“The book of the what?” Willow asked, having heard only part of the conversation due to the fact that she had just walked in.

“The Book of the Dead” Giles repeated, “Known by most as the Necronomicon.”

Willow just stared at the Watcher. While Willow was just a beginner witch, she knew enough about the book to know that it was very dangerous.

“Why did you get it, Giles?” The girl asked quietly, “I mean, it’s supposed to be very bad. And on the Hellmouth, who knows what-“

“I didn’t want it.” Giles retorted before the young witch could finish, “I am aware of the danger. I would never seek this book on my own. However, I received it in a package the other day…”

“Well,” Buffy began, “Was there a note? A return address?”

“No return address.” The Watcher stated simply, “But there was a note. Cryptic and not all that helpful, but there was a note.”

“Lemme see it!” Buffy exclaimed. Willow nodded in excitement. Giles rubbed his temples, and then reached behind the counter to pick up a small piece of off-white paper, which had been lying there. Buffy snatched it out of his hand.

“’Give my regards to that bastard Keeper and his little friend…’” Buffy read aloud. No one spoke as they each worked out the words slowly in their mind, as if examining them would make them less cryptic. Finally, Buffy looked up and into the eyes of Giles
and asked, “What’s a Keeper?”

Giles was startled out of thought, and then looked back at her. “A Keeper could be any number of things…However, in the context, I believe he is referring to the Keeper, or Protector, of the Necronomicon.”

“What’s that?” Willow asked, as curious as the Slayer. 

“Well, the Keeper, or Protector as they are more commonly called, is a person born to protect the world from the demons that can be summoned by the Necronomicon. They are similar to Slayers. Usually, there are two. A Master and an Apprentice. Their
other uniqueness is their connection to the book. If they are somewhere, the book usually follows and vice versa.”

“Is a Keeper evil in any way?” Buffy asked, hoping she wouldn’t have to fight it.

“No, quite the other way around. They tend to be quite good people, though there is a record of a rather bad-tempered one during the Middle Ages…”

“Oh. So, if this guy is a good guy, why will I be needing that vigilante’s help?”

“Because…we have no idea what the Hellmouth will do to the Necronomicon!”

“Oh”

“And the demons which can be called by this book are far more dangerous than any vampire.” 

“So why not send it away?” Willow suggested, her eyes shining with what seemed a great solution. 

“I would...” Giles said, “If I knew anyone I trusted enough to send it to. The Council would have been my first choice, but after my breaking with them, I don’t know if I can trust them.”

“So, what are you going to do, Giles?” Buffy asked, the concern overruled by the fear, “Let it sit here like a ticking time bomb?”

“Well,” Giles answered, obviously already vexed by the situation, “I have decided to find the Keeper and give the book to him. That way, he shall have the book, and we will be rid of it…”

“How will you find him? Does he give off some kind of creepy vibes?” Buffy asked.

"Perhaps.” The librarian replied, “I’m not very sure. This book has been lost to the Watcher’s Council for centuries, so all the knowledge I have is very vague. It is possible that the Keeper would come up on your, er…what do you call it?”

“My spidy senses” The blonde Slayer replied, pointing at her head.

“Er…yes…Your Slayer instincts.”

Potato, potaato, tomato, tomato…” put in Willow helpfully.

“So we find this Keeper and hand the book over to him? That’s it?”

“But what if the Keeper decides to stay in Sunnydale?” Willow asked, worried about a plan that relied upon someone not of the Scooby gang. 

“Then he’s crazy!” Buffy said with certainty, “Anyone who actually WANTS to stay in this nutty place has got to be bonkers!”

“But what if he does? I-I mean, it’s not easy leaving an entire life and all that, you know?” Willow argued, “And maybe he likes it here. Other than the demons, vampires, hell-beasts, ghouls and monsters, Sunnydale’s not all that bad…”

“Then we carefully ask them to leave.” The Watcher replied, cleaning his glasses with a handkerchief, “I’m sure once we explain the circumstances, he would be more than happy to oblige…”

“Let’s hope so…” The Slayer sighed, “Cause I really don’t want to deal with anything new…the Mayor’s quite enough to handle, thank you, without some crazy book-guy…”

The three in the library were silent for a moment, and then nodded almost in unison.

