A/N: Here's the latest chapter. Hope everyone is okay, and staying safe from the virus which shall not be named!
17619 White Oak Drive Sunnydale, February 25th 1998
When Xander woke up that morning, he was somewhat amazed to discover that Cordelia Chase really was in bed with him, and that the previous night hadn't been some sort of incredibly erotic dream.
Somewhat amazed... but not too much. The old Harris imagination simply couldn't have made up something *that* incredible and pleasurable, after all.
{ Okay, it's official – this changes everything, } Xander thought to himself dazedly, as he gazed at the sleeping young woman next to him. { And we're talking L-word territory here... oh crap, it's a Wednesday, and we've got school in a few hours! }
It wasn't exactly the morning-after scene he'd anticipated last night, but nonetheless Xander quickly woke Cordy up and helped her to sneak out of the house without his parents noticing that his girlfriend had spent the night, promising they would talk later at school.
Elsewhere, Glory couldn't find what she was looking for at the back of the local magic store. So she left, looking for brains to suck dry. { Never a good meat bag around when you need one... }
At the same time, Spike was wheeling his way around the old mansion on Crawford Street, while Angelus was making plans to turn Jenny Calendar into one of the undead. The platinum-haired vampire was getting pretty bored these days, since his broken legs were still healing. Spike had no intention of helping Angelus fight the Slayers right now, though, even if he had been physically capable of it – not after his grandsire had crippled him that way!
{ Yeah. I hope the effing git doesn't mind having a hook for a hand, once I get my revenge for Angelus doing that, } Spike smirked to himself. { Poncy git is gonna regret what he did to me, or my name isn't William the Bloody! }
"Where the hell are the minions?!" Angelus shouted, from not far away.
Spike snorted, knowing that Drusilla had taken them off to the local magic store to do – something – to prevent the reappearance of Soul Boy. Honestly, though, Spike could care less if the old prick got his soul back or not.
Later that night, Drusilla was having tea with her dolls upstairs in the bedroom. At the Bronze, the demon named Alduin ordered a beer from the bar – and then he walked towards an empty booth, before sitting down. He took out a small bottle of human blood, pouring it into his beer and mixing it thoroughly. Although not a vampire, Alduin loved the taste of it – blood beer was something else!
{ Maybe I could make some money off this, } Alduin mused to himself. { Local vampire population being what it is, they'd probably appreciate some variety in their diet. }
Alduin kept an eye on the Scooby Gang, doing some 'sightseeing' as it were. The band 'Dingoes Eat My Baby' were playing tonight – including the robot Oz – while Xander, Cordelia and the Willow-bot danced and watched, respectively. Buffy and Kendra were elsewhere, slaying vampires, but... not any kind they'd ever face before, at Elmhurst Cemetery.
These were zombie vampires, their flesh rotting away. Some didn't have eyes. And some of them didn't have any flesh at all. Even though that didn't stop them from attacking the Chosen Two...
DELOS facility, summer of 1999
In one of his labs, Jareth oversaw the final construction of the vampire robots. He grinned evilly. { Almost there, almost there... }
Not all that far away, at the saloon within Westworld, a bar fight broke out. Luckily for Ethan, he'd sensed what was coming and gotten out of there, before the fight actually got started. { Well, at least I was able to finish my drink, } the British man thought humorously, before quickly walking away.
And not a moment too soon, as a shot-up cowboy robot crashed through the double doors of the saloon. Inside, the Gunslinger gunned down another robot. The cowboy robot hit the table, knocking down drinks and cards on to the floor. All the while, the Gunslinger's expression didn't change.
If the Scooby Gang had been there, it would have been enough to give them a real scare...
Elmhurst Cemetery Sunnydale, February 25th 1998
The Slayers tried to kick the rotting ass of the zombie vampires – and succeeded, for the most part. Buffy slammed her stake into the chest of one of them, and he disintegrated. Kendra drop-kicked the other undead zombie, and then staked the corpse, welcoming the explosion of dust. And so it continued, apart from a nasty hit or two on the Chosen Ones. With the last of the zombie vampires taken care of, the girls spotted two strange-looking vials on the ground.
"Any idea what those are?" Buffy gestured at the vials.
"No. Still, we'd best take 'em wit' us," Kendra declared.
