Fic: Souls, Slayers... and a Scythe???
Author: mkcrl120
Disclaimer: All the characters mentioned in this story belong to Joss Whedon or Mutant Enemy or some other people. I own nothing and wrote this just to get it out of my system.
Summary: Set two weeks after the events in Explaining Africa 3
Authors Notes: I have no clue about Africa. Which is probably always a good place to start writing a story. So if details I've used for place names, and tribal names and whatever are wrong then just (correctly) assume I have no idea what I'm doing.
Rating: 15 by English standards (mainly for language)
========================
Chapter 1b:
Somewhere on the road to Libreville
Xander was amused, the whinging behind him had begun again.
"It's too hot!!! Are you sure the air-conditioning is on?"
'Amy's really not designed for this heat.' Xander took a quick half-second to glance behind him to see if she was okay, "It doesn't have air-conditioning. It's a jeep. You take the canvas off and the wind provides the air-conditioning."
The response came from the passenger side. "Leave the top on. In this heat we'd be heavily sunburnt within an hour," Roger stopped looking at the map and turned to face the other passenger in the back, "Well, we'd be badly sunburnt within the hour, personally I'd give you five minutes. What do you reckon, five minutes be enough to turn her toasty."
Xander joined in with the gentle teasing, "Nah, ten to fifteen I reckon. Possibly twenty if she wears her hat and creates as much shade as she can."
"I'm so glad you two find this funny." Amy sighed in mock-indignation.
Roger was the first to counter, "You insisted on coming along. You hardly ever come along!"
"I don't go along on all the little fact-finding missions you two go on," Amy explained, "I'm no good at that sort of thing, I'm far more useful being allowed to remain home and study the local legends to see if anything applies. Was I not the one that pointed you in the direction of Garabuni three days ago? So it didn't turn out to be as old as we thought, which meant it didn't know what we wanted it to, but still a four hundred year old creature that's something else right?"
Xander thought about the number of people he'd known whose age was counted in centuries, it depressed him a little when he thought about one specific one.
Roger continued to tease her, "You only say you're no good at it... most people seem to find you quite friendly once they get to know you." He paused to wink at Xander, "It's just in order to get to know you they have to be willing to live in the shade." At her outraged look, "Maybe YOU need some company of the vampiric persuasion. Were either Spike or Angel big on reading?"
"If you didn't want to come on this mission you didn't have to join us."
"I wouldn't have missed this mission. We're going to see a demon."
Roger was leaning into the back seat now, "What's your fascination with demons?"
"What's with your irrational fear of them?"
"They're demons!! It's a self-preserving fear based on centuries of superstition. If your instincts say 'run', I say agree with them. Sounds bloody rational to me."
Xander just let them continue to bicker, 'What is it with women and demons? Mind you, you could say the same thing about me.' He thought back to Willow's demon-magnet mishap, and smiled.
Amy interrupted his thoughts, "Wotcha smiling at?"
"Old times." Xander replied, not offering to explain further.
Amy left it there. "Right.... Anyway, Roger, weren't we supposed to be in Libreville about an hour ago. Maybe I wouldn't be complaining about the heat so much if we'd got here when we expected to. I was mentally prepared for a three hour drive, did you hear me complain for those first three hours? But now we've hit the four hours and..." she paused to look at her wristwatch, "twenty-ish minutes stage I think I have the right to complain. That's getting on for a fifty percent increase in expected journey time."
"We got a little lost, that's all kiddie."
"Don't call me.."
"Aim," Xander interrupted, "now that I think it about it, you have only been on missions where we've expected to see a demon."
"So?"
"Okay, right just thought I'd mention it." Xander mused to himself, "Does that mean we shouldn't bother asking you on any missions where we're not expecting to see a demon?"
"A girl still likes to be asked."
"See, Alex my boy, women are impossible to understand. Accept that and your life becomes easier."
Amy shot daggers at Roger. Roger simply smirked in response.
"You still missed that demon down in Cocobeach, we didn't know we were going to run into that."
Xander looked on in disbelief, "You almost missed that yourself, and you were the one talking to her!"
"How was I supposed to know she was a demon?"
"The tail wasn't a give away?"
"I couldn't see that from where I was standing..."
"She had two tongues!!!"
"I thought there had been something amiss, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it."
Amy giggled, "He didn't notice she had two tongues? Had he been drinking?"
"I hope not, he was the one that drove back."
"I hadn't been drinking then, thank you very much. Now that I think about it, a woman with two tongues..." Roger stared out of the window as he thought about the implications of that.
Amy gave him a dark look and had been about to reply when suddenly Roger ordered Xander to "Turn right now!"
Xander quickly did so and looked at him questioningly, "Bit of warning would be nice nex.."
