"A toy gun?"
Xander shrugged, looking up at Ethan as the storekeeper looked at him and rolled his eyes. "Yeah. That's me, king of the two dollar costume."
Ethan smiled slightly, He liked this child. He considered for a moment, then shook his head and gently lifted the gun from the boys hand. "I don't think so."
"Huh? Hey, come on! I need that!"
"No, you don't." Ethan smiled slightly, "I have something... better for you."
"I told you, I can't afford anything better!"
"Nonsense." Ethan smirked, "No charge."
"Huh?" Xander looked confused as he followed the man. "How come?"
<Because, child... I have sold too many monster costumes already... For chaos to reign, there must be a balance.> Ethan thought, then shrugged and spoke outloud. "I like you, boy. You remind me of someone I used to know."
"Oh." Xander shrugged and decided to go with the flow.
He followed Ethan through the shop to a section in the back, where they stopped in front of a an old beat up outfit. "That!?"
"This." Ethan smiled, pulling the outfit down and handing the first item, an old hat to Xander.
Xander took the old fedora, frowning at it. As he looked at it, he noticed something interesting. It was old, it was worn, but it looked like someone had considered it a prize trophy just the same. Whoever had owned it, had taken great care to preserve it. He awkwardly put it on, liking the feel as he did. "Cool."
"Indeed." Ethan smiled, recalling the last time he'd seen that hat and marveling at the similar look in the eyes. He grabbed the old leather jacket and grinned, "Try this."
Xander slid into the old coat, noting that it was a bit large for him, but not too bad. "Nice... What kind of costume is this anyway?"
"A rather..." Ethan laughed slightly, "Infamous explorer once wore it."
"Explorer huh?" Xander smiled, "That's cool. A real safari kinda thing?"
"He tended to track a slightly wider path then that." Ethan smiled, "But he was a formidable man in his time."
Xander accepted the next item from Ethan, frowning as he noticed that it was an old U.S. Army revolver in a battered leather holster. "Hey... this isn't real is it?"
Ethan just shrugged and passed off the last item, distracting Xander.
"A whip!?" Xander's eyes gleamed, "Cool!"
"A bullwhip." Ethan corrected, "I'd caution you against playing with it... except that wouldn't be any fun, now would it?"
Xander looked up to see a grin on the store owners face that matched his own.
Rupert 'Ripper' Giles was walking through his library when a sudden crack like a gunshot and a scream of pain echoed through the room. He threw himself flat, bad old memories resurfacing in an instant as he did. "What the hell!?"
"Ow! Ow! Ow!"
Rupert frowned, he knew that voice. The British watcher crawled quickly around a corner, lying prone in case he was dealing with a sniper from outside. When he stuck his head around the corner, his jaw dropped, literally hitting the floor as he was so close already.
Xander Harris was holding the side of his face, blood streaming down his cheek as he yelped.
"Bugger!" Giles muttered, scrambling across the room. "How bad are you hit, Xander?"
"Hit?" Xander winced, frowning at the librarian who was still half crouched on the floor. "What are you talking about?"
Giles frowned, noting for the first time what the young man was wearing. "Where did you get those clothes?"
"These?" Xander looked down, "It's my costume for tonight... I got it at that new place, called Eth..."
"Bugger all!" Giles suddenly yelled, noticing something else. "Were you playing with a bullwhip in my library!?"
"Umm..." Xander's eyes flitted around as he quickly stashed the bullwhip behind his back. "No?"
Giles got to his feet quickly, "Out."
"But..."
"Out!"
"Aw come on G..."
"OUT!" Giles thundered, pointing to the door.
Xander slowly slunk toward the door, leaving an extremely irate librarian behind him.
Giles watched the door close behind him and frowned deeper after a moment, <How odd. That 'costume' almost looks like... No... Xander would never dress like him. Xander doesn't have the attention span to know who he is.>
"Boo."
