walked a few more steps. That was odd in itself: the dog was following him, but it was keeping his distance. And by Xander's observation, it was always the same distance. To test, Xander walked two steps backwards, the dog walked two steps. He walked another one, the dog too.
"Well, well. It seems as if you're not gonna let me be. Fine, but I have a class to go to. Follow me all that you want, but don't go inside the school, Snyder's gonna eat my hide and yours if he finds you."
Xander turned finally and walked inside the campus. The dog, almost obediently, sat on the outside, right next to the stair steps. The youngster had found all of that extremely wiggy, so he needed some support, Slayer-style. He found her a couple of minutes later, talking to Willow.
"Hey, Xand, how's it going?" Buffy asked when she finally looked at him.
"Hi, Buff, Wills. Extremely wigsome. Can you give me a hand?" He asked, worried voice. Willow looked over his shoulder, searching for trouble.
"Sure. What happened?"
"I was followed to school." Xander asked, motioning for her to follow.
"By what?" She asked, Slayer-mode fully active. Willow was following behind, mind searching for possible places to change.
"That's what I want you to find out."
The trio quickly went to the school's entrance. Xander noticed that the dog was being looked by everyone who was coming in, but no one was bothering him, or vice versa.
"So, who followed you?" Buffy asked. Her Slay-dar was picking up nothing at all.
"Him." He pointed to the dog.
"Who? The dog?"
Xander nodded. Buffy approached the dog, all senses focused on the animal. Nothing, to her it was a normal dog.
"Slayer senses are cool. Willow?"
Willow focused for a few moments, eyes locked on the animal. One eyebrow lifted up, but her opinion was the same. Nothing.
"So, you guys saying this mutt..." Xander spoke.
"Not mutt. Dog. A beautiful dog." Willow quipped.
"All right, dog, followed me here because???"
"You smell like dog food?" Buffy joked.
"He found out that you are a kindred spirit?" Willow continued.
"He thinks you..." Buffy was gonna hit him again when he raised his hands.
"All right, all right, I get the joke. Let's go, we're gonna be late."
Willow looked at her watch, screamed "Class!" and took off running. Both her friends followed, but at a much slower pace.
Willow found him at the cafeteria, shoving food in his mouth at his common pace. She sat at his side, too accustomed to it to even bother. He was educated enough at least not to speak to her with his mouth full. She waited a bit, while he gulped the rest of the food.
"Hey, Willow. What's up?"
"Remember what I said about the dog?" she asked, in a low tone. They were in a pretty secluded spot in the cafeteria, and the rest of people didn't mix up with them.
"Yep."
"Wasn't being entirely truthful. I saw something."
"What something?" he asked, worried.
"I'm not too good at seeing auras, but what I saw make me wonder. Your auras are pretty much the same."
"The same? The same as what?"
"I don't know. Brothers? Kindred spirits?" Willow concluded.
Xander stopped to think about it. In seconds his mind formulated a theory.
"Willow, I have an idea. Care to test with me later on, if our canine friend continues with it?"
"Sure. Where?"
"We have to speak with Dawn after school. After that. In the scrap yard."
"Again? What's your idea?"
Xander rose from the bench with his tray in hand. He looked in her eyes, and spoke.
"Battle Cat."
Xander was leaving school. He had ran between classes to check on the dog, who was still sitting at the same place. Buffy was at his side, and she had an idea to follow him home, to see if the dog would do something Hellmouthy.
"Come on, pal, let's go." He said, signaling the dog to follow him.
The dog obeyed, but he still maintained the same distance from them like in the morning. When they were midway between the school and Xander's house, the dog stopped, and began whining. Xander and Buffy kept looking at him, while he was running in circles and stopping.
"What this nutso wants?"
Buffy looked at the strange behavior, and prompted, "I think he wants us to follow him."
The husky seemed to understand, and he barked once.
"I guess you're right, Buff. Care to?"
"Sure."
The dog began to walk in another direction at a brisk pace. He seemed to know exactly where he was going. He didn't deviate from the way once and he only stopped to sniff the air once or twice along the way. Soon, they were stopping in front of a house quite a ways from school and Xander's home.
What Buffy and Xander saw wasn't much comforting. Sunnydale PD's yellow "DO NOT CROSS" bands crisscrossed the front door. Inside the gate there was a dog's house with the name "Ares" painted on top of it.
"That's who you are, boy? Ares? Are you Ares, big boy?" Xander asked the dog, who shagged his tail vigorously and barked when he heard the name.
"So, we have Ares." Buffy said, opening the front gate "Let's check?"
"Sure."
They walked to the front door. Xander cut the bands with his folding knife, and Buffy opened the door using a little of the slayer strength. The markings on the living room told all the story, two sets of chalked contours on the ground, one not too apart from the other, and some furniture turned ways. And not a drop of blood anywhere.
"Vamp attack." Xander spoke somberly, while checking the room. Ares was tailing him, this time more closely.
"Yeah." Buffy answered, her voice almost inexistent. Two more lives she wasn't able to save. Damn the Hellmouth.
They walked all of the first floor. Xander found out some pictures showing an elderly couple and the dog at their side. The same dog who had been following him all this morning.
He and Ares went to the corridor and to the stairs to second floor.
"Buffy, gonna check upstairs." He called.
"Be careful!" she spoke back from another room.
Ares followed in front, knowing the way. They entered what was probably the master bedroom, the husky instantly going to the nightstand. Ares sniffed and whined over a small black book on top of it. Xander picked it up, looking at it with interest. It was a diary, and a well used one. Out of sheer curiosity, Xander looked at the last entry, last night.
"Ares is acting up again. He is still howling to the moon outside. I swear to God I'm going to lock him up if he continues it. He is skittish since early. John said that in their walk he kept on pushing to go onto another direction. What does that dog wants? He was always so smart, and now he's doing this? I think" And the entry stopped right there, probably one of them went out to answer the door or to make Ares stop whining.
"You saw who did it to them, Ares? Did you?"
Ares looked into Xander's eyes, those blue depths transmitting so much more information than if the dog could talk.
"All right, boy, if I'm right, and I think I am, after we test it, wanna go hunting?"
The dog barked, once.
They left the room, the diary safely secure in Xander's backpack, and they went to find Buffy. Xander found her at the kitchen.
"Found anything?" He asked.
"No. You?"
"Not a thing. Wanna go?"
"Sure. And the dog?" She asked.
'Goes with me." Ares barked, as if confirming.
"All right."
They left the home behind, careful not to leave any fingerprints behind. Not that SPD would do much about it, there were too many 'gangs on PCP' attacks like these for them to bother.
"Tonight I'm gonna hunt the bastards who did that." Buffy said, pointing behind her.
'Not if I pick them first.' Vowed Xander, in his mind, looking at the dog walking at his side.
- To be continued -