Roger simply point ahead to the sign.
Libreville
3 Miles
=====
Libreville
When they arrived in town, the first thing Amy wanted was a cold refreshing drink. Obviously, they had bottles in the jeep with them but even with a Cool-Bag the liquids had been quite warm. 'Damn that stupid jeep. Wonder if I can persuade them to get another one.' Amy's complaint had come from the fact that only a few days ago she'd discovered one of those mini-fridges, what had impressed her was that this particular model was able to be run from both a regular power supply and a car's cigarette lighter. She'd promptly bought the piece of equipment only to find that the cigarette lighter in the jeep didn't work. The shop had refused to take the item back and it was now located next to her bed. The only use she'd so far found for the thing was to keep her night time bottle of water cool, in fact she had about 3 stored in there at all times - it saved her having to walk to the dining area in the middle of the night should she require another drink. 'Stupid stupid vehicle' she thought, giving one of the tyres a kick as she walked off.
As she left she heard Roger ask Xander if it had been PMT. 'Stupid men, and stupid non air-conditioned cars!!!'
Xander called after her, "Amy, where you off to?"
Amy stopped walking and turned around to face them, "I need a drink."
"Good idea, I'll come with you."
"Not that kind."
"Oh... well in that case I'll have a Coke."
"Yeah, me too." Xander added.
Amy returned a few minutes later with three ice-cold cokes. Handing one to each of the guys, she asked, "So where do we find this demon then?"
"Probably seem friendlier if you don't call them 'That Demon', least not to their face anywyay." Xander replied but nodded his head, indicating Roger knew.
"Well?" She tried not to sound annoyed; but standing in the sun for no apparent reason, didn't sound like a good plan to her.
"There's a guy in town that knows where they live."
Amy looked on incredulously. "They? As in more than one? And they live here?"
"Seems unlike your good self it seems that the Conv.. Confer... Con.... the demons actually require this level of sunlight to be at peak effiecency. Least that's what our contact told me."
"And they're friendly with the locals?" Xander queried.
"Yep nothing to worry about. Apart from how they look... their skins a bit rough or so I'm told."
"I''ve been told that they have proved very helpful in the past."
"Sounds like it could be our guy..." Xander paused and reconsidered as he remembered it was 'demons' plural, "well one of them might be anyway."
Amy, for the most part, just looked overjoyed. "Friendly demons.... at last!!!"
"The last one was friendly." Xander corrected her.
"He told us to get out."
"Asking us to leave is not considered unfriendly behaviour for a demon. Unsocialable I'll give you, but not unfriendly."
Roger looked interested, "What would you consider unfriendly?"
Xander smiled a really evil smile. "Drinking you dry, stealing organs or limbs, beating you with your own weapon, anything that results in bodily harm. My own personal favourite is of course, gauging your eye out."
Roger looked horrified, "You lost that in a fight with a demon? You told me, you lost it in an accident!"
"I did, I was concentrating on other things and accidently let him get hold of me. Oh, and it wasn't a demon as such."
Amy had heard some of the story from Dawn, but wasn't aware if Xander knew that or not.
Meanwhile, Roger was coming up with other options. "Then what was it? Werewolf..? Witch..? Robot..?" Finding himself quickly running out of demon alternatives he quietly finished with, "Errmmm... Leprachaun..?"
Amy decided to intervene, "According to the official Watcher reports that Giles submitted; it was some kind of super-powered emissary for the First."
"His name was Caleb. He was some sort of ex-preacher that had been recruited by The First."
Further explanations of his story would have to wait as an overweight black man in his late fifties approached them. "Mr. Craddle, these must be your colleagues. I wasn't sure if you were coming, I'd expected you over an hour ago."
"Mr. Adonale, this is Mr. Harris and Miss. Davies." Amy watched as Mr. Adonale made his way over to them, 'Seems friendly enough, least he's not leering at me like most of Roger's friends.'
Xander was quick to shake his hand, "Please call me Xander, or Alex if you prefer."
Amy was next to be introduced, "And I'm Amy."
"You must all call me Shote." Then looking back at Roger, "Except you, you still have to call me Mr. Adonale."
Roger grinned then mock bowed, "At your service sir."
Shote smiled back, and once Roger had stood back up, shook his hand vigourously.
"Shote, you old miser, how long has it been?"
"About six years. I thought you would have come to see me before now."
"Once I got removed from her majesty's service I found myself at a loose end. England shipped me back old boy. Tried to get me some councilling, but they couldn't get me to deny what I'd seen."
