Vampires, Oh My
Maybe it was because of the blows to my head, maybe it was just that there wasn't much in there to begin with, but despite my years of experience I didn't take the time to come up with a better plan than to tackle the vamp trying to flank her. I hit his knees with enough momentum to land us both on the ground, hard. For a moment I lay with my face planted in the grass gasping as my bruises protested. ^I'm going to be feeling that in the morning.^ Shaking it off I half scrambled, half crawled over to the vamp. He'd hit terra firma a couple feet off and to the right and rolled, 'cause in this case my vampy foe weighted almost fifty pounds less than me. In fact he looked like a good wind would blow him apart. Standing on my knees over him I almost felt sorry. Gaunt as a bunch of sticks he just closed his eyes as I shoved my stake into his heart. It was probably my imagination but as his body broke down into so much dust I could have sworn it sounded like a sigh.
Twisting I caught sight of Willow. She too was on her knees, but in her case it wasn't voluntary. The sound of my heartbeat roared in my ears and I saw red. ^Damn vampires!^ Fury swirled around inside my chest faster and faster. And then I *pushed*. The grubby vampire's fingers were ripped from Willow's throat as tornado force winds plucked him up and hurled him twenty feet. He probably would have kept going but he had an encounter with a tree branch. I averted my eyes and took several deep breaths to settle my stomach. Once I felt capable I shuffled on my knees, not bothering to stand, over to Willow. She was bent over panting with one hand on the ground supporting her weight. Her were eyes closed and her right hand lightly griped her throat. Edging around her fingers I could see red blotches that I knew would be livid bruises tomorrow. I pulled her against my chest clasping her in my arms tightly around her and started rocking. *Too close.*
"Are you alright?" I whispered croakily. Swallowing some spit in the effort to ease the roughness of my throat I continued, "I know that's a silly question since vampire plus throat equals bad but you're not allowed to not- alright. You know that right?" I felt Willow's chuckles vibrating into my chest.
She straightened and looked me in the eye. "Xander you are a nut." I knew by the tense set of her body she'd seen. "Xander?"
I closed my eyes and shook my head. "I know." Twisting my head around I looked at the vampire still skewered. It was not a pretty sight. Blood bubbled out of the corners of his mouth and his eyes rolled franticly around. The tip of the branch had broken off but the main portion had stayed connected to the tree and therefore so did the vampire leaving him hanging two and a half feet off the ground. Wood protruded out of the center of his chest along with fragments of white that I figured by the positioning were remains of the spinal disks and breastbone pieces the branch had shattered going through his torso. The now quadriplegic vampire could do nothing but hang as his stolen blood dripped slowly out of him.
Willow struggled her way out of my arms and fear that she had finally found a good reason to revile me choked the breath out of me. I stared at the ground unwilling to look into her face and see the disgust I feared was there. I had just. Willow's little hand moved across my field of vision and came back again with one of the stake rough-hewed stakes Giles passed out to us like lollipops in her grip.
Startled I raised my chin from my chest. Willow was white as the ghost sheets she wore every Halloween but she gave me a wry little smile anyway. Speechless I watched her grass stained jean clad knees rise past my face as she clambered to her feet. Still struck dumb I twisted my back to watch her progress, which while it wasn't exactly steady was purposeful. Unable to just watch I pushed myself up and on to my feet and followed her.
I caught up to her as she slowed to a stop in front of my victim. Standing beside her I could clearly see the vampire's face. He was older than the others, meaning he didn't look like he'd died with pimples dotting his face, but there was no way he was any older than twenty five. Also I noted numbly that he was not as malnourished as the others, therefore he was probably the leader, but I didn't see any intelligence in his eyes. All I saw was pain and a cornered and dying animal's ferocity. I knew if he could still move he'd be clawing and scratching never giving up the fight for survival. In his eyes I read his hatred and I swallowed.
There was no way I could leave him here like this. The pull of gravity probably made every second hanging there pure torture. I'm not the type to find pleasure in others pain, even those I'm going to kill. The path was clear. The soldier in me knew that a quick death was something to pray for; my animalistic side despised the mere thought leaving an enemy still able to recover to attack again. Yet I hesitated. I had done this to him just because he made me mad. The thought terrified me in a way no vampire or demon ever had.
Forgotten in my own self-condemning was Willow. She reminded me of her presence though by standing on her toes and planting her stake right in his aorta. Red tinted teeth were revealed as the last vampire snarled his last snarl. I watched as the individual flakes of dust drifted to the ground. Then feeling awkward with the silence I cleared my throat and smiled my trademark smile at Willow. "You got three to my two. I don't know about you but I'm feeling unloved."
Her smile was wicked and put the unease I felt about my new vampire flight school straight out of my mind. "Jealous Xander? Why, I didn't know you swung that way."
"Hgh?" I sputtered pretty sure my face was rapidly growing as red as her hair.
