Chapter 26.
I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Stargate SG1.
/ Xander's thoughts /
% Jolinar's thoughts %
#"Tok'ra or Goa'uld voice"#
Just a reminder: in my world, the laws of conservation of energy apply. So the Zats work like Tasers on steroids. One shot disables, two may kill, three or more will almost certainly kill, but additional shocks after death can sometimes revive dead people (like shock paddles). Three never, ever disintegrates.
Xander spent the flight back teaching Willow how to fly the ship. They took their time so any mistakes wouldn't be deadly for all on board. Willow took to it quite quickly and they were soon doing simple maneuvers and increasing the speed for her.
Ford tried it next. He wasn't bad, but he tended to lean into the turns too much, causing them to turn to far. Then his corrections turned them too far the other way. It reminded Xander of one of those topwater lures on the Sunday morning fishing shows, going back and forth. But, once Xander got him pointed in the right direction, he was able to maintain a straight line.
Which was more than he could say for Buffy. Going too fast, turning too hard; she almost crashed them into a mountain before Jolinar took the controls.
"I saw the mountain. I was going to turn." Buffy pouted. Then she rubbed her ear. "It's your fault the hearing protectors didn't work. My ears are still ringing. It was distracting."
#"Never again are you to drive this ship."# Jolinar ordered. That had really been too close. On the plus side, the extra speed she had pushed for put them back in the States sooner than he'd thought. He let Willow fly them home. #"And the hearing protectors worked for everyone else just fine. We will find something else for you."#
Xander broke out the zats again. Everyone got a zat, but he left the P90s in their box for now. Then he went to help Willow park. Once they were parked above the school, he had them all move to the cargo room and used the ring device to ring them down by the back door of the library.
Xander and Willow walked down one set of stairs from the stacks as Buffy and Ford walked down the other. Before he could take a step down, a mocha colored girl attacked him. He blocked the shot to his face but couldn't block the shot to his gut. Oww. This girl was faster and stronger than Angel. He let Jolinar take over.
Jolinar's eyes glowed bright and he threw back a counter attack. It was easily blocked. The blocks were sloppy and sweeping and would have taken too long if she were human, but she wasn't. So a change of tactics was in order. He allowed himself to fall backwards with the next punch to his shoulder. He drew his legs to his chest and when she tried to stab him with what looked like a broom handle, he kicked her off him and down the stairs. Three zat blasts met her as she stood up. She collapsed bonelessly back to the floor.
"Ok, what the hell?" Xander pushed his way into control again. "What kind of demon was she Giles?"
"She's not a demon, she's another Slayer." He said calmly. "I trust those are the non-lethal weapons you mentioned?"
"Except when you get shot three times like that!" Xander jumped down the stairs and ran to the new Slayer's side. He checked. "No pulse, no breathing. Giles, call 911!"
"But..."
"Now!" Xander ordered. "Willow, do the breathing." Willow knelt by his side, lifted the girl's chin and started to give rescue breaths while Xander did the chest compressions. "One, and two, and three,..." he counted out.
When he'd gotten to 10 three times, he asked Giles, "ETA on that ambulance, Giles?"
"Four minutes" Giles called back.
"Too long." Xander murmured. Then to Buffy. "Buff, get your zat ready. When I yell clear, Willow and I will jump back, then you shoot her again."
"Shoot her again?" Buffy cried in dismay. Her eyes were wide and unseeing.
"A zat blast is mostly electrical energy. Like a Taser or shock paddles. We're going to shock her again to try restarting her heart. Ok?" Xander explained.
Buffy just shook her head and cried. It was just like the Master's cave. The flashbacks were overwhelming.
"I'll do it." Ford stepped forward and readied his zat.
Xander exchanged a nod with the other man and jumped back, pulling Willow with him. "Clear!"
The Slayer's body shook and convulsed with the shot. … And drew in a rattling breath. Then she coughed, and coughed some more.
Xander took a big step back in case she attacked him again.
"What happened?" she said weakly.
"Yes, it does appear that we've been able to revive her. Perhaps the paramedics could continue on their way just to check her out though? Wonderful. Thank you." Giles hung up.
"You attacked one of our friends." Ford accused.
"I attacked a demon." Kendra said as she sat up.
Ford jumped to Xander's defense, "He's not a demon, he-"
Willow also defended him, "He's not-" though she petered out when she realized Ford was also talking.
"Guys!" Xander interrupted before they could break his cover. Everyone was far too willing to tell his life story to people. "Yeah, I'm a demon. But I'm a demon with friends. One of whom happens to be the Slayer."