Amy had to stifle a laugh as she realised Roger tried to phrase 'her majesty's service' so that it sounded like a spy-type role, instead of simply the ambassador post he'd actually been doing. 'The only thing Roger has in common with double-o-seven is the fact he's English, his age and the probable liver damage. Which, admittedly, is more than most people.'
"You seriously trying to tell me that the British Government does not believe in demons?" Shote queried in disbelief.
"Not the department I was with anyay. Seems I got flagged by some other department though. Call themselves Watchers; very into the 'alternative' society, so I'm led to be informed."
Amy was beginning to perspire in the heat, "Roger, the Watchers Council is in no way affilia..."
"Your young lady friend is right," Shote interrupted, "the Watchers are not connected to your government in any way. They've been around far longer than that."
At the last sentence Amy felt her head prick up to show greater signs of attention. Across from her, she could see Xander doing the same. Roger seemingly was oblivious.
"How come you seem to know more about everything I'm into, than I do?" Roger asked.
Shote just grinned, "It's too hot for that type of discussion out here. Let's go inside for a drink."
"Now you're talking my language."
They entered a small pub, as they approached the bar, Shote informed them, "If you'd arrived on time you would have been meeting the Converslacts in here."
Amy butted in with, "Converslacts? Is that their name or breed?"
"I don't know dear, that's just what we call them as a couple."
Xander felt he had to ask, "They're a couple? As in regular, living-here-together style human-type of couple?"
"Yes. But anyway they've gone home now."
Amy just glared daggers at the back of Roger's neck, while Roger asked. "Home, where's that some alternative dimension?"
"A cave by the shore?" Xander asked hopefully.
"Ermmm, no... they live two blocks that way. The green house with the exceptionally large doors."
Shote had attracted the barmans attention and was ordering drinks for everyone. Xander had refused the offer an alcoholic beverage and requested some juice instead. "Driving." He explained as he mimicked the steering motion with his hands.
Amy requested a fruit juice as well, though she was hardly paying attention as she was deep in thought what Shote had said. 'Converslacts - close enough to be considered a check... Lives in towns, alongside humans - check... Not a threat - check... Likes heat and hot climates - check... One last thing need to confirm....' "So how exactly do they 'help' the locals? Do they grant wishes or do they...?"
"No my dear, they make it rain..."
'Of course,' Amy thought, 'occasionally needs to get wet; if they are unable to live close enough to an ocean to do so, they are able to manipulate weather patterns to guarantee rain - check... would be very useful to the locals.' She turned to Xander, "Not our demon, they're Converslacts as the man said, their more common name is Confslack though. Can pass for human unless you take a real close look. Definitely not the demon that Spike went to see, no wishing powers."
Xander looked disappointed. "Ahh well." Amy looked incredibly disappointed, "We can go speak to them if you want?"
Amy perked up, but then reasoned. "I don't think we should bother them. Neither are the one we're looking for."
Xander smiled at her, "But as you said earlier, you've seen a demon on almost every trip you've been on. Who am I to disappoint now?" he said winking.
"Cool."
Xander turned to face Shote, "If you would be so kind, we would still like to meet the Confslacks."
Amy hissed from his side. "Converslacts!"
"That's what I said."
With that they all moved over to the table to finish their drinks, while Shote called the Converslacts to check if they were still available if he brought some guests over.
=====
An hour later Roger found himself following the other as they walked over to the Converslacts house.
He'd offered to stay in the bar, while Xander took Amy to see the shiny demons, but had been outvoted or overruled. He had a feeling Shote was forcing him to come along.
'I don't like demons. They're scary, they don't look right and some of them eat people. I know I got this job based on the fact that I'd had run-ins with African demons in the past, but the main word in that sentence was 'run'. It accurately described my reaction to meeting nearly every demon so far.' "Take Amy she wants to go." had been his counter, but still he'd been told that they were all going.
This definitely smelt like something Shote would have cooked up for him. 'I know I didn't take the existence of demons very well when I first found out, but nearly everyone I'd told had flat out called me a drunken liar. So I tried to keep it quiet and get on with my job, like any self-respecting Englishman, but there was always that nagging doubt that what I'd seen that night was real, and wasn't a figment of my imbibed imagination. Of course, a few days later, when I'm struggling to write it off as a bad experience, I accidently mention it to Shote. True, I had gotten exceptionally drunk and then mentioned it in a rant about piranhas, but still, that was no excuse for what he did.'
