A/N
Okay I lied, this story refuses to be wrapped up quickly, it just keeps on expanding and changing, and I just can't stop writing it. I am sorry, that this took so long, I've had trouble getting motivated. And from now on I will be referring to Xander as Alex, unless it is from the point of view of one of the people from Sunnyhell.
Alex was having the worst day, first he was 'volunteered' by a teacher to be a leader in their school exchange 'thing' and now he was having to go back to the hell hole where he was almost beaten to death. Today was not his day.
Meg was the first to notice his distress, she and Natalie looked at him with concern "Alex, are you okay?" she asked cautiously.
He looked up from his glaring out the window, noticing all of his friends looking at him worriedly. He smiles; it is a small, sad but reassuring smile. "Yeah" he replies "Kind of. I guess it's just that I didn't think I would be coming back here so soon" the others nod understandingly, they had all heard about what had happened to him.
Natalie - who was sitting next to him - curled up to him and let out a small whine, he smiled and put his arm around her pulling her close.
"I'm fine" he promises. Ellie just gives him a look.
When the painfully long bus trip ends, Natalie has fallen asleep still curled up next to him. Her face peaceful and relaxed, Alex almost feels sorry having to wake her up, until she hits the back of his head. Then she deserved it.
Blake laughed and then hid behind his girlfriend when Alex glared at him, Meg was already standing and she shoved Natalie out of her seat and onto the ground, Natalie woke with a growl.
Glaring at Meg, who just smiled back innocently, "What? You weren't getting up and the rest of us would like to get off the bus"
Alex ignored the teasing and name calling that came after that and focused on getting off the bus. All he wanted was to get this day over and done with. Plus he wanted to see Faith, they had met when she was traveling through L.A. to get to Sunnydale.
Flashback
Alex was on patrol with Meg, she had begged until he had finally agreed to let her come on patrol with him, she had been training for weeks. They were walking down an alley, when they heard the sound of fighting.
Alex quickly made eye contact with Meg and jerked his head in the direction he wanted her to go, she nods, jerks her head in the other direction before pointedly looking at him - asking him silently if that was the direction he was going in – when he nods, she silently slides into the shadows; Pulling a stake out of her hoodie.
He carefully jogs towards the fight; whoever was fighting with the vamp was good. He pulls out his stake, and his eyes widen when he sees the scene before him.
A girl was fighting off a group of vamps, there were about six. But she had obviously been wounded and was tiring quickly. He made a signal knowing Meg could see him, and jumped into the fray.
Using the vampires surprise to his advantage, he staked one before they had time to react. But the two vampires next to him moved as one. One grabbed him from behind and held his arms behind him and the other landed a solid blow to his stomach.
His stake dropping out of his hand, "Hey let him go" the girl shouted "It's me you want. Let him go". The vampire closest to the girl laughed, as he lashed out with a kick hitting her in the chest, pushing her into the wall behind her.
"Oh, Slayer." He purred "You obviously haven't been here long have you? That boy and his friends have been a thorn in our side for far too long" The Slayer looked at Alex disbelievingly, but he was not paying any attention to her.
He was trying to pull his second stake from his sleeve, which is not as easy as it sounds.
"Riiight" the Slayer replied sound very disbelieving, causing Alex to rely to her with an indignant
"Hey".
The head vampire looked at them, tired expression. "Why must I deal with such idiots" he sighed, before calling out "Trinski, you and the boys can deal with the Slayer and the boy. I have other business to attend to."
Another vampire – obviously Trinski – nodded as he stepped towards the Slayer, "Do I get to play with one of the Pets when we get back?" he asks hopefully.
The lead vamp just looked at him thoughtfully "Maybe".
Before he swept out of the alley, leaving Alex, the Slayer and four vamps and Trinski there, Alex silently hoped that Meg would stay hidden from the lead vamp.
"So" Alex said conversationally "What's your boss called?" all the vampires turned to him and snarled, one even punched him in the gut.
"Well, sorry. I was just trying to be polite" Alex muttered, he quickly looked around trying to locate Meg, but she remained stubbornly hidden.
One of the vamps mistook his look, and laughed "Sorry mate. No one's going to help you".
Alex just looked at him and continued to try and get his stake. Once he had a decent grip on it he looked up as they turned their attention to the Slayer.
He felt the vampire holding loosen his grip, and he knew Meg was looking so he made a signal with his head and silently counted to three.
