Chapter 9: So Please Don't Give a Thought to Me (I'm really doing fine) -
Wednesday September 16, 1998; Cemetery near Breaker's Wood, night.
In lieu of Willow, Oz had Holy Water duty for the night, filled super-soaker linked by a hose to the backpack reservoir held ready in one hand, a short barreled Holy Water paintball gun in his left. There were a pair of stakes thrust through the back of his belt for just in case. Faith had point with her parallel crossbow, one of the katana length sharpened bokken held easily in her off hand, her eyes constantly roving through the darkness. For his own part, Xander brought up the right with an arrow air-rifle and a pair of sharpened wakasashi length bokken stuck through either side of his belt for closer in work. A paintball pistol rested in the 45 pocket in his bomber jacket as a backup. Both he and Oz had large crosses on cords around their necks, and secondaries tucked into the cargo pockets of their pants.
He was kind of happy with the cherry wood bokken - a few hours work in wood shop after school hours had made simple work of reshaping and sharpening the already chiseled points into first class vamp stakers. He had some interesting ideas for stakes if he could ever get a couple of hours free to experiment with the wood lathe and metal lathes and some of the ironwood and tulip wood scrap he'd salvaged from his summer job.
No need for the radios tonight, really, even though they all three had their ear pieces and belt units on. Not with Willow and Cordy out of things for the moment, he reflected. With just the three of them, they were keeping a fairly tight triangle formation with Faith, no more than about four yards between them. Cordy's absence from their patrol group was like a missing tooth, a void that surprised him with its intensity.
Three vamps so far. Only one of them hopped up on Dacascos's stuff, the other two barely above newbies. Kind of a slow night for the Hellmouth, thank the gods.
"So, you're thinking about losing the Zebra van," Faith was saying quietly, as they moved through the night.
"Yup." Oz's voice was equally quiet as Xander tuned back into the conversation. "Transmission is getting squirrelly, and I'm not liking the way the engine's been running."
"Not fixable?" Faith asked. "I know my way around an engine, a bit."
"Huh." After a moment's consideration, Oz replied, "I'd say yes, but since I have the extra bread from the nests?" Xander could almost see the microscopic shrug in his imagination. "Gonna have to go with trading it in on a conversion van I've had my eye on. Better for traveling to gigs."
"Works," Faith allowed. "Got us a line on a vamp nest to clear," she said after a moments pause.
"Doable?" Xander asked. His lips peeled back in a mirthless grin. Quiet, casual talk about cars and vamps, anything except the subject on all of their minds. He was kind of glad he couldn't see Oz's face on the other side of Faith: didn't need to see if his worry about Cordy and Will was reflected in Oz's concern for Willow.
"Old apartment building to the beach side of the college," Faith stated. "We'll have to scout it and do recon and see."
Stopping suddenly, she held a hand up, her head coming around like a pointer to aim into the night off at an angle ahead and to one side. Oz and Xander both froze, weapons coming up. They spread out to either side of Faith as she started moving slowly forward again, Xander's eyes straining to pierce the gloom as his head attempted to quarter all directions at once.
"Whoa," came Oz's quiet exclamation from off to the left, followed shortly after by Faith remarking, 'That's new and different.'
Xander moved up cautiously, stepping carefully to avoid tripping on anything in the dim light. He found Faith standing almost over what appeared to be a supine skin-wrapped skeleton in a gray suit, only the teeth, yellow eyes, and game face declaring it a vamp. Fingers twitched weakly against the ground and jaws made futile snapping motions at them. Nearby, Oz crouched ready with his Holy Water guns, facing out from Faith.
Moving up quietly next to Faith, Xander ignored the weakly spasming vamp-corpse as he noticed her staring tensely out into the night, neck tendons standing out in cords. He whispered, "Something?"
After several long moments, Faith shook her head, relaxing almost imperceptibly. "Maybe," she said, slowly. "Almost thought I felt another vamp, kinda out at the edge of my senses, but not sure. Twiggy here's kinda swamping my slaydar, this close in."
