Xander Harris stared into the mirror, frowning. He didn't like what he saw anymore.
It wasn't just the patch he now sported over one eye, though that image still stung him to no end. It wasn't just the fact that his broad form was a lot softer then it should be. It had a lot to do with the fact that he was so close to being alone now, something that always scared him.
Buffy had tried to kill him a while back, something that sadly wasn't a unique event. Of course, this time she had been in her right mind, more or less.
He snorted, considering that placing Buffy in her right mind was a far-fetched thought recently. Still, he didn't really blame her for this time anymore then he had for the others. He'd lied to her, she'd found out. He'd known what she'd do if she ever found out, and had lied anyway. So be it.
But his relationship with her, flimsy as it had sometimes been, was over. She didn't want to see him anymore and, unlike before, with the Hellmouth closed she didn't *need* him anymore either. That meant that, for the first time in over seven years, Alexander Lavelle Harris was free.
He was half blind now, his depth perception shot to hell, and scarred on the inside and the out. But he was a free man. Buffy had announced her retirement shortly after the final battle with the First, having finally decided that her fight was over. And said that while she would continue to protect Sunnydale, the responsibility for the world had fallen to a new generation.
"Well screw that." Xander told the mirror as he buttoned up his shirt.
One thing he'd learned watching Buffy stumble and bumble her way to victory, was that the days of the Slayer were over. The Slayer was an antiquated, arcane, and utterly worthless bastion of the old world. An unparalleled foot soldier, to be sure, a warrior without peer in squad level combat. But those days were over, had been over for so long that Xander simply didn't understand how the Watchers Council had survived as long as they did.
In the end, the Slayer was nothing more then a crossbow in a machine gun world.
The First had understood this, however poorly and primitively. It had used modern tactics to its advantage, and made equal use of ancient principles of warfare as well. It had attacked them with the tenants of Sun Tzu, shattering their resolve, turning their leaders against one another, and taking them where they were weak.
In the end, Xander supposed, the First should have won.
Fate was a fickle bastard, or bitch, or whatever the hell it was. And fate seemed to favor humans. On this world at least.
He finished getting dressed and looked at himself in the mirror.
Black jeans, green shirt, tan work boots, and that goddamned black patch over his left eye.
He was ready.
<Flashback>
The sound of the fist meeting flesh echoed through the room to the stunned silence of everyone present.
"How DARE you!?"
Xander slowly straightened back up from where he had barely managed to catch himself on a chair. He squared his shoulders away and looked back into the raging eyes of the blonde Slayer. "It might be handy if you told me what you're pissed about before swinging for the moon, Buff."
"How DARE you lie to me!? You told me that Willow said 'kick his ass'!"
Xander winced. Something he hadn't done when she hit him. He nodded, "How'd you find out?"
"That's none of your business! Answer my question!!"
There was silence for a long moment as people in the room tried to understand what was going on.
Xander finally spoke, "I made a judgment call. You were too emotional, you'd have failed if you went after Angelus in that frame of mind."
Buffy pulled back to strike again, but her fist was caught by a hand behind her. She spun and glared at the person who had grabbed her. "Let me go!"
"No." Angel said cooly. "I don't know exactly what's going on, but I do know one thing... this isn't helping right now, Buffy."
She shook herself free from Angel's grip and faced off with him. "He didn't tell me that Willow was going to restore your soul!"
Angel glanced over at Xander for confirmation. Xander simply shrugged and nodded.
Angel turned back, "Ok."
"Ok!?" Buffy's eyes widened, "Ok!?"
"Yeah." Angel said, "Ok. We have more important matters now. The First has to be handled Buffy."
"Don't you care!?"
"Of course I do." Angel said. "I left Sunnydale because you weren't able to kill me when I was Angelus. I'm glad someone here understood the difference between him and me."
Buffy stared in shock as Angel brushed past her and clapped one hand on Xander's shoulder as he walked past. There was a long silence and Xander looked around at the assembled SIT's and clapped his hands.
"Alright! Weapons check in five!"
The girls broke from their stunned poses and grabbed for their weapons to be certain everything was ready.
Xander sighed as he pulled his SUV into the house at Revello drive and stopped. It had been a long hard battle, but they'd won. He wasn't certain how, but they'd won.
He got out of the vehicle and walked up to the house, hoping that Giles had been right when he said that Buffy wouldn't be here at this time.
"Hello Xander."
"Hey G-man." Xander said quietly, his voice a little flat. "I understand you have some things for me?"
Giles nodded, not even noticing the G-man crack. He handed the young man a fat manilla envelope. "Here."
Xander accepted it and checked inside. He quickly verified the contents, noting the passports, various ID's, and credit cards. He nodded, taking Giles hand. "Thanks."
Giles shook his head, "No need, Xander. I wish I was going with you."
"You have work in London." Xander said seriously. "We need to use the time we've won to rebuild. If we waste it..."
"Yes," Giles nodded, "I'm aware of the consequences. This Hellmouth is closed, others are merely laying in wait."
Xander nodded, "Thanks. I'll be..."
"Wait a moment," Giles said, "Wesley sent some things up for you."
"Wesley?" Xander frowned, "How'd he...?"
Giles smiled, "Angel elected him to be our California representative."
Xander chuckled, "Ok. What'd he send?"
Giles motioned him to a large crate that was sitting in the place of the Summers coffee table.
"Whoa." Xander muttered, walking up. "What the hell is in here?"
Giles shrugged and handed the ex-construction worker a pry-bar.
Xander accepted the bar and made short work of the crate, forcing it open and looking inside. "Whoa."
Xander lifted out an odd looking device with a simple note attached.
'Place this on your right arm, under your shirt.'
Xander frowned, rolling up his shirt and fitting his arm into the odd device. He strapped it closed and looked around. "What does it do?"
Giles shrugged.
Xander moved to remove it, accidentally flexing his arm, and the device snapped out instantly. A three piece blade unfolded and snapped together and a nylon covered pommel fitted itself into Xander's hand.
"Shit!" Xander cursed in shock as he stared at the three foot blade that was coated in a flat black finish. "God damn."
Giles had jumped back in shock, and was now approaching cautiously. "A... fascinating piece of weaponry."
Xander smiled slightly, sweeping the weapon through the air for a couple strokes to test its feel. "Cool."
He hesitantly let go of the pommel and the blade instantly snapped back and vanished into the odd contraption he wore. "Very cool."
He carefully rolled his sleeve down over the device and button it up. "Alright. Anything else?"
Giles looked through the items, "Most of these are for me I believe... what's this?"
Giles pulled out a small envelop marked with Xander's name and handed to the young man.
Xander opened it and dropped the contents out. He looked them over and whistled.
"What is it?"
Wordlessly he handed a slip of paper over to Giles, then continued to examine the contents.
"A firearms certificate?" Giles frowned, "With a... my word."
"Wesley's become quite the counterfeiter hasn't he?" Xander grinned, pocketing the papers.
Giles shook his head, grinning ferally. "I do believe that he and Ripper would have gotten along famously."
Xander nodded and chuckled. He sobered quickly, shaking his head. "I'd better get going before Buffy comes back and sees you consorting with the enemy."
Giles looked down at the ground, "She doesn't mean..."
"Don't." Xander said quietly. "Don't defend her. She's made her stand, I've made mine. Now we both have to live with it."
Giles nodded sadly. "I see. You know that the others don't agree with her."
"Willow does. Mostly anyway." Xander said, "But then Willow always was a romantic. I've learned to be a pragmatist, and that doesn't sit well with her."
"I suppose not." Giles said, "For what it's worth... I understand why you did it."
Xander nodded, "I know you do. You were prepared to do the same thing to Spike."
Giles nodded, "Funny wasn't it... That she'd be right about that one."
Xander sighed, "Spike doesn't blame you for it, Giles. You know that. He was ready to leave himself for the same reasons. Buffy was playing with fire... just cause she didn't get burned that time, doesn't mean we don't have the scars from all the other times."
"Yes..." Giles said, "Quite. Still... She's forgiven me... You should talk to her..."
Xander shook his head, "No. I've talked to her enough for this year. I've talked at her, I've talked through her, I've talked around her. Maybe she'll be ready to listen... next year."
"Perhaps." Giles said.
"Are the potentials all gone now?"
Giles nodded, "Except for Kennedy. She's moved in with Willow."
Xander nodded, "I'm glad Wills has someone new. If they ask... tell them I said goodbye, ok?"
Giles nodded.
Xander extended his hand, and Giles gripped it strongly, and the two men stared at each other for a long moment before either spoke again.
"Well then... Good luck."
Xander nodded, "Thanks, G... Giles. I'll be in touch."
With that Xander turned and walked out of the home on Revello Drive and thumbed the remote starter on his SUV.
"Xander!"
He half turned, looking down the street to the source of the voice.
"Hi Dawn, Amanda." He said to the Key and the Potential Slayer as they walked toward him.
Dawn approached timidly at first, "You're leaving aren't you?"
Xander nodded. "Yeah."
"Why can't you stay?" Damn asked, her voice plaintive. "You and Buffy have fought before... No one stands up to her like you do... you always come through ok..."
"It's not about the Fight, Dawnie." Xander said gently, "It's about a lot of things... I've stood by Buffy's side for seven years... and I swore that I'd never leave her..."
"Then why are you going!?"
"Because she left me, Dawn." Xander said after a long silence. "She's walking away from the fight... and I understand that... she's more then earned the rest. But I'm not ready to walk away yet."
"She still needs you..." Dawn tried, "There are more things then the Hellmouth for her to deal with."
"Well... I guess you'll have to take my place." Xander said with a sad smile. "Make her laugh when she's feeling down... you know... do my whole bad joke thing."
Dawn and Amanda giggled nervously. "No one can replace you, Xander."
"Someone else needs me now, Dawn." Xander said finally. "Buffy's retired... she's survived... I've done what I swore I'd do... Now I have someone else to walk the night with."
Dawn shook her head, "I wish I was coming with you."
Xander smiled, "Finish up school first, Dawnie."
She rolled her eyes, "Right."
"Bye, Dawn."
Dawn lunged in and hugged him, and Xander hugged her back.
"Bye Xander."
Anya was waiting when Xander pulled into the lot, her foot tapping the ground impatiently. She smiled as he got out, "So... are you leaving yet?"
Xander smiled slightly in return. Anya was still, after all, Anya. He nodded and tossed her his keychain, "Yes, Ahn... I'm leaving now. The apartment is yours like I promised."
Anya stared at the keys for a moment, hesitating before nodded. "Well... good. I deserve it."
Xnder nodded in affirmation, "You do at that. And a whole lot more, Anya... don't ever forget it."
She nodded, looking sad suddenly. "I won't..."
Xander smiled, "Here. One last gift between old loves."
Anya frowned as she accepted the envelope Xander was handing her. "What's this?"
Xander shrugged, "Just... clearing a debt."
She opened the envelop and pulled out paper in side. It was an invoice marked for Xander's old construction company. It was invoiced to the Magic Box, and it was marked 'paid in full'. She paled, "I... I... Is... this what I... think?"
"Yeah, Ahn..." Xander nodded, "The Box is yours again, and in primo shape."
"But... why?"
"I told you," Xander replied, "Clearing a debt."
"But you didn't wreck the shop..."
Xander turned and got back into his black SUV, "I never said it was my debt, Ahn."
Xander pulled the vehicle to a stop outside a ratty hotel and shook his head.
<God dammit. Why did she insist on living here again?>
He got out and walked over to the room, the same room he remembered and knocked on the door.
"Come in!"
<Flashback>
"I'll steer you around the curves." She promised, pushing him down onto the hard bed and climbing up onto him.
His heart caught and actually seemed to skip a few beats as she straddled him and made short work of her shirt. His breath was next as her bare breasts came into sight as she grinned mischievously at him.
He reached up slowly, his hands hugging her curve of her hips as she ground down against his crotch.
"Ummmmmm...." He groaned out, his eyes closing automatically. When he opened them again he looked up to see her face just above his, the twinkle in her eyes even more pronounced.
His slid his hands up her bare sides, sliding one along her back as he gently applied pressure to bring her lower. Her eyes laughed at him as she resisted for a moment, just to prove that she could, then allowed him to draw her down and capture her lips with his own.
He felt her hands running down his bare chest and easily unbuckling his belt and then felt the grating feel of his zipper being pulled down. "Oh... um... Faith..."
"Relax, X." She grinned, "Enjoy the ride."
So he did.
Xander looked around the ratty old room as he walked in and shook his head. "Faith. Why the hell did you move back in here?"
She grinned up at him as she hefted her belongings, the one entire duffel bag that contained them, and shrugged. "Must be all the hot memories, Lover boy."
Xander smirked and shook his head, "You ready?"
She ran one hand down her hip and grinned at him, "You propositioning me?"
"To go." Xander said, speaking slowly, "Are you ready to go?"
She rolled her eyes and sighed, "Yeah. I'm ready."
"Good. Come on."
It was evening and the sun was going down when Xander made his last stop. He pulled up to the old mansion and got out. He smirked to himself, considering how often monsters had squatted here and never knew what they were sitting on.
"What the hell is in here?" Faith asked him.
"My equipment stash." Xander replied, "I figure we might need some of it."
As they walked in he smelled a faint whiff of smoke and turned around.
"Spike." He said, his voice neutral. "What are you doing here?"
