Destiny Lost

Prequel: The Halloween Incident

Authors: carynsilver and Sonya

E-mail: carynsilver@yahoo.com or sonyajeb@swbell.net

Rating: PG-13

Category: AU, action/adventure

Summary: This is a prequel to our epic saga "In the Space of a Heartbeat," which is a story about what would happen if Buffy did not get the Slayer Powers in L.A. in 1996. Xander was forced (by circumstances too lengthy to be explained in a mere note) to take on the duties of a Pseudo-Slayer, and this is the story of his first solo night on the job. The Halloween Incident was mentioned a couple of times in ISOH.

Disclaimer: We do not own Buffy or any of the original characters or ideas from the show. They all belong to Joss, Mutant Enemy, etc. All we own is our own creative genius (unless that's too strong a word :) and any characters we make up.

Spoilers: Basic BtVS mythology and vampire/slayer lore

Author's Note: This story takes place at the time of the Season 2 BtVS episode, “Halloween.” However, in our AU, things unfold differently in the currently-Buffy-less Sunnydale. Reading ISOH before reading this prequel is highly recommended.

HOW THE GRINCH STOLE... HALLOWEEN???

Ethan Rayne hated Sunnydale. Actually, he hated California, period. It was just too damn cheerful in this place. Sun shining, birds singing ... it was enough to make a man sick to his stomach! Heck, even when the temperature took a random and unusual nosedive, it still did it in a pretty way. It was irksome. Scowling, Ethan wondered again why he was here, being forced to endure Sunnydale's oh-so-cheerful facade. As he walked into his newly acquired shop, full of many different exotic costumes and fabrics, he grinned evilly. He was here to shake things up a bit in this hellhole of a town. And pay a visit to an old friend.

Ethan pulled an old, faded photograph out of his jacket pocket and stared at it for a long moment. It was a picture of a group of young men and women, all smiling at the camera. And in the center of the photo, a pair of young men stood with goofy grins on their faces. One of the men was obviously Ethan when he was still a pup. The other was a brash looking young man with a devilish gleam in his eyes. "Ripper," Ethan murmured, "Long time no see, old chap."

As Ethan was walking through his store, running his fingers absently over the fabrics of his "specially modified" costumes, he heard the soft fall of footsteps behind him. He whirled around, eyes scanning the darkness warily, and finally gave up when he could find nothing suspicious. "Silly old man, yer jumpin' at shadows!" he muttered to himself.

Suddenly, hands reached out and grabbed him, quickly pulling a sack over his head and tying his hands behind him. Ethan tried to struggle, but they simply gave him a dazing blow across the back of the head and he sagged in their arms, almost losing consciousness completely. As his assailants drug him away, he briefly wondered why they didn't seem to be heading in the direction of the door. Then his questions were answered when he heard the loud scraping sound of a grate being moved off of the ground and he felt himself being lowered down through the hole in the floor. They were using the sewers to kidnap him. Those who had to travel by sewers during the daytime were beings that one didn't want to mess with. Ethan was getting a really bad feeling about this...

STAKING A VAMPIRE IN 10 EASY STEPS!

The wind was unusually cold for southern California, but then Sunnydale was nothing if not unusual. Xander Harris clenched his leather jacket tighter, and he could feel an ample supply of wooden stakes pressing into his ribs.

"You OK?"

Xander looked over at his patrolling partner, Angel, the vampire with a soul. Xander liked Angel all right, but it irked him to have to have a partner. However, Giles and Sonya didn't think he could handle patrolling alone, even after four months of training.

"Just cold," Xander replied brusquely.

They continued walking in silence. In fact, all Xander could hear was the graveyard grass crunching under his feet and his heart beating in his ears. His eyes slid over to Angel again. The moody vampire was even more silent than usual tonight. Xander wondered what was going on. Well, there wasn't any other way to know but to ask.

"You OK?" He repeated Angel's question from earlier.

"Fine." The vampire's tone was short and clipped, signaling that he didn't want to talk about it.

That made Xander even more curious - and curiosity kept his mind off the late October chill. "Did something happen the other night? I heard Giles and Sonya talking about something, but they wouldn't tell me. They never tell me anything." He tried to keep a whine out of his voice. Slayers, pseudo or not, did not whine.

"I dusted Drusilla last night."

