The Council, despite what Maea seemed to think, came back with absolute jack. Besides the knowledge that a spike in magical activity preceded the earthquake, they didn't have a clue. Buffy was not happy at all about that (as she was still betting on the hell-beast) and Andrew was the unfortunate one to take the brunt of that anger. Of course, that really just meant she expressed some frustration and he cowered.
"We were at the spot and everything and there wasn't a single clue to be seen," Beth said over the phone that night to Zack as she explained the weird phenomenon. "Unless we can find who caused it, there's no next step to be taken."
"Bellevue's not known for its booming magic population. Are you sure it wasn't just one of my cousins screwing around?" he asked.
"I doubt it," she told him. "Both my aunt and your aunt agree that it was big enough to either involve multiple people or someone with some serious mojo."
"I do have multiple cousins you know, and, even from your own limited experience, you can tell that they get really stupid when you put them in a room together."
She smiled. "None of them came forth to claim it and I think everyone was accounted for at the time of the incident. Somebody else did it, but mum's the word and all that rot. It's been almost two weeks since it happened and we've yet to see anything suspicious. Maea told me that the tremor was probably caused because the spell backfired and I'm starting to believe she's right."
He sighed. "How do you know Maea isn't covering for anyone? You said she works with shady characters."
"No, that's what someone told me," she corrected. "She's not well-known in the community and something tells me she tends to stay out of the bigger, eviler business. She's self-preserving like that."
"So great, another demon you know who's only looking out for themselves," he grumbled.
"She's not a demon, Zack," she reminded him for what she was sure was the umpteenth time (she was starting to think all that studying was affecting his short-term memory). "I don't know what she is exactly, but it's not demon. It's like—" She walked around her room, trying to think of a word. Honestly, Maea didn't seem to fit into any category that she knew of, which was kind of a weird experience, considering all the different categories of beings she knew.
"Something else equally as dangerous?" he finished for her.
She rolled her eyes, laying down on her bed. "I could take her," she snorted. "She might be taller than me, but I can handle myself. I'm a slayer, remember?"
He sighed. "I know, I know, but I'm allowed to worry, right? After I found out that there is something out there that can make a slayer weaker than me, I have a right to be concerned."
"Okay, just because one guy—"
"I got another one!" Willow shouted from downstairs, interrupting the rest of Beth's rebuttal.
"Got what?" he asked, curious.
"Another magic spike, I think," she told him. "I should go. Talk to you later."
"Keep me updated," he requested before saying goodbye. She ended the call, throwing her phone down on the bed before rushing down the stairs. Both Willow and Andrew were seated in the lounge, a clay bowl filled with water placed on the floor between them.
"How big?" Buffy asked, already standing in the room.
"Bigger than the last one," Willow replied. "But just a tiny bit."
"There's no earthquake though," Beth noted, still waiting to see if the floors shook.
"We have a theory that the blowback might be different each time," Andrew explained to the group.
"So we don't know what to expect?" Spike asked, already looking agitated.
"Is it always going to be something bad?" Buffy inquired.
"Likely," Willow answered. "But nothing's happened yet. Bethie, go turn on the local news and see if anything pops up."
She nodded, walking into the living room and turning on the TV. When she got to the news channel, the only thing they were covering was a robbery that had happened somewhere in downtown Seattle earlier that evening.
"Nothing yet," she announced, sitting down on the couch.
"Well, keep it on," Willow requested. "It might take some time for something to happen."
"If this keeps happening and keeps getting bigger, we're going to need to find out what's causing it quickly," Buffy told her friend.
"Esme and her family are already looking into finding its point of origin and plan on going out there immediately," Willow informed her. "She's going to call when they locate it and again afterwards, whether they find something or not."
"Startin' to feel like a bit of a wild goose chase," Spike commented. "Can't we jus' go in, maybe rough up the locals a bit 'til we get somethin' good?"
Buffy smiled. "You know I'm the first in line to hit something, but it's been quiet on all fronts. I haven't heard a thing about this. Have you?"
He frowned. "No."
"And Beth's new Willy hasn't heard anything either," she added. "We're going to have to sit tight until we find something. We don't want to jump in too quickly." She paused, considering what she just said. "Wow. I cannot believe those words came out of my mouth."
