Disclaimer: Not mine
Sorry this has taken so long

Chapter 8

Xander tossed the book aside and then got up to leave the motel, his brothers were at a bar and their Dad had gone to the morgue, leaving him at the motel to research but after a few hours he was feeling more than a little restless. He went to the machine to get a soda and then went to sit on the hood of his car and stargaze while he drank. Sunnydale instinct screamed vampires but then where were the headless bodies coming from? It just didn't add up. He looked up at the sound of a truck and waved as his Dad got out. "Find something?"

"Yeah. Your brothers back yet?"

"Nope." He stood up and followed John into their motel room, Sam and Dean were sharing the other one.

"Well the severed heads aren't from victims, they're from vampires."

"That's not possible, vampires dust when killed." Xander frowned in confusion.

"No, they leave a corpse."

"Since when? Shove a stake in the heart or take their head off, even light them up and they dust." They stared at each other and then both dug out books, swapping them and Xander eventually bashed his head on the table. "Multiple breeds, wonderful."

"I grabbed some dead man's blood when I was there, start lacing the weapons." John pulled the jar out and Xander took it, moving to do so without any sign of being disgusted. "So…. are you in college?" He asked awkwardly while they worked and Xander snickered.

"No way, even if I could have afforded it school and me are not good friends. I was foreman on my construction site but I sent a letter back to resign a while ago since I decided not to go back."

John was impressed, foreman was a good position. "You don't want to go back to construction?"

"Maybe. There's not much around Bobby's and he said I could stay there when I'm not travelling with you guys. Guess it depends on if a spot comes open." He shrugged and looked at his Dad. "This another getting to know you session?" he grinned and John nodded slightly sheepishly. "So ask away."

"Girlfriend?"

"Not since Anya and I went our separate ways. Not really in a hurry to find someone new." They kept it up until his brothers returned with word of another hunter in town, that explained the dead vampires.

"Gordon huh." John glanced at the twins, worried. He knew Gordon and his views, his youngest children were at risk being near him. "Fine, we'll head out in the morning, it's his hunt."

"Come on Dad." Dean almost whined, he'd been looking forward to the hunt. John just shook his head and Dean sighed but nodded. He waited until Xander was asleep to leave the room and go to Dean and Sam's, slipping inside to wake Dean who followed him outside. "What's going on?"

"Gordon Walker is a very dangerous man Dean; one I won't let near your brothers." John stated and Dean frowned, trying to pick out the meaning and then his eyes widened.

"He'd try to…. Just cause Sammy sees stuff? But why Xander?"

"Because I'm pretty sure Xander is a medium of some sort with how he talked about those two possessions. Anything slightly different is enough for Gordon."

"Okay, so we get out of here in the morning and don't let them out of our sight."

Xander felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up even as he worked on the car for Bobby. Something wasn't right. He tightened his grip on the wrench and closed his eyes, trusting his other senses more than vision in order to figure out the threat. Something was out there. Great time for his Dad and brothers not to be there and for Bobby to be in town.

"Defender of man, your name suites you boy."

Xander spun around, wrench held defensively only for his eyes to go wide as he stared into yellow eyes. "You."

"Me. Never thought I'd have to deal with you again, you should have died on the Hellmouth and been out of my way."

"I'm good at doing the impossible." Xander snarked back even as he tried to find a way to get past the demon and into the warded house. "So why didn't you just kill me when you killed Mom?"

"You think I didn't try? Something protected you so I sent you away. But against all the odds you survived and found your way back. So now what do I do with you?"

"Well you could tell me all your plans and then go away."

The demon laughed. "You have courage."

"After staring into an open Hellmouth not much seems scary." He spat back.

"The Slayers White Knight. All the plans you've foiled over the years, it's really quite amusing considering they would have gotten in my way." He smirked and Xander fought down a shiver of feel even as his stomach cramped in fear. "I wonder if dear John could shoot you where your brothers couldn't shoot him."

Oh yeah, that did not sound good. "Drop dead." He snarled. The demon smirked and the body dropped, a black cloud rushing out of it and towards Xander who swore and gripped the two amulets he always wore, one was Bobby's aide to keep him unpossessed and the other had been his last Christmas gift from Tara before she died. The cloud surrounded him and he groaned as wounds he thought had healed ached fiercely even as the two amulets heated up. He clawed at his shirt to reveal the thin scars left from Willow's attempt to end the world, seeing they were almost glowing with magic. The cloud surged towards him and he threw his hand up in defence only for the cloud to be thrown back. Xander stared in shock before crumpling to the ground unconscious.

TBC….