Chapter Four
Tess turned to her new friends, "Guys this is Buffy Summers."
"Hey," Buffy said waving slightly to the group. Spike had walked over to her, wrapping his arms around her from the back.
Faith made a gagging face at Tess who merely rolled her eyes. It was cute.
"So B, you're early." Faith mentioned to her friend. "I wasn't expecting you for another day or two."
"Yeah well, Spike here wanted to come early to make sure that it wasn't like last time."
"Hey, I can't help it if I'm overprotective," Spike muttered making Buffy smile.
There was a pause, "If what was like last time?" Liz asked, naturally curious.
Buffy sighed, "Well, you see, the last time that Nasaedo took Tess to live somewhere besides Sunnydale, long term, she sent us all these letters saying that she was fine. That she was joining clubs, making friends, trying out for teams, and fitting in…"
"Only, she wasn't," Spike added, "Were you?" He looked at Tess, who glanced away as though a child being scolded.
Buffy shook her head at her beau's reaction, turning to look back at the group, "Anyway, we went to visit her…and it was nothing like her letters. Everyone in school shunned her, and were just really cruel to her. Especially that one group who just wanted to make her life a living hell, I mean it took a lot out of us just to keep Spike from going vamp on their as…"
A loud, rough cough from Faith, as well as many cut throat motions and nods towards the group cut Buffy off.
"Well…" Buffy said, recovering from her slip, "We just wanted to make sure that Tess was being honest this time."
But unfortunately her recovery wasn't that smooth, "What's Vamp?" Alex asked this time.
Buffy, Faith and Spike just looked at each other when Tess covered, "You know, vamp, turn on, to entice them. Basically he tried to fool them into thinking he was my boy friend, and get them all interested in me…it didn't work obviously. I mean, I know that I'm not that most beautiful rose in the bouquet."
Kyle and Jim jumped on this, spouting about how Tess was very beautiful. Max however stood there, mouth open in disbelief…Tess thought she was ugly!
"So…" Tess' voice cut in, "Faith, can you introduce Spike to these guys while I talk to B for a minute?" Faith nodded as Tess dragged Buffy off to the side.
"So what did you want to talk about?" Buffy said, almost knowing what Tess wanted to talk about.
"Well…you know how you and Fae are slayers…and how demons and vamps follow you…" At Buffy's nod, she continued, "Well, I was just wondering if maybe one or two may have…what I mean to say is if…"
"If we brought you anything to brush the dust off of Mr. Pointy Jr.?" Buffy finished. Tess nodded, "Of course we did, can't let you get rusty can we?"
Tess jumped up in place, knocking the wind out of the slayer as she hugged her, "Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!"
As soon as she regained her breathe, Buffy spoke, "I must say Tess, I haven't seen you this excited about patrolling since…ever…"
"I know," Tess said, leading Buffy back to the group, "But I haven't staked a decent vamp in…forever…"
"True, the best ones are in Sunnydale…"
"So…" Tess said, stepping back up to the group, "I guess we should all be heading home now."
"Yeah," Faith added, "It is pretty late…getting dark…" She added when no one moved.
Tess elbowed Kyle, who gave a small 'ow' when Tess threw a meaningful glare at him. A second later he got the picture. "Oh…oh yeah, it is getting late," He yawned to emphasize this, "Best be hitting the sack… Come on dad…" He said dragging the serif off.
Maria scoffed at this, locking arms with Michael before trying to drag him off…he didn't budge. Instead he stepped closer to Isabel. Maria glared at him before turning to Liz and Alex. "Come on guys." She didn't give them a chance to speak as she dragged them off.
Liz called to Max over her shoulder, but Max was staring intently at Tess…something was going on…
"So…" Tess said once it was just the gang and the pod squad, "I'm just gonna go catch up on stuff, see you later."
Then she turned on her heels and walked off leaving the squad in the dust.
"What now Maxwell?" Michael asked.
"Something is going on with them." He muttered, "And I'm going to find out what…"
He headed off, keeping a good distance behind the group.
