DISCLAIMER!!!! Buffy, Giles, Xander, Willow, and all the characters, from "Buffy theVampire Slayer" aren't mine. They belong to Joss and Mutant Enemy. I'm jealous, but what can I do? All other characters, and the story itself are the sole property of ME, and my imagination. Please send all comments on the story to ME! Thank you and come again!
Chapter 18
"So," Buffy called as she caught up to a rather fast walking Eddie. "Where's you car?"
"Down near the end of the street," the boy replied without turning to look at her. "Sid wanted me to use it tonight. Didn't want us wandering around on foot."
Buffy started to walk beside her companion for the evening, noticing the somewhat serious look on his face. "Are you alright?" she asked in slight concern, remembering Giles telling her about a Necromancer's possible mood swings. "You look kinda mad."
Eddie seemed to ignore her, and kept walking. After a moment, he stopped and turned to face the Slayer, a slight frown on his face. "Sorry," he muttered, looking at Buffy with a mixture of confusion and annoyance. "It's not you. Just got something on my mind." With that, he raised his arm, a key chain in his hand and pressed a button.
Buffy turned when she heard a beep from a car parked a few feet away from her. "That's you car?" she asked, looking at the Range Rover with surprise. The black RV seemed to shine under the streetlight like a black gem.
A soft click was heard as Eddie pushed another button and opened the driver's side door. "Yeah, get in," he said as he jumped into the vehicle and closed the door.
Buffy opened the passenger's side door and got in, closing the door behind her. "It's nice," she said as she made herself comfortable on the large leather seat. "Really very roomy!"
Eddie said nothing as he put his seatbelt on, motioning Buffy to do the same. When he put the key in the ignition the engine roared to life and music started to blare from the speakers in the car. Eddie swore as he tried to cut off the voices of the Spice Girls singing 'Wannabe'. His finger stabbed at a button on the dash, stopping the British foursome in mid-ziga-zig-ah! "Sorry," he muttered as the music changed to a softer volume setting of Led Zeppelin's 'Black Dog'. "Sid was driving last. He likes the Spice Girls." He gave her an embarrassed grin. "I guess it's a British thing."
Buffy suppressed a laugh as Eddie turned to concentrate on driving. "Didn't you drive it to the Bronze?" When she noticed Eddie clench his jaw, the Slayer couldn't help but laugh. After a moment, Eddie joined her, bowing his head so Buffy didn't notice the tears that came to his eyes as he laughed. The moment seemed to release the tension that had followed them out of the Bronze. "So," she said, after they had both managed to stop laughing. "You had a good time tonight?"
"Yeah, I guess." Eddie stared intently on the road, not looking at Buffy. "Music was good. And I really liked your friends, they seem like a good group to have watching your back."
Buffy looked at the Necromancer with some surprise. "Yeah, they are."
"I never liked the thought of having anyone other then Sid work with me," Eddie continued. "Even with Sid I get worried that I'll make a mistake and get him hurt. The thought of having a group of people with me while I fight, frightens the hell out of me." Buffy felt Eddie's eyes on her in the darkness. "You must be stronger then I thought if you can handle that kind of pressure."
Buffy looked at the boy sitting in the driver's seat, trying to decide whether she should take what he said as a compliment or an insult. Did he think I was weak before now? "Thanks," she said finally, not wanting to cause another mood swing.
"No problem." Eddie looked over at Buffy briefly before returning his eyes to the road. "I'd also like to apologize," he said in a quiet voice.
"About what?" Buffy asked cautiously, not exactly sure about where her companion was going with this conversation.
"Let's take the safe route and say everything up to this point." Eddie flashed her a quick smile before continuing. "Our . . . first meeting, the incident with the gun, crashing your outing tonight, the werewolf story I told . . . everything basically."
"It's Ok," the Slayer replied after a moment of silence. "I overreacted to most of them." Buffy sat there watching the houses pass by in the darkness through her window. She felt awkward hearing this boy apologize to her. Mostly because I didn't expect it, she thought as a tree flew through her field of vision. I thought he was just an asshole with a chip on his shoulder. "I'm sorry I shot you with a crossbow," she said softly, trying to crack the silence that, although there was music playing, had filled the car.