Roger continued to glare at the back of Shote's head as they walked the remaining distance to the Converslacts. 'What sort of name is Converslact anyway? I don't want to go... I'm far too sober for this. Not that being 'very' drunk had helped last time.' He admitted to himself. 'I'd still have my job if it wasn't for Shote. I mean come on, a man tells you about demons; you laugh at him... or you listen intently and make fun of him to your friends later. If you want to help, you take him to a psychiatrist.' Very similar to what his superiors had forced him to do. 'If a man comes to you and talks to him about demons; a man admitting that he feels like an outsider in his job, a man pouring his heart out to you over a shared bottle of whiskey. What you absolutely do not do, under any circumstances, is what Shote did. I mean humouring him is one thing; and if you do humour him, you don't mean it, you just go along with it as if your taking him to a crazy person, which in fact you are. You may nod your head, you may verbally agree with him, you may tell or, if find yourself short, indeed make up similar stories to show you're on their wavelength. What you absolutely do not do is tell them you're on their wavelength, and then fucking prove it by taking them to a demon bar.'
He took a deep breath as he forced himself to see the other side of the story.
'Okay, so Shote was in his own way trying to help me come to terms with what I'd discovered. That's fine in theory. In fact that is the measure of a true friend. But you build up to it. You help them conquer their fears and insecurities regarding their own sanity. You build them up to it slowly, and give them adequate warning. Let me just state for the record that, "Let's go in here it's open 'til dawn." is not considered adequate warning.'
Roger shook his head from his depressing thoughts and caught up with the others. "So... what sort of demon you got for this time?" he asked as joyfully as he could.
Shote turned to him. "Can you stop referring to them as demons. They're the Converslacts. They also go by Greg and Marsha."
Roger noticed Amy's head whip round. "Greg and Marsha?"
Never one to pass up on some potential Amy-teasing, he couldn't resist. "See, not that exciting when the demons are just regular people, eh?"
Xander stepped into the middle before the latest bout began. "Look what I've learnt over my years, is that demons come with as many different intentions as they do shapes and sizes."
"I've read a lot from Watcher reference material, that's quite a broad range. So, what you're basically saying, is that there is no standard behavioural pattern for people to expect when meeting demons. And if that is true, then so must be the opposite; people can't really show a standard behavioural pattern either when they first meet them."
Roger watched as Xander fumbled, "I guess."
"Therefore, logically, my willinglness to meet them is as equally valid as your cynical outlook, and Roger's overwhelming fear."
Roger spluttered. "I wouldn't say 'afraid'." He coughed and cleared his throat, "I wouldn't say I was afraid of them. I was just being careful."
Xander interrupted. "You need to ask yourself one thing. Can you ensure your safety to the best of your ability with the situation you find yourself in?" He paused before continuing, "That is the only thing that matters. And that goes for people as well as demons. A soul does not guarantee good behaviour, certainly not any more than not having a soul guarantees bad."
Roger looked to Shote again. "You sure these ones are safe?"
Shote turned to grin at him. "As safe as I can guarantee you three are."
Xander nodded in response.
But Shote continued, "Though I am concerned as to where you got the notion that demons don't have souls."
Roger watched as Xander began formulating his response. Just as it looked like Xander had a comeback, Shote interrupted.
"Here we are."
Roger watched in anticipation as Shote knocked on the door. He looked across at Xander who still seemed like he wanted to continue the argument, and then looked to Amy who looked as excited as he felt tense. They could hear the sound of footsteps approaching the front door, from the sounds made the person sounded heavy. He felt both himself and Amy move subconsciously closer to one another.
The door opened suddenly, and a man stepped outside. Roger blinked, the man didn't look like a demon, he looked like a large powerfully built man. Possibly just outsizing Xander in height by a few inches, he definitely didn't look like he could have been responsible for the large footsteps they'd heard. He heard Shote speaking to the man in the local dialect, he wasn't fluent in it himself but understood enough to know that Shote was seemingly explaining who they all were, he turned to Amy and asked. "Where's the demon?"
She hissed back, "That is the demon, looks human but the skin is made of completely different materials, you only really notice it if you touch it."
"He couldn't have made that much noise."
"Confslacks can weigh up to a metric ton and a half." Amy rattled off next to him, seemingly from memory. "But look how friendly he is. You're not still scared?"
"Not at the moment." He couldn't stop himself from flinching slightly when the guy lifted his arm up. He felt really stupid when it turned out he was just calling them all over.
As they approached the two 'men', Roger found himself close enough to hear some of the conversation. He heard the demon-man say "comes the wife." Just as another 'person' arrived at the door, Roger found himself pausing in his stride.
Roger watched as the demon-man explained to the demon-woman who they all were, or at least that's what he thought they were doing, they weren't speaking in a language he understood. He saw the demon-woman turn to face himself and Amy, and wave them over, Amy quickly waved back and left his side to head over to them, Roger reluctantly followed.
However, the look on the demon-woman's face changed as she noticed Xander. She blinked for a few moments, seemingly confused, before letting out an almighty roar as she charged straight at him.
