Zack had wizened up this time and instead drove Beth back to her house in his car instead of his cousin's motorcycle. She had explained to him that just about any man who had a daughter instinctively knew the sound of a motorcycle engine. He seemed skeptical, but when she also reminded him of her dad's ability to remove people's spines with little to no fuss, he was more inclined to agree with her about a change in transportation. While a car was not silent, it didn't reverberate through the streets as loudly as a motorcycle did.
It was nearing four a.m. when he finally pulled up behind her backyard. She had class tomorrow and would likely sleep through both history and math, but it was a risk she was willing to take. Ever since her father had ordered that the farthest Beth get in magic was meditation, and Willow running off to the magic shop—and for some reason for coffee all of the time—she had to get her kicks somewhere else. Even though her slayer status no longer made it as covetable as it was before (becoming a magic-wielding slayer with a fangy side seemed a little bit like overdoing it), she still thought it was cool. And she liked hanging out with Zack. Sure, she got to do it during normal hours too, but it was different when Nadja wasn't around to complain about her cousin. Besides, what teen didn't sneak out of the house past curfew? She had to live a little, after all.
"I hope our whole spiritual circle isn't too boring for you," he said.
"It's not," she assured, giving him a smile that made him flustered. "It's fun. And besides, it's nice to spend time with you."
Cue the awkward as he made a small, weak laughing sound, but said nothing in response. His hands did the thing again where they wandered aimlessly through air and across his lap as he lost sight of where he wanted to put them.
Used to it, she repressed a smile and said, "Well, I should probably head out. Get some more sleep before school tomorrow."
"Yeah," he said, finally resting his hands on the steering wheel.
She opened the car door, cold air slipping right in. "Beth," he blurted out. She turned to look at him. "Ah, um, good night."
She made a funny face at him, but replied, "Night, Zack." He looked like he wanted to say more, but she exited the car without any further interruption. For the most part, he was pretty normal around her, but sometimes he got weird. He could be so awkward sometimes.
She climbed over the fence with ease. She had half a mind to make a running leap over it, looking as cool as it did in the movies, but thought that would be showing off. She stood behind the bushes until she heard Zack's car drive off. She waited a few more moments before peeking out to assess her surroundings. The back-porch light was on, but the interior lights weren't. Either her parents were still out or asleep. While the former would make sneaking in easier, it also meant she could be seen if they came home.
She quickly darted across the yard. Jumping up to grab the overhang, she hoisted herself up with ease. She'd left her window slightly ajar, sliding it open further to get in, feet first. Once inside, she straightened herself and closed the window. Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy.
"An' where have you been exactly?"
Was it lame that a slayer jumped that high in surprise? Then again, it was more of the owner of the voice that really frightened her.
"Oh, hello, Dad," she greeted in a chirpier tone than she meant to go for, pretty sure there was no way she was going to get out of this. Did he suspect the car was with her or did he think she snuck out to go slaying? The second reason would be kind of dumb, considering all she had to do was tell her Watcher she needed some extra practice and presto! Late Night Slayer Sessions.
"Nice to see you back at a reasonable time," he drawled sarcastically, looking like quite a scare dressed in black, sitting silently on her bed. While her mother's temper was a bit more volatile and she rarely ever went easy on Beth, Spike still had that ability to strike terror into his victim's heart. Stupid residual vampire skills. "Mind tellin' your old da where you've been?"
"Oh, you know. Out," she replied, waving her hand through the air. "Are those new boots?"
"Out? Really? Mind bein' a bit more specific?" he asked. "Can't imagine what'd be so important to be at four in the mornin'."
He had her there. She didn't know either. She could either confess and tell him the truth, hoping he would admire her honesty and lessen her punishment, or she could dig herself even deeper. Of course, telling the truth would involve Zack and magic, currently two of Spike's least favorite things in the world. Better get the shovel.
"Nadja called," she answered. "You know, emergency things. Girl emergency things. Those things."