"Oh Willow..." Buffy sighed.
"Sorry." Willow said from under the sheet, "but this other stuff... it's not me."
"That's the point!" Buffy said as she adjusted her own dress, "It's come as you aren't night!"
"Me and showing myself... not a good mix, Buffy." Willow said, "Trust me."
"You'll never get him to notice you dressed in a bed sheet." Buffy shook her head. Then she sighed, "Well come on... let's go meet the little rug rats that Snyder has us watching over."
"Where is Xander anyway?" Willow asked. "I haven't seen him all day... haven't even talked to him since he called earlier, raving about some new costume he has."
Buffy smirked, "What kind of costume could Xander come up with?"
"Knowing Xander?" Willow shrugged, "Probably something that cost two dollars and has lots of firepower."
"Boys."
"Trick or Treat!"
"Why aren't you all such a scary bunch..." The little old lady said, smiling as she lowered the bowl to the children. "Here you go... take one ea... Oh!!"
Buffy frowned as she noticed the change in the action at the door. The children suddenly swamped the old lady and grabbed not only at the bowl but at her as well. "Hey! That's not right! Cut that out you little..."
She gulped as some of them turned and looked at her, and she suddenly couldn't see the lines of the costumes that she knew should be there. One of their eyes glowed, and they all snarled at her.
"... monsters?" She said faintly before the world went black.
Spike looked around the town as he and his gang marched down the center of main street and just grinned.
"Bleeding beautiful!" He muttered, shaking his head. "I've got to shake the 'and of the bugger that did this... You know that he's a right evil bloke."
Beside him, Drusilla shook her head. "No, no.... 'es not evil, Spikey... He just loves a spot of chaos."
Spike shrugged, "Close enough. Look at all the monsters he made. I love it!"
"Oh my Spikey..." Dru shook her head and half sang. "Watch for the man in the hat... the man in the hat doesn't like you..."
Spike half frowned, then snarled and grabbed at one of his minions. "I thought I bloody well told you to hide those damned Curious George books!"
"But... but... but..."
"But later!" Willow yelled at Buffy, "Run!!"
Buffy ran.
Behind them a mass of pint sized monsters stormed along the road, their short legs luckily evening the handicap of Buffy's long dress and she was able to stay ahead of them.
<Oh my god!> She wailed internally as she ran, <Where is my father? My brothers? Why are there no strong men here to defend me!?>
Behind her, Willow was also running, but with a little less zeal. "Oh, oh, oh!"
"What is it!?" Buffy yelled over her shoulder.
"Spike!"
"Spike? What Spike?"
"THAT Spike!" Willow screamed, pointing ahead.
Buffy looked ahead of her and screamed again at the sight of the five monsters ahead, their eyes yellow and their faces disfigured. The strange red head ran up beside her, then pointed in another direction, "That way! Run!"
Buffy ran.
"Bugger all." Spike grinned slowly. "Whatever it is, it's got the Slayer."
"Helpless Slayer, Phantom Red..." Dru said in a sing song voice, "All alone... scared to dead."
Spike paused to frown at her for the odd rhyme, then shook his head. "After them!"
"Noooooo!" Buffy screamed as she fell to the ground, her ankle caught in a root. She rolled over, getting her foot clear and scrambled backwards as the closest monster stalked towards her.
"Get up!" Willow urged, "We have to run!"
"I... I... can't." Buffy wailed, scrambling backward from the advancing beast.
The vampire sneered, "Spike is going to reward me for your blood, Slayer."
As he reached for her, Buffy cringed and scrambled back, her eyes slamming shut. "No!"
And then there was a crack like a pistol shot and the vampire yelped in pain.
Buffy opened her eyes, and they widened with wonder as she saw a coil wrapped around the monster's wrist. The Vampire looked at it in confusion himself, and then followed the length of the leather back to it's source.