Xander turned and stared at Angel. With his eyes on the vampire instead of the ground at his feet, he stumbled and careened into a tombstone. Xander looked down and muttered, "Sorry, Mr. Johnson," to the headstone, regained his footing and then addressed Angel again. "Just like that? You staked one of the three worst vamps in Sunnydale? And no one thought to tell ME about it?"

Angel shrugged. "I'm telling you now." When Xander made no more comments, Angel continued. "I got this anonymous message to go to the park at midnight. When I got there, Dru was about to make lunch out of this little kid. What other choice was there?"

"I'm not saying it was a bad thing!" Xander protested. "It's a BIG thing! What about Spike?"

"I don't know how he knew, but he came running up right as the stake went through her heart. He cried. Then he vowed revenge."

"You worried?"

"It's Spike," Angel said matter-of-factly.

"That's true." Xander nodded. "Anything Spike does is a reason to worry."

Abruptly, Angel changed the subject. "I'm going out of town for a few days. You'll have to handle things without me."

Xander's worried expression changed to excitement, then back to worry. "Have you told Giles about this?"

"Yeah. He said this was the best time."

"Right before Halloween?"

"Halloween is actually a pretty slow time slaying-wise." Angel shrugged. "Vampires tend to stay in. It's just too hokey for them. I'm sure you'll be able to handle it."

Xander nodded, hoping to convince both of them. "Yeah, I can. It's what I've trained for." For just a second he allowed himself to have doubts, then he pushed the uncomfortable thoughts into the back of his mind, as he'd done with every negative thought he'd had since pulling Sonya out of the Master's destroyed lair. He would do it because he had to.

BLONDS REALLY DO HAVE MORE FUN!

Spike paced around his hidden lair. Willow had already set up shop in the factory, taking every pain to erase Dru's presence there. If it were anyone else's place Willow was usurping, Spike would have been proud. After all, Willow was a decent vampire -cruel enough to have fun, beautiful enough to enjoying looking at and smart enough to know what chances should be taken, and what chances shouldn't be. But right now it hurt too much to see the red head reigning as queen in what should have been his Dru's spot.

After removing himself from the factory, Spike had found a new hidey-hole on the other side of town and recruited a few minions. The blokes were trustworthy and strong, but none too bright most of the time. That was just the way Spike liked it - he didn't need minions who were smart enough to mutiny on him. But now they were late. He'd sent them on their mission hours ago, through the sewer tunnels, when it was still light outside.

Just then he heard the noise of footsteps approaching. The door to his basement opened and five large vampires strolled in. The biggest one held a bound man with a sack covering his face.

"Where the bloody hell have ya been?" Spike demanded. "I've been waitin' for hours!"

The big vamp dropped the prisoner to the cement floor. The man groaned. Then the vampire said, "We stopped off to eat on the way back."

Spike glared, letting his true nature show on his face. He reached up and grabbed the big vamp by the collar. His voice echoed around the room when he spoke. "Eat on yer own time from now on!"

The big vamp, Jonas, looked properly penitent, so Spike let him go. Then he turned his attention to the prisoner. Spike ripped the bag away to reveal a very frightened Ethan.

"Mr. Rayne," Spike said with a grand gesture, "welcome to my humble abode."

Ethan glared at the vampire. "I'd feel much more welcome if you'd put your fangs away."

Spike laughed outright at that. His first laugh since the tragedy. The ridges on his forehead dissolved, the fangs retracted and his eyes lost their demonic glow as his human visage re-emerged. "I like you, Ethan... may I call you Ethan?"

"Do I have a choice?" Ethan muttered.

"Not really." Spike strolled around, keeping his eyes fixed on the prisoner. "I have a proposition for you. You're known as a man who gets things done in the world of witchcraft. Normally, I wouldn't touch a spell with a ten-foot stake, but this time there are special circumstances. I need your help, and I intend to get it."

"And if I refuse..." Ethan's words trailed off into the air.

Spike looked serious. "Then you die."

Ethan made a show of thinking the matter over. "Death, or work... Hmm... I suppose this means I'm working for you. William the Bloody, isn't it?"

"Good memory," Spike replied. "But nowadays I go by Spike."

"How poetic..." Ethan sighed. "So, what is this spell you want me to cast?"

"We're going to raise the dead."