So the Slayers took the vials with them, as they left the cemetery. All the while never suspecting that Angelus had vandalized Jenny's car, and as she arrived to look at the damage, he knocked her out cold and took her with him. The plan was to turn her, and then set her loose on the Scooby Gang.
Considering himself something of an artist, Angelus had already made sure that the members of Jenny's clan (descendants of those who had cursed him with a soul, a century ago) who were in town - including her Uncle Enyos - were hunted down and killed. Enyos was the last one to be drained of blood!
Over at the Bronze, within their own personal booth, Cordy stared at her boyfriend. "We didn't finish what we started today, Xander."
{ Yeah, I know. } They hadn't been able to find a private moment to talk for very long, it was just one of those days at high school. Cheerleader practice, pop quizzes and everything else. "True enough, sweetheart. But we can talk now, if you want."
Cordelia hesitated. "I just...not that I'm having second thoughts about it or anything, but us going that far last night...it's changed everything, doofus."
"I know," Xander nodded, ignoring the Cordelia-esque nickname. "First thought to enter my head this morning, actually, once I woke up next to you." He paused before adding, "So... any regrets?"
"What? NO!" Cordelia said vehemently. "Wait, do *you* regret what we-"
"Oh, hell no," Xander instantly shook his head, cutting her off. "Do I look that dumb to – wait, don't answer that. Honey, you *do* realize that you made me the happiest man in the world last night – don't you?"
"Really?" Cordelia finally gave him a sexy grin. "It was that good for you?"
"Not that I have anything else to compare it to, but hey – you bet your perfectly shaped ass it was," Xander nodded, causing her to grin more widely. Then he said, "Uh, just thought I'd mention that I know we used a condom and all, but-"
"You don't have to worry - I've been on the pill since my birthday last month, just in case," Cordy interrupted, easily able to tell what Harris was thinking. "What? Did you think that *I* of all people wouldn't take extra precautions, after things started to get serious between us?"
"No, 'course not," Xander shook his head. "So, uh, where do we go from here?"
"Well, what's wrong with taking things one day at a time?" Cordelia asked, a little uncertainly. "Especially with Angel having gone completely psycho recently, and delivering Buffy still-bleeding hearts?"
"Good point," Xander shrugged. "It's just, our lives aren't exactly normal – and you always struck me as Plan Girl, more than anything else."
{ That's true, but no way am I gonna bring up marriage and babies yet – we're nowhere near the end of junior year, let alone graduated high school! } Cordelia looked her boyfriend in the eye and said, "Okay, you want a plan? How does ditching this place and going to my house sound?"
Xander smiled to himself, wordlessly telling Cordy that he liked that plan. So they both got up and out of the booth, before saying farewells to the two robots, and then leaving the Bronze – the Oz-bot and the Willow-bot staying behind at the teen club, having no orders from Jareth to do anything else.
Elsewhere at the abandoned Crawford Street mansion, Spike sat on one of the couches, drinking a blood bag. His legs were healing nicely, and Spike was glad he'd soon be done with that blasted wheelchair. He was about to turn on the telly, the one his and Dru's minions had set up – but then Angelus walked in, with the unconscious Jenny slung over his shoulder. { Well, that's kind of unexpected... }
Spike raised his both eyebrows. "So... why'd you bring the Watcher's girl here, then?" he asked simply. He wasn't sure what Angelus was up to – but Spike doubted he'd like it, whatever it was.
"Ah, Spike...didn't I mention how Dru told me recently, that this little lady is a Romany?" Angelus sneered slightly, pausing during the journey across the room.
"You mean..."
"Yep, one of the Kalderash. I had those of her clan who were here in town killed, and funny thing – but Dru tells me she's the only one left who could cast the spell that gave me back my soul back," Angelus said triumphantly, looking very pleased with himself.
"Okay. Then mind telling me why aren't you done with this blood bag, already?" Spike asked with an eye roll.
"You still have no finesse, Spike, I swear – it's like you never learned a damn thing I tried to teach you, way back when! But anyway, I'm going to turn her – and while she goes after Giles, Buffy and her annoying little friends will be busy dealing with my newest offspring. Which leaves Buffy's mom all alone for easy pickings," Angelus grinned evilly.