Just out of the shadows stood a man, his face hidden by the battered old hat he wore as he looked at the ground. Then he slowly looked up, and a smirking face was revealed.
"The Lady," He said calmly, "Said no."
<Cue music.>
"Who the hell are you!?" The Vampire snarled suddenly.
"None of your business." The man in the hat replied.
"Xander! There are more coming!" Willow shouted, her voice tinged with relief. "We have to get out of here!"
"Right." He didn't know who this Xander was, but he could get behind that idea.
"You aren't going anywhe... urk!" The vampire suddenly grunted in shock as the man grabbed the leather handle of the whip and pulled with all his strength.
The surprise was enough to pull him off balance, the force was enough to yank him clear of his feet and into the air. He looked up in shock as he felt the air rush past him, and saw a big fist coming his direction.
The punch was solid, straight from the hip and torso, and packed the full force of the young man's weight behind it. That, combined with the force of the vampire's flight path, shut off his lights.
"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!" Xander muttered in pain as he shook his hand even as the body hit the ground. He straightened up, wincing as he blew on the knuckles of his right hand, and then casually flicked the whip loose from the monsters wrist.
He looked down at the thing on the ground, kicking it over and shaking his head in aggravation.
"Vampires." He said in disgust, slamming his boot down into the creatures chest with enough force to splinter it's ribs and drive one of the bones into the creatures heart. "Why did it have to be vampires?"
Willow stared in open mouth shock as Xander walked calmly toward them, ignoring the sudden rush of air as the vampire dusted behind them. He stopped and extended a hand down to Buffy, "Need a hand?"
She grabbed it like a lifeline and gushed as he pulled her up, "Oh thank you good sir! You have saved me from a most wretched fate! You are a true gentleman and hero!"
Xander raised on eyebrow and looked around, as if for the hidden camera or hiding witnesses. "Ah... what's the joke?"
"Joke?" Buffy instantly huffed, "What joke?"
"Right." Xander shook his head, then looked at Willow. "What's going on here, Red?"
"Xander?" She asked hesitantly.
He looked behind him, "Who the hell are you talking to? Look, it doesn't matter. We've got to get inside..."
"Uh... right..." She nodded, looking over her shoulder. "Buffy's house is this way."
"Ok, come on, let's move."
"Buffy?" Buffy asked in a huff. "Who is this Buffy?"
"Inside! Quick, move it!"
"Stop pushing me, you lout!"
"Oh, so much for the gentleman and hero I guess." Xander smirked, "Now move!"
Xander turned and held the door open for the red haired girl, but she just walked through the wall. He stared at her for a moment, then checked the wall, then checked the other side of the wall, and finally looked at her again.
"Ooookay." He said after a moment, and slammed the door.
They moved into the house, quickly gathering in the living room. "Alright," Xander muttered, dropping into a chair and flipping his legs over the arms. "Someone want to clue me in on what's going on here?"
"You're not... Xander, are you?" Willow sighed, looking depressed.
"Never heard of the guy, lady." Xander responded.
She shook her head, then looked up. "Well, at least you didn't dress up like a clown or something."
"Pardon me?"
"Nothing." She said.
"Look," Xander snapped. "I get Vampires. I get little monsters. I even get the helpless blond over there... But I don't get how you walk through walls."
"I'm sort of a ghost."
"Pull the other one, girly." Xander shook his head. "I've seen ghosts. They aren't the most talkative bunch, plus they can't enter or leave homes at will."
"Well, I'm not a dead ghost." Willow said defensively.
Xander just stared at her like she was certifiable
"Well I'm NOT!"
"Right." He smiled, then got up. "You know what, I'm just going to be on my..."
He was interrupted by a sudden commotion from outside, followed by screaming. He and Willow ran for the door. Buffy cowered in the living room.
At the door, Xander reached for the door knob, but was stopped by Willow as she yelled. "No! Wait!"
"What!?" He asked, irritated.