“So, I’m guessing that you’ll be looking tonight, Buffy?” The redheaded witch asked at last. 

“Yeah, pretty much…” Buffy replied, “But I figure I can patrol near the S-Mart and get in a little shopping. That way, if I don’t find anything, the whole thing wouldn’t have been pointless…”

“Can I come?” asked Willow, anxious to help her friend, not to mention get a little shopping done. Willow may have been a bit of a nerd, but she still liked to spend a little.

**************

It had been a long day. A very long, tiring, bothersome, tedious, ugly day. They’d started the “Thanks-for-savings” sale at the S-Mart today, and the crowds had been horrible. Ash thought of how Xander had said that Sunnydale was a really tiny town. From the attack on the store today, he was beginning to doubt that. And he didn’t even want to think about the plastic turkey disaster. They still weren’t sure that Tim would regain use of his arm after that, and Ash himself had lost the sleeve of his uniform, though luckily not the one that concealed his arm mechanism.

All in all, he was very ready to go to sleep. As he walked from the back exit of S-Mart towards his car, he began to dream of his bed. His mind went over all of its wonderful features, from the soft, comfy pillows to the supportive, supple mattress. The scarred S-Mart employee smiled to himself as he thought of how nice it would be to just fall on it. His daydreams were interrupted, however, by a small tingle at the back of his neck. He’d had a similar experience before, and the fact that that experience had involved a certain cabin in the hills of Tennessee didn’t make him a happy man. But this time was
different. While the tingle that informed him of a deadite’s presence seemed to have a familiar and dark presence, and a vampire had a sort of red feel to it, this was more of a pleasant bright tingle, if you could describe a tingle that way. Any other person would have dismissed it, but Ash was one paranoid S.O.B, and with good reason. So, praying to every god he knew, which was all of one, he turned around.

He was surprised to find the presence to be that of two girls. The first, a cute little blonde, seemed to radiate with something Ash couldn’t even describe. Whatever it was, it was something different, something to be respected. The second, an obvious wallflower with red hair also gave him an odd vibe, but it was nothing close to what the blonde was giving off. He continued to stare for a moment, until the blonde turned to him.

Hazel eyes blazing, the petite powerhouse stared at him, baking him with her gaze. Ash just stood in shock for a moment, and then shook himself. What was going on? And who was this chick? A second later, he decided that he was too tired to investigate and turned to leave. It was a small town. He’d find them again if he needed to.

But as he turned, the blonde ran towards him, going faster than he’d have thought she could go. The redhead was close behind. 

“Wait!” The blonde girl shouted, trying to catch him, “Wait! Wait up!”

Ash didn’t wait, but he didn’t speed up either. It took them a minute, but the two finally caught up with him.

“Hey, I asked you to wait!” Blondie told him angrily, holding by the shoulder in a surprisingly hard grip.

“Yeah, and?” Ash said irritably, his temper in a bad state due to his fatigue.

“So, it’s common decency to wait when someone calls!”

Ash just looked at her, telling her in no uncertain terms what he thought of that, then snorted. “Look, Blondie, if you stopped me to be Miss Manners, I got better things to do, all right? I just got off work and I’m looking to head home to my bed!”

“You don’t have to be so rude…” the redhead whispered, edging in.

“Yes,” Ash replied angrily, “I do. I’m tired, and you are in the way of me going to my bed and getting some rest, so yes, I do have to be so rude.”

The two girls sort of backed up at that, but the blonde obviously wanted something and wouldn’t let up. 

“Look, I don’t know what your problem is, buddy, but all I want is for you to answer a question for me. Then I’ll leave you alone, I promise…”

“What makes you think I’ll answer anything?” He replied crossly, “Some little chick comes up to me, bothers the hell out of me, and then expects me to answer her damn questions? I don’t think so, girly…” 

“’Chick’?” The blonde said, outraged, “’Girly’! This is the 90’s pal!”

“Yeah,” Ash said, pulling away and beginning towards his car, “And this is me leaving…”

The blonde turned to her friend, nodded to herself about something, then launched herself at him. Before she was within two feet, Ash turned around and caught her foot in mid air. The girl looked down, then flipped backwards, sending her other boot into Ash’s chin.

