Cordelia blearily stumbled out of her new bedroom the next morning, desperate for a cup of coffee to wake her up. She found Buffy sitting at their new kitchen counter also drinking a cup of coffee. Their before coffee communication consisted of grunts until they each had enough functioning brain cells to be to able to articulate anything.
"What are you doing?" Cordelia asked, as Buffy powered up her laptop. "Classes don't start for another week and I thought you had everything you needed already."
"I do, I'm checking for all the hallmarks of vamps, gangs on PCP, neck injuries, survivors claiming their attacker had a messed up face or was too strong. It'll give me an idea of where to hunt."
"You're not planning on hunting alone are you?" Cordelia looked concerned. "Xander mentioned Amy going after the Mayor before he left last night and you remember how upset he was that she went by herself. Even if you were still the Slayer, Buffy, hunting by yourself is a bad idea."
"No, Pike will go with me. We talked about it last night before he left."
"Please tell me that's not your idea of a date night." Cordelia protested.
"Of course not, but after I let Pike in on me being an Abath now and that as a para human, part of my nature is that of an animal and animals need to do certain things, like hunt when the urge hits us so we can avoid hurting humans, he agreed to hunt with me."
"Okay, as long as you're not doing it alone, I guess it's not a big deal."
"Do you ever feel the need to hunt, Cordelia?" Buffy asked, curiously as she scrolled through the various Los Angeles news stories.
"Sure, why do you think I strip mine malls? It satisfies the same urge in me that hunting vampires does in you."
"That actually works? I'll have to remember that strategy for the future." Buffy glanced up and saw Cordelia staring blankly into the refrigerator. "Something wrong?"
"I just realized something. Neither of us can cook. Xander went shopping yesterday and bought a bunch of stuff and said it should be enough to keep us alive until he comes down to visit next weekend. He forgot to take into account the fact that your mother barred you from the stove because somehow you're capable of burning water and I grew up with a housekeeper and never had the urge to learn how to cook."
"I can boil water." Buffy tried to protest.
"Please, you're as bad at cooking as you are at driving."
"I can drive!"
"It's still the only class you completely failed, repeatedly. You gave the instructor a heart attack."
"That wasn't my fault! He was old!"
"No older than Uncle Rory. Granted, not as fit as Uncle Rory, but Uncle Rory is a Grimm who hunts every night."
Buffy pouted. "I think Xander bought cereal and milk, as well as sandwich makings, we won't starve to death."
"Well, that's something at least." Cordelia pulled out a jug of milk and checked the cupboard and found a cereal she recognized and made herself a bowlful before taking a seat at the counter. "So did you find anything?" She pointed her spoon at the computer.
"Something weird actually, people at six different hotels have been found dead and one guy who was interviewed at one of the hotels claims he had horrifying nightmares the night before. The police found nothing had been stolen from any of the dead people and they can't find a cause of death on any of them. They all seem to have been healthy, no signs of trauma or drugs. They just seemed to have died in their sleep."
"The guy who said he had nightmares, maybe he actually saw or heard something but being like half asleep or something just associated it with bad dreams." Cordelia made herself another cup of coffee and rinsed her bowl and spoon in the sink. "See, I can learn how to do dishes and make food." She joked.
"You think something hinky might be going on with these dead people or is it just a slow news day and the reporters are making more of it than they should to get people reading the papers?" Buffy speculated.
"I don't know, do the cops think there's anything to it?"
"They don't seem to, the only thing they have to say on the matter is that each of the hotel rooms where the bodies were found stank."
"Gross." Was Cordelia's comment on that.
"The guy who says he had nightmares the night the other guest died, apparently he's temporarily living at the hotel. Why would they include that in the article, it doesn't seem relevant? Maybe it is just a slow news day."
"Any articles detailing what you're looking for?"
"Actually yes, a girl was found dead two blocks from a Hollywood party she went to. Neck trauma is the cause of death and it's being listed as an animal attack."
"Hollywood party?"
"An eccentric Hollywood producer who throws lots of parties, but it doesn't say why he's eccentric or why they'd mention that either."
"Because being eccentric in Hollywood is a mark of creativity. Being eccentric in business is a mark of falling stock prices. In Hollywood eccentricities are expected and encouraged, in business, they're terrifying. Does the article say what his particular eccentricities are?"
"No mirrors in his home, he considers them a sign of self involvement and wants people to think he's 'one of the common people'."
"Vampire!" The girls decided.