Buffy heard Eddie chuckle softly beside her. "No you're not," he said with a smile. "You not sorry about anything that you've done since you met me and you shouldn't be either. You did what you thought was right at the time." \
Buffy watched as the Necromancer turned the car around a corner, still laughing softly. "You're right," she said with a small smile. "I'm not sorry I shot you, though I am happy I didn't kill you."
The two teenagers laughed openly as the car came to a stop at a red light. "Well I wasn't worried about you killing me," Eddie said as watched a car go though the intersection. "Like I told Xander, if I thought you were a real threat I'd have put you on your ass before you even knew I was there."
Buffy waited for Eddie to laugh to show he was joking. Instead, she got a small smile from the Necromancer that showed he was serious. "Well from what I remember," Buffy said in an innocent tone, "I wasn't the one who ended up on the floor, unconscious." She smiled sweetly at him.
Eddie smiled again, this time with an eyebrow raised. "I deserved that, didn't I?"
"Getting knocked out or being reminded of it?" The Slayer asked, matching the other Slayer's expression.
"Both," the boy said with a laugh. "I was glad you did that actually. Hit me I mean."
"Really?" Buffy asked in surprise. "Well, I never got that whole S&M thing, but if that's your thing . . . "
Eddie stared at her for a moment, a weird look in his eyes. "I meant that I was glad to know you don't put up with bullshit." Smiling as he noticed Buffy blushing in the passenger seat, Eddie continued. "As for 'my thing' . . . "
"Hey!" Buffy said with an upraised hand. "This would be information I DON'T need to know!" She watched as Eddie simply smiled and continued to drive. With his eyes focused on the road, the lights from the dashboard casting shadows across his face, he reminded Buffy of someone. Angel, she realized with a start. In a moment the resemblance between Eddie and Angel was as clear as day. Why didn't I see it before? God, I feel like an idiot! They both had the same full lips and dark eyes. They also shared the same haunted look in their eyes. Angel's was explainable given what he had done and what he was, but Eddie's seemed out of place. True, Buffy thought as she watched the Necromancer, he's seen a lot of horrible things as a Slayer, but so have I, and I don't have that look. Yet. Looking closer at him, Buffy noticed a faint scar running down the back of his neck. Unlike the scar on his arm, this one seemed to be older. From the look of it, she guessed it was a burn scar. "So," Buffy said, trying to break the weight of the silence she had finally noticed. "You're from New York?"
"No," Eddie replied, giving her a brief look before returning his eyes to the road. "I was born in Newman, Montana. It's a small town about 200 miles from anywhere important. Mining town."
"Oh, what was that like? Living in a small town I mean." Buffy asked interested. "I'm from LA originally."
"It's like you'd think it'd be," Eddie said as he turned the Range Rover around a corner. "Everyone knew everyone else. You couldn't take a crap in that town without everyone hearing about it before you finished wiping your ass. I didn't stay long anyway. After my folks died, they put me with a family in a bigger city."
"I-I'm sorry." Buffy said, mentally slapping her forehead. Good one, Buffy! Bring up painful memories for the guy. Since you guys are such close friends, it was bound to come up sometime!
"It's ok. Happened a long time ago." The male Slayer said, his tone not giving away any emotion. "One of the first powers I got was the ability to manipulate fire. When I was a kid, I was always playing with matches and lighters. One night I lost control for a second and set the house on fire. My dad found me in the basement, choking from the smoke. He took me outside and then went back to get my mom. Neither one made it out. By the time the fire trucks got there, the whole house was on fire. After that they put me with a foster family a few towns over."
Buffy listened in silence as Eddie finished his story. About his foster family, who he said were nice people, just didn't know what to do with him. When he was fourteen he ran away and basically made his way across the country anyway he could. He finally ended up in New York, panhandling, stealing, and committing minor crimes to survive when Sidney found him. And I thought my life was harsh, Buffy thought. "What was the first power you got?" she asked, trying to get away from the topic of his parents death and his life on the street.