Ash’s head snapped back, and he let go of her foot. He reeled for a moment, and then shook his head. By that time, the girl was all ready again, and she began her assault. She moved very fast, faster than anything human he had ever seen, except perhaps for
Xander when Ash wanted him to clean the dishes. His mind began to scream at him that she was a vampire, but that tingle he had felt was nothing close to what a vampire felt like.

Arms and legs flew at him, and Ash deflected everyone. But she kept coming, and he was already tired as it was, so she got a hit in every once in a while. Eventually though, Ash figured out her pattern and was able to take the offensive. He was tired, but he was
also angry, so he was able to give her quite the run for her money. But just as he thought he had her, she swung her leg underneath his legs and he went sprawling.

Ash got up quickly, but no quick enough to miss the kick in the face. That sent him flying again, but this time, he got up fast enough to deflect her blow and send her onto the cement. She got up, and as she did, Ash could see a stake in her hand. What the hell
was she doing with- 

“Oh shit…” Ash gasped out. This had to be Buffy, the Slayer Xander had told him so much about. Now that he thought of it, he should have figured it out right at the beginning. Guess I’m getting old, Ash thought, and then dismissed it with a mental chuckle. So, he assumed, the little redhead must be that girl, Willow. And he was in the middle of a fist-fight with Xander’s two friends.

Buffy didn’t seem realize the reason for his curse, and again attacked. She swung the stake towards his heart, and Ash jumped out of the way a second before it would have hit its mark. Sliding sideways, the scarred man grabbed the Slayer, then pinned her to the ground.

"Are you the illustrious Buffy I keep hearing about?” he whispered to you, making sure her boot was nowhere near a certain sensitive spot.

“Yeah, fang-face, that would be me…” she replied, throwing him off and standing up, “Buffy Summers, Slayer extraordinaire!”

“Great!” Ash replied, “So, I guess you can stop attacking me and we can go to my place and-“

“Ugh!” Buffy exclaimed, “Sorry, I don’t do folks without souls!”

“But I wasn’t asking you to-“

“But nothing!” Buffy cried, trying to slam the stake into him. Ash evaded again, but this time it was a bit harder. He was tired, and it was beginning to show. Then something exploded into his mind like a shotgun shell.

This was the same Buffy who had broke Xander’s heart. The same Buffy that had forgotten him, and neglected him, and never asked about all the black eyes and
extra bruises. The Buffy that had never remembered his friend. It seemed insignificant, but when heaped together, it was a long list of little abuses. They were things you could yell about, certainly not a reason for a fist-fight, yet Ash could feel the rage, the same one that had come over him at Xander’s house, come over him then. In a second, his fatigue was gone, and he was back in the game.

While the thoughts had come, he had been merely block and evading, and not doing all that good of a job. She knew he was tired, and was trying to tire him out instead of risking an all out attack again. So Buffy was completely unprepared when Ash jumped up and slammed a roundhouse into her face.

The Slayer went flying and only stopped when she hit the dumpster. Her head lolled to the side and her arms draped over the ground in a mess. Willow gasped, then ran over to her friend. After checking her wounds, the little witch turned to Ash with an expression of pure hatred, but Ash didn’t care.

He didn’t attack again. He just took a deep breath and made his way over to the girls. By the time he made it over, Buffy was awake, if not ready to fight for another couple minutes.

“You little brats!” Ash yelled, still panting from the exertion, “You Goddamned little Brats!”

“What are you talking about?” Buffy said, still a little woozy.

“You don’t even know who I am, do you?” Ash continued angrily, “You just attacked me, and then when I try to explain, you didn’t stop! I’m a damned human, not a vampire!

“Really?” Willow asked heatedly, “Then how did you do that?”

“Because,” Ash spat back, “I’ve been fighting with crap faster and stronger than me for almost five years!”

“Huh?” both girls asked, obviously confused. 

“Yeah, huh?” Ash mocked, “Don’t know a damned thing and you attack me…damned brats…”

Both of them had the sense to look ashamed.

"Maybe, next time you get an odd feeling about someone, you should ask yourself-"

"What the hell is going on here!?!?"

All eyes turned to the figure who had just entered the back parking lot of the S-Mart. He held a small backpack, and what looked to be a bag of Kentucky Fried Chicken. His eyes were blazing, the anger shown not only in his face but in his rigid stance.

"Hey, Xander..." Willow tittered nervously.

Part 6