He smiled crookedly. "You're growin' up, love."
The buzz of Willow's phone caught their attention and everyone turned to the woman in question as she answered the call. "Hello? Yes, um, nothing yet. But it's bigger. Uh-huh. Just a fraction. And what about you? Uh-huh. Okay. Good luck. Love you."
Willow ended the call, looking up to see three expectant pairs of eyes on her. "It's coming from a different place," Willow told them. "They're going to go look, but they're not hopeful."
"But we found the location quicker this time," Buffy pointed out. "They might still be there."
"Maybe, except the surge came from somewhere in town," Willow told her. "In fact, it came from a pavilion that had a lot of popular restaurants in the area."
"They must be doing it from another location," Andrew theorized.
Willow frowned. "I don't know. It would explain why we didn't see anything at the first spot, but it's also hard to conjure it up from another location."
"Unless they're not good at it," Spike replied. "Keep messin' up an' havin' it pop up somewhere else."
"Maybe," she hedged, though she didn't seem to think that was true. After all, it would take a lot of power to create a surge like this and no one who could pull it off would have a hard time nailing down where they wanted it to happen.
"They've moved onto some kindergarten class after covering a guy who saved a kitten from a rainwater drain," Beth called out. "I don't think anything happened this time."
"Does that mean they completed it?" Andrew asked, looking back and forth between Buffy and Willow.
"That's something we do need to consider," Willow decided. "But we don't know what they could have been doing. A dimensional rip is our best option so far, so maybe they got through."
"Here's to hopin' they wanted to go through an' not bring somethin' here," Spike muttered. "Would solve our problems."
"If only our lives were ever that easy," Willow sighed.
"Now we've got something about cops," Beth called out.
"You can stop watchin' the news now, love," Spike called back. He heard the TV shut off before she came back into the lounge, looking at each of them.
"So nothing?" she asked and Willow nodded. "Well, now what?"
"I guess we wait," Willow said, holding up her phone. "Esme will call back and we'll see what happened at the pavilion where the surge was."
"'M callin' it a night then," Spike decided, getting up out of his chair "Wake me if anythin' happens." He must have stood up too fast, as he swayed on his feet a little as he did so.
"You alright?" Buffy asked. Neither of them had gotten a lot of sleep last night, having spent a good portion of their time tracking a group of demons, and so the sway had her concerned.
"'M alright," he responded, shaking it off and muttering something about "stupid human body" before trudging up the stairs to sleep. He really did look like he needed it.
"Well," Beth sighed as her father left, "guess I should call Zack back. He wants to be updated, probably since he's got nothing else going on. Who knew Boston could be so boring?" She took the same path as her father, taking the stairs two at a time as she went back up to her bedroom.
"I think I'll at least wait until Esme calls you back," Buffy said to Willow, sitting down in the chair Spike had vacated. "I want to hear that there's nothing going on before I try and rest."
"I want to wait too," Andrew asked. "Giles wants the latest information and even if there's nothing to tell him, he still wants to hear it."
"Are they tracking the surges at Slayer Central?" Buffy asked.
He nodded. "They are, so Giles is probably already by the phone."
"Something tells me you've got nothing to tell him," Willow muttered, looking down at her phone in her hand and frowning. It was frustrating not having a clue, but whoever this was obviously didn't want to be caught. Maybe they would catch a break and whoever did it wanted to go to another dimension, leaving their town free of any further surges. She could hope for one good day, right?
-.-
The next morning when Beth went downstairs for breakfast, her mother was down in the kitchen, her eyebrows scrunched together in thought as she compared two white bottles in each of her hand.
"Do you need help with something?" Beth asked as she sat down at the counter.
"You know, outside of that one incident when you were a baby, you rarely ever got sick," her mother began, still looking at the bottles. "And once I became a slayer, I never got sick. Even the potentials had really clean bills of health."
"And this is important how?" Beth asked, very lost.
"Your father is sick," Buffy informed her. "When I woke up, he had a fever and was sweating like crazy. He also seems a bit delusional."
"He's not calling your Drusilla, is he?" Beth hedged.
She snorted. "Puh-lease. Even in his state, he knows better than that. Now, what's better, an antihistamine or an ibuprofen or just regular aspirin?"