Normal men heard "girl" and "things" in the same sentence and left it at that. Most men ran away at such a concept of girls having things. But Spike was no such man. He had seen many things, and girl things he did not fear. Such a word combination failed to stop him.
"Really? Didn't know Nadja drove," he commented. So he had heard the car. Crap.
"Yes. Well, now she does. This is all rather recent." Her attempts to lie were failing miserably, maybe because she never explicitly lied to her father. Sure, she sometimes lied by omission (which, let's face it, really wasn't lying, but more of creative story-telling), but an outright "Nothing-that-comes-out-of-my-mouth-is-true" lie was not something she ever did. And in that very moment, that very second, she was seriously regretting never having tried it before even once.
"Really. I thought it sounded a bit like Zack's car." Of course, he would distinctly recognize Zack's car above any other vehicle. Of course. The game was up and her ship had sunk.
"Okay, I was hanging out with Zack," she admitted. "But other people were there!"
"And it involved magic, didn't it?" he asked, his voice taking on a new edge.
"Well," she began, looking away.
"You went behind my back after I specifically told you I didn't want you to learn magic," he lectured, finally standing up. He didn't have as much of a height difference over her as he used to, but he still used his intimidation to make her feel like she was about three inches tall. "I had hoped that with you becoming a slayer, your desire to learn magic would lessen, but apparently I was wrong. You know your record with magic, Elizabeth!"
"Okay, that was one time," she retorted. "I opened a portal one time. And everyone was fine! No one died!"
"You tried to throw a girl through it," he argued.
"But I didn't."
"No, because you ended up falling through it yourself," he reminded her. "Magic is dangerous, Beth. Without proper training—"
"You don't let me have proper training," she interrupted him. "Aunt Willow was totally willing to train me, but you got all itchy about it."
"Willow is not 'proper training'," he told her.
"What, because she tried to end the world once? That was one time."
"She's not a coven, Beth. She can't teach you all the things a coven could," he told her, exasperated. "She's a practitioner, not a teacher."
"Aren't all teachers also practitioners? Besides, isn't that hypocritical of you, anyway? I mean, you're teaching me to be a slayer and you don't exactly have the best past record."
And once those words exited Beth's mouth, she immediately wished they had gotten stuck in her teeth or that her brain had interrupted her word flow before they entered the free air, but such had not occurred. Because even though she was still sorta pissed that her parents had kept a big secret from her, she wasn't one to deliver low blows simply because she could. But all she could do was regret them as she saw the hard mask fall over his features to hide the hurt that flashed across his eyes. He still felt bad about having lied to her, and so now he was going to think he deserved that a little.
"I think we'll have more to discuss in the morning," he said in a low tone. "Go to bed."
She wanted to apologize, but didn't think it would help. He knew why she said it, since he always seemed to know everything about her before she even knew it herself. Words didn't soften a blow that'd already been dealt anyway.
Her father quietly left her room and she sat down hard on her bed. She laid down under the covers after kicking off her boots. She started at the clock until the sun came up, unable to fall asleep.
-.-
"And so now I'm grounded for infinity," Beth sighed as she finished her story to Nadja and Zack as they helped her patrol the park down off of Lakehill Connector's. Apparently, a couple of late-night joggers had made a grand ole disappearing act and nearby residents swore up and down large groups of "vampires" could be seen entering the park at sundown. Chances were that a few low-level demons inhabited the trails and got a little hungry sometimes and teenagers were still being teenagers after dark.
"But he still let you got out tonight? With us?" Nadja asked, swinging her flashlight around, trying to see if the shuffling behind the bush was a rabbit or something far more sinister, like a snake (according to her).
"My mum argued on my behalf," she explained. "She said monsters didn't stop preying on people just because a slayer's dad grounded her. He stood his ground for a while—unprecedented, might I say—until he had to admit that my slaying duties shouldn't be tied to my social life. So, I can't go to the movies this weekend, that's for sure. I've never seen my dad be so stubborn against my mother. It was weird, like I fell into another dimension or something."
"It's because your dad hates Zack more than he likes to agree with your mom," Nadja said knowingly.
