"Kennedy?!" Buffy cried in surprise. The vampires pinning her to the hard stone sarcophagus had frozen in shock and were gaping at the sudden appearance of a second slayer. The stone dug painfully into Buffy's shoulder blades and the cold seeped through her clothes and into her skin. "What are you doing here?!"
Kennedy just gave a cocky grin, pleased with the reactions she had caused. She spun a second crossbow bolt from the quiver strapped to her thigh and slapped it into place, re-loading her weapon.
"Who cares what she's doing here?!" The vampire with the buzz cut demanded, releasing his hold on Buffy's shoulders as Kennedy winched her bowstring into place. "Kill her!"
Once the hands pinning her down loosened their grip Buffy kicked out at the two nearest vampires, planting her feet square in their faces and sending them crashing backwards, as two others lunged at Kennedy. Buzz drove his elbow downwards in a bone crushing arc aimed at Buffy's sternum. Like lightning she rolled away and dropped to her feet as she reached the edge of the sarcophagus, diving towards her discarded sword.
Kennedy had spun away from her attackers to finish loading her crossbow. She then whipped back round to swipe the feet out from beneath the closest vampire while aiming the bow with one hand at his friend. As the first one crashed heavily to the ground she squeezed the trigger and fired her bolt straight into the heart of the second. He staggered and fell, exploding into a cloud of ash just before he hit the ground. She cast aside her empty crossbow, useless now that she was in amongst the gang of vampires, and tugged out the wooden stake she had tucked into the belt of her trousers. The first vampire was back on his feet and crouched low, burning yellow eyes fixed on her as he cautiously circled, looking for an opening in her guard.
Buffy had seized her sword and climbed to her feet just as Buzz sprang over the sarcophagus and rushed towards her. The two vampires she had kicked over had recovered and picked themselves up, and were advancing on her, wary now that she had a sharp weapon in her hands. Stakes could be blocked, but swords could easily slice through limbs. While that wasn't fatal for a vampire, it was inconvenient.
Behind her Buffy could hear the meaty thuds of Kennedy's fists connecting with the soft flesh of her opponent, followed by the poof of a vampire turning to ash and disintegrating as a wooden stake smashed through its rib cage and punctured its heart. She saw her opponents' eyes flicking between her and her sword and Kennedy behind her as they fanned out, hoping to outflank the slayers. They did, after all, still have the advantage in numbers. Not that that had helped before. Much.
Buffy studied them a moment to make sure they wouldn't try to catch her in a pincer movement, then, without warning, leaped forwards with her sword arm drawn back and high to swing down at Buzz and cleave him in two. Before she could even think about starting the downward arc of her attack the vampires had turned tail and fled. Seconds later she realized why as a bolt whistled passed her and drove itself through the back of one of the escaping vampires with a thud. He was dust before he hit the ground. Buffy picked a target and raced after him as Kennedy rapidly reloaded her crossbow.
A second vampire exploded into ash beside her as Buffy threw her shoulder into Buzz's lower back. They crashed down into the ground and immediately the vampire struggled to throw her off and get back up. Buffy cracked the butt of her sword handle into the back of his head to stun him. She felt him go limp briefly beneath her, and climbed off him to roll him over. The vampire blinked and tried to shake her off as she dragged him over to a nearby headstone and sat him up against it. Kennedy jogged up behind her with another bolt loaded into her crossbow.
"Whaddaya want?!" Buzz whimpered, hands up as the crossbow was aimed at his heart and Buffy's sword pressed against his throat. Cold steel bit cold flesh. "I'll do anything, please don't kill me."
Buffy rolled her eyes. She rarely met a vampire that kept the tough guy act up when beaten and alone. Prey on the weak, run away from the strong.
"I was thinking," She began casually, "That I haven't seen many vampires around lately. And I was wondering why that was."
"Really?" Buzz asked, looking at her as though she were mad. "You're a slayer. Isn't that a good thing?" Buffy pressed her sword harder against his throat. Thick, dark blood beaded against the blade. "Okay, okay, okay!" He tipped his head up and back to escape the sword, but the cool stone behind him wouldn't give. He licked his lips, tried to work some moisture into his dry mouth, mind racing as he tried to word an answer that would keep him alive. "There's, uh…Like a demon?" He started, yellow eyes darting from slayer to slayer. "Apparently doesn't take too kindly to sharing its killing grounds."