The ensouled vampire shrugged, flicking away his cigaret. "Thought you might come this way, Droopy. Hiya sweets."
Faith smirked at him, blowing the ensouled vamp a kiss.
Xander rolled his eye, "What do you want?"
The bleach blond vamp shrugged again, walking up to him. "I'm coming with ya."
"What!?"
"You heard me."
Xander sighed, "Look, Spike... I'm not leaving for a few days here. I'm kicking out of SunnyD, maybe for ever."
"I know that."
"Spike, I thought that you and Buffy..." Xander trailed off as a shiver ran up his spine at the words he was speaking.
Spike smiled, "That really bugs you, huh? Me and the Slayer?"
Xander nodded, "Yeah. It does."
"Why? You still got the hots fer her?"
Xander shook his head, feeling Faith tense up slightly beside him. "No. No... I got over those feeling a long time ago. It's just... Spike, you're bad for..."
"Her." Spike finished, nodding. "Yeah. I know. I got that on my own. That's one reason why I'm leaving."
"You love her." Xander said in surprise, realizing that the vampire had finally stepped past his obsession and onto a different level.
Spike looked at him, letting out an amused chuff of air. "Don't you?"
Xander laughed, remembering an old conversation, and shook his head. "In a way, I suppose. She's family, I always will."
Spike nodded.
"What's the other reason?"
"What?"
"You said that Buffy was one reason you were leaving..." Xander said, "What's the other reason?"
Spike looked around, his face tense. "She's giving up."
"Huh?"
"She's not fighting no more." Spike said after another moment.
Xander frowned, "That's it? You're coming cause you still want the blood rush??"
Spike shook his head, "No. It's not that. I... I've got a lot to atone for, Droopy... I killed a lot of people. I can't get redemption kickin around here and watching the Slayer go to PTA meetings, now can I?"
Xander fell silent for a long moment, then nodded. "Ok. You can come."
Faith grabbed Xander by the arm, frowning. "Can I talk to you?"
He nodded, and then looked at Spike.
The vampire rolled his eyes and nodded. "I'll be right outside."
After the vamp had left, Faith hissed quietly. "Do you think this is smart?"
Xander shrugged, "I don't know."
"Then why the hell are you letting him come with us?"
Xander looked around for a long moment before answering. "You know what it's like to need redemption right?"
She nodded slowly.
"I... well, I don't like him. And I don't know if I really trust him either... but he did save my life when I got this." Xander said, his fingers brushing the patch over his left eye.
Faith hesitated, remembering that night. "I... I'm sorry I didn't..."
Xander shook his head, "Relax. I don't blame anyone. I rolled the dice, I made the bet. I can handle the loss. But he did pull that freak off me..."
"That's it?" Faith asked, frowning. "That's the reason?"
"Not only that." Xander sighed. "I want to get him away from Buffy. He's no good for her... He knows it, I know it... but Buffy can't seem to figure it out."
"So this is about B?" Faith asked, getting a little huffy. "You still protecting her? Being her Knight in shining armor!?"
Xander hesitated, "You know... it's not the first time I've been called that. But yeah, I'm still trying to protect her and keep her happy. Maybe I'm an ass for forcing myself on her life when she doesn't want me there... maybe I'm an idiot for taking her abuse... but... you know, she's family. And I hope that maybe she'll change back to the girl I once fell in love with if maybe she can shed some of the darkness that's in her life."
"You mean Spike."
"He's part of it." Xander said, sighing, "But it's not all him... A lot of it is me, and Willow... we didn't do her any favors when we brought her back. I... I'm hoping that maybe without all the stress she can be... happy."
"You're right." Faith said finally.
"Huh?"
"You are an ass." The Dark Slayer said, shaking her head with a grin. "And if B finds out about this one, I don't think that Angel will be there to keep her from knocking your head off."
Xander smiled a little, "Come on. Let's get the stuff and get a move on."
"Sure." Faith said, her expression a little troubled. She turned to the door and let out a yell, "Come on, Bleach boy! You coming along on this haunt then you're damn well gonna carry your weight!"
Two figures grunted as they shoved the last box into the black SUV.
"Cor. What the hell was in that?" Spike asked as he leaned against the vehicle.
Xander shrugged, "A couple assault rifles, ammo, and a dozen grenades."
"What!?"
Xander smiled, "You remember when we took out the Judge?"
Spike nodded, chuckling as he sat down on the ground and leaned against the SUV. "Sure. Angelus was cursing about rocket launchers for weeks."
Xander laughed and slid down beside the vampire. "Glad to hear it."
"So... What about it?"
Xander looked over, "You really think that's the only thing I... 'requisitioned' from the army?"
"Cor..." Spike whispered in surprise. "Why the bloody hell didn't you use it?"
Xander shrugged, "We did... some of it... whenever Buffy decided that it was 'appropriate'."
Spike rolled his eyes, "I get the picture."
Xander chuckled.
"Hey, how come we do all the work and she gets to sit in the car?" Spike asked, jerking a thumb over his shoulder.
"You want to be the one to tell her to get out and help?"
Spike snorted, "Pass."
Xander nodded with a grin and got up, "Come on. Let's get moving."
"You want me to drive?"
Xander frowned at the vamp, "Do you have a license?"
"Technically? No."
"I'll drive."
'You are now leaving Sunnydale.'
"SO..." Spike said as the sign flashed by. "What are we doin?"
Xander looked over at him oddly, "Driving."
"I know that." Spike muttered, "I mean, what's the plan... why you leavin town?"
"You don't know!?"
"Nope."
"Then why are you tagging along??"
Spike flashed him a grin, "You forget, droopy. I saw how you got back at the guy who gave you that..."
Xander's hand reached up and touched the patch for a moment, "So?"
"So, I know you ain't retiring." Spike said, "And I want to go where the action is. I *have* to."
Xander shook his head, "With the Hellmouth sealed here in SunnyD, it turns out that the bad guys don't have a place to gather anymore..."
"So?"
"So, they're starting to crop up in places that were quite before..." Xander said, "Places that have some of the same qualities as the Hellmouth, but on lower levels."
Spike nodded, "Oh yeah... I knew a couple places like that before... Angelus kept track of some of the more powerful ones."
"Right." Xander confirmed. "Anyway... we have a potential Slayer and a neophyte field watcher on a dimensional tear in New Orleans who are reporting an upswing in demonic activity."
Spike was silent for a bit, "Cor. You're talking about being what? A mobile troubleshooter?"
"Exactly." Xander replied.
"Bloody hell."
"What's the matter, Big Bad?" Faith grinned at the vamp. "You got a problem with that?"
Spike shook his head, his eyes unbelieving. "You blokes do love to bite off more then you can chew don't ya?"
Xander shrugged, "With the Watchers Council in shambles we don't have many reliable field agents left. Right now, we're the only team the good guys can put in the field with more experience then the SIT's who survived the fight with the first."
"Bloody hell." The Ensouled Vampire cursed again.
Faith smirked at him, "Just think Bleach boy... you asked for this."
"How come you two get the beds?" Spike growled as he shifted on the ground, trying to get comfortable.
"Cause I'm a girl." Faith grinned at him. "Be a gentleman, Spike."
"And I'm paying for the room." Xander replied from where he was stripping off his shirt. "Besides, which one of us is used to sleeping in a crypt for hells sake?"
"At least my crypt had basic cable and a waterbed." Spike growled.
Xander shook his head, "How the hell did you get all that crap into a crypt anyway?"
Spike shrugged, "You'd be surprised the kind of service industry the demon community has. Most cable repairmen are Tethroc demons, you know..."
"That explains a lot." Xander muttered, "How about the electricity guys?"
"They're mostly human," Spike replied, "But demons own the companies so they don't ask too many questions when it comes to nighttime hookups."
"What a minute..." Faith sat up in bed, letting the covers fall down to reveal the skimpy t-shirt she was wearing. "Demons own the electric companies??"
Spike shrugged from his position on the floor and rolled over, "Sure. Who else would sell power to Texas when they didn't even have enough to cover local demand?"
Xander glanced over at Faith and shrugged. "Makes sense to me."
Faith shook her head, "And I thought the demonic lawyers were hiding in plain sight."
Xander chuckled as he took one last look at the lightening sky outside before pulling the heavy drapes over the window. "Let's get some rest. I have some things to do later, and we have a long drive ahead of us tonight."
"Speaking of which," Faith laid back, pulling the blankets up. "What the hell are we doing in Oxnard anyway?"
"I have some stuff to pick up." Xander said, "But the place doesn't open t'ill tonight, so we may as well get some sleep."
Faith shrugged, "Your call, Boytoy."
Spike snickered from the floor.
"Shut up, Spike." Xander grumbled as he got out of his jeans and slid under the covers.
"You know, boytoy," Faith grinned over at him. "Spike could have this bed if we shared yours..."
"I second that idea!" Spike grumbled from the floor.
"Faith..." Xander spoke slowly, "Don't take this the wrong way... but as tempting as sharing a bed with you may be to your average joe... but I can't see us getting much sleep in that case and there is no way in hell that I'm having sex with ANYONE in front of Spike."
Faith mock sighed, "Your loss, boytoy."
"Go to sleep, Faith." Xander said, shutting off the light.
"His loss? I'm the one breaking my back on this floor!" Spike growled.
"Shut up Spike." Xander groaned, covering his head with his pillow.
Faith woke up a few hours later, tensing as she heard an unfamiliar noise. He looked around, uncertain as to it's source.
When she heard it again she easily pinpointed Xander as the source. He was laying on his back and she heard another low groan from him.
"Xander?" She whispered to herself, forgetting to use her common nicknames for him as she slipped out of bed and walked over to him.
"He's been like that for about an hour now." Spike said from his position on the ground.
"What are you doing awake?" Faith hissed.
Spike rolled over and looked up at her, the blankets sliding off him as he propped himself up. "I'm a vampire luv. I don't need a ton of sleep, and droopy's whimpering gets on my nerves."
Faith shot the vampire a dirty look, "Has he been like this long?"
"'Ow should I know?" Spike asked, his accent becoming deeper as he let his irritation through. "I'm not in the habit of sleeping with him, now am I?"
"Go back to sleep, Spike." Faith growled, sitting on the bed by Xander.
"Hey... if you're gonna play nursemaid to the whelp, you mind if I take your bed?"
Faith shot the vampire another dirty look, and he shrugged and fell back to the floor. "Jeez... Shoot a bloke for asking a question why don't ya?"
Fath looked down at Xander, trying to ignore the grumbling of the vampire behind her. Xander's face was covered in sweat, and he was turning from side to side as if he were trying to escape something. She winced as she realized that his tossing had dislodged the patch and his injured eye was exposed to her sight.
She hadn't seen it since the night it had happened, Xander didn't ever take off the patch as far as anyone knew, and it shook her to see how ugly the scarred tissue was.
"Oh X-man..." She whispered, running her hand along his forehead to slide the black patch back into place.
As her fingers touched his skin, Xander's hand shot up at a lightning speed and gripped her wrist hard enough that even Faith winced in pain. Her eyes widened as she looked down into his one good eye, that was open and staring at her with a vacant look.
"Ow... OW!" She said, "Come on, Xander... you're hurting me!"
He didn't respond, or even seem to acknowledge that she was there, but his grip on her arm loosened slightly after a moment. She waited for a moment, her heart beating loudly in her chest, as Xander closed his eye without seeming to realize she was even there and his arm fell back against his chest without letting go of her wrist.
Faith waited a moment, then tried to pull her arm free, but he didn't let go. She cursed lightly, "Come on, Xander... let go already..."
She tried to pry his fingers loose, but they were locked tightly around her wrist, holding so firmly that she was suddenly worried about breaking them if she used any more strength. Faith groaned to herself, "Jeez, X-man... A girl doesn't like such a clingy guy, you know..."
She sighed, receiving no response and not wanting to really try and wake him up. "Fine. You win."
She crawled up beside him, getting under the covers and laying her head down on the second pillow.
"I guess I get the bed after all." Spike said, grinning as he got up off the floor and stole her bed.
"Laugh it up, bleach boy." Faith muttered.
"No need, luv." Spike grinned, as he lay back with his hands under his head. "I like to gloat quietly myself."
Faith groaned and buried her head in the pillow as she felt Xander's heartbeat through his grip on her wrist.
Consciousness came back to Xander slowly as he realized that he was warm and feeling secure for the first time in weeks. For a moment he tried to figure out why he couldn't seem to open his left eye, then he remembered the reason.
He closed his right eye again and pushed his head back into the pillow, as it trying to drive his skull through the bed itself. After a long moment like that he opened his right eye again and turned his head around as he remembered where he was.
He felt a weight on his chest and looked down, frowning as he realized that his right hand was wrapped around something warm. <What the?>
Faith's head was resting on his chest, her wrist caught tightly in his grip. He blinked and looked around until he spotted Spike in Faith's bed, sleeping. <What the hell?>
He let his grip on Faith's arm go, tensing as the dark haired Slayer shifted in response and her arm wrapped around him.
"Hmmmmmmmm," She moaned into his chest, her arm snaking around him.
Xander shivered, though certainly not from the cold, as felt the low hum run through his bones. "Faith?"
She looked up at him, smiling tiredly. "Bout time you woke up, boytoy. I've been kinda anxious to get my arm back."
"Huh?"
