CH 17: Ben O'Ferrell from the Kitty Norville Series by Carrie Vaughn (again, read them!)

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Cheap costume, preferably less than two dollars, one that is at least somewhat recognizable, and child appropriate.

Wow, Snyder didn't expect much, did he?

Well, if he used that hair goop Willow shoved off on him he could make his hair look longer and his eyes were close enough to the character he had in mind. The pistol he'd found in the bargain bin would work with a little carving and paint, so a dollar fifty for the gun and he could go.

Stupid little troll.

"Xander!"

"What the hell!"

He spun in place, faced with the ghost of a young woman. Without thinking he fired the shotgun that had been strapped across his back, keeping the pistol safe for later use. With a surprised shout the ghost vanished only to reappear in seconds.

"That wasn't nice mister!"

For some reason he could face down demons, ghosts, poltergeists and so on, but this one girl's ghost glaring at him made him shut up and follow along.

He hoped his brother never found out about this.

After Halloween was a trial.

The others lost what they'd been over time, and he played like he had too.

But he remembered a brother, a father, a fight and a War that was tearing everything apart even as they scrambled to keep it together. Really, he admired those two, fighting so hard against such odds even if they stumbled. They were both only human.

Well, human and a bit he guessed.

Walking alone at night no longer really bothered him. He had the training and knew how important it was to keep it up, even if the one who'd shared his head space didn't really get it. For him it had been annoying and at times a trial. Xander saw it as drilling survival into his head and took it all greedily.

A demon was running at him, roaring in rage and victory even before it reached him.

Xander's eyes flashed gold and suddenly the demon dropped a cloud of black exiting its mouth before dissipating. He noted a curious side effect of the body decaying to ash in moments afterwards. Huh, different types of demons, different reactions.

He walked on, eyes turning back to warm chocolate brown, puppy eyes.

Lucky may have decided to give him some karmic comeuppance, but he'd use it as well as he could to protect his home and the ones he cared about.