"Raising the dead," he answered, a slight smile on his lips. "It freaked me out the first time it happened. I was . . . what six? My grandmother had died and I visited her grave a lot. She was always nice to me and I was really upset when she died. One day, my folks let me go by myself to visit her grave. I used to talk her as if she could hear me, like she was really alive and just sleeping or something. So I'm sitting by her grave, telling her about how a bully at school beat me up, when I realize that she was actually dead and couldn't hear me. So I start crying my eyes out, banging my little hands on the ground and wishing that she would get up and hug me. All of a sudden the ground starts to shake and my dead grandmother pulls herself out of her grave and hugs me." Eddie turned another corner, turning his head to watch a car pass. "To say I was freaked would be an understatement. She was all decayed and smelled horrible, and she hugged me so hard that I thought I'd burst. I told her to let me go and she did. Then she stared at me for like five minutes without blinking. I told her to go away and she started to walk off." Eddie laughed as he thought of the memory. "Never did find out what happened to her."
"Jesus!" Buffy said in shock. "That must have been . . . " The Slayer paused to think of an appropriate word to describe just how freaky she thought that was.
"Freaky?" Eddie offered with another smile. Buffy nodded, still in shock. "No, freaky is causing a swarm of dead locusts to fly down the hall from where the 6th graders were studying them and have them attack the bully that beat me up! Now that was freaky!"
"No way!" The Slayer practically shouted. "Holy shit!"
"Strangely enough, that's what the principal said as they loaded the kid into the ambulance," the Necromancer said with a loud laugh.
As the tension once again disappeared, the two Slayers exchanged stories of their adventures. Buffy was amazed at how much traveling Eddie and Sidney had done, and the variety of monsters and demons they had fought. Eddie seemed impressed at the number of times Buffy had saved the world. When she told him about her battle with the Master, he suddenly got very interested. "You actually died?" he asked.
"Yeah," Buffy answered with a nod. "It was just for a few minutes before Xander got me going again with CPR, but I was pretty dead there for a few minutes."
Eddie stared at the Slayer with a strange look in his eyes, as if he were attempting to look into her soul. Suddenly he slammed on the breaks, causing both of them fly forward against th eir seatbelts. "Zombies," the Necromancer said before Buffy could say anything. "About one and a half blocks away."
"You can sense them that far away?" Buffy asked as she undid her seatbelt and hopped out of the Range Rover.
"Yeah," Eddie answered as he threw back the parking break and got out. "Four or five of them." He walked to the rear of the vehicle and opened the back. Buffy watched as he pushed down on the bottom, causing it open up. Inside were an assortment of guns, ammo and other devices of death . Eddie took off his coat and put on a shoulder holster. He grabbed the Glock he had had with him in the library, checked the clip and put it in the holster. He snatched up two more clips and inserted them into slots in the holster. "You want something," he asked as he saw the stake in Buffy's hand. "That toothpick ain't much good against zombies."
The Slayer looked at her stake and then at the assortment of firearms in front of her. "I'm not real big on guns," she said after a moment.
Eddie frowned as he thought. Finally he kneeled down and pulled his pant leg up, revealing a large knife strapped to his leg. "I'm going to want this back," he said as he handed her the knife. "It was a gift from Sid. I never leave home without it."
Buffy looked down at the knife in hand. The blade of the knife was made of obsidian and almost as long as her forearm. The long, thin blade was obviously made for stabbing, and was lighter then it should have been. The knife seemed almost invisible as she practiced a few thrusts and slashes while Eddie locked down the Range Rover. "Thanks," she said as she put the stake back in her belt and slid the long knife into the arm of her coat.
The two Slayers moved quickly through the streets, neither saying a word until they came to an alley a few blocks from the park. "In here," Eddie whispered, his hand reaching into his coat.
As the pair moved deeper into the alley, they heard the sounds of a fight. Bodies crashing against walls, grunts of pain, growls and snarls. As they pulled back against a wall, they advanced slowly until they could see the battle clearly. The body of one zombie lay on the ground, its head not far from it. It was crawling slowly forward, using one hand to pull itself and the other to reach forward . The four other zombies surrounded another figure, trying to grab hold of him. The lone fighter was bleeding from multiple scratches and cuts. His clothes were torn and he looked tired. "Angel," she said sharply as she recognized the figure that fought the zombies.
"Vampire," Eddie muttered as he pulled out his gun and watched the fight. "There's two ways we can do this. The first is we let them fight it out and then kill the winner. The second is we crash this party and clean house." The Necromancer looked over at his companion, noticing the intensity in her eyes as she watched the fight. "Your town, your call."
