Willow scrubbed at her weary eyes with the heels of both hands in an effort to alleviate the tired itch she felt. She had gone to bed much later than usual Sunday night and had awoken that Monday morning feeling drained.
"Definitely need an early night." She murmured to herself as she made her way into the living room, over to the sofa. Behind her from the kitchen she could hear the clink of china as Tara and Dawn tidied up after dinner.
She flopped down onto the cushions and stared reluctantly at the untidy stacks of books on the coffee table in front of her. Parchment pages and cracked leather spines, already she felt her mind scrabbling for excuses to not pick up a book and peruse the pages.
"Leave it."
Willow glanced up to see Buffy stood watching her, leaning with one shoulder against the door frame and thumbs hooked into the pockets of her denim skinny jeans. The blonde haired slayer pushed off from the frame and crossed the room to sit beside her friend. "Kennedy and Dawn have already looked through some of it today."
"Dawn did." Kennedy said, following Buffy in to sit cross legged on the floor across the table opposite them. "I was out looking for apartments to rent. And jobs."
Buffy rolled her eyes and gave an exasperated gesture at Kennedy.
"I've already told you you're welcome to stay here."
"It's getting crowded here. I need my own place." Kennedy replied, leaving unspoken the other reason for wanting her own home. That she had no reason to stay, now that she was no longer with Willow. Brown eyes sought the dusty pages of books left open on the table, in case her friends somehow divined that reason from her expression.
"At least stay here until you find a job." Buffy pressed. "Don't you need steady income to get your own place?"
"Makes sense." Kennedy nodded, idly flicking through pages without committing enough to lift the book. She flipped the cover shut and leaned back on her hands, looking up at Buffy. "Shall we get going then?" She asked.
"You're patrolling?" Willow said, looking between the slayers.
"Yup." Buffy said.
"Aren't you supposed to wait at least half an hour between eating and exercise?" The red head asked. Buffy quirked an eyebrow.
"Slayers digest fast." Kennedy told Willow, while patting her stomach. Willow looked about to dispute that a moment, then thought better of it. Slayers had accelerated healing, and boosted strength. Nothing about them made sense.
"I'm pretty sure you're winding me up, but okay." She said to Kennedy.
"Don't pretend you didn't flat out sprint to the car this morning right after eating waffles. I saw you." Buffy grinned at Willow as she stood up.
"That's different." Willow replied. "And it was just a question." Buffy laughed as she left the room to change for patrol.
"Your brain is weird." Kennedy announced, and smirked as she climbed to her feet and followed Buffy out, leaving Willow pouting on the sofa.
A moment later Tara paused in the doorway holding two mugs of steaming tea, to give Willow an amused look.
"She said my brain is weird." She told Tara, who nodded and entered the room.
"Well." She said, carefully elbowing books out of the way so she could leave the mugs down on the coffee table and sit on the sofa beside Willow. "I like your brain. It has lots of fun ideas." She tickled playfully behind Willow's ear. Willow shied away while laughing and caught Tara's hand.
"Ugh, did I walk in on something weird?" Dawn asked, wrinkling her nose.
"Yes. Tickling is an elaborate Wiccan mating ritual." Willow told her deadpan.
"Okay." The teen dropped onto the sofa beside Tara and tore open a bag of crisps. She offered one to the Wiccans, then started eating when they both declined.
"Dawn, we just had dinner, how are you still hungry?" Willow asked.
"Oh, I'm not." Dawn said around a mouthful of food. "This goes into my separate snack stomach where there's always room."
"That's not very healthy…" Tara replied, leaning forwards and picking up her mug of tea. She curled both hands around it, resting the base against one knee as she leaned back into the cushions.
"No, it's okay." Dawn assured them. "Fleeing for my life every few weeks helps with that. Burns a lot of calories." She grinned.
"I never thought of it that way before…" Willow said, clearly considering just how many calories fear burned off.
"Don't get any ideas." Tara warned her good-humouredly.
"No ideas." Willow promised. "Just happy to now have an excuse for post slayage snacks." She looked innocently at Tara.
"I'm good with those kinds of excuses." Dawn told her. "Like, I can have blueberry muffins for breakfast because they contain fruit and that's one of my five a day."
"And blueberries are a great source of antioxidants." Willow pointed out fairly.
"Exactly!" Dawn grinned at her.