BAD THINGS ALWAYS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE

The bell rang, and Xander's heart sank. He was going to be late for class-again! He burst through the front doors and ran down the hall toward Mrs. Jacob's classroom. Then he ran smack into someone else. Books and papers went flying everywhere.

"You jerk!" Cordelia Chase cried. "Now I'm going to be late for class."

Xander paused from picking up their stuff and raised an eyebrow. "News flash, Chase, you're already late."

"Yes, but Mr. Flanders wouldn't have marked me tardy if I got there two seconds late." Cordelia gave him an arch look. "He likes me."

Biting back a comment about old men lusting after buxom, young schoolgirls, Xander just handed her back her things. Then he turned to see Principal Snyder glaring at them in all his dwarfly majesty. For a brief second, Xander wished they had Principal Flutie back, but all the weird occurrences at the school had driven the man to a nervous breakdown. Now they were stuck with this miserable little troll.

"Mr. Harris, Ms. Chase, didn't feel like you needed to be in class on time today?" Snyder asked, bringing Xander back from his reflections.

"I meant to be on time," Cordelia started, "but this oaf ran into me and..."

Snyder didn't really care. "You've both got too many tardies on your record," he began.

Cordelia interrupted him. "I don't have any tardies, sir. Ask Mr. Flanders!"

Snyder impaled her with a look of loathing. "Just because Mr. Flanders falls prey to a pretty face, doesn't mean that I don't know the truth. I have eyes everywhere, Ms. Chase." His black gaze fell on Xander. "And you, Mr. Harris, are tardy almost more than you are present. Quite a shocking lack of protocol if you ask me."

Xander wanted to tell the man where he could stick his protocol, but, again, he refrained.

"Now then," Snyder said, looking pleased with himself. "What can we do to make this right?" He pretended to think about it, but Xander had the sinking feeling that the principal had already written their detention slips.

"I need two more volunteers to chaperone the community children while they're trick-or-treating tonight. It's a service that you students can perform for the town that supports you." Snyder waited expectantly.

"We have to do it tonight?" Cordelia asked petulantly.

"Unless you'd rather have a month of detention," Snyder replied.

Xander's heart sank. How was he going to patrol tonight while babysitting a group of mewling kids? But he couldn't have a month's detention. That would derail training schedules. Finally, he said, "I'm in."

"Me, too." Cordelia sighed a long-suffering sigh.

Snyder grinned maliciously. "Meet in the cafeteria at 5:30 p.m. sharp. Don't be late. You two will have to distribute name tags and candy bags to your group."

Cordelia and Xander looked at each other in horror. "Our group?" they chorused.

"Yes," Snyder answered, his smile growing with each word. "You have the large group. The one with all the problem children. I'm sure you'll do fine. You, at least, Mr. Harris, will find quite a lot in common with the little delinquents, I'm sure."

IMPERSONATING ADRIAN PAUL

"You have to do what?" Sonya Parker demanded loudly, glaring at Xander from her wheelchair.

Xander sat on the reading table in the library, swinging his feet back and forth. "I told you, Snyder's making me and Cordy drag a bunch of kids around trick-or-treating. Community service, or detention - I had to pick."

Rupert Giles - Watcher, adult confidant, and librarian extraordinaire - sighed, but didn't reprimand Xander, for which Xander was glad. "Xander made the right choice. The trick-or-treating is supposed to be over not long after sundown. Then he will be free to patrol."

Sonya's eyes flashed with anger and frustration. "You could have stood up to the little twerp, Harris."

"Yeah, Parker," Xander returned hotly, "then I would have gotten detention and community service! I'm sure that would have really helped the cause."

"Whatever!" Sonya retorted defensively.

Xander thought about a snappy comeback, but decided against it. He didn't want to damage the fragile friendship they had been building ever since her accident. When Sonya wasn't in one of her manic-depressive moods, he actually liked her a lot, and she seemed to like him then, too. And her bitterness was understandable, if not enjoyable. Xander hoped that Giles could succeed in curing her paralysis soon - maybe even tonight while he was gone. The injured Slayer and the Watcher had a night of research planned.

"So," Xander said, changing the subject, "any tips for my first night of slaying solo?"

"Yeah," Sonya replied, "watch your back. You're still too slow. If more than one or two vamps charge you, you'll probably be demon-food."

