Drusilla frowned, purring softly. “You’ve been a very bad daddy.”
And she gave him a vicious slap.
Buffy could think only of Angel.
Desperately worried, she wondered how badly he’d been hurt by the sunlight, how long he’d choose to hide himself underground. She wondered if he thought of her, if he needed her. And she was still angry with Kendra.
All of this is Kendra’s fault, Buffy found herself thinking. If Kendra hadn’t come here, Angel would be fine, none of this would have happened.
She struggled to bring her thoughts back to the present moment. They were in the school colonnade, she and Willow, Kendra and Giles—and Giles was going on about something or other like he always did.
Buffy tried harder to pay attention.
“Kendra,” Giles said, “I’ve conferred with your Watcher, Mr. Zabuto. He and I agree that until this matter with Spike and Drusilla is resolved, you two should work together.”
Buffy rolled her eyes. “Oh, that’ll be a treat.”
“So you believe that Spike is attempting to revive this Drusilla to health?” Kendra asked solemnly.
Giles had removed his glasses. He cleaned them off with his handkerchief, then stuffed the handkerchief into his pocket.
“Yes,” he answered. “That would be the dark power your Watcher referred to. Drusilla is not just evil. She’s also quite mad.”
He took his handkerchief out again. He wiped his glasses. He put his glasses back on.
“Restored to her full health,” Giles persisted, “there is absolutely no telling what she might do.”
“Then we will stop Spike,” Kendra decided.
“Good plan!” Buffy cheered falsely. “Let’s go! Charge!”
Giles gave a tolerant sigh. “Buffy—”
“It’s a little more complicated than that, okay, John Wayne?” Buffy chided Kendra, and this time Giles agreed.
“Yes, I’m afraid it is. Spike has called out the Order of Taraka to keep Buffy out of the way.”
“The assassins?” Kendra stiffened. “I read of them in the writings of Dramius.”
The look Giles gave her was slightly incredulous. ‘Really? Which volume?”
‘I believe it was six, sir.”
‘How do you know that stuff?” Buffy asked her impatiently.
“From my studies,” Kendra replied.
Buffy nodded. “So, you have a lot of free time.”
“I study because it is required. The Slayer Handbook insists on it.”
“There’s a Slayer Handbook?” Willow chimed in now, while Buffy looked completely puzzled.
“Handbook? What handbook? How come I didn’t get a handbook?”
“Is there a T-shirt, too?” Willow asked eagerly. “’Cause, that would be cool.”
Giles was attempting to hide a smile. “After meeting you, Buffy, I was quite sure the handbook would be of no use in your case.”
“What do you mean, ‘it would be of no use in my case’?” Buffy argued. “What’s wrong with my case?”
Giles didn’t seem to hear her. He’d turned his full attention back to Kendra.
“Kendra, perhaps you could show me the bit in Dramius six abut the Order of Taraka,” he said delightedly. “I must admit, I could never get through that book.”
“Yes, it was difficult,” Kendra agreed. “All those footnotes!”
The two of them actually laughed. Buffy looked sideways at Willow.
“Hello and welcome to planet pocket protector,” she grumbled.
Kendra and Giles moved off, but Giles suddenly stopped, turning back to Buffy.
“Oh, Buffy. Principal Snyder came snooping around for you.”
“Eeee,” Buffy grimaced. “The Career Fair.”
“You’d best make an appearance, I think.”
“Right.”
Kendra looked curiously at Giles. “Buffy’s a student here?”
“Yes.”
Kendra paused, taking this in. Then cooly she added, “Right. Of course. I’d imagine she’s a cheerleader, too.”
“Actually, she gave up cheerleading,” Giles began to chuckle. “It’s a funny story, really . . .”
Kendra fixed him with a humorless stare, obviously not interested in or amused at Buffy’s wacky life. Giles quickly resumed his proper demeanor.
“Let’s go find that book,” he said. “Shall we?”
They headed off to the library.
Stunned, Buffy and Willow watched them go.
“Get a load of the She-Giles,” Buffy muttered.
“Creepy,” Willow agreed.