"Great, so what's going to happen when he finds out you're out here with us, and more importantly me, tonight?" Zack asked.
"Since the only thing my dad wouldn't budge on was me seeing either of you," Beth began, "my mum's covering for me. My dad thinks I'm out with Mr. Wells right now, being bored by his tendency to drone on and on about demon rules of engagement."
"So your mom's not mad at all that you snuck out?" he asked.
"Not even a little bit," Beth told him. "In fact, I think she's a little bit proud of me. I'm probably starting to act like a normal teenager to her now. She's always worried I'm going to grow up to be like some social pariah or something I guess."
"Well, tell your mom you're not exactly hanging with the 'cool kids.' I mean, for goddesses' sake, Zack, that shirt looks terrible on you," Nadja said.
"She said wear dark colors," he defended, pointing at Beth.
"She didn't say anything about argyle."
"You know, we're never going to find this demon if you two don't keep your voices down," Beth reminded them.
"Who says I want to find a demon?" Zack asked. "I try to live my life not finding them."
"Shouldn't voices attract it?" Nadja asked. "It goes after joggers, right? Should I pretend to be jogging?"
"We want the element of surprise," Beth informed them. "Jump him from behind or something. The last thing we need is it stalking us. And if it is a vampire?"
"Then it's smart enough to know we're not just simple prey," Nadja answered lamely. "Fine, we'll shut up."
"Thank you," Beth said. Nadja's flashlight was most likely also hindering them as well, but she had to remember that she had two very fragile humans with her whose night vision were in need of a serious upgrade. She could see just about fine without a flashlight. Nadja and Zack? Not so much.
"You don't think we're actually going to find it, do you?" he asked in a whisper.
"That's kind of the goal," she reminded him.
"Yeah. Why did you come anyway?" Nadja asked. "You hate demons. It's a surprise you even want to hang out around Beth, her being part vampire and all."
"Hey, Beth's part human too," he responded.
"Thanks ever so," she muttered, rolling her eyes.
"Well, I mean—uh, I meant—" he stammered, at loss for good words.
"Way to put your foot in your mouth, genius," Nadja snorted. "How smart are you supposed to be, exactly?"
He didn't have time to respond though as two people stepped out into the trail in front of them. They smiled, flashing their fangs. Okay, maybe not people people. Huh. Maybe the people at the apartment complex were right. Maybe it was vampires.
"Did someone say something about part vampire?" one of them asked, a dangerously curious look on his face.
"Well, now I definitely can't let you live," Beth told them.
Behind her, Nadja clicked off her flashlight as Zack hurried to pull the cross Beth had given him out of his jacket pocket.
"Seems your little friends got a bit of fear for us," one of the vampires snickered.
"Excuse me," Nadja began, "I am not that li—"
"Now is not the time to bitch about your height, Nadja," Zack interrupted tersely, eyeing the two grinning vampires uneasily.
Beth slipped the stake out of her sleeve, letting the vampires see it as she waved it through the air. The vampires snarled, launching themselves at her. She kicked the first one off easily, guessing him to be newly risen. The other one though, despite lacking any form of self-preservation, had a bit more skill to him. If she knew anything about vampires (and boy did she), this one was likely the sire and not exactly ready to give up his extended claim on life.
She delivered a solid kick to the sire-vampire's chest, sending him flying back into a tree. The childe-vampire took this as an opportunity to go in again. She had to admire his tenacity, though. He went for her neck, like she anticipated he would, and he instead ended up with a mouthful of her hair. She'd have to remember to tie that up next time. She swung a punch, landing her fist directly on the side of his jaw, sending his head snapping to the side. She also split his lip, judging from the black specks of liquid that went flying through the air.
"You bitch!" he hissed, cradling his sore jaw.
She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I'm such a meanie for attacking a vampire who's trying to kill me." She kicked his chin, sending him reeling back into his sire who was trying to stand up. The sire-vampire grunted in annoyance, tossing his childe off him and making a grab at her. She ducked under his outstretched arms, moving around him. That left him in the direct path of Nadja and Zack, but she quickly knocked him off his feet, sending him to the ground. Besides, the way Zack was gripping that cross made it unlikely that vampire would be able to get that close.