"Children, may I introduce Kendra, The Vampire Slayer." Giles intruded.
"Another vampire slayer?" Willow gasped.
This seemed to bring Buffy out of her funk, though her eyes were still red. "But I'm the Slayer!"
"Yes, she and I already discussed this. She was called just after your fight with the Master." Giles stated gently. "One slayer dies and the next one is called."
"I was only gone for a minute." Buffy whined.
"And now so was Kendra." Giles stated. That seemed to make Buffy happier.
"You mean...?" Kendra started.
"That another Slayer has likely been called. You may want to call your watcher and let him know you're alright." Giles offered.
The paramedics burst through the door and made their way straight to Kendra. She protested weakly, but the shock of having died was clearly having an effect. Though when they suggested that she come to the hospital, she came back to herself and quickly declined.
"Well, thanks for coming, but if you just want to head out those doors to whichever way leads home... that'd be great." Buffy asked Kendra to leave.
Giles started polishing his glasses as he already knew Kendra's answer. "I cannot just leave. I was sent here for a rea-son. Mr. Zabuto said all dee signs indicate dat a very dark power is about to rise in Sunnydale."
Buffy stood up, "And what's your great plan for finding this dark power? You just gonna attack people randomly till you find a bad one?"
Kendra almost smiled. "Of course not."
"Then why did you attack Xander?" Buffy asked
Kendra looked at Xander, "He is a demon. You said so yourselves."
"But he's a good demon." Willow hugged Xander tightly. "We should probably warn her about Angel too."
"If you mean Angelus, we've al-ready met." Kendra stated. "He was interro-gating a man at Wil-lie's Bar."
"We should radio him and see if he's ok," Buffy pulled her radio.
"Except that Angel gave Kendra his radio so she could find her way here." Giles interrupted.
"How long ago?" Jolinar asked.
"Several hours." Giles looked at the clock. Then at the window where sunlight was already starting to shine in.
It was an uncomfortable walk to Willie's. Nobody in Buffy's group wanted to say much for fear of giving something away and Kendra just didn't say much, period.
After an unproductive interrogation, all Willie was going to confirm was that Spike probably sent the assassins, which surprised no one. And he swore that Angel left his bar not long after Kendra left. Kendra insisted on returning to their watcher, but Buffy was having none of it. So they let Kendra head back to Giles while they paid their captured assassin a visit.
The smell when they opened the door to Ford's old hide out told them that they hadn't left the assassin with a way to relieve herself.
Jolinar stopped everyone else from entering though. "Something smells wrong. Let us check it out first. Stay here so we can get out again."
They made their way down the stairs to the figure still wrapped in the rug. The body inside made no move as they gently unrolled her. Lifeless eyes stared at the ceiling once she was unrolled. A small amount of foam on her lips intrigued them. Bending down to take a sniff (sticking your finger in an unknown substance was a stupid idea), they smelled bitter almonds. Wrapping her back up so the girls wouldn't have to see, they headed back upstairs.
"She's dead. Cyanide pill." Jolinar explained. "We should come back tonight and burn the body."
Willow looked horrified at the news and grabbed Xander for comfort. Xander wasn't about to argue with hugging Willow. Buffy swallowed nervously but put on a brave face. Ford alone looked calm. Xander wondered if it was because he had faced his own death, but dismissed the idea. Buffy had faced her own death too, after all. And she had been a wreck when Kendra died.
Back at the library, things weren't going any better.
"I've, I-I've discovered the remaining keys to Drusilla's cure. The, uh, the ritual requires that, the presence of her sire, and it must take place in a church on the night of the new moon." Giles explained.
"See, I thought vampires avoided churches." Xander joked.
"The new moon. But dat is tonight." Kendra exclaimed.
Giles nodded, "Exactly. And I-I'm sure the assassins were here to kill Buffy before she could put a stop to things."
"They need Drusilla's sire. You mean the vamp that made her?" Buffy paused. "Angel. He's Drusilla's sire."
"That man sure gets around." Xander joked.
Buffy started giving orders, "We need to find this church. We need to find where this ritual is gonna take place!"
"Agreed, and we must work quickly. We have only five hours before sundown." Giles stated.
Willow flipped her computer open, "Don't worry, Buffy, we'll save Angel."
Kendra was taken aback, "Angel? But our priority is to stop Drusilla!"
Xander. "Angel's our friend! Except that I don't like him."
"Ally might be the better term," Jolinar added.
