Chapter 5.
The next evening, the small clearing was showered in shell-like pieces of stone as five gargoyles woke up.
"Man, that's the most refreshing sleep I've ever had," Xander said as he stretched and wiped a few flakes of stone from his skin.
"Right. Just like we talked about yesterday. Buffy and I are going back to town to see if we can talk to Joyce. Have either of you reconsidered talking to your parents?" Giles asked.
"Very much no," Xander said firmly.
"Nah. My mom would just say it was a phase I was going through," said Willow.
"Very well. Anything else we should gather while we're in town?" Giles queried. He was both saddened and relieved that the two children were making such a clean break from their old lives. It would make acceptance of their current (and possibly future) lives easier but it spoke to problems in their old lives that they were dissatisfied with. Particularly their parents.
"Clothes?" Amy put forth. Just one night of their clothes putting up with the stress that gargoyles put on them and the light training they had finished the night with, had left their clothes looking decidedly tattered though surprisingly clean. Stone sleep apparently doubled as a laundry service for clothes you were wearing; though it did not, apparently, double as a tailor as all the rips and tears were still there. All of them had tears in their shirts where their wings had torn through. Those that were wearing pants or long sleeves also had tears in their elbows and knees from spikes in those areas that had poked through.
"Food?" Xander suggested. Feeling refreshed and not feeling hungry were two different things.
"Clothes yes. Food, no." Giles suppressed a chuckle when Xander's face fell at that revelation. "You are now, all of you, apex predators and this is a National Forest filled with wild game. I expect you can work out what to do." That and worrying about whether or not they would eat that night was preferable to worrying whether or not they would ever be human or not. At least for now. Worrying about immediate needs was actually better than worrying about the long term future.
"You want us to hunt?" Willow gasped. "You want us to kill Bambi?"
Giles caught Buffy smirking just a bit. "Don't look so smug, Miss Summers. Whether or not you or I eat tonight also depends on them successfully hunting while we're gone. We are a clan now and either we all eat or we all go hungry." Giles failed to hide his smirk as Buffy's face also fell. One day of going hungry wouldn't hurt any of them and would give them proper motivation to hunt. If they were unsuccessful tonight, he would join them tomorrow night. And if that didn't work, then they would raid someone's fridge, though preferably not Joyce's. Although, again, thinking about food was preferable to thinking about other things. "Any other questions?"
"Yeah," Buffy said with her arms crossed, clearly not happy at the direction the conversation had gone in. "How the hell are we getting out of this place?"
Giles looked around. It was true, this was going to be a bit trickier than average. He had purposely cleared as small a space as possible to reduce their effect on the land as well to as make their camp harder to spot. The chaparral was very dense and rather tall in this area. That was, after all, the reason he'd chosen it. It would be very hard for anyone to get to or see from anywhere humans could easily access. The bushes around them varied from about eye height (on him) to a bit taller than that all around them. They were also on a slight slope. He went to the highest point in their clearing and turned around to look downhill. He carefully unfolded his wings and extended them up and back behind him, then gave a short hop. It was less than a full leap and he was across the clearing. He crouched and gave a full leap then – both upwards and forward. This time at the apex, instead of snapping his wings open and letting them fill with air on their own, he powered his wings downward as hard as he could and the ground fell away below him. A few more flaps with all his might and he had enough height that he could circle lazily with the heat of the day providing an updraft for him to gain height on while he watched Buffy imitate him. Once she was successfully in the air, he led the way back to town.
"I say everyone goes hungry until Giles wises up," Willow suggested once Buffy and Giles turned to the south.
"Not a chance," Amy scoffed. "I'm not going hungry just because Disney warped your mind. Lucky for me, Mom thought Disney was evil and wouldn't let me watch it. Ironic, I suppose." She got a little melancholy at that.
"Fine, you go hunt, Xander and I will wait here," Willow said.
"Heck no. I'm hungry, Will," Xander chuckled.
"Have you ever hunted before?" Amy asked him.
"Nope. You?"
"Yeah. A couple times when I was 12, right before the divorce. Dad took me out and I got my first deer," Amy said proudly.
Xander bowed low, "Then I defer to your wisdom, oh great huntress."
"Cool, let's go." Amy said and started unfolding her wings to take off like Giles and Buffy had. She noticed that Willow was also doing the same. "I thought you were staying here?"
