Thank you for the reviews! As for Renegade Master, I've not forgotten it I'm actually now up to book two which is Chapter 18. Once I have word from my beta (who is a different beta to the XH storyline), I will post it. Hopefully this chapter will explains some things, and show that yes the timeline is changing.

Twice Lucky

Boca Del Inferno

Chapter 9: Lessons

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"This is a vampire," Giles said, waving at the man who had just crawled out of a grave, shaking dirt from his hair, clothes and other places that didn't bear thinking about. "Vampires are fast, strong; but most lack the knowledge and cunning to defeat an enemy."

"Hey, I ain't stupid," the man in the blue suit said.

"Quite." Giles looked back at the group. "As we all know, a number of rather useful objects can be used to kill a vampire or protect yourself from them. For example, a cross."

"A cross?" The vampire said, confused. Giles held up the religious artifact they had 'borrowed' from the church. The vampire immediately cringed, hissed loudly and backed off. Giles lowered it and stashed it in his pocket. The vampire stopped and felt his face. "Wow."

"Now, as you see, the vampire immediately backed off." The group looked at the stunned vampire and then at Giles. "It's a useful tool if you need to get out of a tight situation. The next one is the most obvious: sunlight. But, sadly, we have no way of utilising that… yet. After that, we have Holy Water."

He held up a small water bottle that Giles had picked up earlier that day and had ordained by the local priest, receiving one hell of a look for that one, until he'd explained about vampires and the lesson he was teaching. The church was well aware of vampires, as they kept their own stock of garlic and stuff. He squirted the bottle at the vampire's leg, which started sizzling and the group, as one, backed off slightly and held their noses as he started screaming in a high-pitched voice.

"Buffy, if you would," Giles shouted at the petite Slayer. Faith arched an eyebrow as Buffy ran forward and slammed the stake, without preamble, into the man who was screaming like a girl. He blinked, in confusion, and disappeared into fiery dust, briefly lighting up the area he had been standing in.

"Thank you." Buffy twirled the stake and handed it to her Watcher, who took it gratefully. "As you can see, stakes are most commonly used in defeating vampires."

He looked around and asked, "Any questions?"

"Yes," Xander said, the young man looking a little queasy.

"Go ahead, Mister Harris."

"A stake doesn't give us many options…" Xander was queasy, but not from seeing the vampire staked. No, it was due to the fact that Watchers allowed Slayers to go out dressed like they were going out to a nightclub with only a stake. Jeez, it was no wonder they lost all the time.

"What else do you suggest?"

"Well, what about guns?"

Buffy looked disgusted at the mere thought of it, but Giles at least looked as though he considered the possibility. "It's worth a thought, but it's possible that it would attract the attention of the authorities and, at the moment, that's not a good thing, especially when Miss Summers is new to this area. Also, normal bullets don't kill vampires."

"But I'll bet they slow 'em down?"

"Yes, silver will work against them, but they're expensive and take time to make…" Xander nodded, that was at least part of the explanation that the Council gave them. Translated, it meant that the old watchers didn't want to part with their 'hard-earned' cash. Still, if he could get someone to learn how to make gold…

"Anyway, we can still use weaponry like swords, body armour and, if Miss Rosenberg is correct, water balloons." They chuckled. "It's been a pretty dead night. I suggest we all head back to my place, I have s'mores."

Xander looked up, "Me like s'more."

Giles smiled, "I know the feeling."

The vampire hiding in the darkness watched as the group left, then got up and disappeared, heading toward a crypt that had a secret doorway. He pushed it closed behind him and made his way down the dark, dank stairs. The smell didn't bother him. He'd been in worse places.

He stepped out into the caverns below and made his way to the chamber. He wasn't in a hurry, and the Master knew he was coming, he always did. As Luke entered into the Master's chambers, he smiled at the irony. Stopping, he narrowed his eyes and sniffed, found the Master's location, walked over and bent down on one knee.

"Master."

"You bring news, Luke, my most loyal servant?"

Of course he had, but who was he to argue. "There is a new Slayer."

The Master looked interested, bad news for the Slayer. "She is alone?"

"No, she has a Watcher," Luke hesitated. "Two watchers, and a potential, I believe…"

"Fascinating…"

"There were also others there. Two males and one female." The Master walked toward his seat and sat, scratching his chin with a long fingernail that resembled a claw.

"Interesting. She has not been here that long and has already made friends. It also appears as though the Watchers Council are changing tactics." He sighed, "We will test this new Slayer and her friends; we will see exactly how tough she is. Seek out the order of Taraka, they are to do exactly this: find her friends, family. Test them and push them to their limits, if they kill the Slayer, an added bonus."

Luke nodded his head and stood up to leave. "Oh, and Luke, kill Angel as well," the Master said with a grin. "Be creative."

Luke bowed his head. "Yes, my Master," and left.

He took a different route. 'Be creative' could mean anything. Perhaps, yes, Darla, the blonde vampire, could kill Angelus. After all, she sired the lowlife. He would then contact the order of Taraka and set their task. Soon enough, they would know what they were up against. Luke was fairly certain that this particular Slayer wasn't anything to worry about.

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The Order was contacted pretty quickly; the large group of assassins knew what to do. They would send their scouts to Sunnydale to suss out the situation before proceeding. The last thing they wanted to do was walk into an ambush. The leader of the group still winced over the New York debacle.

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Xander had taken up woodwork classes, using the time to gather material to take home. He found it easy enough to sneak onto work sites and steal what wood he needed, taking home cutting materials to make the stakes. Some of his finest work came during the first year, before he was able to get hold of more advanced weaponry.