Ford sat off to one side studying the ring of the dead assassin. "Do we think they sent more than one assassin?" he asked.
"It is common for them to send more than one, yes." Giles answered.
"Xander, how good are those scanners of yours?" he said holding up the ring.
Xander stood and examined the ring.
/What do you think?/ Xander asked his symbiote.
%It might work, if they were all cast from the same source.% Jolinar offered. %But the sensors can't simply search for a particular shape like that. Not in a city.%
/What about in a church?/ Xander wondered.
%Yes, it could probably search for that shape and similar composition then.% Jolinar answered.
"Ok. We'll give the scanners a try. Probably won't work. But once we're done with the city-wide scan, we'll scan each church." Xander announced.
"All 43 of them?" Willow asked.
Xander shrugged, "We've got 5 hours. That gives us..."
"Almost 7 minutes apiece." Willow set her computer aside. "I'll come with you."
Buffy and Kendra came out of Giles' office. "We're going to go pay Willie another visit."
"Keep your radios on." Xander called as he and Willow left out the back of the library.
The city wide scan pulled up bupkiss. As was expected.
"Can't you search for something similar instead of an exact copy?" Willow wondered.
"What did you have in mind?" Jolinar asked.
"Well, you're searching for the exact components of the ring, right?" Willow clarified. "Well, what if we expanded that by plus or minus 5 percent?"
"There would be too many results." Jolinar shook his head.
"All of a similar weight and shape?" Willow asked.
Jolinar was dumbfounded. Xander had to speak up. He kissed her first, "Willow, has anyone ever told you you're a genius?"
"Once or twice. Did you hear that Microhard was trying to recruit me?" she smiled and started modifying the search parameters.
The new search turned up five results. They called Buffy and Kendra and told them to forget Willie. Then they started sorting through the results. They checked out the one by Buffy's house first. A detailed scan revealed a Tarakan ring and a man. But the sensors showed that he wasn't really a man. Instead of cells, the man was made of bugs. Willow shivered at that.
The next scan they did was the only one in a church. That too was an assassin's ring. The man was at least human. They were about to move on, when a shape appeared and disappeared on the scan.
"What was that?" Willow wondered.
"It could be a vampire." Jolinar guessed. "The sensors are trained to ignore room temperature objects. It has to or all you'd see would be the air itself. But it picks up anything moving. So, if the vampire were holding still, it's invisible to the sensors. We could only see it if it moves."
Xander sighed. Alien tech wasn't perfect. "Let's go check out the rest of the hits."
The other three turned out to be a class ring, a locket, and a picture frame. No assassins were found nearby so they flew back to the high school to tell everyone the news.
"By my house?" Buffy yelled.
"Sheesh." Xander rubbed the ear Buffy had just yelled in. "Relax, Buffy. Your mom is on that art buying trip, remember? No one's been by your house all day. On the downside, I think your next door neighbor is dead."
Buffy felt a little guilty getting worked up over her mom, who wasn't in danger vs her neighbor, who was dead.
"And it looks like we found the church. There's an assassin and at least one vamp already there."
"You cannot tell how many?" Kendra asked.
"Vamps are funny on the sensors. Can only see them if they're moving" Xander explained. "Anyway, I figure, we've still got a few hours until sundown. We can squash the assassin staking out your house."
"Why don't we hit the church first? Get Angel sooner than later? As long as my mom's safe." Buffy asked.
"Because, the ritual must take place at night," Giles caught Xander's reasoning. "There's no guarantee that Spike, Drusilla, or Angel will be there. And if one of our enemies is alone, then it would be a good time to hit him in force."
"Thank you Mr. Giles." Jolinar nodded. "Now the scans revealed that the assassin is not human. In fact, he's made of thousands of little worm-like bugs. Normal means of Slaying are not going to work on this... person. As long as the bugs are touching, zats should stun all of them together. Multiple blasts should kill," he looked at Kendra, "but not for sure. I would suggest burning them. There's too many for almost any other form of death to be effective."
"So, zat em, douse em with gas, and burn them. Got it." Buffy summarized.
"The problem is that it's your neighbor's house. You can't be there Buff." Xander apologized.
"What do you mean I can't be there?" Buffy asked incredulously.
"Remember Hemery?" Ford chipped in.
"Oh, yeah." Buffy admitted.
"We need you far across town with an iron clad alibi." Xander stated. "You and Kendra can go to the mall and shop. Buy lots of little things and keep the receipts."
"I should go with you." Kendra complained.
