Energy (A Buffy fanfic)

Chapter 4: Bug Lady

Xander

My parents always mess everything up. I'm having a nice day, I have a date with my teacher tomorrow, and then I get pulled out of school because Dad, in one of his drunken stupors, had fallen down the stairs and had broken his arm.

At least I would still see Ms. French tomorrow. I check my pocket to see if I still have the adress she had written for me, as if I hadn't already memorised it. I would keep that note forever, to treasure her beautiful handwriting.

I wouldn't be able to see my friends 'till afterwards, because I probably wouldn't be in school for the next couple of days. At last, a legitimate reason to skip school! Anyway, I'm sure they won't mind. I'll tell them everything that happend the day after tomorrow. Which, as I look around me, will be very soon. It's already getting dark. Where does all the time go?

Buffy

"Giles, could you hit the books and see if there's anything in them about humans that emit pharohmen, or whatever it is?" I ask the Book-on-Legs.

He sighs "Pheromones, Buffy." Then he brightens up, as he always does when he recalls something. "I remember a colleague of mine in England mentioning something like this once. I'll talk to him immediately. Or as soon as I can get through the network of hospital workers and his carers. Poor Philip..." He sighs again. I decide it's better not to ask what happened to Philip.

"Did you happen to see Xander, Willow or Theo since lunch?" I ask. I needed to tell Xander that his latest crush is monster. I also wanted to apologise to Theo for the way I had acted towards him earlier. For someone who sees monsters almost every night, I hadn't coped well with finding out that my friend was older than Jesus.

"No, I haven't. Buffy, I think that you should go on patrol - there's still the Fork Guy Angel warned you about. It's getting dark, so you should go soon. I'd go with you, but..." he gestures to his pile of books and to the telephone "...I have a lot of things to do. Good Luck! "

"Thanks." I turn and leave out the back door, because it's nearer to the cemtery that way. Vamps nearly always go there at least once a night, to welcome any newborns. So I get to Slay two for the price of one.

I stroll on down to the cemetery, but I keep my eyes peeled for any other vamps I might see on the way. Fortunately, it seems like a quiet night and the vampires are all somewhere else. I do hope they're not planning something - I have enough with as it is without out a ravening horde trying to drink everyone in Sunnydale.

Things start to get more lively when i reach the cemetery, because I see a dark shape waiting near one of the graves. It could be just a mourner, but in Sunnydale, at night... hardly likely.

I draw nearer, my Slayer-Senses tingling. I'm sure it's a vampire, an old one at that. I creep up behind it, ready to stake it in the back, when I see moonlight glinting off the enormous metal claw he has in place of a hand. Even though Angel had warned me about Fork Guy, I hadn't expected the sheer forkiness of him. I couldn't help but exhale in shock, which, with his vampire hearing, he heard.

He spins round, a snarl on his bumpy vampire face. "Fresh meat!" he growls, hungrily. In a heart beat (Mine, not his. Vampire hearts don't beat.) he was in front of me, his hand gripping my shoulder and his claw poised to rip out my throat. I grab him by the wrist to pull him off my shoulder, kick him in the shins, then draw back and let loose a mighty punch to his throat, sending him sprawling to the ground. I pin him there, then extricate my stake from my pocket. I really need a special pouch for it - if that happens when my traget isn't pinned, I could be in real trouble.

I grin at him."Don't seem so fresh now, do I?" I quip, as I plunge the stake downwards into his heart. Except I miss. "Huh?" I wonder to myself. I haven't missed since my first Slaying. Then I feel something crash into me from the side, smacking me against a nearby gravestone. That's going to hurt in the morning!