One. . . . Two. . . . Three, "NOW!" He shouted driving his elbow back, and hearing a satisfying grunt of pain when it found its mark. He lifted his arm and drove the stake into the vampires' chest, turning back to the other vampires he saw that Meg had already joined the fray, and she had already dusted one vamp.
Alex leapt forward and kicked the back on the knees of a vamp that had been sneaking up on the Slayer. She was distracted and was punching the crap out of Trinski, paying the Slayer no mind he staked the vampire he had knocked to the ground.
He felt Meg's hand on his shoulder, which told him she had finished fighting her vamp. They stood together watching the Slayer punch Trinski, "Looks like the night is not over" he told her.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw her nod "Let's go find that head vamp" she replied, "Should you or I talk to her?"
Alex shrugged, "Well, this might be your future" Meg glared at him before grumbling
"Is that your way of telling me to talk to her?" Alex sheepishly smiles and nods, silently laughing,
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up mister" she muttered, walking over to the Slayer.
"Umm, Slayer?" she asks quietly, in an instant the Slayer has Meg pinned against the wall by her throat, stake over her heart
"What is it to you?" she snarled.
Alex slowly goes up to the Slayer, "Well, we don't really know your name. So if you tell us we can stop calling you Slayer" he states slowly, hands in front of him showing that he is unarmed, to calm the Slayer down.
She glares at Meg, before answering Alex "Faith", he smiles slightly, "Well, Faith, I am Alex and could you please release Megan so we can track down that head vamp who just left and dust him."
Slowly Faith pulls back her stake and releases Meg, who slides down the wall gasping for breath. "I hate it when they do that" she mumbles. Faith looks between the two of them, confused, but she says nothing.
"Do we need back up?" Meg asks feeling for her phone.
Alex shakes his head, "Nah, we have ourselves a Slayer" he pauses looking over at Faith, "You are coming, right?"
Faith looks up, "Of course" she replies harshly.
"Well, help me with this vamp, he will probably know where our head vamp is" he tells her just as harshly.
Meg looks between them before sighing, "Let's just go already, please" she mumbles.
They drag Trinski, to an abandoned building, and tie him to a chair before he walks up "How hard did you hit him?" Meg asks, circling him. Faith just shrugs from her spot by a table as Alex patches up her worst wounds. When he finally stirs, Alex is in front of him in an instant, cross and holy water in hand.
"Where is your boss staying?" he growled, Trinski just shook his head smiling teasingly, Alex pressed the cross to his face.
Meg turned away covered her ears, trying to block out the screams. "I'll ask again. Where is your boss staying?"
When Trinski doesn't answer Alex slowly starts to uncap the holy water, pours a small amount onto his hand and splashes the vamp with it. Steam rises from Trinski's face as he screams.
"Okay, Okay I'll tell you" Alex looks expectantly at him "Well?" he asks, Trinski blinks rapidly at him before answering "A. . .At the R. .Rave House."
Faith looks at him blankly, but Meg and Alex gape at each other "Shit" Meg whispers. They share a look as Alex turns back to Trinski,
"Where is it in the Rave House? We've been there so many times and not once have we seen any evil head vampires anywhere" Alex's voice shook ever so slightly, everyone ignored it.
Except Trinski who smirked, then screamed as Alex pressed as cross to his face. "Where at the Rave House is your boss's secret hideout?" he asked cross never leaving Trinski's face,
"Backdoor, it leads to the cellar" Trinski gasps out.
Alex looks up at the others victoriously, and noticed the confused look on Faith's face. "Meg can you watch the vamp, while I talk to Faith?" he asks quietly, meeting her eyes, noting the hard look in them.
"Sure" she replied, taking the cross and holy water out of his hand as she passed him Meg made her way over to where Trinski was tied up, "I wanted to ask him some questions, anyway" her voice had a robotic shade to it which made Alex look up at her worried.
Motioning for Faith to follow him, Alex makes his way to the other end of the warehouse. She follows him cautiously, eyes darting around the empty building.
"You know you're safe here, right?" he asks, looking up at her. She looks at him briefly, before striding past him, to an abandoned sofa. Looking down at it, she kicks it lightly with her foot. A small explosion of dust comes out of it.
"What makes you thing this place is safe?" she asks, voice shaking slightly.
"Because we come here all the time," he replies ignoring the shake in her voice, before he continues "And I swear it's almost like we live here."
They both look up at the sound of screaming, coming from the Trinski. Alex grimaces, and looks at Faith cautiously.