=====
End chapter 1b:
========================
Author: mkcrl120
Disclaimer: All the characters mentioned in this story belong to Joss Whedon or Mutant Enemy or some other people. I own nothing and wrote this just to get it out of my system.
Summary: Set two weeks after the events in Explaining Africa 3
Authors Notes: I have no clue about Africa. Which is probably always a good place to start writing a story. So if details I've used for place names, and tribal names and whatever are wrong then just (correctly) assume I have no idea what I'm doing.
Rating: 15 by English standards (mainly for language)
========================
Chapter 1b:
Somewhere on the road to Libreville
Xander was amused, the whinging behind him had begun again.
"It's too hot!!! Are you sure the air-conditioning is on?"
'Amy's really not designed for this heat.' Xander took a quick half-second to glance behind him to see if she was okay, "It doesn't have air-conditioning. It's a jeep. You take the canvas off and the wind provides the air-conditioning."
The response came from the passenger side. "Leave the top on. In this heat we'd be heavily sunburnt within an hour," Roger stopped looking at the map and turned to face the other passenger in the back, "Well, we'd be badly sunburnt within the hour, personally I'd give you five minutes. What do you reckon, five minutes be enough to turn her toasty."
Xander joined in with the gentle teasing, "Nah, ten to fifteen I reckon. Possibly twenty if she wears her hat and creates as much shade as she can."
"I'm so glad you two find this funny." Amy sighed in mock-indignation.
Roger was the first to counter, "You insisted on coming along. You hardly ever come along!"
"I don't go along on all the little fact-finding missions you two go on," Amy explained, "I'm no good at that sort of thing, I'm far more useful being allowed to remain home and study the local legends to see if anything applies. Was I not the one that pointed you in the direction of Garabuni three days ago? So it didn't turn out to be as old as we thought, which meant it didn't know what we wanted it to, but still a four hundred year old creature that's something else right?"
Xander thought about the number of people he'd known whose age was counted in centuries, it depressed him a little when he thought about one specific one.
Roger continued to tease her, "You only say you're no good at it... most people seem to find you quite friendly once they get to know you." He paused to wink at Xander, "It's just in order to get to know you they have to be willing to live in the shade." At her outraged look, "Maybe YOU need some company of the vampiric persuasion. Were either Spike or Angel big on reading?"
"If you didn't want to come on this mission you didn't have to join us."
"I wouldn't have missed this mission. We're going to see a demon."
Roger was leaning into the back seat now, "What's your fascination with demons?"
"What's with your irrational fear of them?"
"They're demons!! It's a self-preserving fear based on centuries of superstition. If your instincts say 'run', I say agree with them. Sounds bloody rational to me."
Xander just let them continue to bicker, 'What is it with women and demons? Mind you, you could say the same thing about me.' He thought back to Willow's demon-magnet mishap, and smiled.
Amy interrupted his thoughts, "Wotcha smiling at?"
"Old times." Xander replied, not offering to explain further.
Amy left it there. "Right.... Anyway, Roger, weren't we supposed to be in Libreville about an hour ago. Maybe I wouldn't be complaining about the heat so much if we'd got here when we expected to. I was mentally prepared for a three hour drive, did you hear me complain for those first three hours? But now we've hit the four hours and..." she paused to look at her wristwatch, "twenty-ish minutes stage I think I have the right to complain. That's getting on for a fifty percent increase in expected journey time."
"We got a little lost, that's all kiddie."
"Don't call me.."
"Aim," Xander interrupted, "now that I think it about it, you have only been on missions where we've expected to see a demon."
"So?"
"Okay, right just thought I'd mention it." Xander mused to himself, "Does that mean we shouldn't bother asking you on any missions where we're not expecting to see a demon?"
"A girl still likes to be asked."
"See, Alex my boy, women are impossible to understand. Accept that and your life becomes easier."
Amy shot daggers at Roger. Roger simply smirked in response.
"You still missed that demon down in Cocobeach, we didn't know we were going to run into that."
Xander looked on in disbelief, "You almost missed that yourself, and you were the one talking to her!"
"How was I supposed to know she was a demon?"
"The tail wasn't a give away?"
"I couldn't see that from where I was standing..."
"She had two tongues!!!"
"I thought there had been something amiss, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it."
Amy giggled, "He didn't notice she had two tongues? Had he been drinking?"
"I hope not, he was the one that drove back."
"I hadn't been drinking then, thank you very much. Now that I think about it, a woman with two tongues..." Roger stared out of the window as he thought about the implications of that.
Amy gave him a dark look and had been about to reply when suddenly Roger ordered Xander to "Turn right now!"
Xander quickly did so and looked at him questioningly, "Bit of warning would be nice nex.."