She stepped back from the downed vamp, dropping to one knee to cock her head and look their find over. Xander dropped to a knee a bit away from her, giving into his curiosity as well. Pulling a mini-mag light out of his jacket pocket, he played the beam over the still moving body with a kind of surreal detachment that amazed him. It looked almost like something had sucked all the juice out of the vamp, leaving a drained and almost comatose husk behind.
"Gonna hazard a guess that's our punk vamp," Faith remarked, pointing at the purplish mohawk.
Oz nodded from the other side of the body. Taking out one of his sharpened bokken, Xander remarked, "Have to say there's something to be said for girls that just lay there." Oz made a face, and Faith gave off a harsh laugh.
"Hold up, Xan," Faith suggested. Giving her a quizzical look, Xander pulled back the stake from over the vamp's shrunken chest. "Bring that light over here," she said.
Xander moved to her other side, playing the light down as Faith put one boot on the vamp's chest, leaning her weight in on that knee as she reached down to turn the punk vampiress's head to the side. Yellow eyes burned and teeth worked impotently in jaws that seemed to have no strength to reach for her hand. A hiss like escaping air came out from between the snapping teeth.
"Huh. Looks like a vamp bite," Oz stated.
"Didn't think vamps drained other vamps," Xander said, his voice sounding puzzled to his own ears. Oz settled back on his heels, his lips pursed.
"According to Giles, they don't," Oz allowed. "Some theory about them not liking the taste of old blood." Xander nodded, not bothering to ask when Oz had made a chance to ask Giles about vamp feeding habits. He was getting used to the quiet guitarist surprising him.
"Never heard that they did either," Faith admitted. She glanced sidelong at Xander. "Shake her down and see what's on her before we dust her," Faith suggested. "I'll cover."
"Me?!?" Xander gave her an incredulous look. "Why not you and I'll cover?"
"My reflexes are faster," Faith stated, dropping her crossbow until the bolt tip was over the vamp's heart, angled in at it.
"Good point." Grimacing, Xander did a tentative but thorough frisk of the vamp's clothing and various places he'd expect to find weapons or concealed devices.
Finding a couple of lumps, he gingerly reached into the right front pocket of the suit pants and extracted an engraved money clip with a sheaf of folded bills, handing it to Faith. Giving it a quick riffle with her thumb, she lifted an eyebrow and tossed it to Oz. "Donation to the Night Watchmen Fund," she remarked.
"Accommodating."
Continuing, Xander extracted a slim, tri-fold wallet of something that looked like snake-skin, a flip cell phone, a wickedly expensive looking folding knife from the other front pocket, and a thin flask from an inside pocket, setting all of them to one side. A flat bulge under one arm turned out to be an ivory gripped knife with a wicked looking knuckle duster d-guard in a shoulder type sheath. Unbuttoning the front of the suit coat, he worked the snaps and buckles open and tugged the rig out from under the vamp's body, setting it on the pile. He removed a set of steel and wood throwing spikes from the other inside pocket and an elegantly vicious looking knife from one boot and added them, moving back.
"Seems to be everything," he said, wiping his hands on his pants legs with a disgusted expression. Faith nodded, and when she removed her foot, Xander slammed his bokken through the vamp's chest, turning his head away from the explosion of dust.
"Gonna have to make a note to tell G about this one," Faith said.
"Hrmm. One of those disposable cameras would be handy," Oz said. "Save on descriptions."
"Good idea," Xander agreed. he started going through the pile, handing Faith the slim wallet and tucking the phone and folder into a cargo pocket. Opening the flask to take a sniff, he shook his head. "Nothing but the best paint thinner for our hit-vamp," he said. "Scotch."
"Cool. Better not taste test it. You know how G gets," she remarked. Handing the wallet to Oz, she said, "Credit cards. Maybe Will can do something with them when we get her back to normal." Oz nodded, putting the wallet away to join the money clip.
"That's what I thought about the cell phone," Xander said. Drawing the knife out of the shoulder scabbard, he exposed a broad, heavy, deadly looking twelve and a half inch bowie blade.