"Gee, thanks," Xander replied, a little hurt but covering it with a nonchalant attitude and sarcasm.

"Sonya," Giles interjected, "be reasonable. Xander is doing well for a non-Slayer. Even you have to admit how far he's come."

"Whatever," Sonya said again, but this time with grudging acceptance and respect in her voice.

"How are you for weapons?" Giles asked Xander. "You'll want to be armed to protect the children, even though it should be fairly quiet tonight."

"So I hear," Xander muttered. Then he addressed the question by pulling a black trench coat out of his backpack. "I borrowed this from Angel. I'm going as Highlander."

"Do Scots wear trench coats?" Giles asked, confused.

Xander rolled his eyes at the Brit's lack of knowledge about pop culture. "No, like the TV show. Ever hear of Adrian Paul?" At Giles' blank look, Xander explained more fully. "Basically, a Highlander is Immortal. And there's this game where they cut off each other's heads... Never mind. Let's just say the costume requires that I carry a sword, and there's plenty of room for stakes in the pockets of this coat."

"Oh," Giles said, "very good."

AT LEAST THIS TIME SHE'S NOT A RAT!

Amy Madison shook with fear. She'd been walking along, minding her own business, looking for a Halloween costume at the mall (for some reason the new costume shop in town was closed today of all days), when two scary looking guys grabbed her and knocked her over the head. When she woke up, she found herself strapped to a chair in a dark, dank basement surrounded by vampires and one human.

The existence of vampires was a surprise for Amy, but it didn't stun her like it would have most people. After all, when a girl wakes up one morning to find herself in her mother's body, not much else can shock her. Eventually, her mother's lust for greater magic power had driven the body-thief to try more dangerous spells. Somehow, Mr. Giles, the librarian, had found out and he and his lodger, Sonya, had banished Amy's mother back into her own body, and then arranged for the woman to be locked up in an insane asylum. Fitting, because so much unchecked magical power had driven the woman completely mad. After being placed back into her own body, Amy had vowed never to follow in her mother's footsteps. A magic-fried brain was nothing Amy wanted out of life.

But now Amy was at the mercy of a group of people she didn't know, and completely defenseless. For the first time in her life, Amy wished she had attempted to learn some of her mother's magic. Then at least she could have fought for her life.

When the human - the others called him Ethan, and he was obviously more proficient at magic than even her mother - spoke, it was in a cold, emotionless voice that scared her more than the vampires did. He obviously had no qualms about kidnapping her and holding her hostage, which made her wonder what else he was willing to do to her. Amy realized that letting her imagination run away with her wasn't wise when she needed to keep her wits about her. So she banished any fearful thoughts to the back of her mind and concentrated on with the man was saying.

"... name is Ethan Rayne and these ugly blokes are what is known as vampires. Feel free to scream your cute little head off now. We won't mind."

Amy remained silent and just stared at him, waiting to see what he would say or do next.

Ethan smiled cruelly. "That's a smart girl. I'm sure you've guessed by now that you're in a scream-all-you-like situation. No one will hear you down here. No one will come charging up on a white horse to rescue you, and you can just forget about ever escaping. It's not going to happen, girlie."

Amy rolled her eyes, trying to put up a brave front. "OK, I get it. I'll never escape. Now can we please get on with it?"

Ethan raised an eyebrow in a bemused fashion. "Get on with it?"

"Yeah, get on with it," Amy replied. "You know, the part when you tell me why you've kidnapped me and brought me all the way down here..."

Ethan didn't reply at first. After a long pause, he said simply, "I think you'd better ask him that question, my dear." Ethan gestured to a figure partially concealed in the shadows.

Amy squinted, trying to determine who the elusive person was, but to no avail. Finally, she couldn't be patient any longer and demanded, "Well?"

"You're goin' to become my lover."

The blond man walked out from the shadows and looked her up and down. Amy felt like a piece of meat. She wanted to tell him to get over himself, but her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth and she couldn't speak. All she managed was a tiny squeak.

"Don't worry your pretty little head about rape," the man said. "I meant what I said more literally. My lover died, and when we bring her back, she's going to use your body."

"Why me?" she managed to gasp.