"I despair." Tara told them, though not without a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. Dawn grinned and picked up the TV remote. She hit the standby button and channel hopped until she found what she was looking for and settled down to watch comedy show re-runs. Willow reached for her tea, deeming it cool enough now to drink, and sipped while watching. At the end of the episode she stood and stretched out her spine, arms held high before swinging back down to her sides.
"I'm going to have a quick shower." She announced.
"Try not to fall asleep." Tara said, and grinned as Willow rolled her eyes and trudged out of the room. The stairs creaked as she made her way up to the bathroom.
"Who falls asleep in the shower?" Dawn snorted, and Tara's grin widened.
"Oh, believe me, I have no idea, but she's done it before." She said. Dawn looked at her suspiciously.
"Really?" She asked. Tara nodded, picking up the now empty mugs and Dawn's crumpled crisp packet. The pipes hummed as the shower was turned on upstairs and the water began to heat up.
"Oh yes." She replied, getting to her feet and taking the things through to the kitchen.
"Huh." Was all Dawn said as she leaned back into the sofa watching adverts try to convince her she wanted fast food and vacuum cleaners. Tara was back by the end of the commercial break, and sat on the sofa with her legs curled beneath her.
"Haven't you seen all of these before?" She asked, watching the opening credits of the show.
"Probably." Dawn admitted, not taking her eyes from the screen. "But they're still funny." Tara smiled and had to agree. She had seen the episode before but it still amused her.
"It's definitely relaxing." She said. "Though…I spend all day at work staring at a screen and going through books to then come home and relax by staring at a screen and going through books."
"Yeah, but at least it's by choice at home." Dawn looked sideways at her with a grin. Tara tipped her head and shrugged her shoulders, conceding the point.
The water shut off upstairs and a moment later Willow returned wearing cartoon patterned pyjamas and a blue bathrobe with a moons and stars print. Her hair was still damp, and slightly fluffy from where she had towel dried it. She sat between Tara and Dawn looking thoughtful.
"Something up, Will?" Tara asked curiously.
"No, I was just thinking about the demon in the shower." She said vaguely. Dawn pulled a face at her.
"You have weird shower thoughts."
"Should I be jealous?" Tara asked mischievously.
"No, just…We've been searching all over for it. Why can't we find it? Two slayers and a reaper, all these books…" She waved a hand at the coffee table, laden with books from their Scooby library. The pooled collection of Giles, Willow and Tara.
"To be fair, Buffy, Kennedy, and Cat aren't primarily searching for it. They're doing general patrols and hoping to bump into it." Tara said.
"But we do have a lot of books." Dawn said, looking at the stacks in front of her. "You'd think we'd have covered every demon ever. What if it's a new type of demon?" She looked at the Wiccans sat next to her. "Can they do that? Evolve or…Whatever?" Willow frowned at her, an idea attempting to form. "I mean, these books are old, what if we don't have every type of demon? Scientists are finding new bugs and stuff all the-"
"Wait, say that again?" Willow interrupted. Dawn paused uncertainly.
"Bugs…?"
"No, no…A new type of demon…" Willow sat lost in thought. That hadn't pinged in her brain, not really. But something had. "Different type of demon…?"
A bemused Dawn peered around the redhead to look at Tara who shrugged and shook her head in an 'I don't know'. They could almost see the wheels turning inside Willow's head.
"Not a demon!" Willow cried suddenly.
"Okay!" Dawn yelped, surprised by the outburst.
"We've been so focussed on it being a demon what if it's not a demon?" Willow asked excitedly.
"Well, it's not exactly a ghost or a vampire is it?" Dawn replied.
"It sounds a lot like a demon." Tara said, trying the idea for size.
"And vampires sound human until they show us otherwise." Willow said, words coming faster as her mind worked. "There are so many magical creatures and supernatural beings. Sure, we're almost always up against demons and the occasional god. Spirits are easy enough to figure out but I was reading last night-for fun, not research, sorry-and I was going through our folklore books and what if it's some kind of mythical thing that's not demonic?"
"Like…a pixie?" Dawn asked warily.
"No, not a pixie." Willow rolled her eyes. "Okay, well, yeah, like a pixie, except I'm pretty sure this isn't a pixie, but what if it's something like a pixie?"
"A fairy?" Dawn asked, and grimaced. Willow shot her an exasperated look.
"I think I see where this is going…" Tara said.