Faith frowned looking at it, and Xander raised an eyebrow. "Nothing," she said, shaking her head. "Just something from one of Kanno's lessons." Extending a hand, she ran a finger over the long, gleaming blade, not quite touching it. "Layered steel... folded. And it's got that wavy line from clay tempering." Cocking her head, she mused, "Never saw stainless Damascus before." A broad grin sliding across her lips, she added, "Now that's a thing of beauty."
"It is that," Xander agreed. Sliding it back into the sheath, he offered it to Faith along with the throwing spikes and smaller boot knife.
Waving it off, she accepted the boot knife and spikes. "Got enough steel on me. If it'll adjust big enough, put it on and carry it as a backup to that little axe you like." She tucked the spikes away and handed the boot knife to Oz, who took it with a nod.
"It's heavier than the axe," Xander admitted. He adjusted out the straps and re-snapped and re-buckled them, taking off his jacket to put on the shoulder rig. Pulling the jacket back on, he checked carefully, finding that it hid the big knife almost invisibly.
Picking up something off the ground near the dust pile, she grinned and tossed Xander a pair of Ray-Ban Wayfarer sunglasses. "Here you go, Elwood."
"Keep telling you: I'm Jake, you're Elwood," he said, tucking them into his jacket front pocket. Nodding, he stood up and dusted himself off. "Probably time to move on," he remarked.
"Yeah. Crap," Faith said, her face taking on a sudden stricken expression. At the other two's curious looks, she scowled. "Just remembered we were all supposed to go to Joyce's for dinner and movie watching tomorrow night. Gonna be hard to do if the girls are still wigged."
"Might make for an interesting dinner," Oz's voice was deadpan.
Xander heard his own voice coming from somewhere far away from himself. "If her parents made it back, I'm supposed to go to a 'meet the folks' dinner party with her on Friday."
"Get the shotgun and shovel talk from Daddy Chase?" Faith's voice had a certain ragged amusement to it. "Should be fun."
"Oh, a real blast," Xander agreed. His own still distant voice held a certain gallows amusement of its own. "They come in tonight like they're supposed to and see daughter dearest, I'll likely get the demo version."
"This is where Willow would make a joke about dating outside of your own species having rewards of its own," Oz suggested, his voice both dry, and slightly strained.
Xander's laugh cracked right down the middle and broke into a ragged noise. He leaned up against a nearby tombstone, harsh barks of laughter coming out of him that kept threatening to turn into more broken sounds.
Faith's grip on his shoulder brought him out of it, and he looked up into a pair of worried eyes, one last cackle ending on a hiccup. Xander wiped at his eyes, drawing a shuddering breath and nodding.
"We'll figure it out, Xan," she said, seriously, her eyebrows drawn together. "Got the tweed on it. 'Tween you, the Slayer mojo, and the brains there," she jerked a thumb at Oz, "We got it whipped."
Nodding, Xander pushed himself off of the headstone to his feet, checking the safety on his arrow rifle to give his hands and eyes something to do. "Yeah. Sorry - been a rough couple of days."
"Yup. And a week before that," Faith agreed. "Need another vacation from your summer vacation." Searching his face with her eyes, she evidently found something there he wasn't feeling, because her lips quirked up into a smile and she gave a decisive nod. "Still early. Let's hit the cemeteries and the industrial park between here and the Bronze, and call it a patrol. I could stand to get my dance on and wind out."
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Wednesday September 16, 1998; The Bronze, night.
Aside from the weird, drained vamp-husk, it'd been a pretty dull patrol all in all. Three vamps and no additional sign of any of Dacascos' remaining hitters. A small pack of three vamps had been hunting the industrial park in the Bronze's area, more or less easily taken down by the three of them. The one they'd kept to interrogate hadn't coughed up any information on Dacascos' hit demons before Oz dusted it - either not knowing, or being resistant to Holy Water burns. Good thing, all in all, Faith thought. Xander was wound tight as a bowstring, and even the normally solid Oz was showing strain at the edges. She had a feeling that if the Hellmouth dumped anything more in their laps right now, they'd come apart like a dropped jigsaw puzzle.
Faith wasn't used to having to be the solid one here: it was a role that fell uncomfortably on her shoulders and made her way too aware of how screwed up she was at dealing with people. She'd much rather let Cordy and Xan handle that end and play backup to them.