Ethan took that question. "You have quite a bit of magic potential, young lady. I smelled it when I got to town. That will make it easier for Drusilla to stick in your body - she was quite accomplished in the dark arts during her un-life, as I understand it. And there's even a whiff of transfer-experience around you. Have you ever traded bodies with anyone before?"

Amy's mind flashed back to waking up in her mother's body that fateful morning. During that body switch, she'd been put into a different body when her mother's consciousness forced her out of her own. But this time, there was no body for her to go into. That was when she started screaming.

HERE KITTY, KITTY, KITTY...

Wearing Angel's trench coat and with Giles' best sword strapped to his waist, Xander made his way into the cafeteria. Cordelia, dressed as a cat no less, was already there standing near a group of at least a dozen elementary school kids of various ages. Catching a glare from Snyder, Xander made his way over to the group.

"It's about time," Cordelia complained.

"Yeah, yeah," Xander muttered, then he turned his attention to the kids. "Are you guys ready for candy?"

At the assorted grins and nods, Xander smiled and, seeing that the other groups were leaving, said, "Let's move out!"

He turned to lead the group out of the cafeteria, when he felt a sudden wetness on the back of his neck. He whipped around to see a cowboy holstering his watergun. Xander walked over to the cowboy, who seemed to be about 11, and made his voice as serious as possible.

"Never do that again."

The cowboy looked into Xander's eyes and saw something there that wasn't to be trifled with. The boy nodded and fell back into line. Xander put his smile back on and they all headed outside. As they made their way to the first house ripe for trick-or-treating, Xander squinted up at the sun. It would be dusk in less than half an hour.

WHY DON'T WE EVER GET ANY GOOD NEWS?

When the sun finally slipped below the horizon, Xander sighed in relief. He wouldn't have to deal with these little - what had Snyder termed them? - delinquents much longer. He'd stopped keeping count of how many had tried to run away, tried to intimidate other, smaller kids out of their candy, and other such things. The only prank that still made him laugh was each time one of them yanked Cordelia's tail. "Hey!" the statuesque brunette yelped again.

Forty-nine, Xander thought, grinning.

Seeing his grin, Cordelia whacked him on the chest.

"Oh, Xander..."

He stopped at the familiar voice. It took him a minute, but he located the source a few yards away - a very pale, red head standing under a tree. They can't even wait till I get the kids back to the school, can they?

"Hey," Cordelia said slowly, "she looks familiar..."

Xander grabbed Cordelia and turned her to face their kids. "Guys," he said, "treat Miss Cordy nice. I'll be right back." Then he jogged over to the tree, unable to stop a smile when Cordelia gave her famous tail-grabbed yelp for the fiftieth time.

But his smile vanished when he came face to face with the vampire under the tree. It still hurt to see her like this. "Hey, Will." The old nickname came out instinctively, making him face his loss once again. The twisting feeling in his heart echoed on his face, but Willow just smiled at him.

"What are you doing here anyway?" Xander mastered himself enough to ask. "I thought going out on Halloween was some kind of faux pas for vampires."

"It is," Willow agreed, "but I came to warn you."

"Warn me? Of what?" He didn't trust her as far as he could throw her - he didn't even trust her as far as a human-sized slingshot could throw her.

"Spike is trying to bring Drusilla back. You've got to stop him. You'll find him in the basement of a demolished house over by the high school." She handed him a slip of paper. "Here's the address."

Xander stared at the words scrawled on the paper in Willow's familiar handwriting. "Why should I believe anything you say? I'm not just going to walk into some trap."

Willow rolled her eyes. "You've always been dense, Xand." She stressed the nickname in an acidic tone. "Dru was fine and dandy when she was here. I was all right with being her handmaiden of sorts. But now she's gone, and I'm queen. Do you think I want to give that up?" She snorted derisively. "Yeah, right."

Xander pinned Willow with a dark, hooded gaze. "How would this even work? Vampires turn to dust when they die - she wasn't as powerful as the Master. She didn't leave bones."

"Of course," Willow replied, "that's why Spike arranged for a young witch to be kidnapped. You might remember her - Amy Madison."

Then Xander knew he would have to go, trap or not. He glanced back at his group to see what they were doing. Then he looked back and Willow was gone. Xander sighed and when Cordelia wasn't looking he slipped into the trees, hoping that she'd be able to get the kids back to the school on her own. He had work to do.