"No." Xander said firmly. "You should go with Buffy." There was no way he was letting her see alien tech in action. He was just glad she hadn't asked what zats were.
The op went beautifully. Ford walked in the back door with a can of gas. When the bug man went to investigate, Xander walked in the front door with his zat ready. He fired once as the thing was turning and the bug man collapsed into a pile of bugs. He fired two more times and most of them stopped squirming. Ford poured gas on and around the bugs and then threw a match on the pile. Then they both walked out the back door and met Willow on Buffy's porch. Giles joined them as soon as the smoke started to show.
"We should probably alert the fire brigade." Giles reasoned.
Xander nodded. "They should be dead by the time they get here."
Buffy and Kendra bonded a bit over shopping. They bonded more when they dusted a vamp that introduced itself as Lyle Gorch.
Bonding over Slaying. Would wonders never cease?
Finally it was night time and the Scoobies were heading for the church. After a brief interview with the fire department, they had had a long discussion amongst themselves as to what they wanted to do with Kendra. Xander wanted to go in with the four of them. Him and Ford with P90s and Willow and Giles with zats. But they couldn't keep Buffy out of this since Angel was involved. And if they allowed Buffy to come, they'd have to allow Kendra. Either that or zat her again. And if Kendra was coming, that meant no zats. Since they weren't going to trust her with that secret yet. Ford understood now why they had been slow to trust him. There were a lot of secrets to keep in this group.
Since Buffy and Kendra were both coming, they decided on a different approach. Xander would have a P90 behind Kendra and take the right side of the church. Ford would have a P90 behind Buffy and would take the left side of the church. Giles and Willow would guard their backs with crossbows and spears, and a concealed zat each.
They entered the church.
In the hall, they ran into the third assassin and two vamps. Kendra ducked as she was told to do and Xander mowed down the assassin. Guess he was only human. Then he shot a couple bursts into the chest and head of the vamp advancing on them. The body shots had little effect, but the head shots seemed to daze the vamp. Xander touched Kendra on the shoulder to give her the go. Both slayers were wearing both in-the-ear and over-the-ear hearing protection to protect their Slayer hearing. Xander had overruled Buffy's complaints that they weren't fashionable or that they messed up her hair.
As Kendra dusted her vamp, Xander chanced a glance at Ford. Ford had apparently taken a different tact. If the tatters that were once the vampire's pants were any indication. Xander also noted that Ford had to stop firing early when Buffy started forward while he was still shooting. There was going to be a lecture about that later if she survived. Buffy also dusted her vamp easily.
Two more vamps were similarly dusted when they came to check on the problem. Xander caught Ford reloading, he still had 15 or so rounds left, but figured it was a good time to reload too. After Ford was ready he reloaded his own gun.
The door to the nave of the church was unlocked. Part of Xander was disappointed he wouldn't get to use any of the C4 he brought. Counting down from three, he and Ford led the way in, followed by their Slayers. There were two more minions here. Taken care of in what was becoming a very familiar pattern.
"Oi! You wankers! That's cheating!" Spike yelled as he ran to the altar to put Angel between himself and the guns.
"This is all your fault, Spike. If you hadn't gone and hired gun-toting assassins, we never would have had to escalate it like this." Xander lied. He'd been planning on escalating this war since Halloween. He would have had more weapons and trained fighters before he would have started using them, though. "Now, be a good demon and stop hiding behind Angel." He and Kenra took the aisle to the right of the pews. Ford and Buffy took the left aisle. Giles and Willow stayed near the door, but controlled the middle aisle with crossbows (and hidden zats).
"One more step and the ponce goes poof." Spike drew a stake from his coat and put it to Angel's back.
"See, you're assuming I like Angel. He's fun enough to use as a punching bag, but I still don't like him much." Xander put a round through Angel's side to make a point. It easily passed through Angel and hit Spike too.
"Gah." the blonde vampire yelled and grabbed his side, but kept the stake where it was.
"Xander!" Buffy yelled and threw him a dirty look. Though Kendra smiled.
Xander adjusted his aim. "Fine. I've got 50 rounds here. More than enough to decapitate Drusilla from this range. So drop the stake or the bitch gets it." he was overstating his remaining ammo a bit, but between him and Ford it would probably be enough.
If it was possible, Spike certainly turned a whiter shade of pale. He didn't take the stake away, but he did pull out the knife that was connecting the two. "Sorry, baby. Gotta go. Hope that was enough." He cut her down. With a last look at Xander, he ran for the back door, picking Dru up as he went.