"You made some noises while sleeping," She said tiredly, "SO I came over to see if you were ok... You grabbed my arm and wouldn't let me go. I gotta tell you, Xanman, you've got one helluva grip."
He looked down at her wrist where it was laying on his chest and paled as he saw the ugly bruises in the shape of fingers. "Oh my god... Faith, I'm sorry... I didn't know..."
"S'alright, boytoy..." She yawned, "Slayer healing'll take care of it in short order."
Xander swallowed, feeling like he was going to be sick. <God... can't I escape my father!? Is he going to haunt me for the rest of my life??>
Faith frowned, "You don't look so good, X-man..."
"I... I..." Xander stammered, "I've got to go to the bathroom."
"Oh." Faith shrugged and rolled off him, "Sure. Knock yourself out."
Xander got up gratefully and headed straight for the bathroom. Inside, he quickly closed the door and leaned over the sink, staring at himself in the mirror. He glared at himself with his single eye, hissing angrily. "Get a hold of yourself you jerk. Do you want to turn into dear old dad!?"
He breathed hard, trying to calm himself, and finally lifted his hand up to his eyes and stared at it as it shook like mad. He just kept staring until the tremors died down and the hand reluctantly came under control.
"God dammit, Harris..." He hissed to himself, "What the hell is wrong with you?"
Since, even after several moment, his reflection didn't have an answer he finally turned away. Xander quickly checked his watch and nodded.
Almost time.
He let out one last breath and decided to get ready.
Faith looked up briefly as she heard the shower running, then laid back down and lost herself in her pillow.
She was still drifting comfortably between sleep and waking when the shower cut off and she heard the door to the bathroom open. She looked up briefly through bleary eyes to see Xander walk out in his underwear and start digging through his duffel bag.
"Nice buns, boytoy." She mumbled through the sleep.
"Thanks Faith." Xander muttered, pulling out a pair of slacks and a white shirt.
As he got dressed Faith frowned at him, "Where are you going?"
"Out."
She pushed herself up, frowning at him. "That's no answer, Boytoy."
Xander sighed, his breath catching as he noticed that her t-shirt was caught up a good deal too high on her left breast and she was, however unintentionally, flashing him. "I just need to meet someone I know, ok?"
Faith shook her head clear and adjusted her shirt, "I didn't know you knew anyone outside of Sunnydale..."
Xander rolled his eye as he buttoned up his shirt, "You don't know me, Faith."
"Jeeze." She grumbled, getting out of bed and grabbing for her own clothes. "Give a girl some time, will ya?"
"What are you doing?"
"Getting dressed."
"Why?"
"Cause I'm coming with ya."
"Oh no you're not." Xander said.
"Why not?"
"I said so."
"You think you stop me, loverboy?" Faith countered.
Xander was silent for a long moment, glaring at her.
"Will both of you shut up!?" Spike grumbled from Faith's bed. "A guy can't get any sleep with you two around."
"Shut up Spike!" Both Faith and Xander snapped in unison.
"Come on, X," Faith wheedled, "Where are we going?"
"It's just a block down this way, Faith." Xander sighed.
"What is?"
"You'll see."
They walked down a block until they arrived at a club that had a large neon marquee that was adorned with an impressively hung outline of a man on one side, and an equally well endowed outline of a woman on the other.
Faith turned to Xander, smirking. "A strip club? Why, X-man... I didn't take you for the type who likes to watch..."
Xander muffled a groan and pushed his way through the door into the club.
Faith grinned and followed him in, walking with a cocky strut as she kept up with his stiff walk.
Xander walked up to the bar where a tall brunette was stocking the far wall. He grinned and took a seat on a stool, "Nice place you got here."
She didn't turn around, "First show's not until ten, if you want a drink I'll be with you in a minute."
Xander scratched his head, ruffling his hair as Faith took a stool beside him. "Well, at least I'm not here on ladies night this time."
The woman turned around, a bottle of rum in one hand, and stared at him. "Xander?"
The bottle dropped from her hand, smashing over the floor as she stared at him shock and surprise. "Xander!"
"Hello Sonya." He smiled, then winced as he looked down over the bar. "Damn. Good thing you own the joint or that would definitely be coming out of your salary."
"Xander!" she grinned and stepped over the glass, grabbing him by the lapel of his shirt and pulling him closer to kiss both cheeks. "My god, child! Where have you been!? It's been years..."
Suddenly she stopped dead and her face drained of color, "Xan... Alexander... What happened?"
Xander pursed his lips as her fingers came up to almost brush his eye patch, and he pulled away. "Accident."
"Oh... god, Xander..." She said, her voice mournful. "I'm so sorry..."
"I'll live." Xander said, "That's enough."
She smiled sadly at that, shaking her head. "You said you'd come back soon..."
"I know," he said, "I'm sorry... I got caught up in life on the Hellmouth."
Faith stared at him in shock, blurting out. "Huh?"
Sonya looked over at her, "Who's this?"
"Sonya, meet Faith." Xander said, "Faith, this is Sonya. An old friend."
"Not so old as that, Xander." The brunette grinned at him, "It is good to meet you Faith."
"Uh... yeah. You too..." Faith said, uncertainly.
Xander lost his grin, his face turning sober. "I came for my things, Sonya."
Sonya grimaced, "I had hoped you would never need those again, Xander."
Xander shrugged, "Times change..."
She nodded, then waved over an employee. "Lise, please clean this mess up and stock the bar for me, ok?"
"Sure, boss." The blond said, nodding.
"Come on back, Xander... bring your friend too." Sonya gestured.
Xander led Faith around the bar and to a door way that led backstage. Once they reached back stage, they saw girls in various stages of undress getting into costume. None of them paid any attention to Xander or Faith except to eye Faith warily as she passed.
"None of the old girls still here?" Xander asked casually.
"Not tonight." Sonya responded, "Most of them are gone now anyway... Victoria still dances on Wednesdays, and Nikki is still here... they'll be sorry they missed you."
Xander nodded, "I wish I could stay long enough to see them again... but I'm just passing through."
Sonya glanced back as she came to a stop by a locked door. "Oh?"
"Business in Louisiana." Xander replied.
"Same as what happened here?"
"More or less."
Sonya shook her head. "I wish you weren't into this, Xander... It's dangerous."
"So's living, Sonya." Xander smiled as he watched her unlock the door.
The dark haired woman shook her head and motioned Xander inside.
"It's all where you left it."
Xander nodded and walked across the small room that was setup as a makeshift bedroom. He pulled the bed away from the wall and felt along the wall for a moment. Suddenly there was a click and the wall opened up like a pair of doors. Xander stepped back and opened them wide, looking over the supplies.
"Whoa." Faith muttered in shock.
Xander quickly selected a pair of pistols from a rack, then pulled an Ithaca shotgun and a couple boxes of buckshot and slugs from a shelf. Next he pulled a heavy Second Chance vest and a SWAT tactical harness down from a hanger. A heavy Kukri knife in a leather scabbard followed them and finally he pulled out a small black case.
Satisfied he closed the wall and turned back to Sonya, "You mind if I leave the rest here?"
She smiled and nodded, "You know you have a place here whenever you need it, Xander."
He nodded, "Thanks."
"We owe you, Xander." Sonya said.
"You don't owe me anything, Sonya." Xander protested. "I didn't do anything."
"You saved my girls, Xander." Sonya responded. "You kept them from becoming food for those things. You did a lot."
"Xander?" Faith looked around, "What the hell is going on here?"
Sonya looked over at Faith in surprise, "He didn't tell you?"
"Hell no." Faith said, disgustedly.
Sonya smiled disarmingly, "Come... I'll pour you a drink and tell you a tale to chill your bones, Child."
"So..." Faith grinned over her double malt scotch, "What's the scoop on the Xanman here, anyway? I never even new he'd ever left Sunny-D"
Sonya smiled slightly over her own drink as Xander rolled his eye and sipped very lightly at his own drink. "Oh now... where to start..."
"We don't have time for this, Faith." Xander said. "We're due in New Orleans ASAP."
Faith brushed him off, "We can make up the difference by driving through the day tomorrow."
Xander looked at her, "Faith. I don't know about you, but I'd rather not have to vacuum Spike's seat."
"Spike?"
Faith brushed it off, "You've got that tarp in the back... he can hide under that."
"Great." Xander scowled at her, "Spike'll love that."
Faith shrugged, "So?"
"You get to tell him."
Faith grinned, "My pleasure."
"Spike?" Sonya asked a second time.
"Forget Spike." Faith grinned, "Dish on the X-man."
Sonya looked puzzled, but then shrugged and nodded. "It all happened in late June four years ago..."
"Come on, Nikki!" The platinum blond squealed as she ducked away from the mock slap. "Just admit it... It gets your engine revving just a little bit."
The small brunette frowned, though her eyes were twinkling with humor. "You're one to talk. I hear the noises coming from upstairs after you wrap up a set."
"Hey." The blonde grinned wide, "I never said I didn't. Come on, you should give it a shot..."
"I don't know, Trish..." The brunette said seriously. "Stripping is one thing... but I don't think I'm ready for that."
"Well... It's your call, Nik." Trish shrugged, "But I make ten times what you do in a night."
Nikkie nodded solemnly, her face pensive as she considered the idea as she walked along.
Suddenly she was tugged along by her companion. "Come on, there's the gang..."
Nikki looked up to see Sonya and the rest of the girls just up ahead. She forced a smile and nodded, "Another night..."
"Another dollar." Trish finished, grinning.
They joined the rest at the front of the strip club as Sonya was unlocking the door. She fumbled with her keys, the rust on the old lock making the key reluctant to slide in. She cursed as it cluttered to the ground and crouched down to pick it up.
"Damn it..." She muttered.
"Well, well, well... What have we got here, huh boys?"
The girls turned around to see four men walk up to them. They were all tough looking, dressed like bikers or something, and they were each leering at the gathering of eight women.
"We're not open tonight." Sonya said as she straightened up, "The place is rented out from midnight on for a private party. Come on back tomorrow and I'll be sure to arrange a special show to make up for it."
"No..." The same one said, grinning. "I think we'll stay right here. What do you think guys?"
The men chuckled, nodding and laughing.
"Oh yeah..."
"Damn right."
"Two apiece, huh Rocko? One for eating... one for other things..."
The group of women started to shift nervously, but Sonya just looked at them sternly. "You don't want to do this... It's so much better without the fight..."
The leader stepped forward and his face *changed*. "Oh, but we LIKE the fight."
The rest shifted too, leering and running their tongues over their grotesque teeth as they cackled and approached.
Trish reacted first, whipping out a small canister of mace and letting the leader have it full in the face. He fell back two steps screaming in shock and pain as he wiped his eyes clean, a moment later he glared back at her. "Just for that, *bitch*, I'm gonna kill you last!"
She screamed as he came back at her, but suddenly the whole group was illuminated by light and they heard a car suddenly accelerate.
"What the!?"
The car, a sky blue convertible that had seen better years, swept out of nowhere and ran full bore into the three things that were still grouped together. It flashed past, and crashed solidly into the wall of the next building, pinning the three figures between the crumpled hood and the brick wall.
There was a long, deep silence, as everyone stared in shock. Then the three figures, who by rights should have been dead, started screaming in pain and rage.
The women watched as a figure got out of the vehicle, grumbling something they couldn't hear over the screams of the injured, and walked around to the front of the car.
He looked at the crumpled hood and damaged car, noting the stream rising from the radiator, and cursed.
"Damn it! Uncle Rory is gonna flay me alive for this..." He looked at the three 'victims' of his driving and growled. "You damn vampires can't stay out of my life even when I'm not on the Hellmouth, can you?"
He whipped something out of his pocket and drive it into the chest of the closest man, and the women let out a cry of shock as the man vanished into dust. The figure then jumped up on the hood and kicked the second one, bouncing it's head off the brick wall, and then slammed it's head down into the hood of the car. A moment, and a stab of the object in his hands, later and the second one had also vanished into dust.
The figure muttered again under his breath and then disposed of the third one before clambering back off the hood of his car and rubbing his head in pain.
"Damn it. Next time I really need a better strategy... ramming the car into them may be effective, but it hurts almost as much as getting pummeled."
"Who are you!?" The leader of the, now defunct, gang growled in anger and shock.
The figure looked up, surprised. "Oh crap. I missed one."
The biker thing growled, "You killed my gang! I'm gonna rip your arms off and beat ya ta death with em!"
The other guys shifted a little nervously, "um... while that sounds like a real fun time to be had by all... I'm gonna have to vote no on that?"
The biker thing screamed in rage and charged.
"Whoa!" The guy screamed in response, barely ducking under the biker and rolling clear. "Can't we talk about this?"
The thing just spun around and grabbed him in a lightning fast move that seemed more like a blur to the observers. The guy screamed out a long wail as he flew through the air, thrown by the biker, and slammed into the wall.
"Ohhhhhh...." He groaned, as he slid down the wall, winding up in a crumpled heap on the ground.
The biker stalked over to him, "You shouldn't have killed my boys..."
The biker grabbed the guy by the shirt and hefted him up, holding him nose to nose as he snarled into the guy's face. "Now I'm gonna hafta make this *hurt*."
"Ditto." The guy gasped out.
"Huh?" The biker got out before his eyes widened in shock and he dropped hi opponent, who barely remained standing. He fell back staring at the wooden stake sticking out of his chest and cursed. "Oh crap."
