Chapter 2

...Oh Mercy How They Scare...

Rupert Giles had been in a faculty meeting with Snyder and the rest of the teaching staff early that morning.

'Students are being murdered,' he thought to himself as he rose from his chair in the Teachers Lounge and headed toward the Library.

He noticed a couple standing in the hall in front of his double doors and assessed them for any type of threat.

The pair of adults was suspicious looking as they loitered in the hallway. The male was short and slightly rotund with receding grayish blonde hair. He wore jeans, a buttoned up flannel shirt and a sport coat. The female was taller, thin with honey blonde hair and wore a rumpled calico sundress.

They turned, nearly as one when Giles asked if he could help them with anything.

The woman swallowed slightly as she noticed him and began to speak, "Yes, we're actually looking for our son."

"Did you try going to the Office?"

She cut him off, "We went there, the office said to speak with a Mr. Giles who works in the library."

"I am he," he said as he waved the pair into his domain.

The pair followed him, but while the woman followed him to the counter, the man hung back near the door.

"We're actually looking for our son, Xander," she said with a concerned sound to her voice. "I'm Jessica Harris and that's my husband Anthony."

Giles looked down at the woman then over at the male for a good, long moment. He thought it was odd that the young man favored his mother greatly, but had no resemblance to his father. 'Interesting,' he thought to himself as he looked back at the mother.

"I haven't seen him today," he said. "Why are you looking for him now? You should see him when he comes home after school."

"That's the thing," she said as she wrung her hands nervously, "We haven't seen him nearly since Halloween. Haven't heard from him either."

"Let's go, Jessica," Tony said impatiently from the door.

"I will tell Xander you are looking for him," the Librarian said with a stern glare over at the young man's father.

"Thank you," Jessica said, "that's all I can ask."

…Something's Fishy…

"So he treats me like the bad guy just because Cameron had a sprained wrist and a split lip," Buffy said from the stacks as she lifted a book from the shelf and headed toward the table.

Giles and Willow sat at the table looking at a couple of ancient books. Xander sat at a different table, studying the notes he had printed out from earlier. Cordelia had just entered the room from the office after putting the disc back in Giles' desk.

"And," Buffy continued to complain as though she were not being ignored, "he gets away with it because he's on the Swim Team."

"They have been acting like jerks recently," Cordelia observed as she moved to Xander's table to sit next to him.

Giles and Willow looked over at Buffy in annoyance.

The blonde Slayer noticed their expressions and frowned. "Anything new?" she changed the subject as she sat in front of the pair.

"Some remains were found on the beach this morning," Giles said as he cleaned his glasses, "Human remains."

"Dodd McAlvy," Willow said by way of explanation.

"Vamp?" the blond asked as she looked at them with interest.

"No," Giles said with a shake of his head, "Nothing remained except his skin."

Xander walked over to the table after having put his notes away, "So it wasn't a boating accident."

Cordelia frowned as she too moved over to the main table, "Something ripped him apart and ate his innards? What could do something like that?"

"Yes," Giles said as he frowned thoughtfully. "Principal Snyder has asked the staff to keep quiet about this. Not to upset the student body."

"So we're lookin' for some kind of thing," Xander said thoughtfully. 'What could do this?' he wondered to himself. 'If we were back home, I'd suspect an anomaly.'

As if she could read his thoughts, Cordelia looked over at him and frowned.

"Yes," Giles said with a frown. "Something that eats humans whole but leaves the skin…" he stuck his nose back into the ancient book that he was reading.

"A nomly," Cordelia said quietly, thinking.

"This doesn't make sense," Buffy said with a frown.

"The muscle's the best part," Xander said jokingly.

"Ouch," he snapped as Cordelia slapped him in the arm.

"Shut up," she snapped back as she rolled her eyes.

The others looked up at the pair.

"Sorry," Xander said, not meaning it, as he stood.

…There's Your Threat...

Xander decided to take a break; he walked to the student lounge alone. He stood at the bank of vending machines and counted out enough change for a coke.

The hair at the back of the young transgenic's neck stood on end as he heard the double doors open and turned. He noticed Gage Cameron, one of the students on the Swim Team also in his computer class, as he entered the room.

Xander totally forgot about his drink as a sneer stole over his face.

Not watching where he was going, Cameron nearly ran into the other teen as he continued on his way.

The X5 grabbed the other student by the shoulders and slammed him up against a drink machine and lifted him off his feet one handed.

"Hey!" Cameron protested, "Watch it!" He said as he looked down into the face of the class clown.

Xander's eyes and face showed no emotion.

"Oh, forgive me," the dark haired young man said as he leveled a glare. "Keep your hands to yourself unless she wants it," he warned as he shoved the larger young man into the machine and released him.

"What the hell are you talkin' about, Harris?" Gage said as he remained where he was as he dropped to his feet. The intense brown eyes locked him into place.

"You know exactly what the fuck I'm talking about, Cameron," Xander nearly snarled. "Buffy," was his one word response.

"You're lucky I'm hungry, Harris," the other teen said as he ignored the intimidated feeling and headed for the cafeteria.

Xander watched the other's progress with an extremely dark look on his face. 'How easy would it be for me to snap and rip him apart?' the X-5 wondered to himself as he visibly shook, like an animal shaking out its anger.

He headed back to the Library, soda forgotten.