"What kind of demon?" Buffy asked sharply.
"I don't know, that's just what we heard. It's big and bad and fast as Hell. Some vamps got killed for hunting on its turf and everyone's keeping their heads down awhile. All I know is, it doesn't feed too often so we figured we'd chance it tonight." He scowled at them both. "Which turned out great."
"Aha." Buffy said unsympathetically. "Where's its turf?"
Buzz gulped.
"In the city…somewhere…" He said nervously. Buffy fixed him with a steely glare. The vampire tried to shrink back, discovered again that the headstone wouldn't give, and instead gave Buffy a piteous look. "I don't know." He moaned. "They're just rumours. It changes. You gunna let me go?"
"You're a vampire. We're slayers." Kennedy said, quirking one eyebrow. "What do you think?"
Before the vampire could answer, Buffy drew her sword across his neck. She felt steel bite through sinew and bone. He was ash before his head could fall.
Kennedy let out a low whistle.
"Now that's some home coming." She grinned at Buffy as the blonde slayer rose to her feet, wiping her sword clean on one sleeve.
"Am I glad you showed up when you did." She said softly, not looking at Kennedy. Embarrassed to have been found in that situation, bested by vampires.
"No problem." Kennedy replied, sensing her friend's awkwardness. She distracted herself by fiddling with her crossbow to discharge the bolt, slung the weapon across her shoulders and adjusted the strap against her chest. "Anyway, let's get outta here."
They made their way back through the cemetery to the entrance gates, Buffy collecting the saya for her sword as they passed the sarcophagus she had been pinned to. She slid the sword back into its casing and concealed it beneath her coat. Kennedy picked up her canvas duffle bag as they reached the gates.
"What are you doing back so soon?" Buffy asked her once they were back out on the road. "I thought you'd be doing the lone wolf thing way longer." She looked sideways at Kennedy, who shot her a sincere look.
"Well, Buffy. I just missed you."
Buffy looked disbelieving and Kennedy cracked a grin.
"Let's get back to yours for some coffee and I'll tell you all about it."
Buffy smiled and nodded. She was done with patrolling for the night.
"Kennedy, I don't care what you say, you're not staying in a hotel!" Buffy continued the argument in a hoarse whisper as they crept into the hallway of her home.
"Well, I can't stay with you. There's no room any more!" Kennedy hissed, dumping her bag by the assembled shoes on the shoe rack, and turning to face Buffy as she closed the front door with a soft click.
"So sleep on the sofa until you can figure something out."
"I'm fine with staying in a hotel or whatever." Kennedy replied, following Buffy as she made her way through the hall and towards the kitchen.
"In Sunnydale I had an army of potentials crashing in my house, I'm sure I can cope with just you sleeping on the sofa." Buffy said, picking up the kettle and carrying it to the sink to fill. Kennedy sighed and leaned against the counter to watch Buffy bustle around the kitchen making them both mugs of coffee.
"Okay. Fine." She relented. "But I'd be perfectly fine renting or whatever. I don't need help." Buffy raised her eyebrows as she spooned coffee into mugs, with her back to Kennedy. "But…it's appreciated." She added awkwardly, folding her arms over her chest.
"Noted." Buffy assured her friend, turning to face her as she waited for the kettle to finish boiling, leaning against the work surface opposite. "I'm not doubting your lone wolfiness."
"Better not be." Kennedy gave a crooked smirk.
"So, what were you doing all that time?" Buffy asked. "Chilling out? Finding yourself? Founding a slayer security firm? All of the above?"
"None of the above." She said, watching the kettle wobble in its stand and billow steam as the water reached boiling point. The switch clicked off and the kettle calmed down. Buffy turned and poured water into their mugs, stirring in the coffee and milk. "There's not really much to tell." Kennedy admitted, stepping forwards to take her coffee as Buffy turned back and held out the mug to her. "I basically got a ticket from England back to America and travelled around, mainly hitch-hiking. Killed some monsters, dusted some vamps. Met up with a couple of slayer groups which was fun."