Despite any bravado the two vampires sauntered in with, the illusion was shattered under the amount of blows they never landed. The childe-vampire lacked the very necessary ability to aim, and the sire-vampire was too textbook to actually land a hit. This would be a piece'o'cake.
"Beth, look out!" Nadja screamed. Beth jerked her head around just in time to see a vaguely human-shaped blur come at her, knocking her off her feet and leaving her breathless. It seemed her tag team had another player, which was totally unfair since she only had two hands.
She scrambled to both regain regular breathing patterns and to keep the third vampire from sinking it's not-so-friendly fangs into her neck. This one was a lot more practiced than his buddies, who were now standing off to the side grinning like the cat who caught the canary, despite being useless as they nursed their own wounds. Of course, they hadn't actually caught anything, only distracted the bird long enough to let the real cat sinks its claws in.
Beth finally landed a solid kick to the vampire's stomach, sending him flying off her. Nadja shrieked as the kick landed the vampire right next to them. Zack quickly pushed himself and her away, never once taking his eyes off the vampires.
The vampire chuckled. "'M comin' after you next, kiddos," he taunted in a low, gruff voice.
"You're going to have to take me out first," Beth panted out, still trying to get her breathing right.
"Won't that be a task," the vampire replied sarcastically, sending the other two vampires into hysterics. Now fed up with the small distraction, she whipped around, flinging out her stake, which landed directly in the older vampire's chest. He only had a look of surprise on his face for a short millisecond before he became dust in the wind. The younger vampire looked once to where his hyena companion had been then to her, who smirked back at him, before taking off down the trail.
"Sorry, your little groupies were kind of annoying me," she told the other vampire.
"Same here," he agreed with a smile. Without much notice, he jumped at her again. She was more prepared this time and went up to block, but he held back and delivered a blow to her side. She stumbled only slightly, but he quickly came in with another hit. She was mostly able to avoid it, so his fist only skimmed her jaw. She went in with a hit of her own, but he blocked it easily. It seemed the whole point of the first two vampires wasn't just for a surprise attack, but to also tire her out. He probably picked the two from out of the dumps, promising them a quick and easy meal, with absolute hopes she'd dust them so he could move in and bag a slayer all on his own. And as much as she hated to admit it, it was a masterful plan as it was totally working right now. Damn.
She decided to drop all pretenses of a good, clean fight. She wasn't exactly winning this, after all. Might as well get a bit dirty. She went in with several kicks and blows, landing a few. She half considered dropping some fangs, really unsettle the guy, but decided not to. It was not in her best interest to always be throwing around her secret.
But of course, being a vampire, he could play even dirtier. So maybe she shouldn't have been so surprised when he stuck a knife in her leg.
She gasped, jerking back from the sheer shock of the attack. The vampire pulled the knife out, letting blood pour out of the wound much faster than she would have even thought. She'd never experienced a knife wound, but the way her dad talked about battle injuries made her think this was something that could be walked off. Boy, had she never felt more lied to. Damn that male bravado.
She stumbled back, clutching her hand over the open wound. What a good bandage her hand didn't make, seeing the blood seep through the cracks of her fingers and down the inseam of her pants. He must have hit something major considering the size of the growing stain. Good thing her mom had some handy-dandy tricks to get blood stains out. Geez, this knife must have gone deep. There was so much blood.
Beth's legs began to wobble and she collapsed on the ground. She was losing too much blood too quickly. Was this really how it ended? In a forest in a battle with a vampire who brought a knife to a slayer fight? Thankfully, she was losing consciousness and wouldn't have to see how poorly this ended.
From the side of the trail, Zack and Nadja watched as Beth fell to the ground, seemingly unconscious. In the dark, they couldn't make out the sheer amount of blood currently pooling under her body, but judging from how suddenly she had fallen, they knew something bad had happened. They watched as the vampire moved towards her body, nothing standing in his way. With the slayer out of commission, it was a bit of a free buffet.