Willow flushed. "I- I don't want to stay by myself," she admitted.
"Fine," Amy sighed. "But no spooking the animals. I'm not in a very good mood right now and if you cost me a meal, I'm eating your wings dipped in buffalo sauce. Got it?" she finished with deadly seriousness.
"Got it," Willow swallowed.
"Giles. I've changed my mind. I want to go back and kill Bambi," Buffy whined as they stood in front of her house.
Giles stopped walking and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Do you really wish to leave your mother wondering what happened to you Buffy?" He wasn't entirely sure why the other children wouldn't want to inform their parents, but he had a hunch. Buffy, at least, had a kind and caring mother. That had been in the watcher reports he'd read. The fact that she had (originally) volunteered to tell the woman was also a good sign.
"This is so unfair!" Buffy pouted.
"Nor is it fair to leave her in the dark," Giles countered. If he hadn't seen the populace's reaction to the Harvest, he would have been quite adamant that Willow and Xander both tell their parents as well. "At least this way, even if she doesn't believe you, at least I won't be blamed for your disappearance. She'll blame it on some monsters."
"Blame you?"
"Buffy. One teacher and four students suddenly go missing. It certainly isn't going to be blamed on the students. If I'm lucky, the papers will count me as another victim and not as the perpetrator of some heinous acts against all of you." It also occurred to him later the first night that all of their last calls could be traced to his flat. Not an auspicious way show his innocence.
"Why would they say that?" Buffy wondered.
"Oh, they probably won't. But one does wonder these things. And the American papers are notorious for their muck-raking. Luckily, I'm not famous enough for such efforts. I suppose it was a silly worry." Giles gave a small smile to show that he wasn't as worried as Buffy thought. He was.
Buffy took his arm. "Come on. Let's go convince my mom that you're not a scary kidnapper and just an inhuman monster."
"Buffy..." Giles could only sigh at his charge's antics.
It was all too easy, Amy decided. They found a meadow with a herd of deer browsing the foliage in the fading twilight. They were on alert, watching all around themselves and swiveling their ears around searching for threats in the growing darkness. Except that the threat wasn't coming from the woods or the fields around them. It was coming from above and was almost perfectly silent. She did a wing over and dove. She could feel Xander behind her but was pretty sure that Willow was continuing to circle.
The buck never knew what happened. She landed astride his back, grabbed his antlers, and twisted until she heard a crack. She lifted her head as Xander landed lightly beside her. All the other deer had disappeared into the woods.
"Interesting hunting method," Xander chuckled.
She shrugged as she stepped away from her prey. "It worked, didn't it?" She considered the fresh deer carcass. "We should probably field dress it. I don't suppose you brought a knife?"
Xander held up his taloned hand spread like the tools on a pocket knife. "A couple."
Amy looked at her own hand. "Oh. Yeah." She looked up as Willow also landed. "You two should watch me as I field dress this guy. So you can do it next time."
"Next time?" Willow squeaked.
"You're a gargoyle, Willow," Amy said, not unkindly. "Sooner or later, you're going to have to hunt for your food. Or if what Mr. Giles says is right, you may have to fight demons instead. Better to get over any fear of blood you have right now."
Willow looked like she might turn green at the mere thought of blood... if she hadn't already been green to begin with.
"Okay. First, make an incision from the breastbone to the pelvis. The important part here is not to nick the intestines. Cause doing that is really smelly and makes the meat taste funny." Amy demonstrated that carefully with her claws. "Next you reach up into the body cavity and cut the esophagus so the rest of the guts can come free."
Xander mumbled something that neither of the other girls could hear.
"Next you take out the heart and liver as they're the tastiest organs and the ones we want to keep," she met action to words and handed the bloody organs to Xander.
"Then you- break the pelvis," Amy grunted slightly with the effort, but did so barehanded, "and cut around the penis, testicles, and anus. Finally, you tip the body over and all the guts fall out. All you have to do is cut a few connecting tissues at the back. And presto, your deer is field dressed. Though we should really hang it up and let the blood drip out for a bit." She contemplated for a minute. "Willow, do you want to hold the heart and liver or help me drain this guy?"