Her smile grew gentler and she rubbed her throat absentmindedly with her right hand. I took in the gesture and the rest of her appearance. Disheveled was kindly putting it; her light yellow blouse was smeared with brown and green and the top button had popped off revealing a corner of white lace from her bra. Her jeans didn't look like they'd been half ripped off but they were just as colorful. Looking down at myself I saw I wasn't looking so hot either. My white t-shirt had a hole on the left right below my heart that was bordered by far spread stain of red that intersected with the grass and dirt I'd picked up while rolling around. My red nylon shirt didn't show the blood as well but it had a matching hole. I lucked out with my jeans. You could barely see anything. *Wait a minute. Color?*
One of the first things I grew accustomed to about patrolling was to the lack of color; I mean it's not a huge thing like getting used to running across 'meals'. Thing is you need light to get color. Other wise everything looks gray. The reasons were something I was lectured on in art class but I couldn't remember for the life of me, and not all of Sunnydale had convenient streetlights. We carry flashlights of course but they seem to deter vamps and demons too much. Since our usual strategy is playing tasty 'come eat' bait that kind of defeats the purpose. Therefore I shouldn't be seeing with the clarity I am. Rewinding my memories I pinpointed the moment when the world became daylight like. My mouth went dry as the Mojave. When I saw those vamps I automatically switched. I can see in the dark with my mutant eyes therefore they were better so I made the change. *Now I have survival instincts?!*
Quickly I whirled around. "Our work is done. It's time to fly." My witty quip didn't sound so witty, even to me. It sounded desperate.
I heard a sigh behind me. "Xander you big butthead." My arm suddenly had two new hands attached. She turned me around planting both hands on my arms. *Boy, fighting vampires sure has made her stronger.* Willow glared at me and shook me. "I don't care that your eyes are weird. I don't care that you're a mutant. Heck, I wouldn't even care if you stripped down and did the hula right here in this graveyard," Willow paused a thoughtful expression replacing her grim one and I blushed as I imagined the picture *that* painted in her noggin. Shaking her head she focus back on me, "expect for a little bit of an awkward factor. You. Are. My. Friend." She added a shake for every word.
Words are just words, for most people they are not worth the air used to expel them, but for Willow, my Willow, words had never came with ease. When she said something she meant it. My smile spread easily and I knew it was the goofy sap inspired one that I always felt made me look like an idiot. "Really? I guess that means I can copy your Trigonometry homework tomorrow?"
Giving me one final shake she let me go. "Forget it buster."
Maybe it was because of the blows to my head, maybe it was just that there wasn't much in there to begin with, but despite my years of experience I didn't take the time to come up with a better plan than to tackle the vamp trying to flank her. I hit his knees with enough momentum to land us both on the ground, hard. For a moment I lay with my face planted in the grass gasping as my bruises protested. ^I'm going to be feeling that in the morning.^ Shaking it off I half scrambled, half crawled over to the vamp. He'd hit terra firma a couple feet off and to the right and rolled, 'cause in this case my vampy foe weighted almost fifty pounds less than me. In fact he looked like a good wind would blow him apart. Standing on my knees over him I almost felt sorry. Gaunt as a bunch of sticks he just closed his eyes as I shoved my stake into his heart. It was probably my imagination but as his body broke down into so much dust I could have sworn it sounded like a sigh.
Twisting I caught sight of Willow. She too was on her knees, but in her case it wasn't voluntary. The sound of my heartbeat roared in my ears and I saw red. ^Damn vampires!^ Fury swirled around inside my chest faster and faster. And then I *pushed*. The grubby vampire's fingers were ripped from Willow's throat as tornado force winds plucked him up and hurled him twenty feet. He probably would have kept going but he had an encounter with a tree branch. I averted my eyes and took several deep breaths to settle my stomach. Once I felt capable I shuffled on my knees, not bothering to stand, over to Willow. She was bent over panting with one hand on the ground supporting her weight. Her were eyes closed and her right hand lightly griped her throat. Edging around her fingers I could see red blotches that I knew would be livid bruises tomorrow. I pulled her against my chest clasping her in my arms tightly around her and started rocking. *Too close.*
"Are you alright?" I whispered croakily. Swallowing some spit in the effort to ease the roughness of my throat I continued, "I know that's a silly question since vampire plus throat equals bad but you're not allowed to not- alright. You know that right?" I felt Willow's chuckles vibrating into my chest.
She straightened and looked me in the eye. "Xander you are a nut." I knew by the tense set of her body she'd seen. "Xander?"
I closed my eyes and shook my head. "I know." Twisting my head around I looked at the vampire still skewered. It was not a pretty sight. Blood bubbled out of the corners of his mouth and his eyes rolled franticly around. The tip of the branch had broken off but the main portion had stayed connected to the tree and therefore so did the vampire leaving him hanging two and a half feet off the ground. Wood protruded out of the center of his chest along with fragments of white that I figured by the positioning were remains of the spinal disks and breastbone pieces the branch had shattered going through his torso. The now quadriplegic vampire could do nothing but hang as his stolen blood dripped slowly out of him.