"I think they both work okay," Beth told her, not quite sure herself. Usually Willow was the one you went to in times like this. "He's going to be grumpy until he gets better, isn't he?"
She nodded. "He hasn't been sick in over a hundred years. He's going to be really, really pissed."
Beth made a face. "Guess I'll be keeping a nice, clean ten-foot radius from him."
"Lucky you," she muttered. "I'm going to have to wait on him hand and foot. As soon as he comes to, he's going to get a kick out of that."
"Hey, you married him," Beth reminded her as she stood up to pour herself some cereal.
"Because of you," she murmured half-heartedly. "I think I'll go with the old tried and true Aspirin. Besides, ibuprofen might be too new for him. Who knows how his Victorian era body will react to it?" She put the other bottle away before getting a glass of water and heading back up the stairs.
"Well then, using that logic, shouldn't we stick to blood-letting then?" Beth called after her. She thought maybe she heard a mumbled curse in response.
After finishing her cereal, she got ready for school, just in time for Nadja to pull up in her car. Beth called out goodbye, getting a muffled goodbye in return from her mother. Her dad might have said something too, but it didn't sound like English, so who knew?
"Hey, where's Daniel?" Beth asked when she got into the car, seeing that he wasn't in the front seat as normal.
"He's sick," Nadja told her. "When I swung by his house, his mom told me he had a fever and was totally out of it. I hope he gets better soon. Maybe we should stop by after school with some ice cream or something? I've been told I have a really good bedside manner."
Beth frowned at this information. "He's sick too? My dad's sick as well."
"Guess there's a bug going around," Nadja suggested, taking the car out of park and driving down the road.
There must have been one hell of a bug going around, as when they got to school, it seemed like half of the student body was out sick. In Beth's first class, ten seats went unfilled and as the day progressed, the pattern remained. A couple of students even went home throughout the day, most showing symptoms of a high fever and lack of lucidity.
"Is this the backlash from the surge?" Nadja asked at lunch, seeing all the empty seats. "Not an earthquake, but some sort of plague?"
"It would seem so," she replied, checking her phone. She didn't have any messages, but maybe her family hadn't figured it out yet. Or maybe there wasn't much to be done. Esme had called Willow back last night with nothing to report and it had been left at that. "I wonder how long it's going to last."
"The earthquake only lasted a few seconds, but this has been going on all day," Nadja noted. "Is it getting stronger?"
"I don't know," she replied. "The surge was bigger, even if just so."
"You know, this could be the apocalypse," Nadja said. "Plague, earthquake. I think that was all in Revelations. This just might be the end of days."
"Apocalypses happen all the time," Beth told her. "There's no way this one's any special."
As the day continued on, more and more people seemed to fall ill. Luckily, both Beth and Nadja seemed to avoid it, relieved when classes ended and they could leave school. Back at Beth's house, Spike was still out of it and Buffy didn't seem to know what else to do. Willow had even tried some magical cures to no avail.
"I can't get the fever to go down at all," Buffy complained from the kitchen when Beth got home. "I've tried ice packs and different medicines and everything Web MD had to tell me and nothing. He's still talking nonsense. It's like the basement all over again. I thought we were past this."
"This doesn't make any sense," Willow lamented. "One of these herbs should have done something, but zilch! The fever didn't even go down a tenth of a degree."
"Whole school's sick too," Beth told them, dropping her book bag to the floor. "Classes were really empty and more students went home throughout the day. All with a fever and delusions. That's weird, isn't it, a sickness effecting people the exact same way?"
"The whole town's gone down," Willow agreed. "And so far, there's no cause. It's not just a cold and I'm pretty sure this isn't the flu. We're just going to have to do this the old fashion way and make sure he gets enough fluids until this all blows over."
It didn't just blow over though, as the next two days, more and more people fell ill. Entire stores were closed down due to lack of employees and even Beth's school closed for a few days, as too many teachers and students called in sick. It really was an epidemic. Funnily enough though, it didn't go too far past the bay. Most of the sickness occurred in town and on the news channels there were reports of people heading to doctors outside the area and feeling better from just leaving. Whatever the illness was, it was looking more and more like it was connected to the magical surge. Now, if only they knew what to do about it.