Then he vanished into dust.
The only guy left, the one who had driven in with his car, staggered a couple steps toward the women and looked at them with concern. "Every... one... alright?"
The looked around nervously, nodding slowly. "Yeah..."
"Good..." He looked around, his eyes cloudy and unfocused. "That... all of them?"
"Yeah..."
"Good..." He repeated sort of dumbly as his legs gave out from under him and he hit the ground in a crumpled heap.
Faith snickered as she took a pull of her drink, "That sounds familiar. Boytoy here likes to use his car to impress the ladies."
Xander shook his head, sighing. "Do we really have time for this, Faith?"
"There's always time for an embarrassing story, X-man." Faith grinned.
Xander groaned, as Sonya grinned and spoke again. "So anyway... there we were with this cute kid who'd just saved our lives... and who happened to be lying unconscious outside my club. So we did what anyone would do..."
"He's cute."
"Can we keep him?"
"Shush." Sonya said as she knelt by the unconscious figure. "Come on... Trish, Nikki... give me a hand... let's get him inside."
"What about his car?"
"Sandra... you call Tony. Tell him to get over here with his tow truck right away." Sonya ordered, "I don't want the cops involved if we can help it."
Everyone nodded and started following orders.
Faith tried to hold back her laughter, at least long enough to swallow her drink. "Someone actually asked if they could keep him??"
Sonya smirked, "Are you kidding me? By the time the summer was over he had three marriage proposals... and a hell of a lot more propositions."
Faith snickered, still trying valiantly to keep from drooling her drink over the table. "Oh god... I need a second to catch my breath."
Xander sighed, "Great. Catch it on the way back to the hotel. We've got to get going."
Faith managed to swallow and shook her head, "Oh no... I ain't leaving yet. I want to hear more of this."
Xander shook his head, "There isn't a whole lot to hear. I spent the summer working in this place to fix my car."
Sonya grinned, "Oh please. You more than fixed the damage in one night..."
Xander shot her a look, hissing a warning. "Sonya...!"
"One night?" Faith grinned in confusion, "You said he crumpled the front end... that must have cost a thousand bucks easy..."
"Fifteen hundred." Sonya grinned, "And some change."
"And he made that in one night?"
"Oh yeah." Sonya grinned wickedly.
"How?"
Xander groaned.
Sonya's eyes drifted to the stage and lingered their for a minute.
"No way." Faith grinned wide.
Sonya just nodded as she grinned wide.
"Way to go, X-man!" Faith crowed, "You even got one up on me there... I've done a lot of crap, but I never stripped... for pay at least."
"It wasn't the stripping that paid for the car." Sonya laughed. "It was all the times he emptied his G-string. Women are a lot more generous then most of the men we have in here... and even more... enthusiastic too."
Xander groaned, banging his head against the table. "Can we please go now?"
"Oh come ON, Boytoy..." Faith grinned, "I want to hear this!"
Xander pushed away from the table, leaving his drink half full on the table. "And I'm sure that you'll hear it all, in detail, eventually... But tonight we have to get moving. We've got an SIT and a Newbie Watcher in New Orleans with a demon problem, remember?"
Faith sighed and nodded, "Oh alright."
As they got up and Xander slung his things over his shoulder, Sonya stood up and hugged him hard. "You be careful, Xander."
He grinned, sort of self-effacingly. "You know me, Sonya.. I see danger I run the other way unless I've got no choice."
"Right." She smiled, shaking her head. "Just try not to kill yourself while your doing all that 'running'."
Xander nodded, "I promise, Sonya. You take care of yourself and the girls here too. Ok?"
"I always do, Xander." She said, smiling up at the stage. "That's what I do, after all."
Xander nodded then motioned Faith to the door. "Come on, let's get out of here."
Sonya watched the two of them leave and shook her head. "God go with you, Alex."
The two of them stumbled back into the apartment some time later, having stored Xander's supplies in the SUV first.
"Here you are." Spike growled at them as he looked up from the snowy TV at them, "We should have been on the road over an hour ago!"
Faith grinned, "It was worth the delay."
"Huh?"
"Don't ask." Xander muttered, "We'll just pack up fast and we'll be moving."
"Huh? Oh... right." Spike said, flicking off the TV. "Already seen that movie anyway."
The quickly packed up their things and were out the door within minutes. Ten minutes after that they were on the road and heading out of Oxnard.
"Alright." Xander said, "It's nonstop to New Orleans now. I'll do a couple hours, then Spike has the wheel t'ill dawn. Faith, you good to go in the morning?"
"You know it, boytoy." Faith smirked.
Xander shook his head, "Good. I'll take over at noon. We'll stop for something to eat when we get a chance, and try to score some blood from a butcher for Spike on the way."
"Wait a sec here!" Spike objected, "We're driving through the day? What about me?"
Faith turned around and smirked at him, "You see that tarp back there?"
Spike looked back, "You have to be bloody well kidding me!"
"So this is New Orleans, huh?"
Faith nodded, "Yep."
Xander looked around, "Looks like Spike's fantasy land."
Faith snickered, looking over all the tombs that dotted the graveyard they were parked in front of. "I asked about that the last time I was through. They don't bury people much here... Tons of local legends about why of course, but like everything else it comes down to what's practical."
"Oh?" Xander asked, taking a bite of a piece of jerky.
Faith snorted, "Yeah. Turns out that the water table is so high here that if you bury someone the casket's got a decent chance of floating... Even if it does stay down for a while, you get one good rainstorm and the dearly departed come back for a visit."
Xander grimaced. "That image I didn't need."
She shrugged, "So anyway, that's why you get these... Cities of the dead, as they call them."
"Vamp paradise."
"You know it." Faith muttered, "I did some patrols through there... Muggers prey on the tourists, vamps prey on the muggers..."
"And you preyed on the vamps." Xander grinned.
"And tried like hell to avoid the tourists." Faith shook her head. "I was just as glad to move on from here, you know... The cities gave me the creeps."
Xander nodded, looking up at the darkening sky. "Well... that's it. Sundown."
Faith nodded and walked around to the back of the SUV. She rapped the back of the black vehicle and opened the rear door, "Wakey, wakey, bloodsucker."
The black tarp in the back was ripped away and Spike glared at her, "Real funny, Slayer. Real Funny."
The vampire grumbled as he crawled out of the back of the SUV and looked around, fumbling in his pockets until he found his smokes. As he lit the white stick up and took a long drag Xander frowned at him.
"Spike..." Xander said hesitantly, "Why the hell do you smoke? I thought vampires couldn't breathe?"
Spike shrugged, "I started in New York about thirty years ago... it was the 'cool' thing for everyone to do and it made it easier to fade into the kinda crowds I liked to hunt."
"So why do you still smoke?" Xander asked as he grabbed a black aluminum attache case from under the tarp Spike had hidden in.
Spike shrugged, "Well it's all about the image isn't it?"
Xander groaned. "That's it!?"
"Pretty much."
"Here." Xander slammed the case into Spike mid-section, causing the vampire to grunt in surprise. "Hold this for a minute."
Spike growled, holding onto it. "What's this, Whelp?"
"Just hang on." Xander said, covering the rest of his equipment carefully with the tarp before closing the door and taking the case from Spike.
"You're not taking your guns?"
Xander shook his head, "Not until we have a specific target. Guns would cause more trouble then they're worth on patrol."
"Right." Spike nodded. "So what's in the case?"
"Some toys I had a while ago..." Xander said, "Stuff I should have taken with me when I went back home.. But I wasn't planning on staying."
"Huh?"
"That year..." Xander hesitated, "The year you showed up... I was going to tell Buffy that I had somewhere else to go... I was going to move to Oxnard."
"Cor. How come?"
"She didn't need me." Xander said, "Or so I thought. Funny thing though, first thing that happened when I got back was I had to talk her out of a funk... so I decided to hang around a bit longer... you show up, and I figure that she'd let you too close and you'd kill her or worse..."
"I would have." Spike confirmed, "Cept I fell for the bint for I could make that happen."
"That's Buffy." Xander nodded, dropping the case on the hood of the SUV and thumbing in the locks open. He flipped the case open and looked at the contents.
"Faith looked over his shoulder, grinning. "Hey. New toys."
Xander chuckled, grabbing a pair of solid looking pommels and handing them to Faith. "Give these a try."
She looked them over and fitted her hands into the hefty weapons. "Cool."
"They fit like a pair of brass knuckles." Xander said, not looking back. "They'll probably be a bit big for you, but I'll see about getting another set made for your hands."
"Nifty." Faith said, smirking at his back. "But they aren't exactly going to kill a vampire."
Xander grinned and flipped a cloth bundle over his shoulder. "That's what these are for."
She caught the bundle clumsily in her already full hands and looked at it. She frowned, opening it up and unrolling it. "Hey... cool stakes."
"They fit into the handles of the 'brass knuckles'." Xander said, "Just fit the wooden stock into the slot of the handle and twist to lock it. If you break the stake, just squeeze the other side and it'll eject the stake."
Faith quickly inserted and locked two of the slim, carved, stakes into the 'brass knuckles' and nodded. "Nice gear, X-man."
Xander nodded, "Thanks. A friend of Sonya's designed and built them for me. Good guy with metal working."
"Cool."
Xander nodded and pulled out a belt that he immediately wrapped around his hips and buckled it on.
Spike looked down and saw the empty holsters flapping on his thighs, "I thought you weren't taking no guns?"
Xander shrugged, "These guns..."
Xander produced a wrapped pair of weapons he had taken from Oxnard, "I'll wear."
He dropped them into the holsters, flipping the snaps shut over them and gently checking the back of the belt for the other weapons on it. "Silenced Mk23 SOCOM pistols. They won't kill a vampire unfortunately, but I've been told they still sting like a bitch."
Spike nodded, "I know. Bloody cop in Texas shot me fulla holes about eight years ago. All I could do to get out of their before he called in backup."
Xander nodded, "Keeps a vamp distracted long enough to put a stake in his heart usually."
Faith frowned, "Where the hell did you learn about all these weapons?"
Xander snorted. "I've forgotten more about weapons then most people know. Literally. I used to be able to field strip an M-16 blindfolded. I even did it once just to win a bet with Riley."
Spike grinned, "I remember. You wiped the grin off his face that time. Too bad you didn't do it in front of the whole gang, I'd have loved to watched the Witch's face."
Xander rolled his eye, "I don't know if you were ever told about the Halloween incident, Faith... We were possessed by our costumes once... I wound up taken over by a soldier."
"You were taken over by your Halloween costume?" Faith grinned, trying to keep from laughing.
"He bloody well was." Spike mumbled, "Blasted whelp ran around town looking like GI Joe on steroids... He's the only thing that kept me from killin Buffy that time."
"So... what?"Faith asked, "You've been army dude all this time?"
Xander shook his head, "Unfortunately no. I barely remember how to use these things now. It wore off when I stopped using it..."
"Well... how come you stopped?"
Xander sighed, exchanging a glance with Spike.
"Buffy." The two men said together.
"Huh?"
Spike spoke for him, "She didn't much like him getting involved..."
Faith rolled her eyes, "Figures."
Xander shut them up by pulling one last thing from the case and snapping it shut. He shoved the item in his pocket and looked around, "Let's go. According to the patrol schedule in the email they should be here in a few minutes."
"Right." Spike nodded, turning to the 'city' behind him.
Faith nodded, slipping her two new 'stakes' into her pockets and stepping up beside Spike.
Xander grabbed a tan knee-length coat from the front seat of the SUV, closed the door, and keyed the locks and security system. "Let's go hunting."
Alicia walked through the narrow paths between the tombs slowly, trying to emulate the way she remembered Buffy and Faith moving. She'd been back home for a couple months now, learning more about the mundane life of a Slayer from her new Watcher.
Of course, that thought caused her to roll her eyes. The guy was a total loss in her opinion. He'd never been outside whatever place the watchers used to teach new sticks in the mud until the place had been blown to hell. Now he didn't like to talk about it, but Eve knew that whatever happened had caused him some hurt.
The first thing he had done when she was introduced to him by Mr Giles, was whip out a book and order her to study it.
Right.
She still remembered the disgusted look on Mr Giles face as he shrugged and rolled his eyes. Eve giggled. Mr Giles had come over to her later, alone, and told her that Jose was a good man but that he had a lot to learn.
Alicia casually twirled a stake in her had, emulating Buffy's casual style as much as she could.
"Alicia! Alicia!"
She sighed. He was good at tracking her down, she had to give him that, but she wished they had found someone who fit in better for this place. A Cuban was hardly the most incognito type to be hanging around the Bayou.
"Over here, Mr Santos." She muttered.
He came out of the tombs, looking at her crossly. "Alicia, you should not run away like that. Mr Giles was quite specific. You do not patrol alone."
"I can handle myself." She said crossly in return. "I did survive the First Evil you know."
"I am aware of that," He said placatingly. "But you should not be out here alone. You are not a Slayer yet."
"We don't have time anymore to wait for Slayers." Alicia returned, crossing her arms. "You heard what Mr Giles said. The bad, its not focused anymore... but that just means that everywhere is a little more dangerous instead of Sunnydale being the center of things."
"I am aware of that." He repeated, "But that does not excuse suicidal tactics on your part. We are to wait for backup before we do anything."