Buffy thought for a moment, considering what to do. As she watched Angel punch one of the zombies, it reminded her of all the times they had fought side by side together in the past. He's not my Angel anymore, she reminded herself for what seemed the millionth time. From the way the fight was going, Buffy knew it was only a matter of time till the zombies overpowered Angel and tore him to pieces. And I wouldn't even have to do damn thing except sit back and watch. She realized that she couldn't let it end that way. I at least owe it to my Angel to stop what he has become myself, and not let a bunch of dead guys eat him. "Waiting around was never one of my virtues." Buffy turned to meet Eddie's eyes, a smile on her lips. "I say we clean house."
"That's what I wanted to hear!" Eddie said with a smile. "Ok, you see if you can get behind the dead-heads. I'm gonna distract them, and we'll catch'em in the crossfire."
"Ok," Buffy answered cautiously. "How exactly are you going to distract them?"
Eddie's smile widened and he winked at the Slayer. Before Buffy could say anything, he detached himself from the wall and strolled out in to the open. As soon as he revealed himself, the zombies stopped attacking Angel and looked over at him. "Ok, now I know someone here really needs a shower," he said as he walked forward, hands and gun clasped behind his back as if he were out for a leisurely walk. "Cause, I gotta tell you guys, something stinks. I mean, one of you guys must have a real infestation of maggots or something cause I could smell you almost two blocks away!"
Angel turned and watched as the boy came toward them. "It isn't me," he said, a grin coming to his face despite his situation. "I think it's the guy in the lettermen's jacket." Suddenly the zombies seemed to move as one. Two of the tackled Angel, throwing him against a wall, the other two moved toward Eddie, a deep growl coming from their throats.
As Buffy moved past the group and hid in a shadow, she saw Eddie's face lose expression and his eyes narrow. As fast as lightning his gun was pointed at a zombie, and just as quickly, a good portion of that zombie's he ad disappeared in a red mist. The sound of the gunshot was deafening in the confines of the alley, echoing for what seemed an eternity. The other zombie reached Eddie in a moment, grabbing his arm and throwing him to the ground. The zombie that the Necromancer had shot swayed for a moment and then continued toward the male Slayer, though he had slowed-down considerably.
Angel wasn't faring much better then Eddie against his opponents. One zombie had him by the throat, while the other had bitten into his shoulder. The vampire, in full game face, head-butted the zombie that held him against the wall causing the creature to release his grip. Grabbing the other that had bitten him, Angel pulled it away from his shoulder and rammed it face first into the brick wall.
The sound of the zombie's face caving in was Buffy's cue to move. Pushing herself off against a wall, she kicked the zombie Angel had head-butted in the face, forcing the brute to its knees. Removing the knife from her sleeve, she stabbed downward into the zombie's neck. Ignoring the gurgle of blood in the zombie's throat, the Slayer twisted the knife out and drove her knee into its face. Suddenly she felt a hand grab her ankle and yank her to the ground. The grip on her ankle felt like a vice, sending pain shooting up her leg. Looking down at her assailant, all Buffy saw was a neck without a head, oozing blood as pulled her toward it. The zombie who had had its head torn off had decided that, since it couldn't eat Buffy, it was going to tear her limb from limb, starting with her leg. Buffy tried to kick the creature off her, but only succeeded in getting the heal of her boot stuck in the open wound that was the zombie's neck. Her leg felt as if it was about to ripped off her body, and stars started to appear in her vision as she pulled her foot from the zombie's neck. A shadow passed over her and the grip on her ankle disappeared as the headless zombie was thrown against a dumpster. Looking up, Buffy was shocked to see Angel standing over her, a smile on his face. "Hey there, Lover," he growled. "So glad you could join me this evening. This wouldn't be the same without my favorite girl beside me." He offered her a hand.
The Slayer stared at her former boyfriend, suppressing the look of surprise that threatened to show on her face. After a moment of hesitation, Buffy took Angel's hand and pulled herself up. "Yeah well, I wouldn't want anyone to kick your ass without my permission," she said though gritted teeth as the pressure on her ankle caused a new wave of pain to crawl up it.