"I'll check outside." She returned, then vanished through the wall.
He stared at the spot on the wall for a moment, then shook his head. "A woman you can't touch, can't lock up, and can't shut up... I don't care WHAT is going on here, it can't be any more horrific then this."
Then she stuck her head back through the door. "Open up!"
From the other side he could hear someone echoing her demand. "Yeah! Open the door, geek boy!"
He ripped the door open, "Geek boy! Who do you think you........."
He stared in shock as a young woman in a skin tight leotard strode passed him and into the house. His eyes followed her, lowering to the wiggle of her ass that caused the long black tail she was wearing to wave nicely back and forth. He paused, then shook his head. "Hey! A little courtesy would be nice!"
"Courtesy?" She sniffed, "To you? In your dreams, loser."
"It's like highschool all over again." Xander complained to no one, slamming the door shut as he looked skyward in supplication.
Before he could say anything else, there was a growling and scrabbling at the door. Xander paled slightly, then breathed a sigh of relief as it passed.
Then the door rattled in shock as something heavy threw itself against the door, shaking it to the frame.
"Ah hell!" Xander cursed, suddenly turning around and pushing the girl ahead of him into the living room. "Move it, girly!"
"Girly!?" Cordelia growled as she stumbled into the living room, "And stop shoving! Rude much?"
"You should know." Xander muttered, shaking his head as he tore through the room, looking for something to barricade the door. "Help me find something to..."
A loud crash sounded from the kitchen and they could hear sounds coming closer.
"Ah hell!" Xander cursed again, as he grabbed Buffy by one hand and shoved Cordelia ahead of him as they headed toward the back door.
"Hey! Stop shoving!"
"Unhand me you lout!"
Just as they reached the back door, it too burst open and several small but fiercely snarling beasts rushed in.
"Damn it!" Xander spun around, now dragging the cat while he shoved the debutante.
"Let go of me!"
"Do not touch me, Sirrah!"
"Upstairs!" He snapped, as he spotted two ranks of creatures coming from each direction.
The clattered up the stairs as quickly as they could, and Xander yelled to the red head who was trying to distract some of them. "Stop playing around and go get help!"
"Uh... right!" She said, then vanished through a wall.
Xander sighed, complaining to himself as he forced the two girls up the stairs. "How do I get myself into these situations?"
Willow ran out into the street, determined to get to Giles fast, when she ran into, or rather *through*, Angel.
"Willow!?"
"Angel!" She breathed hard, "You have to help! Buffy and Xander are trapped in Buffy's house and all the monsters are after them and they don't know who they are and... oh yeah, Cordelia's in there too."
Angel frowned, "What? Slow down..."
Willow growled in frustration.
"We've got to get out of here." Xander muttered, eyes flashing as he rushed room to room.
"Stop dragging us!" The one in the cat outfit yelled, finally snatching her hand back.
"Look lady," Xander's eyes flashed, "And I use that term loosely, we don't have time for all the niceties of whatever brothel you crawled out of, so if you don't mind..."
Smack. Xander's head rocked to one side and he stared back at her, eyes opened wide in shock. He started to say something, but the sound of pursuit caused him to merely glare at her for a moment before looking around for a way, any way, out. His eyes gleamed suddenly, "Over here!"
"Oh you MUST be joking."
"Hurry up!"
"Oh, no. You aren't getting me in there!" Cordelia protested instantly.
Beside her, Buffy automatically started to back away. Xander grabbed her wrist, "Forget about it, Lady! We've got monsters coming for us, and this is the only way out."
He started to pull her closer, only to be rocked once more by a slap. He looked back at Buffy in shock, then over to Cordelia. "What is it with you two? Do you have some kind of death wish or something!?"
"A gentleman doesn't manhandle a lady." Buffy sniffed.
"Girly," Xander grinned, "I ain't no gentleman."
With that pronouncement he grabbed her in both hands, spun her around, and kicked her into the laundry chute.