"I'm not going after the Queen, Jose." Alicia growled. "I'm just patrolling."
"That is hardly the point."
"SO why don't you tell me what the..." Alicia trailed off as another voice interrupted her.
"Well, well, well..." An accented voice came from the darkness. "What do I got here? A couple of fools out arguing among the dead..."
Laughs came from the darkness from around them, causing the Potential Slayer and her Watcher to turn back to each other and eye the darkness carefully.
"Who are you!?"
"Now, now, cher..." the voice said, materializing into a shadowy form that appeared from between two of the stark white tombs. "Don be gettin like that... we just want a lil taste..."
Alicia hefted her stake, her face tensing as she saw other shadowy forms appear along with him. "I've got three..."
"Four here." Jose muttered, hefting his crossbow. "Do you think they're vampires?"
"They aren't mourners." Alicia muttered, trying to sound as confident Buffy had.
"Oooo... He's got a crossbow... I'm shakin." Said one of them from behind her, and Alicia heard a few laugh. "You know, man... you gonna get one shot with that. Then you die."
Jose's voice held steady, "Perhaps. But one of you will die. I am a decent shot, I promise you."
"Ah, but monsieur..." Said the first who had spoke, "didn't you know? We're already dead!"
With that the entire group shifted to game face and started approaching menacingly.
<Who has the power?> Alicia asked herself as she hefted her stake. <Who has the power... They do... Take it from them.>
With that thought she met the advancing vampire, taking the closest one by surprise and driving her stake into it's heart. It gasped in shock as it vanished into dust, but Alicia didn't have any time to enjoy the small victory as she was struck by a hard blow across the side of the head an instant later.
Jose fired his shot, catching the closest vampire in the chest and immediately started to reload. As he fumbled with the bolt he was grabbed by two of the vampires who were snarling at him as they batted the crossbow away.
The leader stepped out. "I just can't believe that this is what has been dusting our brothers for two months. A slip of a girl who can't take a single punch and... what the hell is he wearing anyway??"
One of the vampires holding Jose sniffed him for a moment and looked disgusted. "Tweed."
"Figures." The lead muttered. "I don see why de Queen is worried bout these two for..."
"They aren't the threat."
The vampires spun around in surprise to see three people emerge from the darkness.
"Who da hell are you?"
The lead figure smiled, a surprisingly disturbing image even to a vampire due to the patch that covered his left eye. "We're the ones they called for backup."
"Back...?" The leader managed to get out that much, but was cut off by a flash of motion that left a wooden stake embedded in his chest. "Up...?"
As he dusted the man with the patch nodded, "Nice Shot Faith. Spike... you ready?"
Spike stepped forward, slapping his fist into his hand. "Always."
"Faith?"
"You know it, boytoy." The woman smirked, her fingers covered by the dull glint of the metal knuckles she was wearing.
The figure in the middle nodded and reached behind his back pulling out two black things from his belt. He flicked his hands forward and they telescoped out into a pair of three foot long carbon fiber reinforced steel batons.
"Let's do this."
"Get them!"
Xander grinned, shaking his head. "Why do all the vamps say stuff like that?"
"What yer mouth, Whelp." Spike growled as he prepared to meet the rush. "I never talked like that."
"Oh right." Xander said, "You never once said anything so cheesy..."
"Look who's talking." Spike snapped, "I seem to remember you jumping up once and yelling something about..."
"Alright!" Faith snapped. "Fight now. Bicker like you're married later!"
"Hey!" Xander and Spike snapped in unison.
"Shut up!" Faith screamed at both of them. "How long do I have to put up with this!?"
Xander looked at Spike, Spike glared back at him. "Later?"
"Right." Spike nodded, cracking his knuckles.
"Good." Xander suddenly grinned, "Spike... take the two trying to turn the tweed man into a dead man. Faith and me will get the other three."
Spike nodded, lunging forward and ignoring the closer vampires as he went for the two that were holding the struggling watcher.
The three closest charged at Faith and Xander, already in game face as they snarled at their adversaries.
Faith met the closest with a fierce punch to the beasts malformed face, the heavy metal pommel in her hand lending it's aid to the blow that wound up crunching the bone and cartilage of the vampire's face under the hard metal of the molded knuckles. She instantly followed the blow with a heavy strike from her other hand to it's sternum, causing the sickening crack of breaking bones to momentarily drown out the snarls and grunts of combat in the area.
Her vampire dropped like a stone from the two strikes, leaving her ready to move against the second.
Xander struck out at his just as it came within range of the twin batons he was wielding, the black metal of the two weapons smashing across the vampires knees as Xander fell into a spinning crouch as it charged past.
The vampire hit the ground in a slide that ended with it's head connecting with one of the stark white tombs. It instantly spun around, rolling onto it's back and struggled to it's feet.
"You bastard!" It screamed, barely standing as it's legs kept trying to fall out from under it. "I'll eat you're heart for that!"
"Promises, promises."
"Come on, pups." Spike snarled as he slowly circled around the two vampire's who were still holding the watcher. "You gonna hide behind the ponce all night, or you gonna play?"
"Who are you!?" One of the growled as he held tight to the watcher.
"Call me Spike." Spike grinned, baring his teeth as he thought to himself. <Come on, loser... drop the Ponce...>
On cue the vampire relaxed his grip, straightening up. "Spike? William the bloody, Spike?"
Spike took the opening and lunged forward, tackling the watcher clear of the two vampires, tumbling along the ground for a moment before he flipped back to his feet and turned back on the stunned duo.
"Now that the Ponce is out of the way... how about I use you two to work off some tension?"
As the second vampire came at her, Faith launched a reverse kick that caught it in the abdomen and doubled it over. Before it could recover she spun around and drove the stake through it's back, pulling back just as the hapless creature dusted.
"One down." She grinned, turning to her first opponent, who was still struggling to get to it's knees. She frowned at it, disappointed. "Oh come on... you should have gotten up by now... I gave you four whole seconds!"
She sighed and walked over to the vampire, delivering a swift kick to it's ribs that turned even more of it's bones to dust and sent it flying into a cement wall. As it slid down the wall, Faith walked over and dropped into a crouch by it's side as she delivered the coup de gras through it's back.
As the vampire vanished into dust she stood up and frowned. "Damn... That was too easy..."
She turned around to see if either of the others needed any help.
Xander made the first move on his vamp this time, not willing to wait for the vampire's legs to start obeying their owner. He stepped in, just barely into striking distance and delivered a double strike to the creature's head with the telescoping batons.
Bones cracked and the vampire's stolen blood splattered across the pristine white washed surface of the tomb behind it as the vampire was thrown off it's feet by the force of the strike. It flew a few feet, it's body twisting in the air as it instinctively tried to move away from the source of pain.
Xander stepped up as it hit the ground, dropping on the batons and paling a stake from his coat pocket. One quick swipe ended the fight and the vampire's undead existence.
Xander took a deep breath as he straightened up and looked around.
Spike let one vampire tag him on the lip, reveling in the feel of pain and the rush that ran through his system. The ensouled vampire found very few times that he could really let his inner demon out to play, ironically only allowing it to run through him when facing off against other vampires. Even most demons were not enough for him to let out the old blood rush anymore.
"Nice shot, pup." He snarled, not even bother to vamp out at the other vampire. "I almost felt it."
The two vampires looked at each other nervously for a moment, not liking the look in their opponents eyes in the slightest. An unspoken signal ran between them and as one, the charged him.
Spike sidestepped one, delivering a short punch to the other's face that stopped it dead in it's tracks and dropped it to the ground at a single blow. He kicked the fallen vampire with a swift boot to the neck that would keep it from getting up, then turned to the remaining vamp.
The vampire licked it's lips nervously, circling slowly as it looked for an opening. "You can't be Spike... Spike's a vampire..."
"What's your point?" Spike grinned, finally letting the demon out enough for his game face to come into evidence.
The startled vampire fell back in shock. "You... you.... why?"
Spike lunged forward, nailing the vampire with a right cross that staggered it back.
"Cause...!" He grunted out, rocking his opponent with a left jab.
"I...!" He grabbed it's hair, pulling it down as his knee came up and crushed it's face.
"Want to!" Spike growled out as he brought his right hand down in a crashing blow that felled the other vampire instantly.
For a moment he stood over the fallen vampires and just enjoyed the rush run over him. Then it was gone and he felt a sickened sensation run back through his gut as he realized how much he had enjoyed the violence. Spike fought the feelings back, trying to hold onto the rush, but lost the battle as his stomach churned and the demon lost it's hold on his blood.
His face abruptly shifted back to normal and Spike looked around himself, lost for a moment.
"Spike!"
"What!?" He snapped turning around, instantly trying to force himself to calm down as he saw Xander start to walk toward him.
Xander pulled something from his belt and threw it underhand to Spike. "Finish them off."
He plucked the object out of the air easily and looked at it. It was a heavy Kukri blade, a solid knife he recognized from a few decades he had spent in Europe. For a moment he was awash in memories of atrocities he had committed with a knife very much like that one, but then the moment was gone and he nodded at Xander.
Spike unsheathed the blade and quickly dispatched the two vampires with a single stroke apiece. Afterward he resheathed the knife and made to pass it back to Xander.
"Keep it." Xander replied. "Wesley sent me up something that'll serve me well in it's place. Faith, check on Alicia."
Spike hesitated, normally preferring to use bare hands in a fight, but then conceded that the weapon would make an excellent finishing tool if nothing else. He fitted the sheathed knife into the back of his belt, safely hidden under his black duster, then turned back to the group. "This the best Rupes could find?"
Xander followed his stare to the Watcher who was working his way to his feet, and shrugged. "The Council was decimated, Spike... Whoever's left is what we've got to work with."
The Watcher, Jose, took umbrage at that remark as he got to his feet. "Now see here!"
"No, you see here!" Faith growled from where she was pulling Alicia to her feet, "If you're going to do this job you need some more warm bodies at least!"
The Potential groaned as she stumbled a bit, falling against Faith.
"And you!" Faith growled, shaking the potential. "What the hell are you thinking? We taught you better then this..."
The potential winced. "Sorry..."
"Not good enough." Xander glared. "Don't you remember anything I told you? We go in together, as a group. We watch each other's backs. We come out together, *as a group*."
"We're alone here..." Alicia protested. "Giles doesn't have anymore people to send..."
Xander growled, shaking his head. "Have you looked for the local hunters?"
"What?"
"Local hunters." Xander repeated, then sighed. "You don't honestly think that you're the only ones fighting demons here in New Orleans do you?"
"No one told us about others..." She protested.
"That don't mean they ain't there, luv." Spike said calmly as he lit a cigarette. "As sodding blind as you lot are, even humans aren't that stupid. There are always some hunters... especially in a town like this."
"Now see here!" Jose protested. "You're talking about teaming up with rank amateurs! People who have no knowledge of mystic combat, or magical beings..."
Xander shook his head, looking to the sky in wonder. "What the hell do you think you're here for? You're a Watcher! You supply them with the information they need to kill what ever it is that's out there."
"This is completely against the traditions..." Jose sputtered for a moment, but was interrupted.
"Tradition got us in this mess." Xander snapped, walking up to him until he was eye to eye with the dark skinned watcher. "So screw tradition. You're the Watcher. You advise the *Slayers.* And from now on, anyone who fights is a Slayer. Got me?"
Jose shivered under the glare of the single eye, finally nodding. "I... I've got you."
"Good." Xander said, turning away. "Tomorrow we'll start looking for the local group or groups... see if we can't bring a little twenty-first century common sense to the traditional know how... ok?"
Alicia nodded, smiling. "Ok."
"Meantime," Xander looked around. "Let's finish up this patrol and get back to your base of operations."
The rest of the patrol was relatively uneventful as the group bagged only another three vampires before calling it a night. They shortly found themselves at the New Orleans HQ for the new Watcher and his potential Slayer.
Xander glanced over the old place a moment before he walked up the stairs, allowing his carpenter side to admire the classic architecture of the old Plantation building.
"Nice place." He said.
"Thank you." Jose returned.
"Hire someone to burn the fields and clear the trees back a hundred feet."
"I beg your pardon!?"
"You heard me." Xander said, "have those old fields burned down, then get them plowed over and have grass seed spread over the are. And those trees around back give too much cover to anyone who wants to sneak up on you. Is the place sturdy?"
Jose stared at him in shock for a moment before blinking furiously. "Now see here, I do not have to take this from some front line enforcer!"
Xander turned to look at him for a moment, then just turned and walked away. "Take my suggestion now, or take Giles' order later. I promise you, if you choose the second option I'll make certain you learn why Rupert Giles used to be called 'Ripper'."
While Jose was staring after him, flustered, Xander walked up to where Alicia was still looking a little out of it from the beating she had taken earlier. When he spoke to her his voice was a lot warmer then it had been earlier. "Hey, Al... you doing ok?"
She nodded, "I'm sorry, Xander..."
Xander shook his head, "Don't worry about it... just don't forget either, ok?"
She nodded resolutely.. "Ok."
Xander grinned at her, "Cool. So, how's the stiff treating you?"
She smiled hesitantly, then giggled a bit. "He's ok... He's just... well, stiff."
Xander chuckled, "Don't worry, you'll work it out of him."
She was about to reply, when a call came up from the door.
"Hey whelp!" Spike growled at the threshold, "A little help here?"
