Nothing to Fear, Season 1 one-shot Part 3
Okay, here's the rest. I hope you all enjoyed my little story.
The next day when Buffy arrived at school, she was greeted by Xander and only Xander. When she asked where Willow was, the dark-haired boy shrugged. He was a little leery of the Slayer, but seeing her in the sunlight made him feel a smidgeon of relief. “I tried calling Will’s this morning, but her mom had no idea where she was, or even if she came home last night.”
Buffy noticed the teeth marks on Xander’s throat. She gave him a sheepish look. “I did that, didn’t I?”
Xander reached up to touch his neck. “Yeah, but it’s cool, Buff. It wasn’t like I didn’t deserve it.”
Buffy gave Xander a slight nod. “I guess we better check in with Giles, huh?”
“I didn’t see his car in the parking lot when I skateboarded through,” Xander commented. He strolled down the hallway beside his friend. “It seems kinda odd that both Willow and Giles are gone today.” He glanced around. “The nightmares have all seemed to disappear.”
“Yeah, they have, haven’t they?” Buffy nodded. She wasn’t ready to bring up the fact that she now had a vampire childe.
Across town, Spike had entered Willy’s Alibi Room, a demon bar and all around skanky establishment through the basement sewer entrance. He had found himself a nice crypt in the biggest cemetery in town that also had an entrance to the Sunnydale sewers. Spike strolled up to the bar, plopped down into a seat, and ordered some whiskey and blood.
Hours later found Spike not quite as drunk as he’d like to be and even less hungry. The infusion of Slayer blood the day before sated his hunger in ways he couldn’t even imagine. It made him wonder if he could convince the Slayer that fledglings needed Sire’s blood when newly turned to be nice, strong children. He chuckled to himself, Yep, still evil.
“Angel’s here,” Willy whispered to the best customer of the day. The snitch knew the bleached blond was a vamp, but the creature had paid in one hundred dollar bills all day, and if there was one thing Willy was, it was opportunistic.
“Let him come,” Spike replied with a shrug. “If he hurts me, my Sire will stake him.”
“William,” Angel growled. “I thought you were dusted.”
Spike turned around to study the ensouled version of his grandsire. “Sorry, mate. Undead and kickin’ as you can see.”
“I should stake you where you sit.” Angel stepped forward. “Buffy doesn’t need your kind of trouble in her town.”
“She doesn’t need your kind of trouble either, Captain Cryptic.” Spike took a swallow of whiskey. “Leavin’ the girl to fight the baddies while you go hide in the corner with the rats.”
Angel pulled a stake from his pocket, and he stepped towards Spike.
“I’d rethink that if I were you, Angel.” The Slayer’s steely voice rang out in the bar. “Spike belongs to me now, and I don’t like my belongings to get hurt.”
Angel whirled around to find Buffy standing behind him. She was dressed in her usual peppy cheerleader fashion with her hair up in a ponytail. He glanced at her neck, but he didn’t see any blemishes there to indicate that she was a vampire. Little did he realize that the marks from the little sip that Spike had taken the night before had already healed up quite nicely.
“Hello, luv.” Spike grinned at Buffy. “How was school?”
Buffy shrugged. “Xander was there. He forgave me for biting him while I was a vampire, but Willow and Giles never showed up at all. You want to go with me to check on them?”
“Anything for you, pet.” Spike rose to his feet, and he threw another large bill down on the bar. “Keep the change, Willy.”
“A pleasure doing business with you.” Willy nodded as he grabbed the money. “Come back again.”
“A vampire?” Angel looked flabbergasted. “What are you talking about, Buffy?”
“Nothing you need to worry your cryptic little head about,” Spike said in a condescending voice. “It’s already been taken care of.”
Buffy covered her mouth as she tried to suppress a giggle. “That one was good, Spike. I liked it.”
“Buffy?” Angel spluttered.
“Just come warn us next time you get some kind of cyptic-y-ness,” Buffy replied to Angel. “Spike and I can take care of it, I’m sure.”
Spike brushed past Angel, and he started to escort Buffy out of the bar. “Oh, don’t worry about the Master,” he tossed over his shoulder at his ex-grandsire. “I dusted the old bat-faced git last night.”
Angel watched the two blonds leave with an astonished look on his face. He had no idea what had just happened, but he wasn’t sure he liked it. Right now though, he needed to go check on Spike’s claim of dispatching the Master. That’d make things a whole lot easier around Sunnydale if he had.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EPILOGUE, SOME YEARS LATER
Willow watched with great caution as the bleached blond male came into her magic shop. The mirror told her that he was a vampire, but he didn’t seem at all interested in her per say, just the merchandise. She glanced up at Giles who was standing in the book section located on the second floor. Willow knew that he had a crossbow at the ready if the creature tried anything.
“Hurry up, Harris,” the man yelled out through the open door. “You know the Slayer won’t be happy if we’re late for the party.”
Willow had to keep her mouth from dropping when her old friend Xander strolled into the store. She knew he would never recognize her or Giles through the glamour that she had erected around themselves. Willow took in the rugged features of her childhood friend.
“It’s not Buffy we need to worry about,” Xander replied. “It’s Anya and Cordelia. You know how it is when they get together. Us menfolk don’t get any peace and quiet.”
“Hmmm,” Spike made a non-committal noise. “It’s like that every time the Cheerleader and the Poof blow in from Los Angeles. I would think you’d be used to it by now.”
“Hurry and pick up what we’re here for before Amy blinks us home without it,” Xander said. He looked around the store. “Nice set up you have here, Miss…” He looked at the clerk’s name tag. “Willa. My fiancée has a similar shop back in Sunnydale.”
“Found it.” Spike held up a bottle of spell ingredients. “Give the lady her money, Harris. I want to get home to my girl.”
Xander chuckled as he got his wallet out. “You just don’t want to miss the Manchester United game, blondie.”
“If ‘us menfolk’ don’t claim the telly, we’ll be watching the Nibblet’s Princess Bride movie again.” Spike and Xander shuddered together.
“Gotcha. Let’s get a move on.” Xander handed Willow some money. “Keep the change, okay? I’ll tell Anya that this is a nice little set up here. She’ll be thrilled to throw some business your way.”
Willow nodded in a daze. If the conversation was any indication of the way things were back in Sunnydale, she and Giles had run away for nothing. Xander was clearly alive even if he was in the company of a vampire, and he talked about Buffy like she was alive and well. Cordelia could only mean Cordelia Chase, Queen Bitch of Sunnydale, but who the heck was Anya?
“Well, it was nice meeting you,” Xander said to the silent clerk. “Maybe we’ll see each other again.”
Spike and Xander left the shop chatting about their friends and upcoming events. Outside they disappeared with a pop.
“Do you think we might have been a little quick to leave Sunnydale?” Willow asked Giles.
“I don’t know,” Giles replied. “I guess we just got caught up in the things we feared.”
THE END