He carved out some very ornate stakes, making more than a few dozen for Buffy and Faith to use. Buffy was surprised at his woodwork, but said nothing, as it kept him out of the firing line. Faith, on the other hand knew the truth. Xander was hiding in the shadows until he had a sure-fire way of being able to fight along side the Slayer. The last thing he wanted to do was either get killed, or worse, turned. With Illyria's help, Faith was able to pay regular visits to the Harris household. Xander introduced Willow to the brunette potential. They immediately hit it off, although Willow found Faith slightly intimidating.

Right up until the point when Xander put his hand up both their tops. To say she was shocked would be something of an understatement. She was utterly stunned. Xander had never been so bold. Now… she stopped and thought about protesting when he started massaging her bosom. She also stopped complaining when he guided his hand to Faith's bosom… She understood that Xander was no longer a virgin, but, surprisingly, she wasn't upset about it. No, she was happy, and even more happy that Xander was sharing Faith with her.

This, more than anything, surprised her… she didn't think she was lesbian, or even bisexual. The night was definitely an interesting one, in which she lost her virginity to both a man and a woman, and learned a lot of tricks on how to please both.

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The vampires acted quickly, sending a messenger to the Mayor of Sunnydale, respectfully requesting time in his fair town and asking if he wouldn't mind if, A: They killed the Slayer, and, B: Killed a few civilians.

The Mayor responded, saying 'No,' he didn't mind, as long as they didn't make a mess and draw the attention of the authorities. With the Slayer gone, there was one less problem he'd have to worry about.

The Mayor had hoped that the Slayer would take care of the Master, as the Master's plans interfered with his ascension. Now, it would seem the petite blonde was running out of luck. Pity, the pretty little girl's head would look good on a pike in his office. He'd have to have it drained and stuffed; after all, he couldn't have all that nasty blood on his nice, clean carpet.

The vampires came to town within the next three days, meeting with the Mayor, and then, the Master. They then went about their business, collecting information on the town in general, and the Slayer herself, before deciding on an attack.

They observed each member of the group, noting who was the most vulnerable and then followed them home. The first attack came on the fifth night in Sunnydale.

Xander had been going downstairs for a can of Coke when he heard the front door smash open. Something was thrown in and clanked on the floor. He went into the hallway before he realised what it was, crapped his pants and dove into the kitchen, all of his military training from soldier boy coming to the forefront.

The explosion was deafening and made Xander's ears ring painfully. He sat up and found himself covered in bit and pieces. Brushing himself off, he grabbed the nearest piece of wood; he couldn't see outside due to the fire blazing in his hallway. The smoke alarms were blaring loudly. He ran through the corridor and tried to go up the stairs, but it was too hot. His parents, drunken and abusive alcoholics that they were, but still his family, and family, above all else, didn't get left behind, he tried to save them but couldn't get to the stairs as the fire in the hallway was now raging hot and was starting to burn his hair. He could smell his skin starting to melt and bubble.

His father was standing, looking terrified, and made a signal that Xander understood. He raced outside and saw his father and mother climbing down the back wall, jumping partly down, and they all went out the front. Soon, the fire engine arrived, then the ambulance. The men climbed off the truck and started spraying water to douse the fire demon that was eating their house. His mother was crying and his father looked pissed.

They were taken in the ambulance to the hospital, where they were looked over by the doctors and interviewed by the police. Xander gave a statement, telling the truth; he was in the kitchen getting a drink when the door burst open and something landed in the hallway and blew up.

"You were damn lucky…" the officer commented. They had done an investigation of the place and determined it to be a freak attack by a local gang on PCP.

Xander, when he was alone with Giles, told the Watcher that it was the Order of Taraka. The older Watcher blinked in surprise.

"How do you know this?"

"Uh, he shouted 'For the Order of Taraka' before chucking in a hand grenade…" Faith, who was getting to know Xander much better, could tell he was lying. Hell, everything he told Giles was a lie. She knew, for certain, that this was future knowledge.

Xander knew that she knew, and was grateful that she kept quiet. He wasn't expecting the Order to be in Sunnydale quite so soon. After all, it hadn't happened until quite later, not at least until Spike and Drusilla were in town. The only reason he'd known it was them was pure luck. He'd looked down at the device, which wasn't a hand grenade, but pretty damn close, and saw the Order's symbol on it. It had been then that he shit himself and found somewhere to hide.

Giles sighed and sat back thoughtfully, one of their allies had been attacked, regardless of the fact that they were not fighting. Giles had the opportunity to get an edge here. He later phoned Travis and lobbied hard, with Diana on his side, literally sitting next to him, her hand rubbing up and down his leg.

He was able to persuade Travis to give out the money to help an ally in need. They would create a home for the Harris family, three levels up and three levels down. The parents would be given a healthy income to keep silent, as would Xander, while Xander would be provided with the materials needed to provide stakes for the Slayer. It would also mean he would have somewhere that he could store his library and Willow could practice magic and start studying vampire DNA, in the hopes of finding the best way to kill them.

When the building was complete, Xander Harris would have everything he needed to wage war.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

The second attack was on Faith. A minion was sent to deal with her, someone expandable. A vampire jumped out of the bushes and attempted to grab her, which was a bad move on his part. His face was morphed, showing all of his fangs. He hit her in the chest and she went down into a roll, not a crumple.

She got up with a grimace and stared at him, "Dude, I've been hit harder than that by my mother."

The vampire snarled and ran for her… She used a trick Diana had taught her, which enabled her to use his weight against him; it was a judo move, rolling onto her back with her foot in his stomach and flipping him onto the ground. She winced when she got up and, moving as quickly as she could before he regained his strength, she staked him with her knife.

The vamp turned into dust.

Faith limped home and met Xander, who was staying with Faith and her Watcher. He cleaned her, literally, and dressed her wounds, before taking her to bed and looking after her other departments.