Chapter 5.

A wracking cough let everyone in the room know he was awake. Not that he needed to breathe anymore, it was more a combination of habit and instinct. "I'm alive!" he yelled as he stood up and stretched. The demon in Ford's body looked around at the blood-bags his former self had left for him.

"My turn!" Diego called and pushed himself in front of his former friend. "Turn me!" he ordered.

Ford contemplated for a second then a truly vicious smile spread across his lips.

"Ford. Don't." Angel ordered from where he was chained.

Ford flashed his prisoner a toothy grin before he bent Diego's neck back and fed. Deeper and deeper he drank until Diego started to get a little worried.

"Okay. Good. That's enough. Give me a drink of yours now." he tried to bite Ford but was held securely in place. "Hey! Come on man!" he yelled weakly. But his protestations fell on deaf ears. He pulled out a Taser and tried to shock Ford with it. Angel realized how he had ended up here and why his side hurt. But Ford was ready for what Angel had not been and easily disarmed his former friend. Diego tried to hit back but his strikes quickly got weaker and weaker until his heart finally gave out from lack of blood to pump.

Not that Ford could have stopped himself if he'd wanted to. The taste of his friend's blood was the sweetest, most succulent thing he'd ever experienced. When he'd tasted Angel's blood, he'd almost gagged, but had forced himself to drink and to keep drinking until he was full. Then he'd opened his wrist and drained what he could back into the unconscious vampire. Blood in, blood out. That was how you created a vampire. But he'd never planned on turning Marvin or Diego or whatever he wanted to call himself anyway. "I never liked him much." Ford said as he dropped the corpse.

Those words seemed to break whatever spell or morbid curiosity that had been holding the rest of the people there. Half of them started to bolt.

Ford made no move to stop them. Instead he called, "Remember! I know where you live!"

That stopped almost everyone in their tracks. A few continued on through the door that someone had been working on before. Whoever had been there though was long gone himself and his work unfinished.

"Good." Ford smiled and turned to a beautiful girl who had been too scared to run. "Chantarelle, I'd like you to be my first childe." he offered her his hand. He cut his wrist for her then held it to her lips. He swayed when her lips touched his arm. He could feel the power flowing out of him, even as he had felt power flowing into him as he'd killed Diego. "Enough!" he tore his arm from her lips and drove his fangs into her neck. He felt power returning, but not nearly as much as he had given. He dropped Chantarelle's lifeless body on the ground and rocked on his feet. No one had said how much turning a vampire took out of you. He was only still standing by a force of will.

"Now's your chance." Angel called to everyone. "He's weak right now. Run! Or put a stake through his heart if you want to kill him. But he can't make all of you if that's what you want. At best, he can do one, maybe two more. Most of you are going to die. Permanently."

"Shut up!" Ford bellowed. He broke a chair and lurched towards the older vampire.

Angel braced himself for the blow that never came.

"No. No. I've got a better use for you. They can all drink a little of your blood. That should make sure we have enough to go around." Ford smiled at his diabolical plan.

"Xander! Willow! Have you guys seen Ford today?" Buffy asked before their first class.

"Sorry, no." Xander said.

"Damn. I knew I should have insisted on walking him home. I hope nothing happened." Buffy groused.

"He knew the dangers." Xander defended her choice.

"Well we have a few minutes before class. I could hack the school's records and find out what his first class is. And a phone number to call in case he's sick." Willow offered.

Buffy brightened at that prospect. "Yeah. Thanks, Willow."

Willow made a face. "Well, maybe they just don't have him in the system yet. No. They would have to have put him in the system to give him a schedule. Ooo! I know. I'll sort by date registered." her fingers flew across the keyboard. "Nothing. Are you sure you took him to the Registrar's office?"

"Of course I took him to the Registrar's office." Buffy defended. "I was new here too last year. I remember where it was." Her face went blank. "But then again, I left him at the door and didn't go in with him to register." Everyone was silent for a moment. "But why would he...?"

The library doors opened and everyone jumped.

"Ah, Buffy there you are. I leave to try and find you and you show up of course. Anyway. Ms. Calendar and I are going... somewhere tonight, and she's given, oh, given me the number of her beeper thingy, uh, in case you need me for, um... Is something wrong?" Giles finally realized that something was amiss.

"Buffy had a friend from LA show up yesterday and say he was transferring in. Last night we found out he knew about vampires before he moved here. But he didn't show up today." Xander summarized.