Not an option here.
They found a subdued looking Cordelia at one of the corner table/booths with an animated Willow and Aura, and an uncomfortable looking Scott and Tamara waiting for them. Willow jumped up when they approached, grabbing Oz by the hand to drag him out to the dance floor. Scott got up a bit slower to pull a chair out for her as Xander slid into the booth next to Cordelia, a half grin sliding over his face like a mask. Shaking her head slightly, she snagged Scott by the hand, jerking her head towards the dance floor.
"Hey." Scott's eyes flickered to the floor and he nodded, then they bugged out a bit as they ran across her and took in the total effect an whatever else he'd been about to say choked off abruptly.
Faith grinned. Right now she was glad she'd taken the time to change out of her patrol clothes into the new lace-up red and black leather pants she'd bought and a matching leather scarf top. The laced sides exposed a two inch strip of bare skin all the way from her dress boot tops to the waist, showing off the strap to her thong, and the top left little to the imagination. She'd been aware of male and female eyes on her all the way in from the door.
She'd always enjoyed playing with the heads of both men and women. Turning heads wherever she went was both pleasure and power for her - intoxicating in a way that alcohol never managed. A kind of power that had nothing to do with 'slayerness' and was all the better for it in her opinion.
Not that she had a moment's regret about being called as the Slayer, but there was something to be said for pure woman-power, too.
"Mr. Articulate," Faith said, smirking. Spreading her arms to the side before arching them over her head in a languid stretch, she could follow the motion with Scott's eyes as a reference point. "See anything you like?"
"Uh. Does 'yes' work?" Scott asked hopefully. Faith gave a throaty laugh.
"Works for me. I'm more doer than talker," Faith's smile was predatory and a bit flirtatious. Cutting her eyes sideways to Xander as she uncoiled from the stretch, she glanced at Cordelia and looked a question at him with her eyebrows. He shrugged, making a negligent wave toward the dance floor.
Scott gulped but he threw her a slightly crazed grin of his own as she led him out among the dancers. Moments later, Faith lost herself in the beat of the music; there was just something about dancing, whether with someone like Scott now, or just by herself surrounded by hopeful admirers. Combat and sex all rolled up into one, with the beat of the music pounding on her skin and pulsing through her loins. She wondered if the other Slayers, B and Kendra, had ever lost themselves like this in sound and sensation, or if this was something unique to her...
Faith snapped out of her 'dance trance' when she caught a familiar flash of red hair and clothing out of the corner of her eye. Of course, the hair, the clothes, and the movements were completely at odds with what she was used to seeing.
Willow Rosenberg was currently grinding pelvises with her boyfriend. In public yet, in a display that wasn't quite up to Faith standards of exhibitionism, but way out past the edge of 'Willowness'. 'Well hot damn,' Faith thought to herself. The clothes really do make the woman. Sidling up next to the two of them Faith grinned and shouted above the beat, "Willow?"
Willow looked over at Faith, pulling her lips back in a matching evil grin. "Yeah?"
"You go, girl!" Faith called over. "Way to find the fun, Red."
Willow just winked at Faith and turned her attention back to a stone faced Oz. Faith shook her head, wondering. Finishing their dance as the tide swept them away from Willow and Oz, Faith and Scott worked their way off the floor and towards the group's table when the number ended, exhilarated and laughing like crazy. Out of the corner of her eyes, Faith saw Willow holding a reluctant looking Oz in place for the next number.
Her slayer alarms keyed in and working overtime now that Red had set them off, the lower energy levels of the table grated along her nerves as they neared them. Well, kind of lower. Aura was keeping the chatter going a mile a minute, her eyes fastening with a puppyish enthusiasm on whoever was talking to her at the moment. Cordelia, on the other hand, looked to be definitely under the weather. She snuggled into Xander's side, eyes down, and responding quietly whenever the conversation drew her into it, blinking shyly when it moved on. Xander, for his part, was clearly hiding agitation under his half grin and almost manic cheerfulness. He threw an almost desperate look at Scott and herself as they wandered up.