KIDDIE MEALS WITH LEGS

Nearby, Willow watched Xander go with a pleased smile. "Still easy to manipulate even after all this time. Nice to know I haven't lost my touch."

"Do you need anything else, mistress?"

She looked over at Jonas with a pleased smile. "No, you've done enough. But I'd stay clear of the basement for awhile."

"I think I'm going to grab a snack." Jonas looked covetously at the group of kids on the sidewalk.

Willow smacked Jonas on the head. "Don't do that!"

"Why not?"

"Xander's not far enough away yet. If he thinks there are threats elsewhere, he won't be able to stop Spikey's plan. Stay in tonight, and tomorrow I'll bring you a little one myself."

THE WAITING GAME

Spike sat in a hard, wooden chair in his basement. Ethan bustled about, preparing his magic supplies for the spell. There was an odd, little smile on the man's face that Spike didn't trust. He hated partnerships, but what other choice was there? The girl, Amy, had stopped screaming, and was following Ethan's movements with as much attention as Spike. The vampire looked her over, again marveling that such a suitable girl had been found on short notice. And once the annoying human-ness was gone from her nature, she would actually be quite attractive. Aside from Dru, he'd always had a thing for blondes. Spike envisioned what a pleasurable act it would be changing the girl into a vampire once Dru was safely inside her body.

"How much bloody longer, man?" Spike finally demanded.

"Calm down," Ethan replied with that same smile on his lips. "Magic takes time. If you rush me, you'll get a faulty spell. This is a revivification spell, of a sort, and contacting spirits gone on to the afterlife takes care."

Spike sighed and glared at Ethan. "I'm not comfortable at havin' to send the other vampires away, but don't think I can't take you down if you're messin' wi' me."

"Quit worrying," Ethan said. "I'm fairly fond of my own skin. Don't worry about that. And I told you, the more beings there are in the room, the more difficult the spell is. You do want Dru, don't you, and not some other random spirit?"

Seeing Ethan had the upper hand with all this spell stuff, Spike contented himself with a growl in the man's direction and sat back again to wait.

DIDN'T YOUR MOMMA EVER TELL YOU NOT TO PULL ON A CAT'S TAIL?

"Stop that, you little bast..." Cordelia bit off the last word as she yanked her tail back from a shrimpy goblin. She stared toward the trees where she'd last seen Xander and her lip curled back in an almost feline snarl. Where did that jerk get off leaving her with all these little horrors?

"All right!" she snapped. "We're going back to the school."

The children groaned.

Cordelia had no sympathy. "We're going back, and that's all there is to it." She turned back toward the school just as a yank pulled the tail of her costume completely off and a patch of wetness from the cowboy's water pistol dampened her fifty-dollar hairdo.

She screamed.

OUR WHITE KNIGHT ARRIVES ON THE SCENE

Xander found the place with relative ease. He looked around and saw only one entrance/exit. There were no vampires around. He briefly wondered why, and then he heard a scream.

"Amy!" he exclaimed. Unsheathing his sword he charged into the basement.

NO ONE EVER SAID RAISING THE DEAD WAS EASY

Spike stood when Ethan started a Latin chant. The man walked around gesturing and flinging a liquid concoction over his shoulder.

The chant went on long enough that Spike began to get bored. He walked toward Amy and ran a finger over her cheek.

"Soon, pet, you'll be mine again."

Then something in the chant made Spike whirl around. Ethan called upon "Grantoc." The word Drusilla had never crossed the man's lips.

"Wait just a bloody minute," Spike yelled. "Grantoc is a chaos demon! Even I know that!" He grabbed the passing man by his collar. "You're trying to double cross me!"

Ethan laughed wildly. "It's too late."

Spike looked up and saw a huge, slimy, reptilian demon sliding toward him. Razor-sharp teeth lined a huge mouth. Behind Spike, Amy screamed.

"Next time you'll think twice before conscripting me against my will," Ethan yelled, as he wrenched himself free of Spike's grasp. "And for your information, even I am not strong enough with magic to raise the dead." With that last blow to Spike's most cherished hope, Ethan scurried for the door and disappeared.

Spike looked around for a weapon, and found an old pipe that must've belonged to a washing machine. He grabbed it up and began to pummel the demon right in its slimy face. The demon didn't react well to the blow, and actually swelled and glowed with rage.