Nadja got just about fed up of watching helplessly from the sidelines as the vampire set its sights on Beth. This would just not do. She didn't befriend a slayer just so she could be protected. No dang it, she was going to learn how to fight back.
Before Zack could make sense of this entire situation (Beth didn't just lose, did she? She was a goddamn slayer. Slayers didn't lose), Nadja shot out from behind him, stake raised high in battle form.
"Nadja!" he shouted, reaching forward, her jacket slipping through his fingers. He jerked back when he realized any sound would make the vampire remember they were there, and then he would devour them.
The vampire stopped, head jerking around to stare his beady little yellow eyes at Zack. He was so focused on the source of the sound, he didn't realize a small, teenage girl was upon him until the stake was stuck through his chest.
Nadja was pretty sure there was actually a poof sound as the vampire became dust, and she would have laughed at the hilarity of such a possibility if it wasn't for the fact that the lack of vampire body blocking her line of sight now allowed her to see her best friend, looking about as living as the vampire did, but without all the moving. And also that she was standing in a pool of blood. Beth's blood. That was a lot of blood.
"Zack," she cried, beginning to panic. She had to remain calm, she knew that. No one benefited from panic. But the strongest person in the nearest vicinity was also incapacitated and that did not create non-panicking feelings. No siree.
"Holy shit, did you kill him?" he asked in shock, not quite believing that his tiny cousin killed a vampire when the slayer couldn't. He knew she was an angry one, but this was something else.
"Zack!" she shouted, jerking him out of his shocked state and into another one when he realized what she was panicking over.
"Holy shit," he repeated, but for completely different reasons. The mandatory demon defense courses he'd taken years ago had gone over basic first aid in the event of a demon attack, but this wasn't basic. And his car was too far. Maybe he didn't know anything about anything medical, but he was pretty sure she'd bleed out before they reached a hospital and that was kind of the exact opposite of what he wanted to happen. Not even Spike could break enough speed limits to get here fast enough. And him standing around just thinking about all this wasn't going to help her either.
He dropped to his knees, trying to ignore the way his jeans sucked up the blood, sticking to his legs. He didn't want to think how this was all her blood. He placed his hands over the wound, pressing down, trying to staunch the blood. It wasn't doing much good, as it only seeped through his fingers.
"We need to make a tourniquet," Nadja instructed, what little medical information she knew from TV finally coming into the forefront of her mind. She wriggled her way out of her undershirt, ripping it into shreds. She dropped them into his lap, trying not to think about how her friend was basically bleeding to death in front of her. As she scrambled around in the dark with her flashlight, trying to find a stick, she wondered if she should call Beth's parents. Didn't they have a right to know their daughter was dying? They were sitting at home, enjoying a night off, doing adult-y things, oblivious to their dying daughter several mi—
She cut off that train of thought. She needed to focus on the task at hand: saving Beth. She wasn't going to lose another friend. She pulled a sturdy looking stick out from a bush, wiping off any clumps of dirt. She rushed back over to Zack and Beth. She wasn't exactly sure if there was a correct way to make a tourniquet, but she was hoped effort counted for something. She knew the basic design of it anyway.
She sat down next to Zack, still uselessly trying to stop the blood flow with his hands. His fingers were drenched in blood and the blood was now staining Beth's shirt as well, as the pool of blood grew. She pulled the strips of cloth out of Zack's lap.
"Move Zack," she told him. "I need you to get out of my way."
She knew he heard her, he was close enough, but he didn't move. He didn't make any motion that he heard her. "Zack! Move now!" she shouted, panic edging back into her voice. Time was playing a big part in all this and if she didn't stop the blood flow quick enough, she didn't know what would happen.
He still didn't move and she took all her worry and anger into her and shoved him out of the way. He tumbled to the side, his hands immediately lifting off of Beth's leg. She moved to where he had been sitting, immediately getting to work. She wrapped the cloth around Beth and the stick, sincerely hoping this was going to work. She began to twist the stick.