"Faith!" he called out with a wave. He looked at her companion, and his smile faltered a minuscule amount. "And Scott. Back. Together. Here. Good!"
"That was pretty monosyllabic," Scott observed as they slid into the booth on Xander's other side.
"Been that kind of a day," Xander stated, running a hand through his hair. "Hasn't it just?" Xander spoke across the table to Tamara, cutting through Aura's constant stream of low level chatter at Cordelia. Cordelia seemed to be paying attention to both, actually, and Faith noticed that Cordelia did seem aware of her surroundings. She flicked her eyes towards Faith for just a second and then back towards Aura, nodding ever so often. Huh. Not normal Cordy-mode, definitely. And the dark, almost drab blouse and long beige skirt was very much not Cordy-styled.
"Yup. Ever so much," Tamara agreed, her face set in a bland expression.
Carefully keeping a frown off of her face, Faith grinned at Cordelia and got an almost birdlike nod of recognition back before Cordelia turned her eyes down again. Shifting her gaze to Tamara, she lifted an eyebrow, getting a shrug from the darker girl.
"So," Faith said, hiding a critical once over of Cordelia behind a grin. "How's things?"
"Fine," Cordelia said, turning her attention back to the drink in front of her. "How about you?"
"Can't complain," Faith said, leaning back and putting her hands behind her head with a devilish smile. "Life is good: Music, hot dancing, somebody to get me drinks. What more can a gal want?"
Cordelia shrugged. Xander looked over to Faith, making a hopeless gesture. Faith drummed her fingers on the table top, nodding back fractionally.
Turning back to Scott, she let a smirk slide over her lips, asking over the music, "Hey, Scott - mind grabbing us some drinks?"
"Ooh! Yeah," Aura wriggled in her seat eagerly. "Let's go powder our noses while he's doing that, huh Cordy? Tam?" She bounced up, almost vibrating in place.
"Naw." Tamara shook her head, giving Xander a surreptitious and oddly suspicious look. "I'm good. You two go on."
Scott took in Xander's fake grin, Cordelia's downcast eyes as she stood, and Aura's... oddness, and gave a nod, his expression cheerfully bland. "Sure thing. Be right back, if I can survive the bar crowd." Leaning over, he put his lips next to Faith's ear and asked, "Uh, what's going on?"
Faith turned her head, whispering back into his, "Dunno. I'll clue you in if I can once I catch one." Scott gave an unusually perceptive nod and slid out of the booth, his eyes on Aura and Cordelia as he made his way after them.
"Speaking of that kind of a day," Tamara said, sipping at her drink, "What'd Snyder have to say?"
"Snyder?" Faith cut her eyes to Xander, asking, "Principal Troll? What'd he want with you?"
"The very same," Xander agreed, dryly. "I, uh... " Xander shrugged, his half grin becoming even more plastic, "Had a hallway discussion with a guy that got out of hand."
"Hah! That's one word for it," Tamara said, laughing. She looked at Faith, shaking her head. "He beat the living crap out of one of O'Toole's buddies and warned him off of Cordelia."
Both of Faith's eyebrows shot up and she stared at Xander. "I see Cordy, Will, and Aura aren't the only ones acting 'off'," she remarked.
"Well," Xander spread his hands, the other side of his mouth twitching up. "It wasn't exactly 'the crap out of'. More like a 'caught him off guard' locker pinning against." He snorted, "Dickie'd probably have beaten me to death if Snyder hadn't rescued me."
"Right," Tamara agreed. "What with that whole judo/WWF thing you had going on him."
Faith's eyebrows went up a notch higher, her expression adding 'We are so going to talk, guy', as she asked, "So give. What'd the troll say?"
"Uh... other than 'my office, now'?" Xander shrugged. "Swim team tryouts start on February first. Meet the newest swim team member. It'll keep me out of trouble and 'help me to contribute to the school rather than disrupting it'."
Tamara's lips twitched up in unison with Faith's. "Ah. A Xander speedo action reprise," Tamara said. "Harsh." Faith laughed, shaking her head.