Roger simply point ahead to the sign.
Libreville
3 Miles
=====
Libreville
When they arrived in town, the first thing Amy wanted was a cold refreshing drink. Obviously, they had bottles in the jeep with them but even with a Cool-Bag the liquids had been quite warm. 'Damn that stupid jeep. Wonder if I can persuade them to get another one.' Amy's complaint had come from the fact that only a few days ago she'd discovered one of those mini-fridges, what had impressed her was that this particular model was able to be run from both a regular power supply and a car's cigarette lighter. She'd promptly bought the piece of equipment only to find that the cigarette lighter in the jeep didn't work. The shop had refused to take the item back and it was now located next to her bed. The only use she'd so far found for the thing was to keep her night time bottle of water cool, in fact she had about 3 stored in there at all times - it saved her having to walk to the dining area in the middle of the night should she require another drink. 'Stupid stupid vehicle' she thought, giving one of the tyres a kick as she walked off.
As she left she heard Roger ask Xander if it had been PMT. 'Stupid men, and stupid non air-conditioned cars!!!'
Xander called after her, "Amy, where you off to?"
Amy stopped walking and turned around to face them, "I need a drink."
"Good idea, I'll come with you."
"Not that kind."
"Oh... well in that case I'll have a Coke."
"Yeah, me too." Xander added.
Amy returned a few minutes later with three ice-cold cokes. Handing one to each of the guys, she asked, "So where do we find this demon then?"
"Probably seem friendlier if you don't call them 'That Demon', least not to their face anywyay." Xander replied but nodded his head, indicating Roger knew.
"Well?" She tried not to sound annoyed; but standing in the sun for no apparent reason, didn't sound like a good plan to her.
"There's a guy in town that knows where they live."
Amy looked on incredulously. "They? As in more than one? And they live here?"
"Seems unlike your good self it seems that the Conv.. Confer... Con.... the demons actually require this level of sunlight to be at peak effiecency. Least that's what our contact told me."
"And they're friendly with the locals?" Xander queried.
"Yep nothing to worry about. Apart from how they look... their skins a bit rough or so I'm told."
"I''ve been told that they have proved very helpful in the past."
"Sounds like it could be our guy..." Xander paused and reconsidered as he remembered it was 'demons' plural, "well one of them might be anyway."
Amy, for the most part, just looked overjoyed. "Friendly demons.... at last!!!"
"The last one was friendly." Xander corrected her.
"He told us to get out."
"Asking us to leave is not considered unfriendly behaviour for a demon. Unsocialable I'll give you, but not unfriendly."
Roger looked interested, "What would you consider unfriendly?"
Xander smiled a really evil smile. "Drinking you dry, stealing organs or limbs, beating you with your own weapon, anything that results in bodily harm. My own personal favourite is of course, gauging your eye out."
Roger looked horrified, "You lost that in a fight with a demon? You told me, you lost it in an accident!"
"I did, I was concentrating on other things and accidently let him get hold of me. Oh, and it wasn't a demon as such."
Amy had heard some of the story from Dawn, but wasn't aware if Xander knew that or not.
Meanwhile, Roger was coming up with other options. "Then what was it? Werewolf..? Witch..? Robot..?" Finding himself quickly running out of demon alternatives he quietly finished with, "Errmmm... Leprachaun..?"
Amy decided to intervene, "According to the official Watcher reports that Giles submitted; it was some kind of super-powered emissary for the First."
"His name was Caleb. He was some sort of ex-preacher that had been recruited by The First."
Further explanations of his story would have to wait as an overweight black man in his late fifties approached them. "Mr. Craddle, these must be your colleagues. I wasn't sure if you were coming, I'd expected you over an hour ago."
"Mr. Adonale, this is Mr. Harris and Miss. Davies." Amy watched as Mr. Adonale made his way over to them, 'Seems friendly enough, least he's not leering at me like most of Roger's friends.'
Xander was quick to shake his hand, "Please call me Xander, or Alex if you prefer."
Amy was next to be introduced, "And I'm Amy."
"You must all call me Shote." Then looking back at Roger, "Except you, you still have to call me Mr. Adonale."
Roger grinned then mock bowed, "At your service sir."
Shote smiled back, and once Roger had stood back up, shook his hand vigourously.
"Shote, you old miser, how long has it been?"
"About six years. I thought you would have come to see me before now."
"Once I got removed from her majesty's service I found myself at a loose end. England shipped me back old boy. Tried to get me some councilling, but they couldn't get me to deny what I'd seen."
Amy had to stifle a laugh as she realised Roger tried to phrase 'her majesty's service' so that it sounded like a spy-type role, instead of simply the ambassador post he'd actually been doing. 'The only thing Roger has in common with double-o-seven is the fact he's English, his age and the probable liver damage. Which, admittedly, is more than most people.'