Spike shrugged, making sure to look unimpressed – even though he was, to a certain extent. { It might work, } the British vampire thought to himself, { but then again, it might not. Angelus will probably do something to stuff it all up – the bloke's ego, and focus on the blondie Slayer, are his worst enemies! }
Upstairs, Drusilla was still having a night time tea party with her dolls as elsewhere, Glory entered the store known as "Magicks Through The Ages". The warlock who owned the place immediately left the counter, walking towards the hellgod before bowing deeply.
"How may I help you, Glorificus? It's not every day we get a god in our store," the proprietor smiled.
"Yeah, whatever. Listen, you little maggot – I'm looking for something that can free me from my mortal shell, and you better have what I'm looking for, capisce?" Glory growled.
"Certainly. And yes, yes, I can help you with that, Glorificus," the warlock swallowed a nervous gulp, as his customer grinned maniacally.
A few minutes later, over at the library, Buffy and Kendra arrived and told Giles about the evening's activities. Needless to say, the Watcher was somewhat confounded by the tale.
"Oh, err… zombie vampires, I see. Yes, that's odd indeed," Giles told them with a frown. "M-most unexpected, as it were."
"You're telling me. Every time we staked one those rotting vampires, another one would come out of the ground like whack a mole," Buffy spoke up.
"De vampires looked like zombies wit' rotting flesh," Kendra added, looking disgusted.
Just then, the two robots walked into the library, hand in hand. Giles wasn't sure what to make of this and said, "What are you two doing here so late?"
"Will said she had oogy vibes, and this is the place to be whenever that happens. What's up?" the Oz-bot asked, and the Slayers promptly filled him in.
"Zombie vampires? That's kinda strange even for Sunnydale, isn't it, Giles?" the Willow-bot asked. "I'm not liking the sound of zombies with fangs, anyway."
"We also found these strange vials," Kendra said, handing them to Giles. One of the vials was completely empty, and the other has some weird green liquid. The Watcher looked at the vials, intrigued.
"What do you think this stuff is?" the Willow-bot asked. She was programmed well enough to know having something like this would probably end badly.
"Well... it could be what made these, err, undead zombies – but, but that's just a guess, a-at most. I'll have to investigate – probably, uh, call the Council as well." Giles left the table and put the vials somewhere safe in his private office.
"Where are, ummm, Xander and Cordelia, by the way?" Giles asked, as he came back into the main room.
"They said they have to study for a test tonight," the Willow-bot said, even if she doubted the cheerleader and her boyfriend were doing any such thing. Quite frankly, she didn't want to think about what those two were actually up to – because it gave her ideas about what she could be doing with the Oz-bot, and thanks to the neural feedback link to the real Willow being held captive in the DELOS facility, the human girl's reaction to her robotic counterpart doing *that* was almost enough to short out her circuitry!
By this point in the evening, over at Cordelia's mansion, she and Xander were in her bed wearing absolutely nothing at all. They hugged each other underneath the covers, kissing passionately before Xander said with a smile, "We good?"
Cordelia nodded, and climbed on top of Xander. While they made out and slowly began to go further, elsewhere – Xander's parents got pulled over for drunk driving, and thoughts of their son never even entered their minds. Likewise, Cordelia's parents were over at the Sunnydale yacht club near the docks, and thoughts of their daughter never entered their minds either.
And so, as the two teenagers made love for the second night in a row, tempus fugitated.
But not for everyone – because over at the old mansion, Angelus turned the unconscious Jenny in his private bedroom! The poor woman barely had time to scream once after the pain from being bitten woke her up, before all of Jenny's blood was gone – and then Angelus fed her his own blood, and the becoming ritual was complete.
Knowing nothing of this, over at the library Giles tried calling Jenny – but he got no answer. The Watcher had to admit, he was getting a bad feeling about that. { No, never mind – need to focus on the more immediate problem. }
"Did Angelus leave any new messages?" Giles asked his charge, before sipping from his cup of tea.
"Not that I know of, Giles," Buffy sighed.
Not far away, Kendra was reading over various tomes, looking for anything on zombie vampires – ignoring the other two, not to mention how Willow and Oz were finishing up their homework over at the main table. { I'd best call Mr. Zabuto – I need to check in with him, anyway, } the Caribbean Slayer thought to herself. { He might know something, or have some material that isn't part of Mr. Giles' book collection. } She then ventured into the Watcher's private office, uncaring of the cost of the upcoming international phone call.