Xander frowned, "Sorry, Spike. You, tweed man!"
"What?" Jose asked, annoyed.
"Invite him in."
"What!?"
"Invite him in." Xander repeated.
Jose looked between Xander and the door where Spike was leaning on the door Jam looking impatient. Something clicked in his mind and the Cuban paled, "I most certainly will not."
Xander growled, and was about to say something further but then turned to Alicia. "Al?"
She nodded, "Come on in, Spike."
"Thanks, Luv." The bleach blond vampire said as he walked inside, looking around.
"Alicia!" Jose said in shock, "The *first* rule...!"
"Don't get your britches in a knot, Watcher." Spike said as he walked past. "Me and the little one go back a ways... she knows me."
"That's not a big plus for your side of things Spike." Xander grinned from here he was standing.
"Har de har har." Spike growled, "Where do you want this junk?"
"The table." Xander nodded to a large hardwood table that took up the center of the room they were in.
Spike nodded and unceremoniously deposited his load on the table. "There ya go."
"Thanks." Xander said as he pulled the items apart and looked them over. "Now how did Wills set this damned thing up?"
He relatively quickly setup the slim laptop computer and connected it to a cellular modem. After he was done he sighed, "I liked it better when Wills handled all of this..."
After a moment he sat down at the table and turned the system on. "Ok... Hey, Watcher-man... What's the red alert?"
"Excuse me?"
"You punched the Panic button, right?" Xander said. "Brought us here? What's up?"
"What are you doing with that thing?" Jose asked, staring at the computer skeptically.
"Wave of the future." Xander grinned, "You're going to have to buy one for here you know... We've got a couple computer experts in Sunnydale taking all the data we gather in the field and setting it up into an online data base. That way any field op will be able to access it from any internet connection."
Jose grimaced, "I am NOT buying one of those... those..."
"Infernal machines?" Xander grinned. "Must be something they teach at Watcher-U. Sorry Jose, but it's soon to be standard. Every field team will be required to file reports with these."
Jose Santos looked like he was going to be ill. "Oh dear."
"Ok." Xander repeated, "You called us for what again??"
Jose rolled his eyes, sighing. "I already told you. We encountered a situation with a local priestess who has apparently been turned by a vampire... I did not call you, I merely reported the situation to Rupert Giles, as is the new procedure."
"Right..." Xander shook his head. "What kind of resources does this priestess have?"
"The Queen immediately turned her closest followers, establishing a rather nasty cadre of minions." Santos said, "when we arrived in town we used the traditional Watcher safe house, only to be firebombed and have a voodoo curse placed on the building within twenty four hours. Alicia and myself were forced to abandon the area and move here."
Xander looked up, "Is this place safe?"
"It should be." Jose said, "It's not part of the Watcher resources, traditionally. It was purchased a hundred and thirty years ago by one of our field agents investigating the adaptation of Voodoo to North America... It's been out of use since then."
Xander looked around, eying the room around him. "Looks like it's been kept up..."
"Well yes..." Jose shrugged, "Apparently no one at the Council noticed that they were paying for the upkeep."
Xander snorted. "Bureaucracies."
Jose just shrugged, and Xander got back to typing on the computer. After a moment he leaned back and frowned as he clicked the send button on the program he was using.
"Voodoo in New Orleans..." He muttered as he watched the message go out, "What are the odds?"
"I fail to see what we are doing?" Jose muttered as he sat in the backseat of the SUV while Xander wheeled it through the narrow streets of New Orleans.
"Our girl Red found a Techno-Weenie who runs a magic show down this way." Faith said over her shoulder. "We figured it would be a good place to start looking for the local bad asses."
"Techno-Weenie?" Jose asked with a grimace of distaste.
"A Techno-Pagan, actually." Xander filled in, "She's into online voodoo spells and gags like that. Nothing black, near as we can tell... and most of it is a load of crap... but she did put one real healing spell on her web site... So we're checking her out."
"Do you mean to tell me that a Voodoo Priestess is actually giving out spells over computer connections!?" Jose asked, his face falling in shock.
Xander shrugged, "We don't know yet. She might have just found a real spell and not known what it was... but it's telling that the one spell that works is a harmless white magic healing spell."
"Next to useless too," Faith added, "According to Red."
Xander nodded. "Yeah. But it's still a lead."
"Perfect." Jose muttered.
Jessica Sams looked up at four people walked into her shop, frowning.
The first one through the door caught her attention and held it. He was tall, looked to be just over six feet, and had a dark presence that seemed utterly foreign to him. His face was creased with laugh lines, but now it was coldly serious. Her eyes were drawn and held by the patch on the man's face, even as his one good eye locked onto her.
"C... can I help you?"
The man walked up to her, "We're looking for VoodooBunny23."
The absolute absurdity of that phrase coming from this imposing figure almost tore a laugh from her throat. "What?" She gasped out.
Behind the figure the two women snickered and laughed, while the other man merely looked uncomfortable.
"You run a website for this store, right?"
She nodded dumbly, suddenly understanding what he was saying. "Oh... yeah... that's me I guess."
"Good." The man said, pulling a sheet of paper from his pocket and handing it to her, "Tell me about this."
She hesitantly took the paper and looked at it. "Um... It's taken from my site... it's a healing spell I posted."
"Tell me about it."
"What's to tell?"
The man sighed, looking over his shoulder. "Jose... Check the stock... see if this place is legit, or just a fakeout."
"Huh? Oh... right." The man in the tweed suit nodded, and quickly moved to peruse her stock.
"Hey! What's he doing?" Jessica asked in protest.
"Just browsing." The man with the Patch said, "Relax... I'm Xander, by the way... you?"
She accepted his hand reluctantly and responded. "Je... Jessica."
"Hi Jessica." The figure, Xander, smiled for the first time since he'd walked in.
The smile seemed warm, but she shivered at the feeling that something was just wrong feeling that much warmth from this particular man. "H... hi. What do you want?"
"We just need to check your stock..." Xander said reassuringly.
"How come? Are you guys with the better business bureau?"
Xander chuckled.
"What's up boytoy?" The older of the two women who walked in with him asked, walking up.
"Nothing, Faith," Xander responded. "Just a funny comment."
"Knowing your sense of humor she probably just started reading the phone book." Faith muttered before turning back to the younger girl.
"O...ok..." Jessica looked around at the way her shop had been taken over, "So your not with the big bad bastards... who are you guys?"
Xander smirked, but didn't respond. Instead he just looked around the shop. "Nice place."
"Thanks." Jessica said, watching as Xander ran his finger along the counter and walked to the end of the display case.
"Is this a Rakana Orb?" He asked casually.
She looked over to where he was pointing and nodded. "Umm... yeah, I guess."
"You shouldn't keep it next to you're spell components." He said, "Some of them react badly with Summarian conjuration orbs."
"Huh?"
Xander sighed, shaking his head. He looked over his shoulder, "Jose?"
The other man shrugged, "Some items here are authentic... but they are hopelessly lost in the general clutter."
Xander nodded, turning back to Jessica. "You just start in this business? Inherit it from someone maybe?"
"Yeah..." Jessica looked confused. "My grandmother just died... she left it to me."
"Let me guess... she was a true believer, right?" Xander asked, "But you never bought all that junk about magic and stuff..."
Jessica shifted slightly, "Ummm... well yeah, of course."
"Well this has been a dead end." Faith muttered, annoyed.
"Maybe not." Xander turned back to Jessica, "Do you have any regulars? Customers who act like they know more about the business then you do? Probably come in and tell you not to put Rakana Orbs next to Beetle Essence and stuff like that?"
"Ummm... well, yeah." Jessica admitted. "Some of the older clients tell me stuff like that from time to time."
Xander smiled, "I'd listen to them."
"Why?"
Xander looked down at the display case. "Cause if you accidentally combine the two you'll shatter the orb and probably need a trip to the hospital to get the glass shards pulled out."
"What!?" She looked down at the case.
"Personal experience." Xander winced at the memory. "My ex has a shop like this in Sunnydale California."
She looked back at the case in horror. "You're serious?"
He nodded. "If I were you I'd move the orb over to the next case..."
She quickly did so, suddenly not willing to take the chance. When she had locked up the other case she looked back up. "I didn't know this stuff was so dangerous..."
Jose muttered something that Xander didn't hear, but he ignored it."Most people don't. Look... we need to find some people... the kind of people who might be coming in here to browse around, picking up books for research purposes... stuff like that."
"I don't know..." She hesitated, "I don't think I'm supposed to give out customer names."
Xander nodded and pulled out a folder from his jacket pocket, "I'm afraid I'm going to have to insist."
She looked at the ID he passed her and gulped. "Ok... I'll call up the records on the computer?"
Xander smiled at her, "Thanks... That's be perfect."
The group was sitting in a sidewalk diner, enjoying coffee as they watched the sun go down.
"Excuse me, Mr Harris?"
"Call me Xander, Jose."
"Err... ummm... yes, well..." Santos shifted uncomfortably. "What exactly did you show the shopkeeper to make her give you access to those files?"
Xander smiled, pulling the item in question from his pocket. "Here."
Santos frowned, opening it up. He shook his head, looking at the blank leather wallet for a time before handing it back. "I fail to see the point of handing me this."
Xander smiled, then handed it back. "Look now, and don't bother me again."
Jose frowned in irritation, opening it again. He quickly handed it back, nodding. "Ah. Very good, Sir."
Xander smirked at him, while Faith and Alicia looked confused.
"Hey boytoy? What's up with the tweed man?"
Xander chuckled, "Wesley added a charm to the wallet... it responds to the expectations of the person reading it. Make them think they see whatever they need to see in order to comply with a single statement. It's a grey level sort of magic though, a little Jedi mind trick."
"Cool." Alicia grinned. "Can I get one? I could so kick ass at school with one of those."
Xander closed his eye and shook his head.
Jose as blinking hard, trying to clear his mind of the charm's effect. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't confront Xander about it though, because the charm prevented him from 'bothering' the young man. Instead he frowned at Alicia, "Alicia! That kind of magic is very close to bordering on the black arts... improper use of it can lead to serious repercussions."
Xander nodded. "He's right, Al... Don't play with mind control magic if you can avoid it. It tends to backfire."
She pouted, "How come you get all the cool toys."
Xander took a deep breath, "Because, this time, I didn't ask for them."
That said, Xander handed the ID back to Jose, "Don't worry about what I said about bothering me."
Jose nodded, taking the ID and flipping it open. Instantly his mind cleared and he glared at Xander. "I suppose I should say thank you... but that was very... impolite."
Xander nodded. "I know. Sorry. If it's any consolation, the charm is a very short term sort of thing... it would have worn off by tomorrow. The idea is to give us a chance to do our job without interference... not let use brainwash large portions of the population."
"I presumed as much when you said that it was grey magic." Jose said sternly, "Because as I recall the heavier versions of this charm require blood sacrifice... and I *do* hope you don't have any of those types working for you."
Xander shook his head, "You and me both."
Alicia looked around the narrow street of the neighborhood as the darkness fell around them, frowning slightly. "Shouldn't we get Spike for this?"
Xander shook his head, "No. Despite the small respect that I've got growing for the bleach boy, it wouldn't be smart to bring him along on a first contact with a hunter group. Too much potential for 'hilarious hijinx'."
Faith smirked slightly nodding as she looked at the sheaf of paper in her hands, "Man this gal should be a walking reference library on vamps and demons."
Jose nodded from where he was looking over her shoulder, "Indeed. She has amassed a respectable occult library for a single individual."
"Let's just hope that she isn't some goth girl with an Anne Rice complex." Xander muttered as he watched the home.
Jose snorted, "Those books have lead more impressionable teenagers to their deaths then the bubonic plague."
Xander chuckled, "Tell me about it. If I didn't know the truth, *I'd* want to be a vamp."
"Good stories though." Faith said without looking up.
Xander shot her a scowl, "You just like the image of all the guy vamps kissing and touching each other."
Faith grinned and shrugged, "Guilty. I can even see Spike and Angel..."
"Spare me!" Xander practically screamed, "Jesus, Faith! I DON'T want that image stuck in my head!"
Faith leaned all the way over until her lips were just brushing his ear. He shivered as her breath tickled the inside of his ear drum.
"If you like, I'm sure I can arrange a new image to replace it..." She whispered in a breathy voice.
Xander shivered again, trying to gather what was left of his wits, when he saw the door to the house they were watching open up. He straightened in the seat of the SUV and started the quiet engine. "Time to move."
Faith huffed as she fell back into her place and fastened her seatbelt. As Xander slowly pulled the black SUV out of it's parking place she glared out the windshield, straight ahead.
Leanne 'Lee' Leblanc walked quickly as the sun settled behind her, wanting to get to her destination before the safety of the twilight was lost completely. She was late, but that wasn't unusual, and she was carrying the answer to one of her friends problems. An answer that had been garnered from a very old book that she'd had to pay a lot of her own money to get.
She turned the corner two blocks down from her house and broke into a light jog to get to her destination before the shadows that encompassed the streets grew large enough to engulf her.
"Hey Ti-Do." A grinning voice called out as she opened the door and slipped through, "You look like the devil his self is on your tail."
She scowled at the guy, a tall dark haired young man. "Keep your mind off my tail and on the job, Michelle. And don't call me that."