"I'm going to get the folklore books!" Willow announced and shot to her feet and out of the room before the others could reply. Dawn whimpered.
"More reading?"
"We'll start tomorrow." Tara promised her, feeling as unenthusiastic as the teen sounded about the prospect of more research. "With fresh minds and with the others on board."
"Why can't Google sort the supernatural properly?" Dawn grumbled. "I can't tell you how many times I've come across vampires sparkling being told as fact." Tara hid a giggle.
"Well, myths and legends and folklore tend to start out with a small truth somewhere along the lines." She said. "Maybe tomorrow that can be your job? Look up local stories online and see if there's something useful there?"
Willow thundering back down the stairs brought their attention to the doorway as the redhead bounded back into the living room with an armful of books, looking very pleased with herself. Tara hastily cleared a space on the coffee table.
"Why do we have so many books?" Dawn asked.
"Knowledge is the first weapon in the fight against darkness!" Willow told her, dumping the pile with a loud thud in the space made by Tara.
"Is that your inner Watcher talking?" Dawn teased.
"Giles would be proud." Tara grinned. Willow flopped back into her space between the two.
"I got everything I thought would be useful." She explained, eyeing her new stack of books. "I just hope I'm right…"
Wood crunched through bone and sinew, burying itself in an immobile heart. It paused a beat before being jerked free and the vampire exploded into a cloud of ash, scattering on the wind. Kennedy stepped out of her fighter's stance and glanced around the cemetery, tapping her wooden stake against her thigh. She couldn't sense any danger lurking in amongst the headstones and tombs, though any vampire with even a modicum of sense would be underground by now. The sun was beginning to rise, the sky already lightening, shadows lifting. She had been lucky to catch the straggler, way out on the suburbs.
She tucked the stake into the waistband at the back of her jeans and made her way through the cemetery, vaulting the tall iron railings that enclosed the large grounds and landing in a crouch on the pavement on the other side. A neat row of semis rose up around her and marched down the street, tidy front gardens identical in the gloom. Cars parked on drives and against the curb gleamed bright and new beneath humming streetlamps that were fast becoming unnecessary as sleeping city awoke and soft grey light on the horizon pushed back the darkness.
Kennedy had walked half the night and was sure she had covered almost every square inch of their demon's hunting grounds, even branching out further afield, but had found nothing to report. She was beginning to wonder if it was some kind of shapeshifter, revealing its true face only in the moment of feeding. She came across shady looking humans every night while patrolling. Maybe she should start following them and see what happened… She sighed and shook her head, casting aside the thought as soon as the idea surfaced, and picked up her pace, eager to be home in the warm. Maybe a nice cup of coffee. The others would be up soon anyway, the boiling kettle would only wake them an hour early. If it woke them at all.
Throughout the long walk back her senses were on high alert, searching for any signs of supernatural disturbance though she knew it was futile. She didn't let her guard down until the moment she turned into the street of the Summers/Rosenberg/Maclay residence. She unzipped her jacket pocket and took out her door key. She had kept it throughout her travels as Buffy had insisted she would always be welcome back, and she was glad. It felt good to be able to let herself into the house using her own key, like she belonged somewhere. She carefully slid the key into the lock and turned it slowly. The lock disengaged with a muted click and she nudged the door open, pulling the key free with barely a sound. She closed the door and glanced back into the dark house, searching for signs that Buffy was already home. Spying the coat hung up on its hook in the hallway, the shoes tucked against the wall beneath, Kennedy double locked the door and drew the chain across, then kicked off her boots and hung up her jacket beside Buffy's. She made her way into the kitchen and flicked on the kettle, picked a mug from the draining board and dumped a spoonful of instant coffee into it, then rummaged in the cupboards for snacks while the water boiled.
She scored a sharing sized bag of Doritos and carried that and her mug of coffee through to the living room, elbowing the light switch on her way in to turn the lights on. The lightening sky outside had yet to penetrate the gloom of the sleeping house.
Dropping onto the sofa she saw a new stack of books had been added to the pile on the coffee table. She rolled her eyes, tearing open the bag of Doritos using one hand and her teeth, the other hand balancing her mug on one knee. While it was true their ridiculously large arcane library hadn't helped that much in the week they had been attempting to discover the nature of their mystery demon, Kennedy doubted adding more books to their reading list could help that much. She tipped her head on one side to read the spines, one eyebrow climbing higher and higher with each new title. Myths and Legends of North America, Unexplained Phenomena, A History of Unnaturalness, Folklore: Fact or Fiction?