For her part, Glory left the "Magicks Through The Ages" store with an evil smile on her face – because she'd gotten what she'd wanted to be rid of Ben. "Poor Bennie boo..." Glory laughed, making her way back to her lair.
Over at Jareth's mansion, he was in the living room on the couch – watching the 1992 movie, 'Candyman'. But then a demon named Jack suddenly appeared in the living room – dressed in a blue T-shirt, black jeans and red basketball shoes.
"How's it going, Jareth? Did I miss anything?" Jack sat on the couch next to his boss.
"Nope, Jack, the movie just started." Jareth handed him a bag of popcorn. "Status report?"
"All quiet tonight, apart from the zombie vampires. The Mayor is still suitably clueless. As for the military idiots who are planning to set up shop in this town, at some point – well. Nothing to worry about there so far, either. Still, I haven't forgotten what you told me might happen one day – so, do you think the Initiative will ever get off the ground, not to mention the ADAM thing that mad scientist is planning to build?" Jack asked, munching on his popcorn.
"Nah, it'll crash and burn in their faces," Jareth laughed. "The fools will think they can control demons by chipping them, of all things." He gulped down some soda. "Pathetic."
"Jareth, do you want me to-?" Jack started to ask.
"No, Jack. Everything's going to plan," Jareth interrupted with a grin. "The Initiative will never be a problem. Well, not for me, anyway."
Sunnydale High School Library, Sunnydale February 26th 1998
The Scooby Gang arrived after first period, and the Willow-bot filled Xander and Cordelia in on what had happened last night – namely, that Buffy and Kendra had fought zombie vamps.
"Undead zombies... that's interesting. So, do they drink blood *and* eat flesh? Inquiring minds want to know," Xander asked with a small grin.
"No, dorkhead - you're the *only* one that wants to know," Cordelia sighed in disappointment. Obviously, her boyfriend was still a work in progress – but that was a Chase woman's burden, to raise her man up to eventually meet her own naturally high standards!
"Any word from Ms. Calendar, Giles?" Buffy asked. She too had a bad feeling about that by this point.
"No," the Watcher said simply, before the bell rang and the students had to vacate the library in order to head to their next class. Giles briefly thought about asking Kendra to go over to Jenny's residence, in order to check on her – but the girl was still asleep after the marathon research session last night. { Best leave it for later on, I suppose. }
Elsewhere, Glory treated herself a glass of champagne for breakfast, before throwing it aside with a loud smash and using the mystical gem she'd gotten from the warlock. The gem glowed, bright reddish blue! Glory almost couldn't believe it – she could *feel* herself being separated from Ben, at long last!
After the glow had vanished, Ben lay on the floor near Glory's feet. Her human feet – drat, it hadn't worked properly! Glory quickly realized she still looked like one of the meat bags around here instead of her true, *magnificent* form – and the majority of her powers were still inaccessible!
{ Well, never mind all that for now. First things first. } Glory smiled wickedly at her former vessel. "Wake up, Ben."
The human stirred, after she kicked Ben in the side. "Wha-?"
Glory grabbed him by the neck and broke it, in less than a second. That last thing Ben saw was the hellgod's evil, grinning face as he died.
{ Okay, that's that! } Glory briskly told her minions to get rid of Ben's body, and so the demons carried the corpse away. "Goodbye forever, Benjy!" she laughed merrily.
Later that evening, just after sunset, at 1630 Revello Drive – Angelus left Buffy a bloody hand in her front yard. Buffy arrived home to find the severed, bleeding hand – which used to belong to one of Mayor Wilkins' henchmen.
{ Damn it, Angel! } Buffy cursed to herself. A few moments later, she saw that Angelus had also left a note on the front door step, so she grabbed the note and read it.
'Dear Buffy, I hope you're enjoying my gifts. I know they're a little late after Valentine's Day. Meet me at the Bronze tonight at eight. Come alone.'
After she finished reading the note, Buffy felt sick to her stomach. { Get it together, you can do this, } the Slayer told herself. Luckily, her mom was still at work. So Buffy grabbed a trash bag, collected the hand and headed off to the library, while Kendra was out slaying vamps, to report the latest about her undead ex.
