Fanfiction: A Tale Of Slayers : Part 9-15
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“So what’s the plan?” Xander asked as he turned the Citroen onto Revello Drive.
“We just walk in there and say `hi’ to my mom and see what happens,” Buffy replied staring out ahead toward her house as they approached. Her eyes were alive with contained violence. Xander could only recall seeing that look on only a few occasions, and each time spelling trouble for any demon in the area.
“Do you see anything?” he asked.
“No. Still looks as empty as ever.”
They were referring to the house next door that was still without a resident ever since the body of Mrs. Kalish, the previous owner, had been found. Or what had been left of it. Even after over a year, no one wanted to live there. The irony was not lost on Xander, that the demon that had killed her was the man-of-bugs from the Order of Taraka that had nearly gotten him and Cordelia when they had come here looking for Buffy. Now it was likely that more Taraka creeps were holed up there staking out the Summers residence again.
Pain flashed briefly through his heart at the thought of Cordelia. It was funny how you never realized what you had, something right in front of you, until it is taken away. But he couldn’t let himself think about that right now. It had been over a month since they had broken up and he wasn’t going to kid himself anymore that the chances of him and Cordy getting back together were well acquainted with none.
He forced himself to focus on their current problem, right now.
He parked the car along the curb in front of her house. Xander got out first and hurried to the passenger side, just as Buffy was swinging her legs out of the car. She was still moving slowly, but her mobility was steadily returning. But he could tell that the pain was not bothering her as much as it had been. Adrenaline and a loved one in danger could help you forget. She let him have her arm as he helped her out of the car and escorted her up the walkway to the porch.
Buffy brought her free hand to her head and rubbed her temple with her fingers, as if fighting a headache, but she was looking at the other house from the corner of her eyes. Xander kept his eyes pointed toward the Summers house.
“See anything?” he asked.
“Yeah,” she said. “Something moved in the side window.”
“Make out what it was?”
“I’ll take a wild guess and say `something evil.’”
“Safe bet. Any idea how many?”
“Just saw one.”
“But they’re on a seek and capture mission, this time. I think even they know it’ll take more than one to take a Slayer alive.”
“Not if they see me like this.”
They made it up the steps to the porch without incident, though he doubted even the Order of Taraka would try to jump them in the front lawn in plain daylight. Then he quickly rescinded that, remembering the assassin chick posing as a cop during career week who tried to gun Buffy down during school hours. Buffy unlocked the door and they entered, locking it again behind them.
“Buffy?” they heard a voice coming from deep in the house.
“Mom,” Buffy called.
Joyce Summers came from the kitchen. “Buffy, where have you been? I knew you were going to be out all n—” She was stopped by the shock that went through her as she entered the foyer from the dining room and saw her daughter.
“Mom—,” Buffy said, trying to stay a panic attack from her mother. It didn’t work.
“My, God, Buffy! Are you okay?” She hurried to her girl and put a hand on her cheek, gaping at the bruises on her face, the cut above her right brow. If this was how she reacted when Buffy looked like this, Xander figured she would have really wigged if she had seen how she looked this morning.
When she had first found out about her daughter being the Slayer, Mrs. Summers had taken the news not very well at all. In fact, she had accepted it not without a lot of stress and misery. And matters had not been helped when Buffy had ran away the following day, not to be heard from for months, until she had returned after the summer ended. Xander had once joked with Willow that Buffy must have come back because she didn’t want to miss the new “Must See TV” line-up. Needless to say, his best friend had not found it funny. Neither had Xander.
“Mom, I’m okay. But right now I need—”
“Buffy, what happened to you?” Joyce demanded. “Was it a monster? Oh, of course it was! Did it almost kill you?”
“No, Mom, I’m fine, I swear!” Buffy put her hands on her mother’s arms, trying to calm her down. “I just had a rough night at the office. But Faith was there and she helped me out.”
“Is Faith all right?” she asked.
“Yeah, she’s fine.”
“Does she look as bad as you do?”
“Well,” Buffy stumbled over the words. “Last night wasn’t exactly, uh, a picnic for her either. She had to handle a lot of stuff, also, uh, too. And she looked really—” Buffy saw the expression on her mother’s face. “—tired?” Joyce’s gaze became a glare. “Really, she had these bloodshot eyes, they looked totally gross.” She glanced at Xander.
“It was very scary,” he chipped in. “Frightening.”
“Buffy,” she said, sternly.
“Mom,” the Slayer let her shoulders sag. “You know what I do can get dangerous. I know you worry and—”
Joyce raised a hand to stop her. She let out a breath. “I know. You’re a Slayer and there are job hazards that I must accept. I understand this, but that does not mean I am ever going to hate your job any less.” It seemed as if tears were about to fill her eyes as she looked at her daughter. “It’s just seeing you like this is a cruel bucket of cold water.” She shook her head, then wrapped her arms around Buffy.