"Wow…" She murmured, reaching for a folklore book that had been left face down on the coffee table. It was a battered old book the size of the average novel with a plain green cover, the dust jacket long since lost. The pages felt dry and brittle, smelled of age and dust. It seemed to be as much story book as encyclopaedia of old tales. Kennedy left her coffee down on the table to leaf through the pages, looking at intricate line drawings of all manner of beast, reading the odd paragraph of urban legends and ghost stories passed down through word of mouth. Sasquatch, headless horseman, lake monsters, swamp-women, witches, hell hounds, wendigo-
"Hey."
Kennedy looked up at the soft voice to see Buffy leaning against the doorframe, eyes foggy with sleep. Her hair was tousled and she wore a dressing gown over her pajamas to keep out the morning chill.
"Hey." Kennedy replied, glancing down at her wristwatch then back up at Buffy. "Did I wake you?" There was still at least an hour before the others even had to think about getting up for work.
Buffy nodded and shrugged.
"I heard coffee?" she asked hopefully. "Or…At least I heard the kettle." She eyed up Kennedy's mug, steam still curling upwards from the drink inside.
"Yeah." Kennedy said and motioned towards the kitchen. "Water's still warm enough to make a drink." Buffy pushed off from the frame and disappeared and Kennedy looked back down at the book she held and turned the page. She stared at the image glaring back up at her. The artist had depicted an elongated humanoid monster, impossibly gaunt with eyes that appeared to glow. Kennedy had spent all week looking for similar images. She flicked the page back to find the title of the legend, turned back to the picture.
"I really don't know how anyone can live without coffee. I can't even function without-"
"Look." Kennedy interrupted Buffy as the blonde slayer returned to the room with both hands around her mug of coffee. Buffy stopped talking and blinked at Kennedy, who raised the book and held the pages open so Buffy could see the picture. Buffy's eyes widened in recognition and Kennedy knew she had found the right thing.
"What is it?" Buffy asked, hurrying over to sit beside Kennedy and look at the book.
"Wendigo." Kennedy replied. "It's the monster, isn't it?" She looked sideways at Buffy, who continued to stare down at the book.
"Yeah." She murmured. "I mean…It's different but…The same."
"There's not much information here." Kennedy said, turning the pages. "Mostly speculation."
"We have a name." Buffy said. "And I'm pretty sure that's it. Will you look into it?" She looked up at Kennedy. "I know you hate research but…"
"I'm home and you're not." Kennedy nodded. "Sure. I'll see if I can get Dawn to help."
"Thanks." Buffy said, sighing in what sounded like relief. They knew the name of the beast. That made things easier. They could be hunting it by the time she got home from work. "I'll call a Scooby meeting later. We can figure things out then, get out and get rid of it."
Kennedy saluted her.
Dawn's eyes ached with the strain of staring at the glare of a laptop screen for most of the day. She leaned her head back against the sofa and rubbed the knuckles of both hands against her eyes, heaved a sigh. The gang would assemble soon, meeting after work and hoping for details on their newly named beastie. Like exactly what it was and how to beat it. Those were questions she still had no answers for despite her best efforts on Willow's laptop. Kennedy had started out by scouring the books, then grown bored and left to prowl the town in search of wendigo hidey holes. Dawn sighed and closed the lid of Willow's laptop and left it beside herself on the sofa. She chucked her notepad onto the ever present piles of books on the coffee table and stood up, stretching out her spine. She had taken down the cork board in her bedroom and brought it downstairs to the living room where she had propped it up against the TV and covered it in notes and pictures, building their 'case'. She had added a sheet of paper with a crude sketch of the wendigo in the bottom right corner. She had left space beneath the image to write in any useful information, though she now felt that had been a bit too optimistic.
Thankfully Giles would be turning up soon. He could help pick through the pages of notes she had made and pull fact from fiction. He always seemed good at that. She made her way into the kitchen, snatching up the phone from its cradle on the wall as she passed it on her way to the fridge where the local Chinese take away menu was stuck to the door with a cheap plastic magnet. She dialled the number and leaned one shoulder against the fridge while she waited for someone to answer.