"Ah now, come on... be nice to a poor cajun boy, Ti-Do." the guy grinned, "A true man needs a pretty face in his mind when he fights, gives him courage."
She scowled at him and brushed aside as she walked through the old reception hall of the heritage building and into the main hall where a small group was waiting. The three young people looked up and nodded at her, but no one spoke. It wasn't a time for words.
"I found it."
"Good." A slightly older woman said as she kept her attention on a set of bones in front of her. "The time is approaching."
"What do you see?" Lee asked tremulously.
She shrugged, "I don't do this as well as Nan. I can't see the details, Lee... I just see this wall bearing down on us. Past that... nothing."
The people in the room shifted, not certain how to take that.
"We gonna die, Lar?" A young boy asked as he sharpened a long knife with smooth, measured strokes of the blade.
Lar shook her head, "I don't know, Tommy... But something's coming... and when it hits... ain't nothing going to be the same, Cher."
"Aren't we going in?" Alicia asked impatiently from her seat.
Xander shook his head, "No. We'll need to catch them doing something before they're likely to talk to us... If some joker had ever bust in on the scoobs and said that he was a vampire hunter we'd probably have laughed him out of the library. Or tried at least..."
"Besides." Faith said quietly, "I want to see how they move before I make any decision about trusting our backs to them."
Xander nodded in agreement, but didn't speak.
"Oh." Alicia said quietly, "ok."
So the group settled in to wait and watch.
"Let's go."
Lar and Lee looked up and nodded. "Alright Jason."
Around the room people began packing up their things, getting ready.
"Were to tonight, Jace?" Michelle asked as he slipped a small hand axe into his belt and covered it with an old midnight blue jacket.
"Worthington." Jason 'Jace' Grande said sullenly. "Gonna be a rising there tonight."
"Only one?"
Jace shook his head, "Not that type of rising."
Michelle grimaced, "Shit man. I don wanna do one of those again..."
"You think any of us do?" Jace asked, shrugging on his black jacket and checking to make sure it covered his weapons. "It's the job."
Michelle shrugged, "If dis is the job, where's my danger pay?"
Quiet chuckles echoed around the room, but Jace wasn't in a mood to hear it. "That's enough. You know what's going to happen... you know we can't let it go."
Reluctantly everyone nodded, finishing up the last of their preparations and then the group filed out the door.
"Wake up, lover." Faith nudged Xander, who merely scowled across at her.
"I'm awake, Faith." Xander said, "And I see them."
They watched as the young group piled into a mini-van and drove off, Xander quickly starting the engine of the SUV and following them.
The followed the maroon mini-van through the New Orleans night, until they came to another of the city's infamous 'cities of the dead'. Xander parked the SUV a short distance from the mini-van and they quickly got out and followed the New Orleans group into the graveyard.
"What are they doing?" Alicia frowned as they spotted the crew a short distance into the fields of tombs, standing in a loose semi-circle while a woman seemed to be chanting.
"Voodoo." Jose said curtly. "It's a protection ritual, Alicia... strictly white magic."
"Good." Xander said, "That's a point in their favor."
Faith snorted, shaking her head. "And here comes three points against them."
Xander shifted his gaze to where Faith had been watching and saw three vampires sneak up on the groups blindside. He sighed, "Everyone hold until I give the word."
The group stood stiffly while Lar did her ritual, dropping a scattering of bones to the ground around her.
It was Michelle who, bored with the spellcasting, shifted impatiently and spotted the unwanted guests.
"Merdre!" He muttered under his breath and drew his axe.
The others turned slightly to look at him, and were shocked into action as they saw him intercept three vampires only a few feet away.
Tommy drew his long knife, the blade looking like a short sword in his young hands, and grabbed a bone dagger from his belt with his free hand as he recognized the vampires for what the were.
"God!" Lee blurted in shock as she jumped back and fumbled for the two stakes she knew were hanging on her belt.
Jace looked back with a cold stare and spun silently, leveling two small hand crossbows as he did. The silent weapons spat once apiece, each throwing out a small wooden bolt that hurtled across the distance that separated the vampires from him and buried themselves into the dead flesh.
The first vampire vanished into dust without a sound, but the second merely yelped in pain as the bolt bit into his shoulder. He snarled and vamped out, charging at his attacker, only to be tripped up as his feet were entangled by a small body at his feet.
"What the hell!?" He snarled as he hit the ground and rolled clear. He was on his back as he saw this young boy, who couldn't be more then eleven years old, climb up on him and drive a strange dagger into his chest.
The vampire blinked in shock as he felt a sudden pain from his chest, and he managed to blurt a single word. "Huh?"
Then he vanished into dust, leaving Tommy grinning ferally down at him. The little boy look up from the dust under him, and raised his eyes to the dark sky. "Another one down, mum. Another one down."
The last vampire left didn't have time to realize that he was alone before he felt the bite of a sharp blade in the back of his neck. He started to scream, but it was lost in the rush of air as his body dusted and drifted away.
Michelle looked back around, "We all in one piece?"
Everyone nodded.
"Good." He shrugged, looking to Lar. "Come on Wicked Witch of the bayou... finish up before..."
There was an eerie sound around them and the group looked around themselves, sick to their stomachs.
"Oh hell."
"Not bad." Faith shrugged. "I'd like em better if they hadn't spotted the vamps by accident."
"Better lucky then good, Faith." Xander smiled slightly.
Faith snorted, "Right."
"Oh dear."
Xander turned to Jose, frowning. "What?"
Jose pointed to the group, "Look..."
"KILL THEM ALL!"
Jace's scream galvanized the group and shook then from their frozen state of shock and fear. Around them the tombs of the dead were being shaken and shattered by the force of those within, trying to escape.
Michelle hefted his hand axe as he charged the closest figure as it stumbled through the shattered remains of a tomb door. He buried the stainless steel blade deep in the shambling monster's skull, screaming a french curse as he did.
Lar, the Voodoo Priestess, immediately raised her hand and muttered a ward under her breath as she pulled Tommy close to her.
Jace swore loudly and often to anyone who had the time to listen as he pulled a short sword from under his coat. He cast about looking for any targets that weren't immediately obvious, his fears being realized as a hand rose from the ground and grabbed Lee by the ankle. His swearing was drowned out by her screams as he dove across the ground and swept the blade of his sword through the hand with a downward chop.
Lee kept screaming as she jumped clear, the disembodied hand still clenched toghtly around her wrist.
Michelle grabbed her by the shoulder and spun her around, "Come on Ti-Do! Get it together, we have to think or we will die here tonight!"
When she didn't stop screaming he rapped her once on the forehead with his fingers, startling her into silence.
"Are you alright now, Cher?"
She shook her head, "No... but I'm better..."
"Good. Get your weapon then." He said, turning away to face another shambling wreck as it burst out of it's tomb.
Lee nodded, dragging a slim bladed short sword from under coat and holding it unsteadily as she watched one of the shambling wrecks approach her.
Around the group over thirty of the things had broken free of their confinements and were centering on the group, forcing the young hunters into a tighter and tighter ball as they went back to back.
"Let's go." Xander said, drawing his silenced SOCOM's from under his coat as he moved.
"What are they!?" Alicia muttered in shock.
"Zombies." Xander said over his shoulder. "Destroy their central nervous systems."
"Huh?"
Faith grinned over her shoulder as she followed Xander toward the fight, "Take their heads off, Al. Move it!"
The Watcher and the Potential hesitated a moment, but were quickly moving in pursuit of their two allies as Xander and Faith raced toward the besieged hunters.
Lee fell back as she took another swipe at the attacking Zombie, missing the lurching figure as it shambled toward her. The creature brought up it's hands in a move to grab her, but suddenly froze in position as a burst of black gore erupted from it's head and it abruptly collapsed.
Lee stared in shock as the thing fell at her feet, then she brought her eyes up and cast about instinctively. To one side she saw figures rushing toward them out of the shadows, two in the lead and two following.
The closest of them brandished a slim sword, not unlike her own, but held it with a much more competent air then did Lee herself. The second, was holding a black pistol in each hand as he ran forward, ugly weapons that looked far too long for their size.
"Who de hell is this?" Michelle muttered as he decapitated one of the zombies, having hacked through it's neck with no less then three strokes before the head finally agreed to detach from the body.
Jace glanced around, trying to figure out what they were talking about. "Don't know! Don't care! Take the undead bastards first! Then we'll deal with anything else!"
Faith dove into the fray in her typical manner, her razor sharp short sword slicing through the spinal chords of the zombies with single stroke perfection. Her moves were fluid and easy, a sign of the Slayer influence, but brutal and merciless, Faith's own personal trademark.
Two of the zombies were returned to the land of the dead before the rest even had a clue that the reaper was among them, and three more had followed suit before the rest reacted.
After that, things didn't go as easily for her. The Zombies were fearless, if not overly bright, and didn't mind giving their undeath in exchange for distracting her long enough for their brethren to close the gap and engage her hand to hand.
As the first rotting claw descended on her shoulder, it's long nails drawing blood, Faith screamed in fury and swung her hacking blade around. The offending corpse dropped in it's tracks, it's head following a moment later.
She continued the spin, knocking another back with an elbow to the face that it technically never felt, and proceeded to hack the arm off another who dared invade her space.
Xander kept his distance, circling around until he had a shot at a target that wasn't marred by the presence of a human on the other side of the Zombie. Then he'd double tap the undead creature with two 9mm rounds to the head, and move on to the next.
It wasn't brain surgery, at least not in the strictly ethical and legal sense, and it wasn't pretty. He grimaced at the mess made by the semi-decomposed flesh as his bullets tore their path though flesh, bone, blood, and brains.
But even before the spatter of gore had settled onto the ground, he had moved on to the next target.
Jose managed to keep up with his charge as she rushed into the fight, even drawing his old saber as he ran.
This sort of thing was far from his vocation, he thought as he charged into the battle at the side of his Potential. He was a librarian, for god's sake. Not a field man. He'd never wanted to be a field operative, and by god he had made that abundantly clear to Mr Giles when the man had come into his small library and told him about the loss of the Watchers Council.
As his saber bit into the back of one of the rotting corpses that was attacking the others, Jose felt his mind reflect on the sheer insanity that had brought him into this place, and this time.
"There are no more positions for researchers, Santos." Rupert Giles snapped as he glared at the relatively young man in front of him. "How many times must I tell you? The Watchers Council is GONE!"
Jose quaked at the roar from the older man's voice. "I... I fail to see how that affects me. I am merely a researcher attached to the Council... I don't have field training..."
"God Damn it Santos!" Giles glared at him, "Let me explain this to you. The First is trying to sunder the Slayer line! Do you understand the ramifications of this act!?"
"T... there will always be a Slayer..."
"Something has changed!" Giles glared. "The First thinks it can destroy the Slayer line... prevent any others from being called. Do you understand me?"
Jose Santos nodded.
"Good." Giles said, mollified. "Then you understand that we mustn't allow it to succeed. The world is not at stake here, merely *our* place in it. Humanity will fall if we do not prevent this."
Jose shook, but managed to speak. "W... what do I have to do?"
Giles et out a long breath of victory, and allowed the junior man a small smile. "Here is what we must do... I am going to return to Sunnydale... to the Hellmouth, where the active Slayer is currently living... But we must assemble the remains of the Council, and every Potential we can find... So I want you to start...."
Jose snapped himself out of his reverie as he brought his saber down in a diagonal slash that buried the razor sharp weapon in the torso of a zombie that was making a grab for his Slayer.
"Alicia..." He admonished as he planted a boot in the twitching corpse and pulled his blade clear. "Do watch behind you."
She looked around, the down, and had the good grace to look embarrassed. "Sorry..." She said before using her own blade to complete the kill that Jose had started.
"Just do endeavor to not repeat the action."
"Huh?"
"Don't do it again."
"Oh. Right."
Xander looked around, as he ejected his spent clips to the ground of the cemetery, and pulled two fresh ones from her jacket pocket.
The numbers had evened out a lot, and from the looks of things the fight was pretty much won.
Faith was a dervish of destruction as she wove through the lumbering beasts that were the Zombies, her blade ending the undeath of more zombies then any five of the other put together.
With his pistols, Xander himself had accounted for no less them eight himself, putting him solidly in second place for kills, had anyone been counting. The others were divided more or less evenly among the rest of those present.
Xander even noted that the Watcher, Santos, had acquitted himself surprisingly well.
His SOCOM pistols clicked as he slid the clips home, then he wracked both slides back with a deft motion of his hands and was back in business.
He spotted one of the zombies moving against Alicia and her Watcher, and shouted out a command. "Al! Hit the dirt!"
He was instantly gratified when she obeyed without question, and triggered off two rounds from his right pistol to end the zombies tortured existence.
Faith heard Xander shout and spared a brief glance in the direction of the Potential, but instantly turned away when she saw Alicia obey Xander's order.
Trusting Xander to watch her back, as well as that of the others present, Faith kept her focus turned on the three remaining Zombies on her side of the fight.
The things were strong, as a few contusions she now sported would attest, but clumsy slow and for the most part brain dead. Faith dropped one of them with a contemptuous slice of her blade, then snapped the neck of another with a kick that would have shattered a cinder block.
The last one fell, not to Faith, but to the hand axe of a tall dark haired youth. Faith grinned and winked at him, "Thanks beefcake, but I could have handled him."
"No doubt, Cheri." The youth replied with a grin, "But I do like to handle my part of the dance."