"Are you crying?" she asked, glancing over at him. He didn't say anything. "Look, I'm scared too, but I need you to keep it together," she barked at him. "Now hold the rest of my undershirt over the wound."
Zack, finally hearing her, did as she asked.
"We need to at least slow the blood if we want to get her to a hospital without dying," she informed him. "We need to slow the blood loss."
It was after a couple of tense, silent moments when she began to breathe a little easier. Not as much blood was coming out of the knife wound and she could feel a pulse, even if it wasn't strong. Beth was still unconscious, which was still worrying.
"She's not waking up," he whispered, his voice sounding hoarse.
"She just lost a butt ton of blood, she's not going to pop up all fine and dandy," she remarked coldly.
"That's not what I meant," he snapped. "She could be in a coma or something."
"You don't go into a coma from blood loss," she said quickly, uncertainly.
"How do you know that?" he shouted. "Neither of us have the background to handle this. We need to get her to a hospital."
When he tried to move Beth, she screeched at him, unwilling to take either of her hands off the stick. She did kick his hand away from Beth's back.
"Don't. She might still bleed out. I don't know. We need to call someone or—or find a way to speed up her healing," she instructed.
"Gods, I'm actually considering calling Spike," Zack moaned. "Where's her phone?" He began to search her pockets, still keeping one hand over the wound.
"Wait!" she shouted, remembering something. "Blood! Blood helps her heal! I remember. She told me that."
"Blood?" he asked, stopping his search briefly enough to give her a look. "Do you see a butcher around here? Huh?"
"No. Here, take the stick." He did as she asked without question, though he looked confused.
She searched the ground for a rock with her hands, finding a sharp one quickly. She rolled back the sleeve of her jacket, ready to slit a wrist for her friend.
Just as she lowered the rock to her arm, he caught on to what she was doing and grabbed her wrist, stopping her. "What do you think you're doing?" he nearly shrieked.
"Saving my friend's life," she remarked, trying to get her arm out of his hold.
"Give me that rock," he commanded.
"No," she said through gritted teeth, trying to free her arm from his grip.
"You will," he demanded. "Give me that rock. I'm not going to let you do that."
"Then who's going to save her?" she yelled, throwing her arms down as she began to sob. "Her parents can't get here fast enough."
He released her arm, taking the rock from her without a fight. "I'm the oldest here and what I say goes. So I'm going to do it. Take the stick."
"What?" she asked, taking over the tourniquet again.
"If anyone else is going to experience blood loss, it's going to be me," he explained. "And besides, if you go home with a cut like this after being under my watch, your parents would flay me."
She watched as he brought the sharp point of the rock to his arm. He hesitated for a moment, wondering how he had gotten here exactly. He hated vampires, absolutely despised everything to do with them. He wanted them all wiped from the face of the earth, The Scourge of Europe especially being taken out in the most painful way possible.
But then he met Beth and grew up.
It didn't hurt as much as he expected, the blood beginning to well up at the cut almost immediately. It seemed like his quick pulse was doing some good. He placed his now bloodied arm up to Beth's mouth. He didn't know how much vampire she was, but for the first time in his life, he was kind of hoping it was a lot.
Time seemed to stretch on and pain began to radiate up his arm from the cut. He wasn't going to give up yet though, not while Nadja sat beside him, trying to staunch the blooding as she cried, and Beth laid on the ground, still and unmoving.
-.-
As Beth had lost consciousness, the last thought that had crossed her mind was that this was the most unfair way to go out. Some lame ass vampire who was fashion challenged and had stupid hair had gotten the best of her, even though he was only a mediocre fighter who had a little more brains than the average bloodsucker. Now her first thought exiting the darkness was that she couldn't really feel her legs, which was a bit disconcerting. That feeling was offset though by the power surge that shocked her system. She felt alive. Man, no wonder her mom had wanted to go back after being resurrected. Death felt cool.