"You seriously trying to tell me that the British Government does not believe in demons?" Shote queried in disbelief.
"Not the department I was with anyay. Seems I got flagged by some other department though. Call themselves Watchers; very into the 'alternative' society, so I'm led to be informed."
Amy was beginning to perspire in the heat, "Roger, the Watchers Council is in no way affilia..."
"Your young lady friend is right," Shote interrupted, "the Watchers are not connected to your government in any way. They've been around far longer than that."
At the last sentence Amy felt her head prick up to show greater signs of attention. Across from her, she could see Xander doing the same. Roger seemingly was oblivious.
"How come you seem to know more about everything I'm into, than I do?" Roger asked.
Shote just grinned, "It's too hot for that type of discussion out here. Let's go inside for a drink."
"Now you're talking my language."
They entered a small pub, as they approached the bar, Shote informed them, "If you'd arrived on time you would have been meeting the Converslacts in here."
Amy butted in with, "Converslacts? Is that their name or breed?"
"I don't know dear, that's just what we call them as a couple."
Xander felt he had to ask, "They're a couple? As in regular, living-here-together style human-type of couple?"
"Yes. But anyway they've gone home now."
Amy just glared daggers at the back of Roger's neck, while Roger asked. "Home, where's that some alternative dimension?"
"A cave by the shore?" Xander asked hopefully.
"Ermmm, no... they live two blocks that way. The green house with the exceptionally large doors."
Shote had attracted the barmans attention and was ordering drinks for everyone. Xander had refused the offer an alcoholic beverage and requested some juice instead. "Driving." He explained as he mimicked the steering motion with his hands.
Amy requested a fruit juice as well, though she was hardly paying attention as she was deep in thought what Shote had said. 'Converslacts - close enough to be considered a check... Lives in towns, alongside humans - check... Not a threat - check... Likes heat and hot climates - check... One last thing need to confirm....' "So how exactly do they 'help' the locals? Do they grant wishes or do they...?"
"No my dear, they make it rain..."
'Of course,' Amy thought, 'occasionally needs to get wet; if they are unable to live close enough to an ocean to do so, they are able to manipulate weather patterns to guarantee rain - check... would be very useful to the locals.' She turned to Xander, "Not our demon, they're Converslacts as the man said, their more common name is Confslack though. Can pass for human unless you take a real close look. Definitely not the demon that Spike went to see, no wishing powers."
Xander looked disappointed. "Ahh well." Amy looked incredibly disappointed, "We can go speak to them if you want?"
Amy perked up, but then reasoned. "I don't think we should bother them. Neither are the one we're looking for."
Xander smiled at her, "But as you said earlier, you've seen a demon on almost every trip you've been on. Who am I to disappoint now?" he said winking.
"Cool."
Xander turned to face Shote, "If you would be so kind, we would still like to meet the Confslacks."
Amy hissed from his side. "Converslacts!"
"That's what I said."
With that they all moved over to the table to finish their drinks, while Shote called the Converslacts to check if they were still available if he brought some guests over.
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An hour later Roger found himself following the other as they walked over to the Converslacts house.
He'd offered to stay in the bar, while Xander took Amy to see the shiny demons, but had been outvoted or overruled. He had a feeling Shote was forcing him to come along.
'I don't like demons. They're scary, they don't look right and some of them eat people. I know I got this job based on the fact that I'd had run-ins with African demons in the past, but the main word in that sentence was 'run'. It accurately described my reaction to meeting nearly every demon so far.' "Take Amy she wants to go." had been his counter, but still he'd been told that they were all going.
This definitely smelt like something Shote would have cooked up for him. 'I know I didn't take the existence of demons very well when I first found out, but nearly everyone I'd told had flat out called me a drunken liar. So I tried to keep it quiet and get on with my job, like any self-respecting Englishman, but there was always that nagging doubt that what I'd seen that night was real, and wasn't a figment of my imbibed imagination. Of course, a few days later, when I'm struggling to write it off as a bad experience, I accidently mention it to Shote. True, I had gotten exceptionally drunk and then mentioned it in a rant about piranhas, but still, that was no excuse for what he did.'