Willow looked from Xander holding the bloody organs to Amy who also had bloody hands and arms but the outside of the deer was otherwise free of blood and she decided she could probably avoid getting blood on herself and her clothes easier by helping Amy. She was guaranteed to get blood on her hands holding the organs but if she could just grab the animal's fur then maybe she could stay clean. Together, they hoisted the deer into a nearby tree. The deer was surprisingly light to Willow and she was pretty sure she could have hoisted it herself, but the trick was hoisting it without getting covered in blood. Once the deer was secured, they gently returned to the ground. Where they found Xander with the heart and most of the liver. He was still chewing, but swallowed as they approached.
"Xander, did you just eat raw liver?" Willow made a face.
"I was hungry," Xander defended. "And you guys were taking forever."
"It was two minutes! Whatever. At least you didn't eat the heart," Amy said as she took that organ with her own bloody hand. "My dad told me that there are any number of ancient peoples that believed that consuming the heart of your prey gave you their strength but only if you were the one to make the kill. And then back at camp, he cooked the heart of the deer I'd killed that day for me. He had some steak, but the heart, he said, was for me since I killed it. Best meal I ever had. Rule one of hunting in a group is that whoever makes the kill gets the heart." She looked at the heart for a bit, lost in memories. Then she bit.
"Amy!" Willow cried.
"What?" Amy said as she chewed.
"It's, uh... raw?"
Amy swallowed and looked at the bloody organ she was holding as if for the first time. "So it is." She took another bite. Just a few more bites and it was gone. "Still delicious. Better than I remember even, and that was pretty damn good."
Willow couldn't keep her mouth from hanging open.
"Did you want some liver?" Xander offered the redhead.
"Yeah, but cooked," Willow surprised herself. When she'd woken up yesterday morning, eating liver – even cooked – was way down on her list of things to do.
"Fine, but you're going to have to carry it back to camp cause I'm not sure it would make it all the way in Xander's hands," Amy said, laughing lightly.
Xander didn't even bother to challenge the point.
Once the deer was drained to Amy's liking, she and Xander took it down. Then with each of them helping to carry the deer, they launched themselves into the night.
"Do you have a plan?" Giles asked as they stood in front of Buffy's house.
"Sort of. I want to start talking to her through a door or something. Anything so that she can't see me but she'll know that it's still me. Should help convince her when I actually reveal myself," Buffy said.
"Capital idea. Would you like me to come with you?" he offered.
"Why don't you wait by the back door? Come in if you hear screaming or catch her if she tries to run. I don't want her running through Sunnydale alone at night," Buffy said before she stepped onto the front porch. She paused at the front door as much from the clenching fear in her stomach as to give Giles time to get around the house. Opening the door, she stepped through.
"Buffy?" came the call from the kitchen. "Where have you been?" Joyce asked worriedly.
Buffy raced for the kitchen door and got to it before her mother could. She held it closed as her mother tried to open it. "I'm sorry, Mom."
"Buffy! Open this door this instant. You skipped an entire day of school today. Along with your friend Amy, I found out. And her house burned down with someone inside it. Do you know what that looks like, young lady? The police were here. I didn't know what to tell them." Joyce's voice broke. "Buffy. Just tell me what's wrong!" she cried. She let her forehead rest against the unmoving door as her tears pooled in the doorway.
"I'm so sorry, Mommy," Buffy cried against her side of the door. Suddenly feeling very small indeed no matter how much she'd grown. She could feel her mother lean against the other side. "I don't suppose it would help if I told you that I was there but I didn't start the fire. Amy's mom did. The problem is she was a witch."
"The woman is dead, Buffy. I'm not sure that name calling is appropriate," Joyce admonished, wiping her eyes and nose. She turned around, leaned against the door, and let herself settle to the floor.
Buffy could hear the tears in her mother's voice and the SWICK of a lighter going. "I'm not saying it as name calling. I'm saying she really was a witch. She's why we were absent and why I'm holding the door right now. Because I'm not human anymore," Buffy said. By the time she was done talking, the smell of tobacco wafted through the door and it was clear that her non-smoking mother was totally smoking.
"Buffy, just because you killed someone by accident doesn't make you less of a person, less of a human. You're still human and you're still my daughter. I promise, we'll handle this together," Joyce assured her. Then the door was suddenly yanked away from her and she ended up laying on her back looking up at the ceiling... looking at a monster.
"Hi, mommy."
It waved.
A/N: Do not own Bambi or Disney