Her foggy brain (why was her brain foggy? This was the afterlife, where she was to be rewarded for her mad slayer skills. She died in battle; wasn't this the very scenario Valhalla was reserved for? She may have her own doubts about her moral compass, but she'd been good!) slowly identified the source of this high coming from her mouth. Which was weird, to say. Something was dripping into her mouth, she realized. Well, she had heard about that whole "nectar of the gods" thing or whatever. She hadn't really believed it until now.
She latched on to whatever was providing the ambrosia or whatever it was called. It was a bit involuntary when she transformed and her fangs dropped, but she rolled with it. If the higher ups had a problem with her heritage, they could get bitchy about it with each other, seeing as they made the goddamn prophecy.
"Ow!" The fog in her brain cut when the pained hissing sound met her ears. It sounded like Zack, which was completely plausible since the last time she had seen him he'd been in close proximity to a vampire. It was totally likely he was dead too.
"Beth?" Nadja asked, her voice sounding both hopeful and scratchy, like she'd been crying.
Well, that just about sealed it. Turns out she wasn't dead, just not unconscious anymore. Which sucked, because life hurt. And so then what was the liquid in her mouth? This was a new one to her. Maybe—
Her eyes snapped open and she released the arm, throwing it back. She scrambled to get away. Blood. She'd been drinking blood. Human blood, no less. And she still had her vampire visage out. She could only imagine the murderous sight she made, all yellow eyes and fangs, with blood dripping down her chin.
But Zack didn't look afraid of her, only absolutely relieved. He was holding his arm to his chest and she could see the blood beginning to stain his shirt.
She felt her ridges and fangs recede, her full anger broiling to the surface. "What did you do?" she yelled.
Nadja looked quickly between Beth and Zack, feeling the tense air that arose around them. "Look, it was my idea," Nadja began, but was cut off by Beth screaming.
"How dare you!" she screamed at him. "Why did you do that? I have never, ever before in my life had that! Who do you think you are to do that?" To be honest, she wasn't actually angry, even she knew that. She was scared. Absolutely, downright terrified. She'd never had human blood before and not just because she couldn't get it. Even her mom, with all her morals, was willing to bend a few for the safety of her daughter. But Beth had always refused, afraid of what it meant. Real vampires drank human blood and she didn't want to be a real vampire.
"I just saved your life, you're welcome," he shouted back, getting angry as well. He'd been afraid she was going to die and had been so relieved when she responded (even if her fangs piercing his skin hurt and send his flight response screaming), the fury he was getting was shocking. So he got angry back of course.
"Welcome?" she repeated, laughing harshly. "I never asked you to do that! I didn't want you to do that!"
"I wasn't going to just let you die!" he snapped.
"I don't need you to save me!" she snapped back, matching his angry easily. "Why would you do this to me?"
"Because it's you, Beth!" he shouted, silencing both of them. He'd said it before, the phrase as vague as it had been the first time. But even if she didn't know what he meant by it, it was starting to mean something to her. Her anger died as quickly as it came and she fell silent. He seemed to deflate as well, just looking at her sadly.
"We need to get you to a hospital," Nadja finally said, ending whatever moment was happening between Zack and Beth.
"No hospital," she argued, trying to stand up. She didn't get very far though, when the pain in her leg rose its ugly head. She winced, going back down.
Both Zack and Nadja quickly got to their feet, helping her up. Nadja took hold of the stick that had been ripped out of her hand when Beth had moved earlier as Zack pulled her up off the ground. She was fine when he swung her arm over his shoulder, but had to draw a line when he tried to carry her.
"I can walk," she reminded him. "Nadja, find a sizeable rock. We can wrap it in the cloth and then tie it around me to apply pressure."
She did as she was directed, going off in search of a rock. She came back quickly and Beth tried to help her tie the cloth around her leg, but Nadja gently slapped her hands away, ready to take care of it.
"Now, let's get you to the car," she said when finished.
"No hospital!" Beth said again.
"We'll take you home," Zack promised her. "Let your mom take care of you. Bet she's got some experience."