Xander was in position to see the look of pain that filled Buffy’s face as her mother held her tightly, but she managed to keep from making any sounds that would alarm her. When Joyce finally pulled away, Buffy was wearing a forced smile that somehow looked sincere.
“See? I’m fine,” she told her mother.
But Joyce’s attention was else where. “What’s this,” she asked, in an alarmed voice. She placed a hand on Buffy’s side, over her stitches, and this time she was unable to stop a sharp gasp of pain from escaping. “My, God. That’s it. Buffy, you are going to your room and you are getting into bed. And you are going to tell me everything that happened!”
“Believe me, Mom, there is nothing in the world I want to do more than that, but… You know the work I mentioned? It followed me home, this time. Actually, it was already here. Next door, in fact.”
“What?” her mother asked. She took a moment letting it sink in. “You mean there are monsters in that house right now?”
Buffy nodded. “And now that I’m home, they’ll be coming over here.”
“Why? Are they trying to kill you?” she demanded.
“No. They’re after me and Faith. They’re trying to capture us. I don’t have time to explain. I need you to go with Xander upstairs. Get some of your things together. We’re getting you out of here.”
“What?” Joyce looked her daughter up and down. “You expect to be able to fight them like this? Alone?”
“I’m still good for a few more rounds.” When it looked like her mother was going to argue more, she quickly added. “You’re just going to have to trust me, Mom. Please. You may hate my job, but I know how to do it.”
Maybe it was the look in Buffy’s eyes, Xander thought, but Joyce gave up any other objections and nodded. She put a hand on her daughter’s cheek again. “Be careful.”
“I will.”
Joyce headed up the stairs and Xander moved to follow. Buffy grabbed his arm and he looked into her worried eyes. “Take care of her, Xander.”
Her friend put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “I won’t let you down, Buff.” She gave him a smile and he disappeared upstairs.
Buffy turned and looked at the house around her, the silence descending like a cloak. “Okay. I’m waiting.”
Anyone looking into the backyard of the Summers house would have seen what looked like a man, eyes hidden behind sunglasses, sneaking stealthily to the backdoor. He was about six feet tall, clean cut brown hair, a couple of days worth of facial hair, and wearing a long dark trench coat. Despite his heavy work boots, they only made faint thuds as he stepped to the porch and stood in front of the door. He brought his hands to the doorknob and, a few seconds later, opened the door with the slightest clicking noise.
Just as silently, he crept into the kitchen, his movements having a liquid quality not characteristic of normal people with two legs. He reached the doorway and saw Buffy at the end of the hall, by the stairs, standing before the front door. Her back to him.
Seeming to float, he glided slowly down the hall, his coat tails flowing like a cape. The Slayer had her attention focused on the door and did not appear to be aware of his presence.
He was only a few feet from her when she casually turned around to face him, arms folded across her chest. She appraised him without surprise.
“What kept you?” she asked.
The man was slightly taken aback by the target’s attitude, but did not loose focus of his objective, and was preparing to strike when a voice replied behind him!
“I ran into a pitbull on the way.”
The intruder whirled around and found himself facing the second target! Who they had not seen enter the house. But before he could fully contemplate the trap he had just walked into, Faith’s stepping side kick was slamming him in the chest and he nearly flew down the hall. Straight for the first Slayer.
Buffy immediately sprang into action with her own strike, a front kick to the intruder’s back, and was met with severe protest from her still healing body. Though her strength was not quite back to normal standards, she was still able to send him back up the hallway where Faith was waiting, swinging the handle of Lagos’ battle ax, in her hands, across his face. He slammed against the wall and slid to the floor. Faith moved in, raising the deadly ax, to finish him off, when the front door crashed in.
Buffy looked over her shoulder and saw another man in dark clothes center his eyes on her, and they flared with a yellow glow that resembled torches. Smoke was even spiraling from them.
“Buffy!” Faith shouted behind her.
She turned just in time to catch the Lagos Ax the brunette had tossed to her, as the second intruder charged her from behind. Spinning to meet her attacker, he was unable to defend himself as his momentum carried him straight into the ax and the cruel blade sank deeply into his chest. Buffy swung the handle around, therefore, the assassin as well, and slammed him against the wall. She released her hold and the inhuman slid to the floor, the yellow fire in its eyes dying as he did.
“Buffy!” she heard a frantic shout from upstairs.
“No, Mom! Stay up there!” she shouted, turning her attention to the first intruder.
Faith was still standing over him and had pulled out a knife. But before she could take him out, he swung his arm up at the younger Slayer and swatted her away.
Buffy blinked. The intruder’s arm had become a thick tentacle that shot out of the sleeve of his coat and had sent Faith flying back into the kitchen. Buffy quickly composed herself and moved in. Only to get slammed by the tentacle, too. She hit the wall and every single injury screamed at once. Her vision cleared in time for her to see the tentacle coming straight at her face. She just let herself drop feeling the appendage miss her hair as she hit the floor.