"We need to fix this," Buffy said as she all but slammed the pizza down on the table. The Pizza Hut a few blocks over was one of the only few places open, but it didn't have enough employees to do deliveries. Buffy had just gotten back from picking it up and it seemed to be the straw that broke the camel's back.
"The pizza?" Beth asked, earning herself a glare from her mother.
"No. The disease. The sickness. The epidemic that is forcing me to drive and pick up pizza," she ranted, throwing up her hands.
"We're working on it," Willow said, running a hand through her already frazzled hair. She had books and papers galore spilled out across the table with only Beth to help her scour through it, as now both Esme and Andrew had taken a hit. There was concern that Willow would be next, which would bring their whole search to a halt, since neither Beth nor Buffy could read Latin. They'd talked about bringing in some extra Council members to help, but seeing as Bellevue was basically in a quarantine, no one was taking a step into city limits.
"Yeah, working on it," Beth asserted, thumping a book on the table for emphasis. "How's Dad?"
"Still woozy and his temperature hasn't dropped even a little," Buffy sighed as she slumped down into a seat. "Has anyone been up to check on him?"
Beth and Willow exchanged looks. After being witness to one of Spike's less-than lucid moments yesterday (something or another about a ring, Beth wasn't too sure on the details), they had gone with drawing straws earlier to see who would go up and bring him some water, but had ended up fighting over which straw the other wanted. In the end, neither had made the journey up.
When her question was met with silence, Buffy dropped her head with a sigh. "Hopefully I don't go upstairs to find him dead."
"Oh, he's probably fine," Beth assured with a wave of her hand. "We heard what sounded like a thump about, maybe fifteen minutes ago?"
Another hard sigh from her mother before she picked herself up out of her chair and went to go check on her husband, muttering about useless family.
"Remember your vows!" Beth called after her. "In sickness and in health!" Beth wasn't sure if the shout back included a few choice curse words, but she was willing to bet on it.
"This is exhausting," Willow sighed, rubbing her eyes. "Three days of finding nothing and all my researchers are dropping like flies!"
"Hey, I'm still here," Beth reminded her. "And I've got that wicked slayer immunity, so I'll probably be one of the last people standing here. Hey, do you think I could run this city? I don't want the local economy to crash after all."
"It's stagnating right now," Willow muttered, closing another tome with a forceful thud. "Is this really all we have?"
"And what Nadja's grandfather has collected over the years," Beth added, gesturing toward another pile of books. "And not to mention what Giles sent by way of really fast snail mail."
"It's bumpkiss," Willow muttered. "Bumpkiss!"
"Well, your father's not dead," Buffy announced, coming back down the stairs, "no thanks to either of you, I might add. Would it have killed one of you to sit with him? Beth, I bet he'd like to see you a bit."
"Mum, he doesn't even know who I am," Beth reminded her. "Last time I saw him, he thought I was Darla—which, by the way, I should take offense to, I think, since literally no one liked her, not even a little bit."
"Oh, loads of people liked her," Buffy replied. "Like—"
"Angelus," she finished with a hard look. "And while I suppose that's not something easy to do—have Angelus like you—I don't wish to be compared to someone both my parents' have bad mouthed."
"When have I ever said anything bad about Darla?" Buffy asked, adding, "recently?" when she was met with both Beth's and Willow's sardonic expressions.
"I'm not going up there," she reaffirmed.
"Ugh, fine, you're so stubborn," Buffy muttered, sitting back down and getting herself a slice of pizza. "I don't know where you get that from."
She did her best not to roll her eyes, she really did.
"I think we should call it a night," Willow decided. "My brain is just about fried."
"If this is caused by that stupid magic surge, that wizard is going to hear it from me," Buffy decided. "This has gone on too long."
"Hear hear," she muttered. "And I'm done with all the book stuff today too. Can we watch a movie? Hey, we could watch like 28 Days Later or something."
"You're a real comedian," Buffy replied. "Now eat your dinner."
-.-
Beth awoke groggily that following morning, her sleep having been disrupted by a loud banging noise. It sounded like someone was throwing something against the wall. She glanced over at her clock, seeing that it was about seven in the morning.