"Aiieeeeeeeeeeeee!"
Xander turned and looked at Cordelia, taking his hat off and bowing sarcastically as he motioned to the chute. "After you."
She looked at him disdainfully, then marched stiffly to the chute and got in.
"Eeeeeeeeee!"
Xander shook his head, and counted to thirty. He got as far as five before he saw the first monster's head come up the stairs. So he turned and dove in.
"Ahhhhhhhh!"
"Giles! Giles!" Willow screamed, rushing through the school walls and appearing from a stack of books directly onto the table Giles was sitting at as he read a book and sipped his tea.
"Gak!" Giles screamed, first in shock, then in pain as he spilled tea over himself.
"Giles! Thank god I found you!" Willow said, relieved.
"Gnnnnnn..." Giles answered through clenched teeth as he tried to pat away the searing pain on his thigh and crotch. "Oh yes, I can see how this would be such a relief for you. Pardon me while I visit the burn ward."
"No time for that, Giles!" Willow said, "Something really freaky is going on! People have become their costumes!"
That stopped him.
"What?" He asked, peering owlishly at Willow over the rim of his glasses.
Willow said it again.
"That's preposterous." Giles shook his head, "What possible reason could anyone have for casting such a useless spell?"
"I don't know, but Buffy is scared of a stiff breeze right now, I'm a ghost, and tons of kids have been turned into demons or something, and Xander..." Willow trailed off.
"What about Xander?" Giles asked curiously as he finished wiping at the damp spot on his pants.
Willow frowned, "I don't know... Xander's gotten really good with a whip..."
"Whip?" Giles frowned, remembering the boy's 'costume'. "Anything else?"
Willow shrugged, "He saved Buffy's life... whatever his costume is, he's pretty useful."
Giles shook his head, <It can't be...>
Finally he turned back to Willow, "I'll research... you find the others and let them know that I'll get them help as soon as I can."
Willow nodded, "OK..."
Then she ran back out through the books and the wall and Giles' mind suddenly clicked into what else she had said. "Good lord."
"Damn, damn, damn!" Xander cursed and muttered as he fought he way out of the tangle of sheets and clothes that he and the girls were tangled in.
"Get off my foot!"
"That better not be your hand, Harris!"
Xander managed to get his head free, then pushed the rest of the stuff off him and looked around. It was a pretty standard basement, and he just hoped that they could get out of it now that he'd gotten them into it.
He felt a tingle along his scalp, then a chill, and his hand flashed up to his head. "Damn!"
"What!?"
"My hat... where's my hat?" Xander looked around, digging through the junk on the floor.
"Geeez." Cordelia muttered, ducking out of his way as he dug through the clothes. "Obsessive much. You can get a much more fashionable one at the salvation army you know."
Xander shot her a piercing glare. "I like that hat."
Cordy folded her arms up and turned her back on him to look around the basement.
"Damn!" Xander hauled off and hit the laundry chute in frustration.
His hat fluttered down from the chute and landed on his head. He felt it for a minute, frowning, then took it off and looked between it and the chute in confusion. Finally he gave up and dusted it off against his pants and carefully fitted it back on.
"Find it?" Cordy asked in disdain, "Good. We still have to get out of here."
"Lady," Xander muttered, kicking his way out of the sheets and clothes. "I'd pay good money to be anywhere but trapped in a basement with you."
Angel moved slowly through the Summers house, he didn't want to attract the attention of the raging monsters that were upstairs. Whatever had them pissed off, he didn't want to interrupt their tantrum at quite this moment. At least not until he'd gotten up behind them and was ready to make his move.
His first foot was on the step when he heard what sounded like bickering coming from the basement.
Angel frowned, hesitating. Could Buffy have evaded the monsters? It hardly seemed like her, but being outnumbered did that to people. He got off the stairs and started to make his way to the basement stairs.