Xander and Ford both fired a burst at him as he ran away. Xander fired at head height while Ford fired at Spike's legs. Xander saw at least one shot of his hit and brain matter on the opposite wall confirmed it, but Ford was the one to take him down. A shot hit his knees and Spike went sprawling as he dropped Dru. Drusilla moaned as the drop woke her up. Xander tapped Kendra's shoulder to send her after the vamps while he covered her from the aisle. Buffy too rushed forward but stopped when she reached Angel. She cut him down and gently laid him on the floor while Kendra dusted Spike.
Drusilla watched as the last of her 'family' turned to ashes before her. "Spike?" she mewed. Then she turned to Kendra and vamped out. "You killed my Spike." she whispered dangerously before she attacked. She was strong, fast, and utterly determined to avenge her childe's death. Kendra was getting pushed back down the aisle, straight into Xander. Who had no shot with her in the way. Ford was having trouble reloading his weapon under pressure. Kendra reached where Xander was standing. Xander tapped her on the shoulder and she dropped to the floor. As soon and her head cleared the field, he was firing, point blank, into Drusilla's skull. Around 15 rounds of armor-piercing ammo ripped through her brain and she dropped backwards on her heals. Unseeing eyes stared into space as her body twitched and jumped.
Xander didn't want to find out how long it would take her to heal or revive or whatever. He tapped Kendra and she finished the vampiress off. Xander reloaded just in case. An angry Drusilla had scared the shit out of him.
Ford trotted over. "Sorry. I couldn't get it reloaded in time." he confessed.
"Practice." Xander ordered. "Until you're doing it in your dreams." but laid a comforting hand around the other boy's shoulders. "You did good though." Then they went to see how Angel was doing.
Buffy was still holding him. He was unconscious and not breathing. Though it wasn't a problem for a vampire.
"We should go. Gunfire tends to attract the cops." Xander suggested.
Buffy looked at him with furry in her eyes. "You shot him!"
"Just a little." Xander shrugged. What was the big deal. He was a vampire. It wasn't going to kill him.
Buffy seemed to disagree. She slugged him in the arm, hard.
Xander felt his arm snap.
Jolinar confirmed it. %It's broken.%
Xander scowled and handed his gun to Willow, who took it grudgingly. Then he punched Buffy right in the nose. "You broke my arm!" he yelled.
Kendra kept Buffy at bay while the three humans kept Xander from the brawl. Even with a broken arm, it wasn't easy.
"You shot Angel!" Buffy screamed back.
"I saved his life!" Xander shot back and then stopped struggling.
#"Thank you for your help. We are now under control."# Jolinar took possession of their body.
%And we're going to stay under control. Understood?% Jolinar told his host.
/She started it! She broke my arm./ Xander argued.
%You are a Tok'ra now and you will hold yourself to a higher standard. We have no time for this childish bickering. We must go now or end up in jail.%
/We have immunity./ Xander sulked.
%But not the documentation to back it up. And only we have immunity so far. Not your friends and not Willow.% Jolinar reasoned.
The thought of Willow did seem to calm Xander down. And Angel coming to and moaning seemed to calm Buffy.
The group made it to the car, but there were too many people to fit in comfortably. Kendra volunteered to walk Ford to the library while Giles drove the injured home. Instead of home, they all went to Willow's. Xander got out with Willow but stopped Angel from getting out.
"It was designed to work on humans. The results could be unpredictable. It could create living tissue inside your dead tissue. It could dust you instantly. It could do nothing or it could just be painful. It could give you an eternal pain that never goes away. Quite simply, we should test it on a vampire we plan to dust first." Jolinar reasoned.
It was hard to argue with possibilities like that. They decided to stop by the butcher shop and get some pigs blood and let his vampire healing take its course.
Willow helped Xander inside. "Xander, could all that stuff you just said happen?" she asked.
"All of it could. Only a couple are likely." Xander said as he laid his arm gently on the chair. Jolinar had taken care of most of the pain, but every time it was bumped it still hurt like hell.
He used his other arm to position the device. /Mind if I take this one?/ Xander asked.
%Be my guest.% Jolinar offered.
Xander concentrated hard. It was much easier once Jolinar made the pain disappear again. Soon he felt the tingle in his hand and the warmth in his arm that meant it was working. He concentrated on what he wanted. There was more to a broken arm than just the bone breaking. There were usually tiny chips of bone that broke off during the break. He had to dissolve those for calcium to work with to mend the rest of the bone. There were also muscle tears where the sharp bone sliced through muscle like a hot knife. Also nerves had been damaged by the break. Those were the hardest to heal. But he could tell when he was successful as healed nerves tended to tingle like when your foot falls asleep.