"Giles, Angel left another message," Buffy said emptily, gesturing to the bag. Then she handed over the note to her Watcher.
{ Come to the Bronze tonight alone? Oh dear... } Giles didn't like the sound of that.
"What's in the bag, G-man?" Xander asked, as he came in and took a seat at the table.
"Xander – stop calling me that," Giles snapped, before Buffy told everyone it was a severed hand.
"I think I'm going to be sick," the Willow-bot commented, adjusting her circuits to look a little pale. The Oz-bot didn't say a word. For her part, Cordelia wasn't there – she was at her house, getting some much-needed sleep after the totally *exhausting* nights in bed with her boyfriend. Fit and healthy cheerleader, yes, but she was only human!
"I do hope you don't plan on meeting Angelus at the Bronze on your own," Giles warned Buffy.
"The note says to come alone, Giles..." { What is Angel up to? } Buffy then thought to herself.
"Buffy, are you fricking *kidding* me? This has got 'trap' written all over it! If you're going to the Bronze, I'm damn well coming with you!" Xander refused to let Buffy face Angelus by herself on principle.
"No, Xander, you're not-" Buffy automatically started to protest.
"I could crush Dead Boy's head like a grape, just by putting my hands together and squeezing hard. Or have you forgotten this little factoid?" Xander said coldly.
Giles and the two robots didn't say anything, but they – and Xander – could tell that Buffy had indeed forgotten about his enhanced strength nowadays. The Watcher then thought to himself that Buffy would surely see reason, and invite her friend along as backup for her encounter with the enemy...
But instead, the Slayer shook her head and replied, "You're not a trained fighter, is what I was about to say."
"Yeah? What exactly do you think I've been doing since the incident with that Judge guy, just sitting around and eating Twinkies and Ho-Ho's?" Xander demanded, causing Buffy to wince. "I'm not a liability, you know. Or, if me not being Normal Guy anymore makes you *that* uncomfortable, I'll go get Kendra to be your backup – but either way, you are *not* going alone to meet with that vampire. Because odds are it'll be like what happened in the Master's cave, that night!"
Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way. Xander left to get Kendra after the blond Slayer made it clear that she didn't want Xander to come along, but – and not entirely to the Watcher's surprise – Buffy left early to take on Angelus at the Bronze, all alone. It was a *stupid* thing to do, but all Giles could do was warn her to be careful – he didn't want to be punched unconscious again, like what had happened at the end of Buffy's sophomore year.
Little did the white hats know, though, that Drusilla and her minions had grabbed Buffy's mom just as Joyce was departing her gallery. The next trap was set as Vamp Jenny called Giles on the phone. She told him to meet her at her place, not allowing the British man a chance to say anything before hanging up. So Giles hung up the library's phone as well, looking a little troubled.
"What's wrong, Giles?" Willow asked with a worried look.
"It's Jenny, she, she's been hurt – not badly, though," Giles tried to keep his cool. "Um, she, she asked me to come over to her flat..."
"Really? Seems a bit odd," Oz commented.
"Still, we better go," Willow nodded, before fishing out her cell phone. "I'll call Xander, tell him about the change in plans..."
A few minutes later, they all got into Giles' car parked in the lot and headed over to Jenny's home. Curiously, everyone but Spike and one or two minions were at the old Crawford Street mansion. The crippled vampire was sitting on the couch, watching Dark Shadows on TV, with his feet up on the coffee table –and smoking yet another cigarette, naturally.
"Finally, some peace and quiet..." the British vampire muttered while blowing smoke from his mouth. But that didn't last long, as Dru and the other minions arrived home with the Slayer's mum. { Sodding hell, couldn't I have some extra moments just to laugh at that Barnabas Collins bloke some more? }
At the Bronze, which happened to be closed tonight, Buffy met Angelus upstairs, on the mezzanine level. "I'm glad you came, Buff!" Angelus smirked at the Slayer.
"I came alone like you asked, Angel-" Buffy started to say.
"It's Angelus, not Angel! Your boyfriend's gone, you blond *airhead* - don't you get that yet?!" Angelus interrupted with a vicious snarl. "Or didn't you get my note, the day after you couldn't control your urges anymore? Moment of perfect happiness meant the soul went bye-bye, and the *real* me finally emerged!" He sneered at the schoolgirl's tears, "Aw – did I hurt your feelings? Too bad. I'd hate to see your mom get hurt the same way..." He grinned evilly.