Just as he got there, the door started to open, and the 240 year old vampire tensed.
Xander opened the door a crack, looking out at the first floor of the house. It seemed quiet. He turned back, "Looks clear."
Both girls made shooing motions at him and he rolled his eyes and hissed a complaint. "Why is always me that goes first?"
He edged the door open and slipped out into the hall as quietly as he could, only to be grabbed from behind an instant later.
"Where's Buffy!?" An angry voice growled in his ear, "If you've hurt her, I'll..."
Xander didn't wait for anything else. He slammed his foot down, crunching his heel into the toes of the person who had grabbed him, then delivered a hard elbow to the man's chest. After that, twisting out of the surprised person's grip was easy enough, but his heart dropped when he saw the familiar ridges.
"Oh crap." He complained. "Another vampire."
His pistol cleared leather in a blinding flash, and was leveling with the vampire's throat when the girl in the cat costume jumped up. "No!"
Xander barely checked his fire. "Are you crazy, lady!? He's a vampire!"
"Angel's a friend!" Cordy snapped, "Now you put that gun right back where it belongs!"
Behind her, the vampire still hadn't made any move to attack, and had in fact returned to it's human visage. Xander lowered the gun, but didn't put it away. "Look, Vampire equals BAD. Trust me, I know. I lost a good friend in a dig over in Greece once."
Cordelia glared at him, "Xander Harris, I don't know what drugs you've been taking but you'd better get clean in a hurry! You've never been to L.A., let alone Greece."
She stuck up her nose, "Really. Loserboy in Greece. Next thing he'll be saying he visited Paris."
Xander shrugged, "Good wine, lousy city. And the people..." He shuddered.
Cordelia stared at him in annoyed ire, but noises and growls coming down the stairs announced that their conflict had not gone unnoticed.
"Can we do this later!?" Angel hissed, not understanding what was going on at all.
"Right." Xander muttered, his pistol finally sliding back into his holster. "But you better not look at my neck, toothy."
Angel shot him an odd look, but didn't have time to comment as the four of them rushed from the house.
Ethan Rayne was laughing wildly as he looked over the chaos he had strewn across the town. Sure, it wasn't THAT hard to turn the hellmouth into hell for the night, but it was still such fun. As he'd predicted, the few 'heros' he'd strewn across the town had made things even worse simply by resisting so very effectively.
Now, instead of a slaughter that served no one, there were throngs of panic stricken people holed up all over town or even running through the streets in the confusion.
It was utterly delicious.
"Trickster... Loki.... no, too subtle." Giles tossed away the book. It clattered to a pile of others that had also been dead ends. It was frustrating to no end, it seemed that none of his tomes had the answer he needed.
That was the worst about the human factor, he decided. People could so rarely be predicted that few prophecies covered normal humans, and even abnormal ones were common enough to make any sort of prophecy a precarious proposition indeed.
Giles sighed to himself and got up to go over to another wrack of books. He grabbed the first one and sat down with it as he started al over again.
"Damn."
"Buffy? Xander? Cordelia?" Willow ventured through the wreckage of the Summers' house with trepidation.
On the up side, though, she didn't see any bodies.
That had to be a good thing, right?
Right?
She shook off the fear and went outside, looking around in concern for a while, but didn't see anybody or any sign of where they might have gone. Finally she turned and ran back toward the library.
The four of them hit the road running, not wanting to let any of the things chasing them any closer then absolutely necessary. It probably would have worked too, if there hadn't been a welcoming party waiting for them.
"Well well," A cocky voice smarmed from the shadows. "If it isn't my dear old grand poof and his plucky friends."
Angel stiffened, half turning toward the sound. "Spike."
"Glad to see your memory's still intact, Poofter." Spike grinned, "When you missed my scent I thought maybe that soul had gone to your brain after all."
The group paused, Buffy cowering behind Xander as Cordelia clung to Angel. Xander just stared at Spike, his eyes widening as the two Vampires talked.
