Xander had managed to get in three more hours of work before Riley showed up and warned him there was only an hour before curfew.
"Thanks Riley, I appreciate it," he said as the last of the day's work was actually over, "And if you remember some of the stranger thins last night, we've come up with a few more suggestions for your security tonight."
"Really?" the young officer considered, "What in particular?"
"Well, if you simply keep the lights on in these areas, and Giles has gone over my guesstimates, so we have the power, all of the approaches are covered for quite a distance, which should keep away most of the possible troublemakers, and give you a good feel of fire if 'rioters' on pcp appear."
"O-o-okay," Riley drew out, "And what else?"
"We've the outdoor and indoor sprinkler systems adjusted to include a mild cleansing solution, won't bother us, but for some reason guys on pcp seem to suffer great…eye irritation…when it gets 'em, so you might try these controls Willow and the computer club have rigged up and tested for you."
"Okay, thanks, you sleeping here or heading over to the Chase place with the others?"
"I'm going, but Hondo's asleep up in the stacks with Doyle and Street if you need any 'native guides.' Angel's going with me and Sherman"
"Thanks, Alex," the young officer said shaking his hand, "I appreciate all the help you and your friends have put in."
"Hey, it was a group effort, Riley, a group effort, and tell your guys thanks from us, too," Xander said, walking out the door, and whistling for the pack.
The jog to the Chase estate had only taken forty minutes, the great wolves keeping the three men company, and easing Xander's mind with their straight-forward primitive thinking. As the sun began to set, they noticed a group of six vampires rising out of a manhole near the zoo, newly turned from the look of them.
Sherman watched as his young friend smiled and whistled almost out of human hearing range with a distant look in his eyes as the moonlight sowed down.
"What was that Xander?" Angel asked, wincing.
"Calling for a little help," Xander replied, "We'll see if the old abilities came back to me with the old skills." They waited about five minutes, when a fluttering brought their eyes to rest upon a pair of owls landing near by, and as another great wolf slowly approached the clearing near the rear entrance. Sherman and Angel watched as Xander moved slowly toward the owls, and slowly explained to the birds how he wanted them to fly over the zoo and get very good looks at the ones stirring up noise. They flew off.
"Xander," Angel asked, "how do you do that thing with your voice? I can feel you in my head when you do that, and that high pitched edge on your voice is kinda painful." Everyone including Xander raised eyebrows at this, even as four more great wolves trotted up and greeted them.
:How about this Dead-Boy: Xander focused mentally, then when Angel just stared at him, he tried it again with the whistle as low as possible but the pitch the same as when talking to the owls.
"I heard that!" Angel said, then tried :I heard that:
"I guess I can send but not receive," Xander says, "Coolness, still."
"Did you guys just talk mentally?" Sherman asked as he finished handing off equipment and such to the others.
"Yeah," Angel remarked, "and that ultrasonic-edge seems to act as an attention getter and carrier wave."
"Okay, we ready," Xander asked, his two human and five great wolf companions indicating they were. Quickly they raced forward, the vampires surprised to see such a group charging, but too hungry to care.
Xander and Sherman pulled down shot guns, halted briefly, and fired twice each into the group, causing pain and outrage as the wolves charged forward and Angel angled back in from the flank with a drawn wooden sword. Each of the wolves leapt into the air and knocked over hunger-blinded opponents, humans charging in with wooden swords to stab and dust the newbies. A minute later, and all was quiet again.
"Crap," Xander whispered as he and Sherman topped off their shot guns, "I hope this doesn't mean a whole bunch of newbies running around tonight."
"I don't know," Angel considered, "It seemed they were in it mostly for the killing last night."
"Well, with our slayers needing their sleep," Xander sighed, "and us too, let's just recon the zoo and keep heading to Cordelia's place." The two men agreed with nods as first one, then another, of the great owls landed and seemed to communicate with the young Lord of the Jungle.
"Okay, seems a couple a vamps thought they'd eat themselves a horse, or a zebra in this case, but took a shortcut through the lion enclosure. So let's keep going."
"How do you…do that?" Angel asked.
"I seem to get memory pictures of what they saw, plus some of the… feelings, too, I guess."
