Chapter Four
Buffy turned to Jaime and Steve when they reached the main gate of the cemetery. "Wait here. I'll check things out and be back in a jif."
"Not that I'm buying all this vampire stuff," Steve said slowly, "but didn't you say they can't be outside in the sunshine?"
Buffy rolled her eyes. "Vampires can't, but demons can."
"Demons." Steve's voice had an unmistakable sneer to it.
"Just stay here," Buffy sighed, moving off into the graveyard.
"First vampires, now demons," Steve chuckled, a little nervously. "What's next, werewolves, warlocks and witches?" He saw that, instead of laughing, Jaime was staring into the cemetery with a look of sheer terror. They'd been on many missions together in the past, but he couldn't remember ever seeing true fear in her eyes.
"Jaime?" Very gently, he cupped her chin in his hand and turned her to face him, tenderly stroking her cheek with his fingertips. "You don't have to go in there. I'll go, and -"
"Uh-uh. I don't wanna be out here by myself." She managed a slight smile as she felt the warmth and comfort of his eyes. "If I'm gonna be scared, I'd rather be standing right next to you."
Steve was used to keeping his feelings for Jaime hidden from her, but that simple statement of trust brought forward such an intense rush of love for her that he knew she had to be able to see it and feel it.
He was right; she did feel it, and immediately grew calm and comfortable as she leaned readily into the safety of his arms. They spent the next few minutes quietly savoring just being together, holding each other. After nearly five years of no contact at all, this suddenly felt so right. Whatever it was they were about to walk into, Jaime and Steve would face it together.
Buffy rejoined them with a bounce in her step. "C'mon back - just follow me." When they reached the mausoleum, she turned. "Try not to make a huge deal about him being a vampire," Buffy instructed, ignoring Steve's raised eyebrow. "He's nothing like all the others, and I guarantee he won't hurt you."
Steve looked at the heavy iron-barred door and the marble slab behind it and was about to pull them open when Buffy casually pulled them both to the side as if they were weightless. "Damn," he remarked quietly, "for a tiny little girl, you've got some serious muscle."
"Yep." Modest, Buffy was not. They followed her down a damp, very dark stairway into the underground section of the mausoleum. Steve was glad Jaime didn't have his night vision; she didn't need to see the various multi-legged insects and furry rodents that skittered around in the darkness. At the other end of a dark, musty hallway, they came to a room with a large object in the center that appeared to be an old, crumbling stone tomb, now used as a table that held several large, ornate candlelabra. A tall, muscular man in a long, black duster stood with his back to them, just outside the radius of the candlelight.
"Angel?" Buffy took his hand and led him to join the others. "This is the couple I told you about." She smiled again at Steve and Jaime. "This is Angel."
Angel nodded, his expression friendly but serious. "Hello, Jaime...Steve. Buffy tells me you're looking for a killer, and that you both wear the white hats and we can trust you." Seeing that they were tongue-tied (a reaction he was somewhat used to), he kept talking. "Whether this killer is really a vamp or not is immaterial to me. If he is, he's out of control and needs to be stopped. We don't need the bad publicity. If he's not, he still needs to be caught. Either way, I want him just as much as you and your wife do, Steve."
Jaime and Steve glanced at each other on hearing wife, and tightened the arm that each had around the other. Neither of them corrected him.
"If the killer is a vamp," Angel continued, "it would do no good to put him in prison. He'd have to be killed."
"How do we do that?" Jaime asked.
"No," Buffy answered, "you don't. I do."
"Now wait a minute." Steve shook his head. "You're - what? Thirteen?"
"Seventeen."
"I can't, in good conscience, let you -"
"I know what I'm doing," Buffy insisted. "Do you?"
"Believe her," Angel added. "She's the best there is. That's why she's the Slayer."
Jaime was startled. "The...what?"
"Slayer." Buffy looked at the two novices and sighed. "It's gonna be a lot harder with you two along, but I know you're gonna be there either way, so we're gonna teach you the basics."
"Vampire Killing 101, huh?" Steve said. "We just need a silver bullet, right?"
"I think that's for werewolves," Jaime told him.
"Give the lady a Kewpie doll!" Angel exclaimed.
Buffy continued with the 'lesson'. "To kill - actually, to dust - a vamp, beheading works, or fire. Also sunlight. But the easiest way for beginners is to stake 'em." She anticipated Steve's next wisecrack. "Not tenderloin or t-bone. A wooden stake." She pulled one out of her pocket. The tip had been carved into a sharp point. "Like this one. In a pinch, though, drive any piece of wood - a tree branch, a chair leg, whatever - through its so-called heart. Presto! Works every time. But unless we're really in trouble, you're better off letting me handle that part. Questions?" Steve and Jaime were silent, stunned. "Ok. Meet me back at the front gate as soon as the sun goes down, and we'll get to work."
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Their walk back to the car was a quiet one. As he opened the passenger door for Jaime, Steve chuckled to himself. "Tell you what, Sweetheart: you can be the one to explain this to Oscar."
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