While Spike and Angel traded barns, the two of them jockeying around each other for the advantage, Drusilla cowered back from Spike with every passing moment. The dark haired vampiress wilted with each tick of the clock, her growing terror culminating in a sudden, shocking, exclamation from Xander.
"You!" He growled out, his face contorted with rage.
"Giles! Giles!"
Giles jumped involuntarily, dropping his books to the ground as he grabbed his chest. "Good lord, Willow! Don't do that!"
Then he glared owlishly at her, and then at the bookcase she had just walked through. "Come to think of it... HOW did you do that?"
The red head looked behind her almost guiltily, remembering that she hadn't told Giles about her own situation the last time. "Umm... well, I kinda put on a bedsheet and went as a ghost."
Giles frowned. "Wait. You wore a bedsheet?"
She nodded.
"From your own bed?"
Willow nodded again.
"Blast!" Giles muttered, "I thought I had it."
"Uh... huh?" Willow ventured.
Giles sighed, sitting down and plucking his glasses from his nose. He wiped them clean as he talked, "I found a spell that might have accomplished this, but it required that the caster have prior access to all the costumes. I had thought that perhaps you, Buffy, and Xander had gotten your costumes at the same place."
"But we did!" Willow exclaimed suddenly.
Giles frowned at her, "You each dressed up with items from your bedroom?"
"No!" Willow blushed furiously.
"Thank god." Giles said dryly, "I wouldn't care to know why you would have a bullwhip in your bedroom."
"Giles!" Willow snapped, flushing so red that she matched her hair. "I... we... well, we all bought some stuff from the same store."
Giles leaned forward, "What store?"
"Ethan's." Willow supplied, "It just opened...."
Giles almost subhuman growl caused her words to catch in her throat and stumble back as the normally unassuming Librarian transformed into a very imposing figure indeed.
He turned to look at her. "Find the others. Do what you can to help them. But first..." Willow shivered as he fixed her with a stare so intense she would have sworn that she could feel it. "Tell me where this... Ethan's is."
"Me?" Spike said quizzically, his hand lightly touching his chest as he looked at Xander in mild confusion.
"You." Xander practically spat the word, like it was the foulest curse imaginable.
Spike seemed slightly taken aback. "Well bugger off to you too, droops. Now be a good little boy and let the adults finish the mens talk."
That was when he noticed that Drusilla was cowering away from them, staring at Xander in terror.
"Dru?" He looked to her, "Dru? Luv? What is it?"
She whimpered.
Spike turned on Xander, his full gameface coming into play. "What did you do to her!?"
Xander took a step forward, his hand falling to his side. "Nothing. Yet."
Dru whimpered again, this time saying something. "The man with the hat..."
Spike looked back at her, frowning. "Huh? What are you talking about luv?"
"The man with the hat. The man with the hat. Burning... burning so good it hurts, Spike, it hurts!"
Spike started toward her, but was startled back to Xander when he caught a glimpse of motion in the corner of his eye. He turned back just in time to see the boys hand crack and suddenly a stinging pain erupted along his left cheek.
"Ahhh! Spike yelped, clutching the side of his face as he stared in disbelief at the young boy who was standing there, brandishing a bullwhip in one hand and a pistol in the other. "Who the bloody hell are you!?"
"Istanbul. Nineteen Fifty Three." Xander growled out, "You killed Marcus."
Spike looked around in confusion, "I killed a lot of people, mate."
"You're gonna die for this one." Xander promised, lifting his revolver.
Spike's eyes widened, and the vampire tensed to move, as realization hit him. "No! It can't be you! You're DEAD!"
"Then this must be heaven, vampire." Xander said cooly, "Cause I've been praying for this moment a LONG time."
Ethan cackled to himself as he packed up his things.