"If you hurt her, I will totally slay your ass!" Buffy growled at him, before launching into an attack.
Elsewhere Giles pulled over into the Calendar condo's parking lot, and the group got out of the car. At that moment, Xander came running up to join them. "Guys! I got here as fast as I could, I couldn't find Kendra – oh, wait – please tell me you didn't let Buffy go face Dead Boy all alone?!"
"Sorry. We couldn't stop her," the Oz-bot shrugged.
"Yeah, I'm sorry, Xander – but, but Buffy didn't listen to us, she was like totally focused on what she personally wanted to do," the Willow-bot added.
"You mean, act like a suicidal idiot?" Xander growled. { Oh, we're gonna have words about this later, I swear... }
Giles checked his watch. "We'll just check on Jenny quickly, then, a-a-and head off to join Buffy at that, um, Bronze place. Come on..."
{ I don't like this. I bet it's a trap of some kind, } Xander grumbled to himself, as he followed the others towards the appropriate apartment. He was right, too, because just as they entered Jenny's home after knocking on the door and receiving no reply, the white hats got jumped by the undead!
Appearing out of nowhere at undead super speed, Vamp Jenny grabbed Giles by his lapels and pulled him towards her, fangs and bumpy forehead appearing as she vamped out! The other vampires grabbed hold of Xander, Oz and Willow...
Unfortunately for the undead, though, they were dealing with two inhumanly powerful robots and an enhanced human. The Willow-bot easily broke the hold and hit her vampire with a nearby flowerpot. While the vamp was a little dazed, she staked him - and he exploded into dust, with the typical death howl of the undead. Similarly, the Oz-bot hit his bloodsucker with an elbow thrust to the chest! Its heart flying out its back, the vamp blew up into dust as well.
Xander likewise broke free and staked the vamp that had grabbed him – he never left home without a stake or holy water anymore. Unfortunately, he was too busy to see what the two robots had done, and so was Giles – and so Jareth's secret remained intact.
"Did Angelus do this to you, then?" Giles asked, trying to remain calm and not to get his captor angry.
"Of course he did, Rupert. All this was his plan, after all," Vamp Jenny said, grabbing into a headlock before replying. "Angelus wants the others dead. But you, Rupert, you're mine. That's why we're going to be together for all eternity, lover boy, you and me!" she purred in his ear.
"Not on my watch, Ms. Calendar!" Xander roared, taking her by surprise as Willow threw the holy water she had into the fledgling vampire's face. The pain was enough to make her let go of her captive with a howl of pain, as Oz grabbed the Watcher and hauled him to safety.
"You'll pay for this, Rupert! You, and these *children*!" Vamp Jenny quickly jumped out an open window and escaped into the night.
The Scooby Gang quickly left the condo in Giles' car, just in case any more vampires showed up to finish the job. Xander drove, as the robot Oz rode shotgun and the Willow-bot did her best to comfort the distraught Watcher in the back seat of the Citroen.
"Bronze?" the Oz-bot said calmly, staring at Xander.
"Bronze," Xander nodded, silently cursing the Giles-mobile for not being able to go any faster.
Over at the teen nightclub in question, Buffy gave Angelus her patented death glare! { How the heck did he move so fast? Was Angel holding back on me, all this time? }
"You can give me that look all you want, Buffy. But you won't do anything to me, because your mom's life is in my hands!"
Angelus suddenly vanished, gone from sight with undead super speed. And for a moment, the Slayer didn't know what to do – Buffy knew Angelus wasn't bluffing, her mom's life really was on the line…
Over at the Crawford Street mansion, a terrified and semi-hysterical Joyce Summers was in the main 'living' area - tied to a chair, and bound and gagged. { What's going on? Who are these people? What do they want from me? Oh, God, it's like that situation with Ted all over again... }
"Don't worry, dearie. It will be all over soon," Drusilla crooned with an evil smile.
Spike just groaned in annoyance and blew smoke from his lips, before putting the cigarette back into his mouth. { Not like I can watch Dark Shadows now, izzit? Wonder if I can get someone to drink, I'm feeling a mite peckish now that I think about it... }