"Bloody hell," she muttered, throwing off her blanket to get up and investigate the noise. She threw open her bedroom door, hard enough that she was sure she left a dent in the wall, marching down the stairs. She followed the sound to the basement door and saw both her mother and aunt standing on the steps, dumbfounded looks on their faces. When she joined them, she saw her father working on the punching bag, hitting it with enough force that it hit the wall behind it.
"He's been at it for over an hour," Buffy commented, watching her husband with a strange look. "He woke up with enough energy to fuel six toddlers."
"He's just better?" Beth asked, confused. "He was bed ridden less than twelve hours ago."
"I guess the plague ended," Willow said. "I checked his vitals and he's fine. As fit as a fiddle, like he wasn't even sick. He sure wasn't acting like he was."
"So that's just it. Done-zo," Beth stated.
"Uh, yeah," Willow said after a moment of deliberation. "I think I'm going to go out for a walk." She walked back up the steps, leaving Buffy and Beth to watch the Energizer Bunny Spike had suddenly become.
-.-
"Whole city," Buffy said, throwing the newspaper down on the table. "Everyone's been cured. They're calling it a miracle."
Spike picked up the newspaper, still trying to wrap his head around the fact that he'd been out of it for five days. He claimed he didn't remember it, saying that he had gone to sleep the night of the magic surge and then woken up with enough energy to beat the punching bag into the wall. Beth guessed she was lucky enough that he hadn't woken up wanting to use his excess energy for…other activities, or else she might have woken up to very different sounds.
Shaking that gross thought from her head, she stole the newspaper from her father. "'Miracle Day,'" she quoted. "That's a lame thing to call it. I could have come up with something better."
"I was sick throughout all this?" he asked again.
"You were really out of it," Buffy told him. "Even Beth wouldn't go near you because you were so delirious. It was funny at first and then it wasn't."
"So you looked after me, hand and foot?" he asked with a grin.
"And you don't remember a thing of it, so ha," she taunted, kissing him on the nose when he scowled.
"Yeah, how are you supposed to lord that over her now?" Beth teased and his scowl deepened.
"Wish I could remember it," he muttered. "Doesn't sit well with me that I can' remember five days of my life."
"And what, you remember every other day?" Beth asked. "Tell me, what did you do on November the 13th in the year 1962? Bet you don't remember that."
"Don't be smart with me," he scolded, though there was no real force behind his words. "Got my five most recent days just gone from my head. Nothin'."
"At least it's over,' Buffy sighed happily. "Beth can go back to school and I don't have to take care of a sick you anymore."
"You really do have a terrible bedside manner," Beth claimed. At her mother's irritated look, she added, "What? I heard you muttering at him and calling him names."
"You called me names?" he asked.
"It doesn't matter, you were ill. You don't remember," his wife retorted.
"Yeah, I was ill! You should have been nice to me!"
"You know, I think I'm sorry I even mentioned it," Beth said, her words going unheard as her parents yelled at one another. It was fine though. They'd end up making up very quickly. At with that realization, she got herself out of the house pretty quickly.
-,-
"I'm about as well-informed about the epidemic that struck the county as much as you are," Maea told Beth. She had gone out to her informant to gather information she had wanted and had asked her about the plague and if she'd heard anything. Beth had already admitted to her that there was nothing on her side, so Maea couldn't press her to add to the woman's already large pool of knowledge. She was just about convinced that this woman knew everything there ever was to know in this town, which was a bit disconcerting. She was like an omnipotent gossiper. She could probably bring the whole town to its knees with what she knew. Also made Beth wonder what the woman knew about her.
"So caused by the magic surge and that's it," Beth stated and Maea nodded.
"I got wind from some doctors who were as baffled as everyone else," she added. "Not even the great experts know. And now that it's ended so abruptly, people are going to be quick to forget it."
Beth frowned. How would anyone just forget the five-day plague that nearly incapacitated the whole town? It seemed like a stupid thing to do.
"And still nothing on what caused the surge?" she asked, though she figured it was useless. Had Maea heard anything, she would have already said it. Despite the suspicions everyone else had surrounding the strange woman, Beth was the only one who didn't think she had any ulterior motives. Maybe it was her being naïve, or maybe it was because she was the only person who had ever actually met Maea. The woman seemed utterly indifferent to just about everything around her.