Faith grinned at him, then glanced over her shoulder to where some more were attacking the youth's friends. "Well then... another turn around the floor?"
"You lead, Cher." The youth grinned, "I shall follow."
Xander glanced around as the last of the Zombies went down, snapping out a quick command. "Faith. Al. Jose. Sound off!"
"I'm good, boytoy." Faith said, grinning as she kicked an unresponsive corpse at her feet.
"I'm ok, Xander!"
"And I... I as well." Jose said slowly, stretching out the kinks. "Though I must say... It has been too long since I used a blade."
"It'll come back." Xander said, allowing himself a slight smile as he turned his attention to the others.
Jace snarled as he was spattered by the gore from the Zombie's throat as his sword sliced through it's neck. The creature hit the ground and he looked around, a slightly wild look in his eyes. "Guys!"
"Here." Lee said shakily as she climbed back to her feet.
"'Ere." Michelle said as he straightened from eliminating a zombie at his feet.
"Tommy and I are ok." Lar said slowly and evenly.
Jace nodded, turning his attention to the four interlopers. As he did, he saw the youngest male of the group casually fire two rounds into the head of a twitching corpse before moving on to the next one. "Who are you?"
"Xander Harris." The guy said, toeing another corpse to see if it was still among the undead. "Looked like you could use a hand."
"We had it together, Mon Ami."
Xander glanced up at the man who had spoke, a twinkle in his eye. "Oh, I'm sure you did...?"
"Michelle." The guy said, "And no, it's not a girl's name."
Xander chuckled, "I'm sure. Anyway, Michelle, from what I know about Zombie's I'm sure you probably could have handled them. But why do things the hard way when you don't have to?"
Michelle nodded reluctantly and fell back a step.
"I'm Jace." Jace said, nodding stiffly at Xander. "Thanks for the help."
Xander shrugged, "It's what we do."
Jace shared a glance with Lar, then frowned. "Care to explain that?"
Xander shrugged, "It's fairly easy to understand. If it's trying to end the world or kill people, we handle it. It's what we do."
"Who's 'we'?"
"We." Faith said with an almost lecherous grin. "As in me, the boytoy, the old guy, the babette, and the room temperature limey who isn't here."
"Huh?"
"Don't encourage Faith." Xander said, finally putting his weapons into the hip holsters. "Give her half a chance and she'll give you all nicknames within thirty seconds."
"A... a... and that would be a bad thing?" Lee asked nervously.
"Depends." Xander shrugged, flashing a grin at her that caused her to shiver despite herself as the moonlight caught off his one good eye and the patch gave him a momentarily evil look. "How would you like going through life being called Boytoy?"
Lee giggled involuntarily, her hand flying up to her mouth as she tried to stifle the laughter. She kept trying until he suddenly grinned wider and winked at her. That was all it took, and the giggles broke out of her in bursts.
Xander grinned as the girl broke down and turned back to the group's apparent leader. <Haven't lost my touch.>
"Alright then." He said seriously, "Double check the corpses, then we clear out. Everyone check the ground, around AND under the corpses... make sure nobody dropped anything that might lead back to you."
Everyone hesitated for a moment, until Jace nodded. "Do it."
Clean up took several minutes, and a short while after that both groups found themselves standing outside the 'city of the dead', looking at each other somewhat nervously.
Or rather, Jose and Al were nervous. Xander and Faith looked almost bored, though anyone who knew them would easily see that they were both intently studying the members of the New Orleans group.
Of the other's, Lee and Tommy were shifting nervously. Lar seemed serenely content with the current situation, while Jace was making a show of his indifference. Only Michelle was actually interested and showing it, and he was mostly interested in Faith.
"Come on, Cher." He wheedled as he slipped in beside her. "Give me a name?"
"Faith." She replied, smiling slightly.
"As in have some?" He grinned suggestively.
"Not without her permission." Xander cracked, "unless you like the idea of being introduced to your privates... eye to eye, as it were."
Michelle laughed out loud in response to that, until he caught a gleam in Faith's eyes that seemed to promise that the other man wasn't joking.
"Alright. Enough with the wise cracks." Jace muttered, "Who the hell are you people? And what are you doing here?"
Xander shrugged.
Faith grinned, "We're like you. Fighters. And we're here, cause we want to talk to you."
"Oh?"
"Yeah." Xander said, leaning against his SUV. "Just a meet and greet..."
"Why?" Jace's question was succinct.
"Because Faith and myself aren't going to be in town long... But Al and Jose here are based here. We want you and them to work together." Xander said flatly.
The group murmured amongst themselves for a moment, but then Jace motioned them to silence. "Why should we?"
Xander shrugged, "Well... you ever hear of the Slayer?"
"What?"
Xander smiled, "Hey Faith... catch."
With that he reached into the SUV and suddenly whipped a wrench at Faith's head.
Her hand shot up instantly, catching the heavy tool, and she glared at Xander. "Don't you go turning into a Watcher on me, boytoy. I'd hate to have to ruin your 'usefulness' to me."
Xander winced, shuddered, and nodded. "Fair enough. Show them."
Still scowling at Xander, Faith grabbed the wrench in both hands and bent it in half.
As everyone gaped at the slim girl, and Michelle took a few more steps back, Xander shrugged. "That's a Slayer."
"What the hell is she?"
Faith growled, "Watch it, *boy*. 'She' has a name."
"Don't annoy a Slayer." Xander said causally. "They usually have hair triggers and can easily rip you in half before it occurs to them to wonder if your were joking."
Faith smirked at Xander, "Awww, you say the sweetest things, Boytoy."
Jace swallowed. "Alright. What does she have to do with anything? You said she's leaving."
"She is." Xander confirmed, "our group will be on call for big stuff though... but that's not what I mean. Al over here, is a potential Slayer."
Alicia squirmed a little under the gaze of the group.
"What does that mean?" Lee asked.
Faith scowled. "It means, that when I bite the big one... Al's got a shot at being the new chosen one."
A quiet fell over the crowd, and Xander nodded. "Slayer's have a very short life expectancy... when one dies, another is called. Their lives are even shorter if they fight without some backup. After what I saw tonight, I want you to be Al's backup."
Michelle plucked a piece of grass from the base of the cemetary wall and casually chewed on it, "So you want us to babysit the little one t'ill she blooms huh?"
"Babysit!?" Al growled, brandishing her sword. "I'll show you what you can babysit!"
"Al." Xander said quietly.
She turned to look at him, "But he..."
"Al."
"But..."
"Al."
Finally she deflated and sank back.
Xander turned to Michelle, "How many vamps you kill?"
Michelle shrugged, "I dunno... dozen maybe."
"How many of those refuse to dust when you staked them?" Xander asked again, "And how many of them were able to throw a human through a cement wall?"
Michelle looked around nervously, "Vampires can't do dat."
Xander smiled, "No. But Turuk'kan can. And Al here has at least one of those under her belt, right Al?"
"Right."
"How many vampire's did you get?" Xander asked causally.
She shrugged, "I stopped counting after the war."
"Ummm..." Lee spoke hesitantly. "War?"
"Al also fought, and survived, a war with the First Evil." Xander replied, "and I do mean, WAR. So understand this, I'm looking for people to help her, to fight at her side, and to keep her alive. Just like I expect her to help you, fight at your side, and keep you alive."
Jace looked around, a little uncertain. He was about to shake his head when Lar came up and set a delicate hand on his shoulder and spoke for the first time. "We would be proud to help."
Jace stared at her in shock, but didn't say anything to contradict the priestess.
Slowly the group nodded.
Xander looked around, reading the group carefully, then nodded. "Alright. That said, the Slayer isn't the only thing we bring to the table."
"Oh?"
Xander scribbled the address of the Watcher's old plantation house on a card and handed it to Jace. "Meet us there tomorrow."
The next day Alicia came into the makeshift armory of the old plantation house, "They're coming up the drive now."
Xander nodded, tapping a twelve gauge cartridge down lightly as he poured a powder mixture into it. "Alright. You go ahead and meet them... show them in here."
"Are you certain that's wise?" Jose asked, looking around at the weapons that were stacked around the room.
Xander nodded. "Yeah. I want them to understand that we're not screwing around."
Al nodded, "You got it."
She left, running out to meet the gang.
Xander glanced over to where Spike was looking broodily at the Kukri blade he had given the vampire. "Spike... Hey! Spike!"
Spike looked up, "What?"
"Get ready for trouble." Xander said, "You know that they aren't going to react well to you."
Spike nodded, slipping the wickedly curved blade back into it's leather sheath. "Not a problem."
Xander nodded, but didn't bother to speak. He knew that there was a big problem, but it was also something for the vampire to work out with himself. Xander wasn't the likeliest candidate for giving the bleach blonde vamp a pep-talk anyway.
"You think they'll make a play for the bleached wonder?" Faith asked from where she was sharpening her light shortsword.
Xander shrugged, "I don't know. But you can bet that they won't be happy."
"Right." Faith smirked slightly toward Spike, "You kill anyone's mother around here, Bleach Boy?"
Spike snarled back at her, "Back off, Slayer. I'm not kissing your ass or beggin anyone for forgiveness."
"Damn right your not kissing my ass, Willie." Faith smirked back, "You'd enjoy it too much."
"Both of you, shut up." Xander muttered, shaking his head. "We present a united front to them, got it? No egos, no splits... we're a team."
"Team." Faith shrugged as she repeated the word. "Right."
Xander waited a bit, then looked at Spike. "Spike?"
"Right. Go Team Go." The vampire said flatly.
Xander sighed. Neither the Slayer nor the Vampire were what he would call morning people, or afternoon people for that matter. They barely seemed alive, so to speak in Spike's case, until night fell. Then they both tended to become *way* too alive in Xander's opinion.
Alicia opened the door and silently stepped back into the house as the New Orleans hunters walked up the porch. Jace was in the lead and he nodded to the young potential Slayer with grudging respect as he crossed the threshold of the home. Even in daylight it was a bad habit to invite people in, because if you got use to it then, you might slip up after the sun went down.
"Morning." Al said after the group had all come in.
They looked around at the old house, eyeing the gleaming polish on the heritage banisters and the expensive carpets.
"Nice digs, Cher." Michelle said, smiling at her.
Al shrugged, "It used to belong to the Council."
"The what?" Lee asked as she slipped her boots off.
"The Watchers Council." Alicia replied, "They used to train the Slayers..."
"Used to?"
"They're dead." Al said flatly. "The First Evil planted a bomb in the Council Headquarters... all that's left are a few stragglers like Jose."
"Oh... sorry."
Al shrugged, "No loss. They were pricks."
Lee's eyes widened at that, but she didn't have anything to say in response.
"Come on, the others are in the armory." Alicia said, motioning them to follow her.
"Armory?" Tommy looked up, "What's that?"
Lar laid her hand on his shoulder, "That's where they keep their weapons, Tommy."
"Oh..." the boy responded. "Why didn't she just say that?"
Xander glanced up from where he was loading the last shell into the Mossberg, nodding at each other newcomers in turn.
They, for their part, looked around the stocked armory with wide eyes.
"Mon Dieu." Michelle whispered, "You plan on starting a war?"
"No." Alicia said smiling. "We plan on finishing it."
"Al." Xander said softly.
Alicia nodded, falling silent.
Jace took a seat across from Xander. "Alright. We're here. What's the deal?"
"What do you know about the Queen?"
The entire group fell silent at that.
Xander nodded, "Ok. So you know something."
"What do you want to know?" Lar spoke quietly.
"Everything." Xander replied, closing the breech on the mossberg and setting the shotgun aside.
"Why?" Jace asked quietly.
"Why do ya think?"
The group looked over at the new voice, eyeing a blond they hadn't seen before.
"Who are you?" Jace asked him.
"Name's Spike." The blond said, lighting a cigarette with a casual flick of a Zippo lighter.
"Well... Spike..." Jace said, frowning. "What makes you think we're going to tell you anthing?"
"You're hunter's aint you? White hats?"
"Huh?"
"Good guys." Spike said, rolling his eyes. "Hero wannabes."
"We fight because we have to." Jace said coldly.
"Well that's the problem with you hero types, now aint it?" Spike muttered with disgust. "You only do stuff cause you have to."
"Oh yeah? What makes you different?"
Spike smiled at them, sending a chill up Lee's spine. "I do things cause I enjoy it."
"That's enough." Xander said, forestalling Jace's reaction. "You know why we're here. A Voodoo priestess turned to the black side is bad news... one turned into a vampire is even worse. Voodoo power runs strong in the other side of the Styx... And now the Queen has a direct conduit. She has to be taken down."
Jace froze for several long seconds, feeling the eyes of both groups on him. Finally he breathed out, "How do you know about the Queen."
Jose looked around at them all, "I started hearing rumors about a Priestess being turned almost as soon as I arrived in town. When those rumors proved to be true I decided that myself and a lone potential could not likely take on someone of that power."
"It was the right decision." Faith said, nodding at Jose, according the man a portion of respect for the first time since they'd met.
Xander nodded in agreement, then looked steadily at Jace. "Do you have something to tell us?"
Jace sighed.
"Her name was Nan." Lar spoke softly, her eyes boring into the floor. "She... she brought me up in the arts."
Xander fell back, letting out a long sigh of understanding. "So that's it."
Lar nodded. "She was my Aunt."