Willow struggled her way out of my arms and fear that she had finally found a good reason to revile me choked the breath out of me. I stared at the ground unwilling to look into her face and see the disgust I feared was there. I had just. Willow's little hand moved across my field of vision and came back again with one of the stake rough-hewed stakes Giles passed out to us like lollipops in her grip.
Startled I raised my chin from my chest. Willow was white as the ghost sheets she wore every Halloween but she gave me a wry little smile anyway. Speechless I watched her grass stained jean clad knees rise past my face as she clambered to her feet. Still struck dumb I twisted my back to watch her progress, which while it wasn't exactly steady was purposeful. Unable to just watch I pushed myself up and on to my feet and followed her.
I caught up to her as she slowed to a stop in front of my victim. Standing beside her I could clearly see the vampire's face. He was older than the others, meaning he didn't look like he'd died with pimples dotting his face, but there was no way he was any older than twenty five. Also I noted numbly that he was not as malnourished as the others, therefore he was probably the leader, but I didn't see any intelligence in his eyes. All I saw was pain and a cornered and dying animal's ferocity. I knew if he could still move he'd be clawing and scratching never giving up the fight for survival. In his eyes I read his hatred and I swallowed.
There was no way I could leave him here like this. The pull of gravity probably made every second hanging there pure torture. I'm not the type to find pleasure in others pain, even those I'm going to kill. The path was clear. The soldier in me knew that a quick death was something to pray for; my animalistic side despised the mere thought leaving an enemy still able to recover to attack again. Yet I hesitated. I had done this to him just because he made me mad. The thought terrified me in a way no vampire or demon ever had.
Forgotten in my own self-condemning was Willow. She reminded me of her presence though by standing on her toes and planting her stake right in his aorta. Red tinted teeth were revealed as the last vampire snarled his last snarl. I watched as the individual flakes of dust drifted to the ground. Then feeling awkward with the silence I cleared my throat and smiled my trademark smile at Willow. "You got three to my two. I don't know about you but I'm feeling unloved."
Her smile was wicked and put the unease I felt about my new vampire flight school straight out of my mind. "Jealous Xander? Why, I didn't know you swung that way."
"Hgh?" I sputtered pretty sure my face was rapidly growing as red as her hair.
Her smile grew gentler and she rubbed her throat absentmindedly with her right hand. I took in the gesture and the rest of her appearance. Disheveled was kindly putting it; her light yellow blouse was smeared with brown and green and the top button had popped off revealing a corner of white lace from her bra. Her jeans didn't look like they'd been half ripped off but they were just as colorful. Looking down at myself I saw I wasn't looking so hot either. My white t-shirt had a hole on the left right below my heart that was bordered by far spread stain of red that intersected with the grass and dirt I'd picked up while rolling around. My red nylon shirt didn't show the blood as well but it had a matching hole. I lucked out with my jeans. You could barely see anything. *Wait a minute. Color?*
One of the first things I grew accustomed to about patrolling was to the lack of color; I mean it's not a huge thing like getting used to running across 'meals'. Thing is you need light to get color. Other wise everything looks gray. The reasons were something I was lectured on in art class but I couldn't remember for the life of me, and not all of Sunnydale had convenient streetlights. We carry flashlights of course but they seem to deter vamps and demons too much. Since our usual strategy is playing tasty 'come eat' bait that kind of defeats the purpose. Therefore I shouldn't be seeing with the clarity I am. Rewinding my memories I pinpointed the moment when the world became daylight like. My mouth went dry as the Mojave. When I saw those vamps I automatically switched. I can see in the dark with my mutant eyes therefore they were better so I made the change. *Now I have survival instincts?!*
Quickly I whirled around. "Our work is done. It's time to fly." My witty quip didn't sound so witty, even to me. It sounded desperate.
I heard a sigh behind me. "Xander you big butthead." My arm suddenly had two new hands attached. She turned me around planting both hands on my arms. *Boy, fighting vampires sure has made her stronger.* Willow glared at me and shook me. "I don't care that your eyes are weird. I don't care that you're a mutant. Heck, I wouldn't even care if you stripped down and did the hula right here in this graveyard," Willow paused a thoughtful expression replacing her grim one and I blushed as I imagined the picture *that* painted in her noggin. Shaking her head she focus back on me, "expect for a little bit of an awkward factor. You. Are. My. Friend." She added a shake for every word.
Words are just words, for most people they are not worth the air used to expel them, but for Willow, my Willow, words had never came with ease. When she said something she meant it. My smile spread easily and I knew it was the goofy sap inspired one that I always felt made me look like an idiot. "Really? I guess that means I can copy your Trigonometry homework tomorrow?"
Giving me one final shake she let me go. "Forget it buster."