"I have heard nothing more," Maea admitted with no hint of embarrassment. "Though, that comes with its own suspicions."
"How so?" she asked, interest piqued.
Maea didn't answer right away, walking toward the counter and ripping a piece of paper from a notebook that was lying there. "Here's the address for that vampire den," Maea told her, folding the paper up and handing it over to Beth. She took it graciously, if not a little irked that her question was going unanswered, and tucked it into her pants pocket.
"My suspicions are simple: if no one here steps forward to claim being the spellcaster, maybe the surge doesn't originate from here," Maea stated with a shrug.
"You think instead of someone trying to open up a tear here, they're opening up a tear to here?" she clarified and Maea nodded.
"I've had some experience with tears and they look similar on both ends," Maea informed her. "From the beginning it could have come from the other side. Now, there's no real way to prove that unless you're at the location when the surge starts. Otherwise, it can go either way. For all we know, there's a really careful wizard on our side. And those do exist. They tend to be rather benevolent, but that's more of a generalization than anything."
"So this might not be a problem we can deal with until whoever is on the other side breaks though," Beth realized with a pout. Gods, why did every problem in her life have to be this difficult? Couldn't it just for once be someone she didn't have to wait to show up?
"Unless you know how to break through dimensional walls," Maea said with a raised eyebrow. Well, she did know a person, but she didn't think her Aunt Dawn would be too keen about bleeding just for the sake of Beth's lack of patience.
"Mm, not willingly," she murmured, earning herself a bewildered look from Maea. The woman never got the time to get her to expand on that, as a loud pounding on the door interrupted their conversation.
"Thought you didn't want me to be around when you had your other 'guests' coming by," Beth remembered aloud when Maea frowned at the door, but made no move to get up and answer it. "Don't tell me I have to jump out a window or something. I'm strong, but even I don't think I'd survive seven-story drop."
The pounding continued, joined by some rather angry huffing and puffing and she was almost expecting the person to blow the door down. Obviously, that didn't happen, but the door did smash open with a lot of force, splintering a good portion of the door.
Standing in the doorway, was a species Beth didn't recognize, but decided the name "Minotaur" was as good as anything, considering its bi-pedal stature and head that was reminiscent of that of a bull.
"Thomas," Maea greeted with a raised eyebrow. She seemed unconcerned despite the mace he was gripping in his hand (a mace which Beth was seriously jealous of; she couldn't help but think how nice it'd look up on her wall).
"You stupid bitch," he growled. "You sent me to the wrong location."
"You asked for Fjorl's hideaway and I sent you to it," she said in a bored tone. "It's hardly my fault if he already moved locations. He's a fickle Rackwaw demon and you know that."
Such information did little to quell the demon Thomas' anger and he smashed his mace into the wall beside him, leaving a small hole that Beth was sure would let her see out into the hallway. It was safe to assume Maea had long since given up on getting her deposit back (it was likely she had never expected she would to begin with).
"Don't blame me for your slow pace," Maea spat, obviously angered by the increasing damage to her apartment. Maybe it was a shithole, but hey, it was her shithole.
"Yeah, back off," Beth tossed in, already bored with the demon's posturing. "Your beef is with the rickshaw demon, not Maea."
"Who the fuck are you?" he asked, having just took notice of her. His nostrils flared and his eyes narrowed, meaning his own senses had likely already answered his question. "Slayer."
"Thomas," she returned.
"Get out. I don't care about you," he spat, much to her surprise. Huh. Just about every demon cared about her.
"Uh, I was here first?" she told him, adopting that signature teenage snobbery. "You get out."
Instead of replying, he turned his attention back to Maea, who was looking at Beth strangely. "You're gonna pay," he told her menacingly and she actually laughed.
"Me? Pay? You, a lowly demon? Scum like you could never defeat me," she told him scornfully.
He didn't waste any more time. He jumped at her, mace raised and lip pulled back into a snarl. Beth also didn't waste any more time, jumping out to strike a blow to the side of his head. He toppled to the ground, having not expected an attack from here. He jumped to his feet quickly, angry eyes now settling on Beth, who was just about tired of his intrusion (and honestly? She really wanted that mace). He swung his mace at her, which she ducked easily, coming to the conclusion that there wouldn't have been much of a fight had he actually found Fjorl in the first place (would have been a quick fight, that she was sure of). Using his momentum, she sent him into the wall where he had made the hole, making a dent where there hadn't been one. She didn't know if she should kill him (how did Maea react upon getting blood on her carpet? Was it similar to her mother's?), but she did know she could whack the crap out of him.