Xander rolled his eyes, turning his head to the dance floor with a put upon expression. Faith crossed her arms under her chest as Scott returned with the drinks. Xander was right: something really was off here. Judging by the prickling sensations traveling down her spine, it wasn't just some flu going around. Not unless the it was the kind of flu that set off Slayer senses. God, wouldn't that just suck.
"Hey," Xander said, interrupting Tamara's commentary with a raised hand. He looked over at Scott with a grin, throwing put a friendly arm around Faith's shoulder. "Mind if I borrow the girl-toy for a bit?"
Scott threw a glance at the dance floor. "I wouldn't be worried about me," he said with a laugh. Xander grinned back at him.
"Well you know me," Xander said. He got up, sliding his arm away as he slid out of the booth. "The world's bravest coward."
Faith said nothing, but raised an eyebrow as a slight warning squeeze stilled her comments before the arm went away. "Alright Xan-man, let's go."
The two of them headed for the top floor of the Bronze, Xander leading the way. He leaned on the railing, ignoring the milling crowds, and looked down at the club. Folding his arms across his chest, he turned his head to Faith as she leaned in next to him. Both of their eyes tracked Aura and Cordelia coming back from the powder room.
"So," he said casually. "Notice anything weird there?"
"Oh yeah," Faith said with a dark frown. "But I don't know what it is any more than you or Oz do." Her scowl deepened, "It doesn't... doesn't feel like anything that I've ever run into before, you know? Getting the Slayer tinglies and something's off, yeah, but I can't tell ya more than that."
Xander gave her a sharp look, cutting his eyes sideways. "It set off your slaydar?" His voice was deceptively casual.
"Huh. Yeah," Faith said, nodding slowly. "Remember when I said you registered the other night, a bit like Tor and Heidi, or Wolfy? Like that a bit, but right along the edge of my senses." She shrugged, "Might not even have noticed if I wasn't watching for it."
"Great. And again, I could have gone all week without hearing that," Xander sighed. "Not even one week without a break. No rest for the wicked."
"Speaking of wicked," Faith said in an almost awed tone of voice. "Take a look at Red."
Xander looked out onto the dance area where Willow was bent over before Oz, thrusting her hips back at him. He turned an interesting shade of red for a brief moment, spluttering. "Alright, so not cool. Ground rules for life? No traumatizing 'Willow having sex while standing up' moments please, Faith. Starting five minutes ago."
"Just pointing it out," Faith said. She shrugged and looked away from the floor. "So, whaddya want to do about it?"
"God," Xander said with a shake of his head. "I wish I knew. For now, how about we just stick to meeting with everyone we think isn't going crazy?"
"Oh," Faith said with a sour laugh. "Great. Who does that leave? Because we are so disqualified."
The current song ended, and they watched as Oz broke away from a pouting Willow as she tried to convince him to go another round. He pointed in the direction of the restrooms, shaking his head, and she nodded, bouncing off in the direction of the tables. Oz watcher her go for a second, then veered to the stairs as he hit the edge of the dance floor.
"Um," Xander said with a considering tone. "Giles?"
"I guess Jeeves will have to do," Faith stated, watching Oz head towards them. "Of course, using tweed to measure how not-crazy someone is may not be the best way to go, Xan." She nodded as Oz slid up to the rail next to Xander.
"Conference?" Oz asked, pitching his voice just over the music.
"Council of war," Faith said, nodding.
"Strategy?" Oz gave both of them what passed for a slightly desperate look for him.
"Well... " Xander said slowly, looking down at the table. "We kinda thought of swinging by Giles place to fill him in, and calling a morning research meeting." He glanced over at the guitarist, "Might have to skip periods one and two for it."
"I'm in," Oz said. He pursed his lips thoughtfully. "Not biology, though."
"Nooo... " Xander agreed, nodding. "I'm wanting to see what happens there, myself."
"You know," Faith remarked, "More than ever I'm thinking I've seen Willow's behavior somewhere. Like, on Discovery or something."
"Presenting," Oz stated. At Faith's raised eyebrow, he added. "I saw that special too."
"Let's head down and ease everyone towards the door so we can make our excuses," Faith suggested. She pushed her hair back from her face as she stood. "I hate early wakeup calls."
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