"Anyone I know?" Buffy asked curiously. After Sunnydale, that group of slayers had split off to do their own thing. She didn't hear much from them. And she knew the Scoobies weren't the only monster-fightin' team out there.
"No. And none of them are as cool as we are." Kennedy said, blowing across the top of her coffee to cool it before sipping.
"Well, that's a given." Buffy grinned at her. "You'll have to tell me all about it tomorrow. Today. Later." Kennedy grunted in agreement.
"Don't want to be repeating myself when the others get up…" She said, knowing she would be interrogated by the rest of the household later that day. And she had questions of her own. She wanted to see how Cat and Tara were fitting in, wanted to know how Willow and Dawn were doing. Questions best left until morning.
"Did you just get back to Cleveland tonight, then?" Buffy asked curiously.
"Yeah. Got bored and decided that was enough soul searching, wanted to head back to you Scoobies." Kennedy nodded softly, shrugging one shoulder. "I got back about an hour before bumping into you. I thought I'd patrol to kill some time before finding somewhere to stay. Apparently only the most expensive hotels have twenty four hour receptions."
"I know, right? It's not like your friends would let you stay for free!" Buffy said drily. Kennedy stuck out her tongue at her in response, the silver ball of her tongue bar glinting in the fluorescent light overhead. She didn't like feeling like a burden, like she needed help. She averted her gaze, looked down into her mug, half empty and still steaming.
"I suppose you want to go to sleep." She said after a moment of silence, knowing Buffy had to get up to do a gruelling nine-til-five in the morning. She glanced back up when Buffy didn't answer.
Buffy was frowning into her own mug, starting to feel a faint buzz of caffeine.
"Maybe coffee before bed was a bad idea…"
"Well, it's better than tea." Kennedy smirked and downed the rest of her coffee. Buffy looked amused.
"Don't let Cat or Giles hear you say that…" She said, taking the empty mug from Kennedy. She finished her own coffee and left both mugs in the sink to wash up in the morning. "Anyway, I have to get up for work in, oh…" She checked her wristwatch. "Four hours." She pulled a face. Not much sleep again. Lucky for her she had slayer energy reserves.
"Sleep is for the weak." Kennedy told her playfully. Buffy raised an eyebrow at her.
"Tell that to Dawn…" She replied, knowing her sister would take advantage of having no commitments for the day and sleep in late. "Okay, come on." She pushed off from the counter she had been leaning against and motioned for Kennedy to follow her as she left the kitchen. "Make yourself at home and I'll go grab you blankets and pillows." She gestured towards the sofa. Kennedy nodded, picking up her bag from the hall and carrying it over as Buffy tiptoed up the stairs. As with when Cat had stayed the night, she didn't want to wake Willow and Tara by entering their room (previously Willow and Kennedy's room) for the spare blankets and pillows, and so quietly went into her own room and grabbed one of her pillows and the blanket from the foot of her bed.
When she returned to the living room, Kennedy was sat cross legged on the sofa, changed into faded blue checked pyjama trousers and a white tank top.
"This sofa's getting a lot of action lately." Buffy remarked as she handed over the pillow and blanket. Kennedy raised both eyebrows and Buffy's eyes widened. "Not like that. Cat stayed the night the other day."
"Well." Kennedy said, putting the pillow on top of the cushions she had piled against one arm of the sofa and fluffing it up. "It's a comfy couch." She shook out the blanket and wriggled down until she felt comfortable, grinning up at Buffy. "You gunna tuck me in?"
"I'm starting to doubt your lone wolfiness." Buffy told her, arms folded over her chest and head tipped to one side. Kennedy pouted.
"'Night." She grumbled.
"Good night. We'll try not to wake you in the morning."
Buffy made her way slowly upstairs, feeling the excitement of the night start to wear her down. Suddenly the energy that had kept her going since the vampire attack left her and all she could think of was crawling into bed.
She closed her bedroom door behind herself and pulled off her clothes, chucking them carelessly aside and leaving them where they fell to tidy in the morning. She pulled on her pyjamas and climbed into bed and had barely tugged the covers over herself before sleep had wrapped her in its comforting embrace.