She scrambled on all fours and came to the dead demon lying along the wall. Buffy grabbed for the Lagos Ax but was swatted by the tentacle again, sent sliding across the floor where she stopped in front of the open door. She was about to push herself up when the tentacle shot out at her again, this time wrapping itself around her neck and yanking her to her knees. The inhuman, whose sunglasses had been lost during the fighting, stepped out of the hallway, and Buffy saw the tentacle reeling into the sleeve as he approached her. It stood over her and she could see its eyes clearly. They were solid pools of black. It grabbed the lapel of her jacket with its still human hand, and Buffy would have been curious how much of this guy was octopus like if he hadn’t been currently trying to choke the life out of her. But it probably still wanted to take her alive and was just trying to cause her to black out.
That bought her some time, she thought. But time to do what?
From her position, she was just able to see around the guy, moving her eyes only, and saw Faith in the doorway to the kitchen holding a butcher knife. The brunette looked on them and quickly flipped the knife in her hand. Throwing it by the blade, it whistled down the hall straight for the Tarakan’s back.
Where it bounced off with a clank.
A hard shell, Buffy thought. She saw Faith stand there in amazement. But just for a second and she spotted the knife she had lost in the hallway and made a dive for it. Snatching it up, she sent it sliding down the floor towards them. But tentacle boy heard the scraping sound it made against the wood and looked down just in time to see the knife appear between its feet. Buffy made a grab for it.
The creature roared in anger and pulled the Slayer off the floor to keep her away from the weapon. But his roar was cut off when Buffy slammed the knife into its throat all the way to the hilt.
Its hold went slack and Buffy fell from the tentacle and collapsed under her own weight to the floor, coughing for breath. With a final gurgle, the creature died on its feet and started to fall towards her. Buffy tucked herself in a ball for the impact but Faith rushed up and shoved the dead thing to the side where it fell into the foyer.
Faith looked down at the blonde Slayer and smiled. “Now that is how slaying is done,” she declared, reaching a hand down to her.
Clearing her throat, Buffy accepted the help to her feet. “How many is that I owe you now?”
“C’mon, B, I’m not the type of person to keep track of these things.” Buffy narrowed her eyebrows at her. “I let Giles do it.” Buffy rolled her eyes as if to say `of course.’
“Buffy!” The Slayers turned and saw a harried Joyce Summers rushing down the stairs. Xander, who had been unable to keep her up there any longer, was right behind her.
“It’s okay, Mom,” Buffy called. “I think it’s over.”
As soon as her mother reached the bottom she threw her arms around her daughter. “Oh, God, I was so worried! Are you all right? When I heard the noise.”
During the exchange, Faith fidgeted with the pouch hanging from her neck, sniffed it and made a face. She let it drop and shoved her hands into the pockets of her sweat shirt.
“Oh, my,” Joyce said, as she finally noticed the dead demon lying on the floor. Then she saw Faith standing next to her. “Faith! Where did you come from?”
“I was dropped off one street over.”
“It was a trap we had set up,” Buffy said.
“Yeah,” Faith smiled. “These creeps snuck up on you guys, while I snuck up on them.”
“Looks like it worked pretty good,” Xander commented.
“Them?” Joyce asked. “There’re more?” She looked around and spotted the mess in the hallway. “Eeww.”
Xander and the Slayers looked to see that the other demon had disintegrated into a liquefied bubbling goo. The ax of Lagos lying in the puddle. “That was mighty convenient of him. Makes cleaning up easier. All you need is a mop.”
“What about…?” Joyce indicated the other creature.
“Faith and I will clean up our mess when this is all over,” Buffy assured her.
“I’m not worried about that. I’m just glad you weren’t hurt. Either of you,” she added, looking at Faith. Then, to the younger Slayer’s surprise, embraced her in a hug. “Thank you, Faith, for being here.”
Taken off guard, she wasn’t able to say anything for a moment. She found her voice when Joyce pulled away. “Hey, nothing but the best for B’s mom. You deserve both Slayers.”
“I appreciate it.” She looked the young girl up and down. “You look great.” She looked pointedly at her daughter. “Wouldn’t you say, Buffy?”
Buffy seemed chided. “Uh, yeah. Sure.”
“What’s going on?” asked Faith.
“Buffy’s grounded for almost dying, last night,” Xander told her.
“What?” Buffy exclaimed. “What did you two talk about up there?”
“I was just filling your mom in on what’s been happening lately.” Buffy shot daggers at him with her eyes. “Oh, she didn’t ask for the gruesome details so it was pretty much a short story.”
“Great,” Buffy threw her hands in the air, and winced in pain. “Don’t I even get a suspended sentence for extenuating circumstances?”
“Well, we’ll discuss this later, honey.”
“Yeah, we still need to hit the road,” Xander said. He was carrying a shoulder bag which obviously had her mother’s things.
“Yeah, the sun will be down in a few hours,” Buffy agreed. “And I don’t like leaving Willow and Giles alone at the library. Even with Angel there, he can’t move that much until the sun goes down. We better hurry.”
Buffy led the way out of the house and Faith brought up the rear, closing the front door behind them.