Jolinar took control and checked his work. He found one nerve that Xander had missed and fixed that. Xander was getting pretty good at this.
Then it was time for bed. Xander decided to sleep here for the night.
Mayor Wilkins knelt in a pentagram with his hands to his sides. Five candles burned on each point of the pentagram. "Potestatem matris nostrae in tenebris invoco. Maledictum filium tuum abomni periculo custodias nunc et in saecula!"
The building began to shake. The Mayor remained still but Mr. Finch looked like he was about to faint.
"Well, that's that." the Mayor stood up and crossed 'Become Invincible' off his to do list. "Darn. I forgot to pick up my dry cleaning. Could you get that for me in the morning Allen?"
"Umm. Yes sir. But are we sure it worked?" Finch asked.
"Only one way to find out." Wilkens walked to his desk and pulled out a snub-nosed revolver. He walked to the terrified Mr Finch and handed him the gun. The Mayor walked five paces away. Took off his jacket and undid his shirt, holding it open. "Try not to hit the shirt." he instructed.
Allen aimed, closed his eyes, and fired. He opened his eyes. A black hole appeared where the Mayor's heart should have been. A fitting metaphor. As he watched, the hole filled it self in and disappeared.
The Mayor smiled and buttoned up his shirt. "Well it went through, but that's not your fault Allen. That was a good shot. Straight through the heart." he beamed at his deputy.
Allen nervously placed the gun on the desk. He really wanted to wipe his prints off it but was scared how the mayor might react. "Will that be all sir?"
The Mayor sighed. Today was a great day. Allen should really be happier about this. He was. "Yes Allen. Thank you."
Ford and Kendra walked toward the high school. Ford took a deep breath and sighed. It had been a crazy night. They had taken his P90 in the car, but he had a concealed zat and a Slayer for protection.
They walked in silence for a while. Kendra was strangely quiet and even demure. She had seemed so confident during the fight. "So," he tried to start a conversation. "Great fighting there tonight."
"Tank you very- I mean- I am very- to be tanking you." Kendra stuttered.
Ford smiled. Even Willow wasn't this nervous. And Kendra had just slayed some very tough vampires. "Hey. You just Slayed that dark power you were sent here to stop. You should be happier."
They both paused as a small earthquake hit Sunnydale. Barely even registered. But it was an ominous sign in Sunnydale. They continued on after a short pause.
"I am- being happy." Kendra cringed at her inability to form words in front of this boy.
"They said that Spike had killed two Slayers already and that Drusilla was just as dangerous." Ford informed her. "You should be proud of yourself."
Finally, something that Kendra disagreed with. It made it easier to speak. "I am not. I did not slay him by meself like I was trained." she shook her head. "I do not tink I can live wit the shame of not doing my job."
"What are you talking about? I personally saw you slay two Master Vampires." Ford reminded her.
"But dee Slayer always works alone. It is dee rules." Kendra disagreed.
"They cheated first. They brought assassins into it." Ford reasoned. "Besides. The only rule I intend to live by right now is 'Don't Die'. Xander just gave me my life back and I want to live it to its fullest."
"Xander, dee demon?" Kendra asked.
Ford sighed. Back on the demon kick. "I'm pretty new, but from what I understand, he only recently became a demon. Or half-demon. Probably less. Something to do with a spell on Halloween that stuck around. He was fully human until a few months ago." Ford informed her. "He saved Buffy's life before that and he's saved both of our lives since then."
"After he shot me." Kendra argued.
"Technically, he was the only one who didn't shoot you. And you attacked him first." Ford stated. "He started CPR and got everyone organized to resuscitate you."
"I see." Kendra looked at the sidewalk again. With the new moon, even her Slayer senses had trouble seeing the ground when they were outside the cones of light from the street lamps.
A/N: New moon vs Full moon. Inconsistent in Canon. I picked New moon.
Translation: Our mother of darkness, I summon thee. Curse now your dangerous accursed son and protect him into the new age!
Such a great analogy from CrystalBlaze about this chapter. I just had to share it:
Xander is the Anti-Spike in this one.
Twice alive as opposed to undead.
Two souls as opposed to Spike's losing his when he was Turned.
And he's saved two Slayers after their hearts had stopped, as opposed to Spike's having killed two.