They both turned off in the other direction, moving out into the courtyard.
“I bet Giles wishes I were more of a fact geek,” Buffy mused unhappily.
Willow glanced at her with a smile. “Giles is enough of a fact geek for both of you.”
“But you saw how he and Kendra were vibing. ‘Volume six—ha, ha-ha!’”
“Buffy,” Willow said gently, “no one can replace you. You’ll always be Giles’s favorite.”
“I wonder . . .”
“Of course you will. You’re his Slayer. The real Slayer.”
“No,” Buffy said wistfully. “I mean, I wonder if it would be so bad. Being replaced.”
“You mean, like letting Kendra take over?” Willow sounded shocked.
“Maybe. It would be wild if, after this thing with Spike and the assassins is over, I could say ‘Kendra, you slay. I’m going to Disneyland.’”
Willow hesitated. “But not forever, right?”
“No.” Buffy cast her a teasing look. “Disneyland would get boring after a few months. But I could do . . . other stuff. Any stuff. Career Day stuff. Who knows, Willow, I might even be able to have, like, a normal life.”
She sounded hopeful as she said it.
Too bad she didn’t feel that way.
CHAPTER 16
Cordelia couldn’t stop pacing.
As Xander sat glumly in a chair, she walked back and forth across the cellar floor, arms clamped about her chest, nerves ready to explode.
“Think you could sit down or change your pattern or something?” Xander asked sarcastically. “You’re making me queasy.”
“Because you’re just sitting there.” Cordelia turned on him. “You should be thinking up a plan.”
“I do have a plan. We wait. Buffy saves us.”
“How will she even know where to find us?”
Xander gave a deep sigh. “Cordelia. This is Buffy’s house. Odds are she’ll find us.”
“What if she doesn’t?” Cordelia burst out. “I’m supposed to just waste away down here with you? No, thank you.”
She moved quickly toward the stairs. Xander leapt up.
“What are you doing?” he demanded.
“Checking to see if he’s gone—”
“That’s brilliant. What if he isn’t?”
Cordelia’s eyes were blazing. “Oh, right. You think we should just slack here and hope that somebody else decides to be a hero. Sorry, I forgot I was stranded with a loser—”
“And yet,” Xander broke in, “I never forgot that I was stuck with the numb-brain who let Mr. Mutant into the house in the first place!”
“He looked normal!” Cordelia shouted.
“What—he was supposed to have an arrow and the word assassin over his head?” Xander shouted back. “All it took was the prospect of a free makeover and you licked his hand like a big, dumb dog!”
“You know what?” Cordelia’s voice lowered now, icy cold. “I’m gone. I’d rather be worm food than look at your pathetic face—”
“Then go. I won’t stop you.”
With tempers flaring, Xander and Cordelia moved closer. They were standing toe to toe now, their faces only inches apart, and both of them were seething.
“I bet you wouldn’t,” Cordelia threw back at him. “I bet you’d just let a girl go off to her doom all by herself—”
“Not just any gir
l.” Xander was deliberately patronizing. “You’re special.”
“I can’t believe I’m stuck here spending what are probably my last moments on earth with you!”
“I hope these are my last moments! Three more seconds of you and I’m gonna—”
“You’re gonna what?” Cordelia challenged him. “Coward!”
“Moron!”
“I hate you!”
“I hate you!”
Furiously they paused, emotions out of control.
Then they grabbed each other wildly and began to kiss.
Bodies clinging, lips burning, they kissed with reckless passion, as neither had ever kissed before. The room seemed to vibrate around them, the floor seemed to shake. They kissed without stopping, without coming up for air. They kissed desperately . . . on and on and on.
At long last they broke apart.
And then they leapt apart, as if they had been electrocuted.
For a long moment they stared at each other.
“We so need to get out of here,” Xander said, heading for the stairs.
Without hesitation, Cordelia bounded up the stairs and ripped the tape from the door.
“He’s gone,” she announced thankfully, and they bolted.
They managed to make it through the kitchen. But as Cordelia followed Xander into the dining room, hundreds of worms suddenly rained down on them from above. Shrieking, Cordelia raced out the front door and into the yard. She was covered with worms, and Xander ran up to her, trying to brush them off.