It was a slow and painful limping walk to Zack's car. Well, at least limping for Beth. And slow for mainly Nadja and Zack. With her injury and the pain she felt every time she moved her leg, it felt like they were walking too fast.
What felt like hours later, they finally reached Zack's car, which was lonely parked in the empty lot. He helped her into the back seat, mindful of her injury.
"Don't worry about getting blood on everything," he told her as he started the car. "Give my parents a reason to pay for new upholstery." She only grunted in response.
When they reached Beth's house, they had all agreed to let Nadja be the one to escort Beth into her home. If Spike was indeed home and saw an injured Beth with Zack in close proximity, it was undoubtable that Dad would hit the roof. Beth had wanted to go in herself, but both Zack and Nadja had immediately vetoed that idea. She had barely been able to get out of the park with their help.
"How pissed is your dad going to be when he realized you went patrolling with us instead of your Watcher?" Nadja asked as she walked Beth to the front of her house.
"I don't think they've created a large enough quantitative amount to express his anger," she noted sourly. "Hopefully I'll soften him up with the story of how you and Zack heroically saved me. I love Mr. Wells, but I think he would've panicked a bit more and tried to take me to a hospital. Tell me again how you swooped in and dusted your first vampire. I want to make sure I can squeeze in as many details as possible."
"Where are your keys?" Nadja asked, shaking her head at Beth's request. She was smiling though, which was good. For the entire car ride, she had been looking at Beth from the front seat, her worried eyes boring into Beth's side. And it hadn't helped that Zack kept glancing back at her through the rearview mirror. She was pretty sure he looked at her more than the road and wouldn't that have been a fun accident on top of the other one? That would've killed her for sure.
She pulled her keys out of her jacket pocket, putting it into the lock ad twisting it. Nadja opened the door, helping her inside.
"Oh my goddesses!" Beth jerked her head up to see the wide eyes of Willow standing in the hallway, looking like she was on her way out. "What happened to you?"
"You should see the other guy," Beth remarked weakly.
"What? The pile of dust on the ground?" Nadja muttered.
"What? What?" Buffy called, coming from the kitchen. She caught sight of her daughter, looking like hell with dirt and leaves in her hair and her shirt and right pant leg soaked in blood and wowie, let's not forget the still bleeding wound on her thigh.
"You know how they say never bring a knife to a gun fight?" Beth began, taking advantage of her mother's shocked silence. "You know what? I forgot where I was going with this. He had a knife, is what I'm trying to say."
"Look at you!" Buffy cried, running up to her daughter. "It's still bleeding! Willow, get my first aid kit! This might need stitches."
"No hospital," Beth moaned, allowing herself to be taken into the living room. Her mother draped a blanket over the couch before laying Beth down.
"I'll just excuse myself then," Nadja said awkwardly, backing towards the door.
"Did you do this?" Buffy demanded, pointing at the makeshift bandage and the tourniquet still around Beth's leg.
"Um, yes?" Nadja answered. She was caught off guard when Buffy engulfed her in a tight hug, almost cutting off Nadja's circulation.
"Thank you," she whispered before letting her go and returning to her daughter as Willow rushed back into the room with the first aid kit. Nadja smiled to herself before leaving out the front door.
Willow removed the blood-soaked cloth and rock, tossing it in a bowl she brought with her. She began to clean the wound as best she could, revealing the clean, but nasty cut left by Beth's assailant.
"He's dead now right?" her mother demanded.
"Greeting Satan right now as we speak," Beth assured.
"Spike's still outside," Willow realized. "Should we tell him?"
"No!" Beth shouted.
From the living room, she caught the sound of the back door opening. "What's with all the shoutin' 'm hearin'?" her father asked as the back door clicked shut.
Beth groaned, dropping her head back onto the couch. This was going to be a fun story.
A/N: Just to let y'all know (for those who many be reading this story as it updates), I likely won't be posting a chapter this Saturday since I'll be traveling. I *might* instead post the next chapter on Sunday, but no promises! If anything, I'll resume normal chapter updates next Wednesday.