"Well, perhaps he hasn't had a chance to regi-"

"I walked him to the office myself." Buffy cut off her mentor sadly. She was very near tears. Not wanting to contemplate any of the likely scenarios that went with her friend knowing about vampires, lying to her about transferring here, and then disappearing. "I'll ask Angel tonight if he's seen or heard anything around town." she hopped down from where she had been sitting on the checkout counter.

"We should head to class too." Willow said as she and Xander gathered up their books as well as Buffy's that she seemed to have forgotten.

"Call the pager if you hear anything." Giles said as they left.

"Buffy. I did some more research on Ford over lunch." Willow said. "Here's an address for a club in the warehouse district called the Sunset Club. It's the only thing in Sunnydale that I could find with his name on it. His dad also didn't get a transfer. His family is still in LA, near as I can tell without... you know, hacking credit card records or something."

Buffy took the paper sadly.

"I'll come with you Buff." Xander said.

"Me too." Willow nodded.

Buffy was glad for the support. For emotional reasons if nothing else. She really hoped they didn't find anything that would require Xander's new found skills.

"..."

"Yeah, mom. I have a lot of homework. We're probably going to be studying pretty late tonight." Buffy said.

"..."

"Giles!?" Buffy panicked a little bit. Giles had already left for the night. "Uh, I think he stepped out for a minute. Maybe the bathroom? I don't know, I didn't ask."

"..."

"I love you too. I'll see you when you get back from the auction."

"..."

"Xander? Umm, yeah he's right here." she gave her friend a quizzical look but handed over the phone.

"..."

"Hi, Joyce!" Xander answered cheerfully. "No, I haven't changed my mind. I'd rather no one knew I was involved with this piece. Or any buy or sale until I get the emancipation papers put through."

"..."

"Thanks. I'll see you Monday." Xander hung up the phone. Then turned to face a scowling Buffy. "What?"

"You called my mom 'Joyce'." she accused.

Xander sighed. "That happens to be her name. It's also what she asked me to call her."

"And what 'piece' were you talking about?"

"'Piece' is a slang term for guns. I'm having her smuggle some guns up here while she's in LA." Xander deadpanned. Okay, he was really channeling Methos there.

Buffy didn't respond. She just crossed her arms and tapped her foot.

"It's a piece of art I found. I had her buy it for me, then I gave her the correct information about the piece and now she's selling it for me. Okay?" Xander explained.

"And how did you find this 'piece'?" Buffy asked.

Xander sighed again. She wasn't going to drop this until he spelled it out for her. "How much do you remember about Halloween?"

"Halloween? Please, I'm trying to repress Lady Useless." Buffy scoffed.

"Well, I'm not. 5,000 years is a long time and the memories are far too useful. For instance, I can already tell that in less than a month, I'm going to be as good as Giles is with a sword. I knew the true value of the piece of art I found online was much greater than it was listed for. And I'm becoming disturbingly aware that Willow is obsessed with me." Xander finished.

"Willow's not-"

"Obsessed." Xander cut her off. "Buffy, she knows my blood pressure. Hell, I couldn't have even told you my blood type or Social Security Number before Halloween, but she knew them. I mean, I knew she liked me, but I thought it was kind of a puppy love kinda thing. Like what I felt for you back when we first met. I thought she'd grow out of it. Now, I'm afraid of what she might do even if I try to let her down gently."

Felt? Buffy couldn't help but think. She tried to tell herself it was for the best that his feelings for her were now past tense. After all, she loved Angel. Right? Still, a girl liked to know she was wanted so it hurt to lose that. "So, what are you going to do?" she asked carefully. She didn't want to see Willow hurt.

"For now, nothing." he replied. "I need to get my life in order first. Then I can set her straight."

"Set who straight?" Willow asked as she walked into the Library.

"Cordelia." Xander lied easily. "She's been snarkier than normal and I've used up all my best comebacks."

"Oh, well... I'm sure you'll think of something." Willow assured him. "Shall we go?" she asked, taking in the long coat from Halloween that almost surely held a sword.

She was right about the coat. But it held a lot more than a sword now. It also held no less than five stakes, a cross, and three vials of holy water. Thanks to Methos' memories, Xander now came to fights much more prepared.

A/N: I've seen Ford die any number of ways in YAHFs. I wrote a story called A Whole New World in which he's healed and joins the group. But this time, I decided to let him be turned. I haven't seen that in a story yet. Should be interesting.