Roger continued to glare at the back of Shote's head as they walked the remaining distance to the Converslacts. 'What sort of name is Converslact anyway? I don't want to go... I'm far too sober for this. Not that being 'very' drunk had helped last time.' He admitted to himself. 'I'd still have my job if it wasn't for Shote. I mean come on, a man tells you about demons; you laugh at him... or you listen intently and make fun of him to your friends later. If you want to help, you take him to a psychiatrist.' Very similar to what his superiors had forced him to do. 'If a man comes to you and talks to him about demons; a man admitting that he feels like an outsider in his job, a man pouring his heart out to you over a shared bottle of whiskey. What you absolutely do not do, under any circumstances, is what Shote did. I mean humouring him is one thing; and if you do humour him, you don't mean it, you just go along with it as if your taking him to a crazy person, which in fact you are. You may nod your head, you may verbally agree with him, you may tell or, if find yourself short, indeed make up similar stories to show you're on their wavelength. What you absolutely do not do is tell them you're on their wavelength, and then fucking prove it by taking them to a demon bar.'
He took a deep breath as he forced himself to see the other side of the story.
'Okay, so Shote was in his own way trying to help me come to terms with what I'd discovered. That's fine in theory. In fact that is the measure of a true friend. But you build up to it. You help them conquer their fears and insecurities regarding their own sanity. You build them up to it slowly, and give them adequate warning. Let me just state for the record that, "Let's go in here it's open 'til dawn." is not considered adequate warning.'
Roger shook his head from his depressing thoughts and caught up with the others. "So... what sort of demon you got for this time?" he asked as joyfully as he could.
Shote turned to him. "Can you stop referring to them as demons. They're the Converslacts. They also go by Greg and Marsha."
Roger noticed Amy's head whip round. "Greg and Marsha?"
Never one to pass up on some potential Amy-teasing, he couldn't resist. "See, not that exciting when the demons are just regular people, eh?"
Xander stepped into the middle before the latest bout began. "Look what I've learnt over my years, is that demons come with as many different intentions as they do shapes and sizes."
"I've read a lot from Watcher reference material, that's quite a broad range. So, what you're basically saying, is that there is no standard behavioural pattern for people to expect when meeting demons. And if that is true, then so must be the opposite; people can't really show a standard behavioural pattern either when they first meet them."
Roger watched as Xander fumbled, "I guess."
"Therefore, logically, my willinglness to meet them is as equally valid as your cynical outlook, and Roger's overwhelming fear."
Roger spluttered. "I wouldn't say 'afraid'." He coughed and cleared his throat, "I wouldn't say I was afraid of them. I was just being careful."
Xander interrupted. "You need to ask yourself one thing. Can you ensure your safety to the best of your ability with the situation you find yourself in?" He paused before continuing, "That is the only thing that matters. And that goes for people as well as demons. A soul does not guarantee good behaviour, certainly not any more than not having a soul guarantees bad."
Roger looked to Shote again. "You sure these ones are safe?"
Shote turned to grin at him. "As safe as I can guarantee you three are."
Xander nodded in response.
But Shote continued, "Though I am concerned as to where you got the notion that demons don't have souls."
Roger watched as Xander began formulating his response. Just as it looked like Xander had a comeback, Shote interrupted.
"Here we are."
Roger watched in anticipation as Shote knocked on the door. He looked across at Xander who still seemed like he wanted to continue the argument, and then looked to Amy who looked as excited as he felt tense. They could hear the sound of footsteps approaching the front door, from the sounds made the person sounded heavy. He felt both himself and Amy move subconsciously closer to one another.
The door opened suddenly, and a man stepped outside. Roger blinked, the man didn't look like a demon, he looked like a large powerfully built man. Possibly just outsizing Xander in height by a few inches, he definitely didn't look like he could have been responsible for the large footsteps they'd heard. He heard Shote speaking to the man in the local dialect, he wasn't fluent in it himself but understood enough to know that Shote was seemingly explaining who they all were, he turned to Amy and asked. "Where's the demon?"
She hissed back, "That is the demon, looks human but the skin is made of completely different materials, you only really notice it if you touch it."
"He couldn't have made that much noise."
"Confslacks can weigh up to a metric ton and a half." Amy rattled off next to him, seemingly from memory. "But look how friendly he is. You're not still scared?"
"Not at the moment." He couldn't stop himself from flinching slightly when the guy lifted his arm up. He felt really stupid when it turned out he was just calling them all over.
As they approached the two 'men', Roger found himself close enough to hear some of the conversation. He heard the demon-man say "comes the wife." Just as another 'person' arrived at the door, Roger found himself pausing in his stride.
Roger watched as the demon-man explained to the demon-woman who they all were, or at least that's what he thought they were doing, they weren't speaking in a language he understood. He saw the demon-woman turn to face himself and Amy, and wave them over, Amy quickly waved back and left his side to head over to them, Roger reluctantly followed.
However, the look on the demon-woman's face changed as she noticed Xander. She blinked for a few moments, seemingly confused, before letting out an almighty roar as she charged straight at him.
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End chapter 1b:
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