Michael sighed to himself, before turning to Isabel, extending a hand to her, "Shall we?"
Isabel took his hand, pushing the tingly feelings down, and heading off with Michael. "I think maybe we should wait till Tess is ready to tell us what's going on…Max? Max!"
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"Oh my God," Tess said, Pulling her Sleeveless blue knee length dress over her shoulder to reveal a blue spaghetti strap shirt with black knee length stretchy pants. "I can not wait," She kicked off her heels, pulling out black converse from her purse. She looked up at the incredulous looks that Spike and Buffy were giving her, "What?"
"Preparing for this Tess?" Buffy asked as Spike laughed.
"Never hurts to be prepared B," Faith said stepping up, wearing pretty much the same thing as Tess but with a red top. She was holding her black dress crumpled in her hand. "Catch," She said tossing the heap to Buffy. She reached up to put her hair in a ponytail, at just about the same time that Tess put her hair in a bun.
They looked at each other, "Great minds think alike," They said laughing.
"Man, you two have been spending way too much time together," Spike said, shaking his head at them.
Tess was about to open her mouth to retort when Faith and Buffy tensed. Tess looked at the ground concentrating on listening to and sounds that may indicate a threat coming nearer. There were five sets of footsteps coming closer to them. Buffy looked at Spike, giving him a quick nod.
He nodded in return before jumping up on top of a mausoleum to watch. He was not on good terms with the vampire community, and sigh Buffy thought that it would be best if he sit out the next few fights until things cooled down. He was only allowed to get involved if things got too heavy. (makes whipping noise)
Tess listened more carefully, smirked, and picked up her Mr. Pointy Jr. They waited for the vamps to show, but didn't have to wait long…
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Max, Isabel, and Michael snuck up among the trees, crouching low so as to not be seen by the three women.
"What are they doing?" Michael asked. So far it just seemed like the girls were just standing there.
"I don't know…" Max replied, eyes on Tess. She was smirking, holding something in her hand, body tense as if waiting for something.
After a moment more, Isabel spoke, "Who are they?"
Five mysterious men had just walked into the little clearing in the cemetery.
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"Well look who finally decided to join the party," Faith said, taking a step towards the men, "You weren't going to leave us waiting were you?" She asked, pouting.
The men nodded to each other, "Bet we look good enough to eat," Buffy taunted.
The men nodded again, "Well," Tess added, "Too bad…" Then in a move that the pod squad almost missed, Tess threw the stake right at the center man, hitting him right in the heart.
Michael quickly put a hand over Isabel's mouth to muffle the scream. She didn't know what terrified her more, the fact that Tess killed someone, or the fact that the men now had hideously demonic faces.
The four remaining men attacked, one after Faith, one for Buffy, and, to Tess' delight, two for her.
They fought like nothing the pod squad had ever seen. Buffy and Faith seemed to have more strength than Tess, but Tess seemed to have a natural agility and gracefulness about her that had Max entranced.
Buffy and Faith had both finished off their monsters, and Tess had finished off one of hers.
The monster had Tess in a hold, her back pressed against his front. He opened his mouth, elongated fangs about to dig into her neck. Faith and Buffy stepped up to help, when Tess suddenly did a high kick, hitting the monster right in the face by her shoulder. She spun around quickly, hair flying out of her bun, to plunge the stake into his heart. Dust erupted where the man had once been, not a trace of him left.
Tess stood erect eyeing the trees, slightly pale, and glanced back at her friends curious looks before retuning her attention to the bunch of greenery before her. Spike jumped down from the mausoleum, stepping next to his girl.
"You guys can come out now," she shouted to no one in particular, "I know you're there."
"Who are…" Buffy started when Max and Michael stepped out from behind the trees, a shocked Isabel held safely in Michael's arms.
There was silence…
"…shit," Faith said.
A/N – Why was Isabel so keen to wait? Did she know something? How will the pod squad react to the new Tess?