"You can stop trying to find the new Slayer, Mom." Xander announced. "She just showed up at the Bronze tonight. We spotted her dancing with a vampire and saw her leave with him. We arrived to find her fighting him."
"Xander finds her very interesting." Cordelia said grumpily. "She tells naked alligator wrestling stories."
Dope slaps were heard all around the room as the men's eyes all crossed at that image.
"So sue me! She's hot and my type, but not as hot as you." A statement that transfered the grumpy mood from Cordelia to her father, as Cordelia beamed at Xander.
The next night brought a new revelation.
"The Slayer, Faith, her Watcher is dead." Xander said. "Torn up and killed by a vampire so old he has cloven hooves and hands. He's known as Kakistoes and apparently he chased Faith all the way from Boston, where she's from, because she managed to get away from him and scarred him in the process. She and Buffy managed to defeat him, but it took a really big stake to do it!"
"Kakistoes, I've read about him." Joshua said. "The name means worst of the worst. It's Greek and given how old he's believed to have been, he may well have been from Ancient Greece, originally. Putting him down would be damn hard."
"Giles is being assigned as her Watcher and the Council's letting her stay. I don't understand, didn't our contact say the Council was afraid of losing control over her, the way they have of Buffy?" Xander asked.
"That's my doing." Charles said. "I got our contact to convince the Council to station Faith here so they can keep an eye on Buffy. He sold the idea to them as determining if there's something wrong with Buffy, herself. Faith doesn't know about it. Essentially, they're experimenting to see if it happens to Faith too."
"She's a lot different then Buffy. Wild would be a good word to describe her." Xander said. "And having her around isn't making either her or Willow happy."
"Willow isn't happy because it's one more person you're attracted to that isn't her." Cordelia said.
"And Buffy's probably reacting the way she is because it's another reminder that she died. I don't think she ever really with dealt it, anymore then she's dealt with having killed people." Jessica said.
"That's a situation that could blow up in our faces." Charles said. "We need to keep a careful eye on it."
The next meeting brought news that upset everyone.
"Angel is back from that demon dimension. Cordelia was right, the curse did work at the last minute." Xander told them. "And Buffy has been hiding his return for quite awhile. When we confronted her about it, she tried to deflect attention from herself to me, since I'm the one that spotted them together. Giles yelled at her and she cried. And apparently, he's being welcomed back with open arms now."
"All's forgiven, just like that?! And once again, no follow up? How is he back? How did he survive?" Charles was incredulous.
"Lends credence to the theory that Angel/Angelus is the cause of the whammy." Jessica said. "Xander and Cordelia aren't being affected because they have protections on them. Faith's too new to be affected. Doesn't mean, he won't eventually be able to affect her."
Homecoming was coming up and both Xander and Cordelia were distracted. Too distracted in Charles' opinion.
"Why are they so excited about this? They've been to other school dances before."
"Because it's their last homecoming dance and because it's a little bit of normalcy in an ocean of odd. Jessica says Xander has been practicing dancing in his room, he doesn't want to risk embarrassing Cordelia because it's really important to her, she's running for Homecoming Queen. It's also the last time she'll be running for any title. Let them have this time, they've earned it."
"I suppose you're right. They've gone above and beyond helping us. We're so close. Nearly fifty percent of his protections and supports are gone and he thinks the Slayer is responsible. If only we could get someone on the inside. Knowledge of what exactly he's planning would help enormously."
"There's just never been an opportunity. But we're making progress, that's the important thing."
"True. Alright, let the kids have their fun."
"Buffy's kinda gone nuts." Xander announced. "She's decided she wants to be Homecoming Queen and thinks she can beat Cordelia. I personally don't believe so. Cordy's got this locked."
"She probably wants some normality too." Jessica said. "I doubt it's a big deal."
"So Buffy got hunted tonight." Xander said. "Kakistoes had a minion that survived and set up a game of hunt the Slayer. Demons, vampires and humans. She killed the demons and dusted the vampires and got the humans to kill each other. And not even a shrug over humans dying from either Buffy or Giles. The dance was great, though. Cordy makes a gorgeous Queen, but then I've always known that."