“Help!” Cordelia screamed. “Help me!”
Xander dashed to a nearby garden hose. He turned the pressure up as far as it would go, and then he aimed it straight at Cordelia.
This time she shrieked even louder. As the water hit her full force, she flailed her arms and hopped around, her clothes and hair hopelessly soaked. But the tactic worked—as the last of the worms washed away, Xander shut off the hose and hurried Cordelia to her car.
CHAPTER 17
Buffy and Willow stood in the school lounge amid the hubbub of Career Week. The two of them were looking at a large schedule of events that had been posted on the wall.
“Okay,” Buffy sighed. “My tests say I should be looking into law enforcement—duh—and environmental design.”
“Environmental design?” Willow raised an eyebrow. “That’s landscaping, right?”
Buffy shrugged. “I checked the shrub box. Landscaping was yesterday—so law it is.”
They began shouldering their way through the noisy crowd. As Buffy looked around, she suddenly noticed a familiar face—the guy she’d attacked in the hallway recently. She noticed that his hair had changed color, from light to dark, and she noticed that he was watching them—and she especially noticed that he was staring at Willow.
“Don’t look now, Will,” Buffy informed her, “but that guy over there is totally checking you.”
Willow followed Buffy’s gaze across the room. “Oh,” she said casually. “That’s Oz. He’s just expressing computer nerd solidarity.”
“Really? Then why is he on his way over?”
Oz was indeed coming toward them now. With eyes that were only for Willow.
“Hi,” he said.
Buffy smiled and kept moving. “Told you.”
She headed over toward the Law Enforcement booth, leaving Willow and Oz alone.
“Hey,” Oz said.
“Hey.” Willow studied him for a moment, then added, “Your hair. It’s brown.”
“Sometimes,” Oz acknowledged. “Did you decide? Are you gonna become a corporate computer suit guy?”
Willow looked amused. “Uh, I think I’m gonna finish high school first. What about you?”
“I’m not really a computer person,” Oz admitted. “Or a work of any kind person.”
“Then why’d they select you?”
Oz shrugged his shoulders. “I sort of test well. Which is cool, except then it leads to jobs.”
“Well, don’t you have some ambition?”
“Oh, yeah,” he answered seriously. “E flat, diminished ninth.”
“Huh?
Oz patiently tried to explain. “The E flat’s doable, but it’s that diminished ninth . . . that’s a man’s chord.” He tried to look serious. “You could lose a finger.”
He smiled at her. Willow smiled back, not quite sure what to make of him.
At the other end of the area, Buffy had stopped at the Law Enforcement booth. The same stern policewoman was still there, and she gave Buffy a curt nod, handing her a sign-in sheet. Obligingly, Buffy added her name. The policewoman took the paper.
“Listen up,” the officer ordered, “and answer when I call your name!”
Buffy and several other seminar attendees gathered around.
“Buffy Summers!” Police Lady bellowed.
“Here.”
In one swift movement, the officer drew a gun and aimed it at Buffy’s head.
Buffy dove for cover as shots rang out through the room
“Get down!” Buffy shouted.
Utter panic broke loose. As the policewoman fired again, people screamed and scattered. Bullets flew everywhere, ricocheting off walls, whining through the air.
“Look out!” Oz yelled.
Flinging himself over Willow, he knocked her to the floor. Almost at once he felt a hot, searing pain as a bullet grazed his arm. The two of them landed hard. Oz lay on top of Willow, bleeding.
Buffy tried to maneuver through the chaos. Keeping close to the floor, she crawled up behind Police Lady, grabbed her legs out from under her, and knocked her down. The two of them wrestled viciously. At last Buffy managed to twist the gun from her hand and toss it away.
The policewoman drew another gun. She pointed it right at Buffy’s forehead.
Before either of them could react, a foot came down on Police Lady’s hand, kicking the gun out of reach. Buffy looked up to see Kendra towering over them, her face cold with determination. Taking advantage of the distraction, Buffy immediately began pounding the officer’s face.