He wasn't much of a fighter though, as when he stood back up, he took one look at Beth's face and then made a run for it, taking the mace as well, much to her absolute disappointment.
"Again, a letdown," she muttered. "That lasted like two seconds."
"Why did you do that?" Maea asked, seemingly perplexed.
"What? Hit him? I mean besides his audacity, I really wanted his mace," Beth told her honestly. "Obviously, I didn't get it, but at least he's gone, right? Who did he think he was anyway, barging into your place like that? So rude."
Maea studied her for a moment, almost like she was some sort of foreign species (she sort of was, considering she was part vampire and also from Scotland). "You tossed him out for me," she stated.
"And for the mace, but that I didn't get," Beth reminded her. "But yeah, he had no right coming in here like that. It was rude and uncalled for."
Maea didn't seem to know what to do with this information. She was still looking at Beth like she was a strange thing, but there was a hint of respect mixed in there now. She wasn't quite sure what to make of it, though she figured it was a good thing (respect usually was).
"I could have handled him," Maea told her without any bravado, more like she was stating a simple fact. "You didn't need to do that."
"Well, like I said, I wanted his mace."
"Which you didn't get."
She huffed. "Yeah, and do you have to keep forcing me to remember that? Great piece of craftsmanship, just gone, wasted on a demon named Thomas who can't even pick a proper fight. He brought a lot of bravado to the table, none of which he actually put down."
To Beth's surprise, Maea actually smiled. Unsure of how to react at such a situation, she simply smiled back.
-.-
Beth pulled off some intricate evasive tactics to avoid colliding with the small children that we running down the middle of the street screaming. She thrusted her crossbow above her head, barely avoiding nicking one kid with the pointy bit.
"You know, who's idea was it to go out on Halloween night?" Beth asked, glaring at the small children.
"You didn't want to go to a party," Nadja reminded her. "And no one hands candy out to high school seniors. Or, really, any seniors actually."
"A party? Like that went so well the first time," Beth muttered in reply. "Do you remember that we got kidnapped? By demons? Besides, Daniel doesn't like sweaty, stifling places. It's why we don't go clubbing."
"I find parties to be monotonous anyway," he said. "And also, very drunk."
"Well, I wanted to do something tonight," Nadja sighed. "And, hey, demon hunting is something to do."
"Demons tend to stay in on Halloween," Beth reminded her. "The smart ones, at least."
"Well, we'll kill the not so smart ones then," Nadja told her with a shrug.
"I think this is a fine time to spend our evening," he agreed.
"See? He's on board with it," Nadja retorted.
"Daniel's on board with everything that involves getting to stab a demon," Beth said, eyeing the short sword in his hand. At least it was Halloween, meaning that it wasn't weird for a bunch of people to go walking around with "weapons." Or, at least, what they thought were "weapons." So far, he had gotten three compliments on his prop making skills (he took them graciously, if not without just a hint of befuddlement).
"Consider us doing guard duty," Nadja decided. "We're making sure these kids stay safe as they roam the streets, begging for candy from complete strangers."
"Something tells me we're looking at the wrong antagonistic group," she commented, giving her crossbow a nice pat.
"You never know what sort of demons could dress as vulnerable-looking old men," Nadja commented.
"Hey, can guards get snacks?" she asked, pointing at a convenience store down at the end of the street. "Maybe I can't beg for candy from those complete strangers, but I do have money."
"Snacks are good," Nadja decided and they all three walked over to the store. The cashier paid little mind to their weapons, though he did seem suspicious of three teenagers walking in. Beth thought they looked rather unassuming though, and Daniel even politely waved at the man. Besides, it was only eight and not yet the time for petty vandalism. They got their snacks and paid for them, taking a seat outside on the curb.
"It seems odd to me that demons don't like hunting on Halloween," Daniel commented. "I would think with other people wearing demon disguises, they'd fit right in."