The sun had set as they closed the gate behind them and made their way up the drive, adjusting their sleeping bags and weapons as they went. Xander was about to toss toward the bushes a dozen steaks he'd requisitioned for his canine family earlier in the day, when he could smell the grilling of meet from the back areas.
"Well Magnus, front or back?" he asked his wolf-beta/lieutenant, "Your call." The great wolf looked carefully, then trotted up regally to the front door, hopped up and rang the bell. As Xander and the others of the pack arrived, Cordelia and Willow answered the door.
"Xander!" Willow exclaimed happily, placing a solid kiss on his lips and molding herself briefly to the young Alpha, "You're finally here." Cordelia looked at the wolves, Magnus obviously presenting his head for a petting, which she tolerantly bestowed on him.
"You gonna behave if I let you through the house?" Cordelia joked at the great wolf, who seemed to like her a lot, "Come on…"
The three men, one with a redhead attached to his side, headed in and through the house, noting the gold features.
"Cordelia…"
"Daddy went as Midas last night, mother as Helen of Troy, nothing more said, understand?" Cordelia directed without turning back, then the men looked at some of the positions of the items.
"Oh…" the three intoned, and left it at that except for silly male grins.
The unusual group was escorted out to what appeared to be a large pool party underway, with the Chases 'letting their hair down' for the first time since their college years. Reggie was talking to Hank, Sir David, and Rupert, while Joyce, Buffy and Dawn were discussing various things with the Chase women, Cordelia breaking off to join her mother and sisters. Charles and his sister were in lawn chairs sipping sodas and joking with Jenny, Regan's boyfriend, Kendra and Ampa, cheering up the Jamaican slayer who had lost her Watcher the previous night. Ampa looked a little lost, and somewhat confused, though she really seemed to try helping Kendra.
Xander looked over at Ampa, and wondered what was missing, but couldn't quite place it, so he leaned over and asked Willow.
"Wills? Is there something different about Ampa?" They watched as she got up and came over, matching the kiss Willow had given him a few moments earlier, "Ampa, you okay?"
"Yes, I think," she said, "And, and I think I'm different somehow."
Yeah, you're completely human," Willow assured her, giving a side hug, "But now that you mention it, something seems different." They noticed as Magnus came up and started smelling her. Xander looked at the canine and whistled, then inhaled deeply around both Willow and Ampa, then whistled again at Magnus. The large wolf headed over to where Sherman was giving out to the wolves the steaks Xander'd gotten earlier.
"You don't have the strong phermones anymore," Xander considered, then with wider eyes, "The pheromones that had us ready to form our own pack sometimes." He looked back and considered what that meant, slowly trying to remember any time when Ampa had seemed to exude more, or try something clearly wrong, and with the scent in mind, remembered how strong it was from the first meeting until Ampa first started to draw energy without draining a host.
"What Xander?" Willow asked, looking concerned.
"Let's head over toward the pool," he told them, indicating a few empty chairs away from the others, and when they sat down continued, "First, no one's to blame, okay, but Willow, right after the whole Sheila thing, why weren't we less forgiving, since Sheila was becoming one of our friends?"
"I don't know," she responded, and Ampa looked concerned but confused, also shaking her head.
"I think that part of the mummy's power of persuasion was pheromonal," he said, "And now that Magnus seems to have pointed out, hundred percent human Ampa isn't putting out anywhere near that amount as when we first met her, or much at all since she stopped draining people."
Ampa started to cry, breaking down in horror, then got up and started to run away when first Xander and then Willow got up and stopped her.
"You didn't know, did you Ampa?" he asked. She shook her head strongly, still crying.
"Are we a lie?" she sobbed out, looking stricken as she met their eyes.
"No," Willow told her softly, "If you didn't know, and we didn't know, we're fine. And what we feel isn't just lust, is it?" She looked at Xander and Ampa.
"No," both of them told the redhead, feeling very awkward about their start, but better about where they were now, since Ampa was without any doubt human.
"Then we're just fine," the pretty brainiac told them. There was a moment of comfortable silence before Mr. Chase and Mr. Summers both exclaimed.
"My daughter's a what!"
"You two go have fun," Xander smiled a tired smile, "It looks like I have 'one more mile to go before I sleep.'"