Amanda walked out of the elevator in the
Sunnydale Regency, towards her suite then stopped when she sensed an
Immortal. “This just isn’t my day” she muttered pulling her sword, and
slowly walking towards her door. Which she noticed was slightly
ajar.
She
gently kicked the door open, and seeing who her guest was lowered her
sword.
“Nick!” she exclaimed, puttingher sword
on the table beside the door. After giving the man a hug, she asked “How
did you find me?”
“Joe
told me.” Nick said softly, without letting Amanda
go.
“You’re not still mad about myshooting
you, are you?” the blonde immortal asked, hesitant to bring up bad
memories.
“No,
Duncan helped me see the good parts of being an immortal.” Nick
said.
“So
why aren’t you still with him?” Amanda asked, wondering why Duncan had let
such a young immortal wander around unprotected.
“Some
immortal came to town looking for Richie, found me, we had a dispute,he
lost. Then Duncan told me I had to leave.” Nick said, his voice betraying
his confusion at why that had happened.
“He
didn’t explain, did he?” Amanda asked, seeing the perplexed look on the
former cop’s face. “It’s a tradition that the teacher send the student out
into the world, for him or her to learn to defend and take care of
himself. This is most often done after the student takes his first head.
It means that he thinks you can take care of
yourself.”
“Oh!
So he’s not angry with me?” Nick asked.
“No.
He just wants you to stand on your own, for a while.” Then Amanda smiled
mischievously.
“What?” Nick asked suddenly feeling
apprehensive.
“I
could really use your help, that’s all.” Amanda answered
idly.
“I’m
not going to help you steal anything.” Nick replied
quickly.
“Nothing like that. I met two new
immortal girls today, and I need help to teach them the rules. I was going
to ask Richie to come help, but since you’re here, you’ll do. Want to go
house shopping?”
“Two
Immortal girls! Teach! House shopping!” Nick was having trouble making
sense of the words that had come out of the older woman’s mouth. Suddenly
he felt himself being pulled out of the room by the hand.
“Ok,
if I were a realtor’s office, where would I be?” Amanda asked herself, as
the elevator door closed.
*****
“Talk? About what?” Giles asked wondering
what was making the slayer act so serious.
“She
just found out she’s immortal! Now she’s panicking.” Anya interjected in a
bored voice.
“Immortal?” Giles asked looking at the
slayer.
“Yeah, and not just me, but Willow too.”
Buffy said.
“What
do you mean immortal?” Giles asked.
“What
I mean is can’t die, can’t even stay hurt.” As Buffy said this she grabbed
Willow’s hand, pulled a small knife she always kept with her, and drew the
razor sharp blade across her lover’s palm.
“Buffy!” Giles
said.
“Shit
that hurt!” Willow said at the same time.
“Giles! Watch the cut” Buffy stopped her
watcher from going off on a rant.
As
Giles looked at the cut, little bolts of lightning danced across the wound
and then it was gone leaving only a trace of blood oh the hacker’s
hand.
“Good
God!” Giles said before sitting down. Fortunately for him he was standing
in front of one of the chairs that should have been surrounding the table,
so he didn’t hit the floor.
Buffy on the other hand did,being
totally unprepared for Willow’s shove, she landed flat on her
bottom.
“Ow”
Buffy exclaimed, before jumping to her feet, and tackling the redhead,
then tickling her without mercy.
“Stop
it you two.” Giles finally regained his composure. The two girls stopped,
and Buffy rolled off of her lover so that they could both see her watcher.
“Now start at the beginning.”
Once
again the girls recounted the story of the past few days, stopping
frequently to answer Giles’ questions.
Just
as they wrapped up the story, Buffy glanced at the clock and saw it was
7:30. “I have to go meet Amanda.” She said to everyone, then pulled Willow
in for a long kiss “I’ll meet you at the Bronze at ten.” With that she
swept out the door.
*****
“So
why are we sitting on the porch of a nice house in a small town. Is there
a Picasso original in the house or what?” Nick asked, bored with waiting.
Suddenly he felt the approach of an immortal “Oh, you’re waiting for an
old friend.”
“No,
actually a new friend.” Amanda replied, a bit peeved that Nick didn’t
believe what she’d told him.
Buffy
stopped dead on her lawn when she saw the stranger talking to Amanda.
“Who’s this?” She asked a bit defensively.
“This
is Nick, he’s a friend, and he recently went through the same change you
did. When he turned up this afternoon, I decided that he might be helpful
in teaching you how immortals live.” Amanda
explained.
“Can
he take care of himself, cause where we’re going will not be a safe
environment for non-combatants.” Buffy asked eyeing the tall man, noting
the muscular build, and intense eyes.
“He’s
immortal, he can handle himself.” Amanda assured the
slayer.
“Ok,
gimme a second to change then we’re out of here.” Buffy dashed into the
house.
“where are we going that won’tbe safe?”
Nick asked Amanda quietly.
“You
wouldn’t believe me if I told you. I don’t believe her, which is why we’re
taking this field trip. If she’s crazy, I may have to kill her.” Amanda
returned.
“Follow me” Buffy said coming out of the
house in black leather pants, and a burgundy tank top. The two older
looking people on the porch had no choice but to obey.
Five
minutes later they found themselves in one of Sunnydale’s many cemeteries.
They wandered up and down the rows of fresh graves until Buffy hoppedup
on a grave marker.
“So
Nick, tell me about yourself.” Buffy asked.
“I
used to be a cop, and why are we in a cemetery?” Nick asked
perplexed.
“A
cop, huh?” Buffy said. “You look far more intelligent then the local boys.
And we’re in a cemetery waiting for vampires. This grave contains a
fledgling, who should rise tonight, which means his master should be along
soon to collect him.”
“Vampires?” Nick
scoffed.
“Yes,
Vampires. I know, I know, you don’t believe in vampires, right?” Nick
nodded “I’ll tell you what stick around for the next hour, and we’ll test
your conviction. When they arrive just stay out of the way, I’ll deal with
them. Or if you want to help, you’ve got a sword, right?” Again Nick
nodded “Well decapitation works very well.”
The
three sat around making small talk for the next fifteen minutes untilthey
heard what sounded like a board being broken. Then Buffy looked around and
said “Showtime!”
Nick
looked up to see 6 people walking out of the darkness towards them. Four
males, and two females, one of whom looked to be in
charge.
“Slayer” growled the leader “You brought
us dessert, thank you. After I kill you, I’ll turn your friends into
walking meals for the boys here. I’ll…”
“Yeah, Yeah.” Buffy interrupted “I’ve
heard it before. If you shut up now, I’ll kill you quick, instead of
staking you out for sunrise.”
The
female vampire was stunned by this thought, and never had a chance as
Buffy threw a stake into her heart, before attacking the other vamps with
a speed Nick and Amanda found amazing.
Suddenly something grabbed Nick from
behind, with an arm around his neck. “Slayer” said the newly risen vampire
“drop the stake or your friend quits breathing.” The vamp startedto
gloat, thinking that it had managed to kill the slayer. Until Nick threw
an elbow into it’s ribs, and tossed the helpless vamp over his shoulder.
Then he pulled his sword and with one swing, there was nothing left but a
pile of dust.
With
a scream the last of the vampire exploded into nothingness, and Buffycame
over to check that her friends were ok.
“Those were vampires!” Amanda exclaimed,
having difficulty processing what she’d just
seen.
“Yep,
and now I think you could use a drink. Let’s go meet the others at the
Bronze.” Buffy said, leading the way.