"Feeling's mutual, baby." Angel's face still held his demon visage, but it couldn't hide the amusement on it. Suddenly Buffy was thrown to the ground again as the zombie that Angel had smashed against the wall tackled him. The sound of gunfire made Buffy turn back toward the other end of the alley. Eddie was firing his gun into the body of a zombie that had him pinned to the ground. The body muffled a lot of the sound of the gun, but it was still loud enough to echo across the narrow alley. Burst of red erupted from the back of the creature as the bullets exited its body. The Necromancer pushed the zombie off him and jumped to his feet. Stepping on its neck, Eddie put three bullets into the zombie's head, splattering it around a radius of ten feet. Ejecting the now empty clip, the male Slayer inserted a fresh one and turned toward the other zombie that headed toward him. The creature knocked the gun away before Eddie could get a shot off, and threw the Necromancer against a wall. Half of its head was gone, and from where Buffy was, she could see directly into what was left of the zombie's brain. As the zombie pulled Eddie toward him, its mouth opening wide as it approached his neck, Buffy targeted the zombie's head and threw the knife with as much force as she could.
As the knife imbedded itself into the zombie's brain, it released Eddie and turned slowly to look at Buffy. The tip of the knife was poking out of one of its eyes as it stared at her. As soon as he gained his footing, Eddie roared in rage and tackled the zombie to the ground. Pulling the knife out of its head, the male Slayer plunged it in again and again, causing blood and brain tissue to fly around him. When the zombie ceased all but the smallest movement, Eddie got off the body and looked around, blinking blood out of his eyes. When he saw Buffy staring at him, he smiled in gratitude and tossed the knife back at her, letting it imbed itself in the ground a half foot away from her. Picking up his gun, the male Slayer looked on as Angel struggled on the ground with a zombie on top of him. The vampire and the Necromancer made eye contact briefly, and Buffy saw something pass between them.
Angel quickly pushed up under the zombie's chin, forcing the creature's head up and away from him. Eddie took careful aim and fired a round into the back of the zombie's head, causing it to explode in a burst of blood and bone. With the creature weakened, Angel pushed the zombie off of him . With his face covered in blood, the vampire bent down, grabbed the zombie's arm, and ripped it off its body. He then began to use the arm as a club and started to beat and stab the zombie with the bloody stump and jagged bone of its own arm. With one final plunge, Angel drove the arm into the zombie's already broken face.
As Angel got off the zombie, Buffy and Eddie moved back to back, their weapons held at the ready and their eyes searching for zombies. "Well that was interesting," Buffy said, breathing heavily, noticing that the zombies were staying down.
"Oh yeah," Eddie said with a grin. "A million laughs." The two Slayers watched as the vampire stood and smiled at them.
"Just like old times, eh Buffy?" Angel walked around the mostly unmoving zombie, his face changing back into its human form. "Who'd have thought that you would come to my rescue. Spike's gonna laugh his ass off when I tell him!"
"I don't know who 'Spike' is, but what makes you think were going to let you leave this alley as anything but dust in the wind?" Eddie said, still smiling. His gun was pointed at Angel now.
Angel's face took on a look of profound hurt. "After all we've been through together? That hurts! It really does. Here I thought we bonded, maybe even bridged the gap between human and vampire." The vampire shook his head and brushed away an imaginary tear. "I guess not."
Eddie looked at the vampire for a moment, then laughed. "You're a real pip, you know that? That's what I love about vampires, personality! Zombies it's all grunting and growling. No chitchat. With vampires, there's always this banter before you get to the fighting. I like that!"
Angel stared at Buffy, disbelief on his face. "Is he serious?"
Buffy leaned back against a wall , taking the pressure off her ankle. "I'm going to go out on a limb and say yeah, he's serious." Sighing, she gave Angel a tired look. "Look, I'm not in the mood to beat you to death right now, but I'm sure Eddie is. Anyway, you look like you couldn't stop a determined bee from kicking your ass right now. Why don't we save this for another night?"
Angel sneered at her. "I'm strong enough to tear your heart out and feed it to your newest boy-toy, school girl."
Eddie, who had stopped laughing and was now staring down the alley, cleared his throat. "While I hate to interrupt this battle of the minds, I think you both should know something."
"What?" Angel and Buffy said at the same time, looking at the Necromancer in puzzlement.
"Just that," the male Slayer said, pointing toward the far end of the alley. Where a rather large truck was speeding towards them, a dark-haired woman behind the wheel, firing an Uzi at them though the window.