"What" she began slowly "What is the Rave House?" her face betraying how she felt about asking.
"It's this place" He explained "That everybody goes to. It's like a club, but they let underage people in. Even if they don't let them buy alcoholic drinks. Practically everyone at school has gone there at least once"
She nods in understanding, a small smile crossing her face. At him not commenting on her weakness. Or at least what she saw as weakness.
"We should go and see what, Meg is doing to him" He stated, watching as she nods mindlessly. Before he starts walking, glancing behind him once to see Faith trailing after him.
When he is near enough Alex hears Meg asking Trinski a question, her voice filled with cold fury.
"What do you do to them?" Alex watches as Trinski writhes in pain as Meg pours the bottle of holy water over his head. Trinski starts to scream again. But he did not reply, so Megan asked him again "What do you do to them?"
The vampire does nothing until she reaches out and grabs another bottle of holy water, and starts unscrewing the lid,
"We play with them, you know have a little fun. Especially the youngest, her screams are the prettiest." Trinski cried, his words tripping over themselves in the rush to get out of his mouth. As to prevent another onslaught of pain, Meg nods and she gives him a cool smile.
Before in a flash she pulls out her stake and plunges it into his heart. As the dust begins to settle she turns around to face the shocked faces of Alex and Faith. Her face an emotionless mask, but her raw fury shining through the cracks.
"Let's go" she stated,
"Uh, what. . ." Alex begun, fighting through his shock.
"Their keeping people as pets" she informed him, anger clawing at the statement.
Horror, shock and fury rushed through Alex's system, at those words. Trinski's last statement making horrible sense.
"Well then." Faith cut in, her fury showing freely on her face and in her voice "Shouldn't we get going then. Because I for one am feeling particularly violent right now, and I'm not sure if I'm the only one." Alex looked at Meg, and saw her lips twisted in a bloodthirsty smile to match Faith's.
And strangely enough, Alex felt the same smile turning up the corners of his own lips.
"Let's get going then" he told them, walking over to their weapons chest. Opening the lid and looking down at the mass of weapon sitting there. Faith let out an appreciative whistle at the sight of the weapons.
"Their beautiful," She whispered, eyes dancing over them. She then reached down and pulled out a crossbow, and a machete. She hooked the machete onto her belt, and grabbed the ammo for the crossbow.
Alex looking up from his gathering of stakes and holy water, to appraise her choice of weapons.
"Do you know how to use that?" he asked, and he did not miss the flash of pain that cut through her features, dimming her violent smile.
"Yes" she answered back stiffly "I was taught"
They both jumped when a voice called to them from the warehouse door, "We should probably get going, if you two want to stop comparing weapons." Looking up Alex caught sight of Meg, standing ready, a similar machete strapped to her back, and a stake in each hand. He could bet there were more stakes in her pockets.
But he nodded and followed her out of the building, Faith by his side the whole time.
They took all of the back streets, to the Rave House, mainly to not attract any attention. Alex felt a small twinge of guilt for not calling the others to inform them of what is happening but, as Meg reminded him, it was safer for them, and that he and she had slayer on their side.
When they got to the Rave House, Faith was the first to notice the backdoor Trinski had mentioned, they quickly got to the door and Faith broke the lock, so they could sneak in.
They were particularly lucky that they did not in counter one vamp on their way through the maze that was the cellar, it was only when they neared what they thought was the cells that they were attacked by a group of three vampires.
Most seemed to go for Alex and Meg, probably because they could tell on some level that she was more dangerous than the other two. But that worked in their favour as they were too busy fighting himself and Meg that Faith could stand back and shoot one in the heart.
When they had dusted all three vamps, and Faith was bemoaning the fact that she didn't get to fight any they found the door that lead to the cells. Using Faith's strength, they opened the door, and were shocked by the sight that greeted them.
Because there was a family chained up around the room, the person closest to the door turned to look at them curiously, and Alex felt a thrill of fury go through him.
It was a girl around his age, her face caked in dirt and her fiery red hair matted and knotty. But her eyes, coffee brown shone with fury and defiance.
"Who are you?" she growled out.
TO BE CONTINUED
A/N
Yay another chapter down. Sorry for taking so long, I don't have much of an excuse except I have heaps of school work to do. Like right now I should be writing an English speech. So again sorry, also I have to tell you that yes this chapter is in two parts, because it just kept on getting longer, and longer and I couldn't stop writing it. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed, followed or favourited. It means a lot to me.