"That's what I said!" Nadja crowed.
Beth rolled her eyes. "It's mostly a pride thing," she answered. "All I know is that it's tradition, one even my dad followed. Which says a lot, considering he did nothing else by tradition."
Nadja snorted. "I'll say. Fell in love with a slayer? Talk about an unholy union."
"My dad was unholy to begin with."
"I have an uncle who always said he never liked going out on Halloween," Daniel said with a contemplative frown.
"You've got two options then," Nadja told him. "Either he's a demon or really hates children."
He thought for a moment. "He never really spoke to me until I was twelve."
Nadja and Beth exchanged looks. "Hates children," they said in unison.
"He did have a suspiciously lumpy back though," he added thoughtfully before shaking his head.
A small snuffling noise from the alleyway some few feet over made Beth sigh as she placed her half-empty soda bottle on the sidewalk and stood up, hefting her crossbow over her shoulder. "Guess I better go check that out," she muttered, nearly stalking over to the alleyway.
Nadja and Daniel watched her go with a hint of bemusement in their eyes.
"You know, for someone who has such cool abilities, she really does seem fed up with it," Nadja commented, hoping her voice was low enough that Beth wouldn't hear her. The girl could get a little testy when people talked about her behind her back. Literally.
"Sometimes a gift and a burden all depend on point of view," he replied, almost sounding like he was quoting something. Maybe he was, Nadja could never be sure. All she knew was that he was probably really good a trivial pursuit.
"Maybe," she murmured, though she couldn't help but feel just a teeny tiny stab of envy. After all, Beth already had her life all set. She would finish her slayer training and then get stationed somewhere where she would work as what was essentially a dirty cop for the demon world. Maybe Beth didn't like it all that much (though she certainly took to punching things hard very well), but at least something was better than nothing. She, on the other hand, didn't have a clue about what she wanted to be. She didn't know what she was good at.
"Do you know what you want to do with your life?" she asked, turning to look at a surprised Daniel, who hadn't prepared for the question.
"I suppose so," he started hesitantly. "I have always had a keen eye for details and I can sit though very repetitive tasks."
"So accounting," Nadja surmised.
He smiled at her almost humorously. "I do like numbers."
"Both you and Beth really do know what you want to do," she sighed.
"And you don't?"
She shrugged. "I haven't a clue. I know I like certain things, but those don't make for a career. Can't make my own jewelry forever. I have to do something substantial."
He frowned at the word "substantial." He'd been told that too, by multiple relatives, when he had been a child and thought that organizing displays and shelves at a grocery store would be enough for him. It had looked fun and he had thought himself well-wired for an otherwise boring task. Hearing it come out of Nadja's mouth only made the word feel worse than it was meant to.
"It can be substantial," he replied slowly, knowing the comment likely wouldn't have any impact.
And it didn't. She snorted, replying, "Yeah, because you can live so well off of jewelry making. I can't live on ramen and futon mattresses forever. I have to do something to making a living."
"I am positive you will find something that suits your requirements," he decided resolutely. "After all, we still have four years of college to complete before we need to start looking at the 'help wanted' ads."
"Sure, but it'd be nice to have something already picked out," she grumbled, slumping over. He reached out and placed what he hoped was a comforting hand on Nadja's shoulder. He could feel the sense of uselessness she was feeling, but he had no way to get rid of it. The only thing that would help would be for her to find her own path. And despite all that he could see, that wasn't one of them.
Her brooding session was interrupted by the rearrival of Beth. "Just a stray cat," she told them, sitting back down and picking up her soda again. "From a distance though, it kind of looked like a giant rat, so there was some confusion."
"Cats might as well be giant rats," Nadja replied with a curled lip.
"Oh, I think they can be cute," Beth told her. "Did I ever tell you that there was a cat gang that roamed the Slayer Academy? I heard they were commandeered from a game of kitten poker."
"And did I ever tell you that I'm never going to your HQ?" Nadja retorted, her words sounding harsher than she meant them to.
Beth looked taken aback. "Gosh, what sort of upsetting conversation did I miss?"
For once not sure how to phrase his words, Daniel only shrugged apologetically as Nadja stuffed M&Ms into her mouth, studiously avoiding making eye contact with just about everyone.