He knew that he had to get out of town tonight, otherwise the locals on both sides of the line would want his head, but it had been SO worth the effort. It was too bad that he couldn't stay to watch, but he knew that both the good guys and the bad guys would want his head for this move.
And it felt so damned good to stick it to them both, he grinned. Smarmy bastards. So cock sure of themselves, of their 'causes'.
Ethan Rayne had two causes.
Himself, and Chaos.
Good and Evil were pretty much pointless. The universe was built that neither would hold reign for long, the scales constantly tilting back and forth between them. In fact, Ethan considered himself one of the few people who could see the truth, that good was simply who was in power at the time.
For now it was the humans.
Tomorrow? He shrugged, it really wasn't his concern. He was well enough connected that he could ride out any shift in power. One had to be flexible to ride the current of chaos.
Ethan grinned to himself, quickly tossing his things into a travel bag.
"Hello Ethan."
Rayne paused at the cold voice, a shiver running up his back. He *knew* that voice too well. He slowly straightened up, not turning around. "Ripper." He said, forcing a smile.
"Don't call me that." Giles said calmly, at least on the outside. "And tell me how to undo it. Now."
"Undo it?" Ethan turned, still smiling. "Why on earth would you want to do that?"
"There are innocent people being hurt. Tell me."
"Innocent." Ethan rolled his eyes, "Nobody is innocent, Rupe. You know that as well as I."
"I'm not here to debate with you, Ethan." Giles took a step forward, out of the shadows. "And I'm not going to tell you again."
Ethan smirked, "What are you going to do? Kill — Urk!"
His sentence was cut off by a heavy right hand haymaker connecting with his jaw. A flash of pain ripped through his consciousness and then he felt the ground welcome him down. On the floor, Ethan blinked away the pain and stared up, fear starting to how in his eyes. "I guess you haven't completely reformed then, huh Ripper?"
Giles snarled and reached down, grabbing Ethan's shirt and halfway hauling him to his feet. "Listen to me very carefully, Rayne. Your little fun here has endangered my charge and her friends... So you're going to tell me how to undo it or I'm going to go to work on you... just like the old days."
Blood was starting to trickle down his lip, and it showed on his teeth when he smiled. "Alright, Ripper.. You only had to ask..."
Giles sneered down at the man, almost regretting that he had folded so soon. "Talk."
"The statue." Ethan nodded to a bust in a small shrine. "That's the focus."
Giles nodded, letting Ethan drop. Before he turned to the statue, he frowned back down at the man. "Tell me that you didn't do what I think you did."
Ethan looked confused.
"A young man." Giles explained, "A bullwhip. A hat. A jacket. And a revolver."
Ethan's face threatened to split apart as he grinned wide. "I thought that was a masterstroke."
"You bloody ass." Giles cursed, "You would have kept his clothes... My god, Ethan... Do you know how much trouble Jones caused the Council!?"
"Of course." Ethan grinned.
Giles growled, but turned back to the bust. He moved over to it and grabbed it quickly, then threw it down to the floor in disgust. Then he turned back to handle his old friend, but Ethan was long gone.
"Bugger."
The revolver cracked as it spat lead at the vampire, the bullet catching Spike in the shoulder and spinning him around in mid jump. He hit the ground hard, groaning in pain, but quickly rolled back to his feet. "Kill him!"
The vampires suddenly rushed to the attack, only two of them but they were supported by the myriad of small monsters that Spike had gathered to him. Xander dove toward his target, face still contorted in rage, but was hauled to the ground by a wave of minuscule demons. His fists flashed out, striking at his foes as he struggled to get through, but he could see the blond vampire run through the press.
It was then that the wash passed over him, and his memories roared back to him.
Behind him he could hear Buffy suddenly jumping into action from her whimpering, and the whoosh of vampires dusting as she and Angel took those out. Then the whimpering and crying of the children he was fighting filled his ears.
But his eyes, they stayed focused on the place where Spike had vanished into the shadows.