The policewoman twisted free. Throwing Buffy off, she grabbed a student before anyone could stop her. She pointed the gun at his chest and slowly began to back up.
“Don’t!” Buffy cried.
With her hostage in tow, Police Lady continued on through the lounge. Reaching the door at last, she tossed the student to the floor and beat a hasty retreat.
Kendra took out after her while Buffy ran over to Willow and Oz. Willow looked pale and shaken, and Oz was sitting next to her, one hand pressed to his wound.
“He’s . . . he’s shot,” Willow stammered. She looked over at him, her voice trembling. “Are you okay?”
“I’m shot,” Oz said. Buffy could hear a tremor in his voice just beneath the calm. He paused a moment, then looked mildly incredulous. “I’m shot. Wow. It’s very . . . odd. And painful.”
Kendra ran back into the room. Spying Buffy, she quickly came over.
“She’s gone,” Kendra announced.
Slowly people began emerging from their hiding places. Everyone looked dazed. The unfortunate hostage walked over to Buffy in total bewilderment.
“Was—was that a demonstration?” he asked.
CHAPTER 18
“She was definitely one of the Taraka gang, Giles. And way gun happy.”
Buffy sounded solemn as she recounted this latest calamity. In fact, the four of them had gathered in the library afterward for a detailed post-siege analysis.
“And this Oz,” Giles said worriedly to Willow, “he’s all right?”
Willow managed a shaky smile. “The paramedic said it was only a scrape, thank goodness—”
She broke off as Xander and a very wet Cordelia trudged in. Both of them seemed agitated and upset; Cordelia was close to hysteria.
Buffy glanced at Kendra. “Down, girl,” she warned before Kendra could attack.
But Kendra was totally rooted in place. And gazing at Xander like a deer caught in
headlights.
“Who sponsored Career Day today?” Xander dead-panned. “The British Soccer Fan Association?”
Giles sounded weary. “We had a rather violent visit from one of the Order of Taraka.”
“You want to talk Order of Taraka?” Xander shot back at him. “We met the king freak of the Order of—”
He stopped talking. He stared at Kendra.
“Forgive me.” Giles remembered his manners. “Xander, Cordelia, this is Kendra. It’s very complicated, but she is also a Slayer.”
Cordelia wasn’t the least bit fazed by this news. She barely even glanced at Kendra as she passed her and sat down. “Hi,” Cordelia flashed a thin smile. “Nice to meet you.”
“A Slayer?” Xander turned to Buffy with a knowing wink. “I knew this ‘I’m the only one, I’m the only one’ thing was just an attention getter.”
“Just say hello, Xander,” Buffy sighed.
But Xander was staring at Kendra now. Totally captivated, he moved next to her, but Kendra immediately lowered her eyes to the floor. She looked strangely ill at ease and completely mortified by his attention.
“Welcome,” Xander greeted her. “So you’re a Slayer, huh? I like that in a woman.”
Kendra’s eyes were fixed on her shoes. Buffy could see that she was totally flustered.
“I—I hope . . .” Kendra stammered. She took a breath and tried again. “I thank you. I mean, sir . . . I will be of service.”
Xander paused. He looked questioningly at Buffy, who only shrugged.
“Good,” Xander said, backing away again. “Great. It’s good to be a giver.”
Giles was deep in thought. He steered the conversation back to the important matter at hand.
“This assassin you encountered, Xander. What did he look like?”
Before Xander could answer, Cordelia let out a shriek. She jumped up, beating at her hair, then shrieked again as a dead worm fell out and landed on an open book.
“Like that,” Xander said.
Cordelia’s voice was shrill and shaky. “That’s it! I’m showering.” She turned abruptly and marched from the room, while Buffy eyed Xander with interest.
“You and bug people, Xander.” Buffy looked almost amused. “What’s up with that?”
“But this dude was different than the preying mantis lady,” Xander insisted, thinking of their “substitute” science teacher from last semester. “He was a man of bugs. Not a man who was a bug.” He slammed the book shut as if that explained everything.
THE ANGEL CHRONICLES, Vol. 2 Page 12