"Hi! I'd like to place an order…"
They always ordered the same things whenever they got take out. Always an assortment of main meals and sides. Always way more than they could ever eat. Dawn hung up after a short conversation and returned the phone to its place. Back in the living room she moved the piles of books from the coffee table to the floor to make space for the food.
The key sounded in the lock and the front door opened.
"I'm back!" Kennedy called out needlessly. Dawn entered the hallway to meet her. "I think I just saw Giles' car turn into the road." The slayer said, hopping around on one foot as she pulled a boot off the other.
"Good. I just ordered Chinese, it'll be here in about twenty minutes." Dawn replied. Kennedy dropped her boot with a thud and started on the other foot. "Any luck…patrolling?" It felt weird calling it a patrol when the sun was up. Wasn't patrol usually an after dark thing?
"Not really." Kennedy said, dropping the second boot and straightening up. She rested her hands on her hips. "I went through some cemeteries but the people there kept giving me weird looks. Too obvious I was looking for something, I think. What about your Google stuff?"
"Ugh. There's just so much contradictory information, it's impossible! And the books have next to nothing." Dawn rolled her eyes.
"Giles will know." Kennedy said sympathetically. "He knows everything."
Outside a car pulled up to the curb. The engine idled a moment before cutting out. Two car doors opened and closed with a thunk. As she heard the jangle of keys nearby and saw a shadow appear in the frosted glass Dawn leaned around Kennedy and pulled on the latch to open the door. Tara looked momentarily surprised, hand raised ready to fit her key in the lock, then she smiled at Kennedy and Dawn. Giles stood behind her.
"Hi, guys!" Tara called cheerily, stepping inside.
"Evening." Giles said, following her inside and closing the door behind himself. As the hallway was fast becoming crowded, Kennedy waved at the new arrivals, then retreated into the kitchen for a drink.
"I ordered Chinese." Dawn announced.
"Nothing like junk food to help take down the forces of darkness." Tara teased with a sloped smile.
Dawn pulled the door open again as she heard footsteps approaching and found Cat and Xander just about to step up onto the porch.
"Psychic Dawn." Cat said with a grin. Giles greeted them from behind Dawn before heading into the living room, while Tara went into the kitchen calling over her shoulder that she would put the kettle on, knowing without asking the hot drinks that everyone would request.
"I should just leave the door open." Dawn said, letting Cat and Xander in.
"Well, Buffy and Willow have keys, they can let themselves in." Xander pointed out, shrugging off his coat and hanging it up with everyone else's.
"The take out guy doesn't have a key." Dawn replied, shutting the door again.
"Take out?" Xander asked, rubbing his hands together. "Yay! Nummy treats." Cat rolled her eyes and dragged him by the elbow into the living room to sit with Giles on the sofa.
Dawn followed them in and sat cross legged on the floor amongst the mountains of books, picking up her notebook and flipping it open to the page she had been writing on. This meeting had the feeling of one that was about to achieve something. Or, at least, she was hopeful. They had identified the creature. Somewhat.
"You've been doing your homework, huh?" Xander asked her playfully.
"Trying." Dawn said with a sigh.
"I like your…board thingy." Cat motioned to the notice board behind Dawn and the teen grinned up at her. "Very CSI murder investigation like."
"Thanks! I figured laying it all out like that might help, you know, see everything all at once."
"A very good idea." Giles commended her. "Something we should utilise more often."
Tara entered ahead of Kennedy juggling several mugs, steam twisting upwards from a mix of tea and coffee. She set them down on the coffee table and divided them up.
"Awesome, ta, Ta!" Cat said with a cheeky grin as she accepted her mug of tea. Tara rolled her eyes good naturedly and sat on the floor with Dawn. Kennedy settled down with a pint glass of water just as the front door opened and brought with it the sound of jingling keys, stamping feet and rustling bags.
"Food!" Buffy called loudly and kicked the door closed. Kennedy hopped back up and dashed into the hallway, returning almost immediately carrying two brown paper bags that were stuffed full of food cartons that filled the room with the smell of fried chicken and noodles.
"Smells so good…" Xander moaned, practically drooling on his feet.
"Mmm, the smell of clogged arteries." Cat said with a delighted grin.
Willow and Buffy came into the living room still wearing their work clothes. Willow immediately went to sit with Tara while Buffy stayed standing and glanced around the room.
"Good." She said. "Everyone's here."
Xander clapped his hands together.
"Okay! Scooby meeting is in session!"