GET THAT SQUIGGLY THING AWAY FROM ME!

A man came running out of the basement just as Xander ran in. The Pseudo-Slayer gave the man a cursory glance, decided he was no one of consequence, and hurried on toward the sound of screaming.

Pausing at the door, Xander peered in and gauged the situation. Spike was beating a huge demon with a pipe, inadvertently defending the tied-up Amy. Xander pulled the sword from its sheath and charged into battle. With the advantage of surprise, Xander got several good, plunging strokes into the demon's back. Putrid green liquid began to ooze out of the wounds, and the demon screamed in pain.

The demon turned and slithered wildly toward the door, pulling Xander with it until he let go of the sword. Demon and sword went up, plunging into the street.

Xander and Spike stared at each other for a minute, then Xander commented, "Dru's looking a bit the worse for her stay in Hell."

"That bloody Ethan double crossed me. The next time I see him, I'm going to make a wreath of his intestines and hang it on my door." Spike dropped the pipe on the floor with a clatter and headed for the exit.

"Aren't you going to help me stop the demon you unleashed on Sunnydale?" Xander demanded.

Spike kept walking. "Ethan released it, not me. Not my problem." And with that he was gone.

Xander swore under his breath and made his way to Amy's side. He pulled out his boot knife and slit the ropes that bound her. She stood up gratefully.

"Thank you so much, Xander. Is there anything I can do to help?"

He shook his head. "Go home. Get out of the line of fire."

Amy headed for the door, intent on following his advice, then she turned back. "How did you get the job of defender of the universe, anyway?"

"That's too long a story for now." He followed her up, and spotted the demon's ooze trail leading toward the high school. He pushed Amy in the other direction. "Get out of here!" She obeyed, and Xander took off at a run, hoping to head the demon off before it got to the kids.

I HOPE YOU'VE GOT INSURANCE...

Even wounded, the demon was fast. Xander was gasping when he reached the high school just a few yards behind it. It oozed over the curb, and started to head toward a group of kids walking into the school. With a part of his mind, Xander recognized Cordelia as the group's guardian, but the rest of him was intent on how to stop this thing. It was too massive for boot knives or stakes to be effective. Holy water and crosses probably wouldn't do anything either. Then his eyes landed on a sedate, black sedan parked with its nose pointed toward the demon. Snyder was just getting out of the car, staring with horror at the gloppy demon befouling his parking lot.

I know I'm going to regret this, Xander thought, but he did it anyway. He tackled Snyder, scooped up the principal's keys and slid into the car. After a brief second of fumbling for the right key, Xander started the ignition and floored the gas pedal, sending the car careening toward the demon with a loud screech.

Xander honked the horn, and Cordelia and the kids all ran for cover. The demon heard the noise, too, and paused in its sticky trail, turning its antennae toward the car. The demon might have been faster than Xander on foot, but it wasn't faster than a car doing 70 miles per hour. Xander felt the bump of impact, and suddenly his windshield was coated in green slime and demon guts. The windshield cracked and glass shards fell into his hair and clothing. But somehow the demon still wasn't quite dead. Xander could still hear it moaning.

That was his cue. Giving the car one last burst of gas, he opened the door and bailed out, rolling with the impact and gaining his feet as quickly as possible. He watched as the car, and the demon, hit the thick, brick wall surrounded the school. He felt the heat as the car caught fire, and heard the demon's last ditch screams. But the flames caught it, and it exploded in a mess of ooze and slime.

"I guess it didn't like fire any more than vamps do," Xander muttered, but there was no time for pondering the differences between various hell-spawn. Snyder walked over and clapped a hand on Xander's shoulder.

"You may have saved those kids from that rabid lion that escaped from the zoo, but you didn't have to destroy my car and deface school property to do it. You're going to have to pay for every single thing damaged, Mr. Harris."

Xander looked at Snyder incredulously. Even with the truth right in front of his face, the weasely little man wouldn't see it, or wouldn't admit it. Xander shook off the man's hand. "Why don't you tell those kids' parents how you're rewarding me for saving their lives?" He glanced over and saw Cordelia and the kids staring at them. They'd been joined by some parents and Giles and Sonya.

One woman rushed over and enveloped Xander in a hug. "You saved my little Chelsea from that..." she hesitated.

"Rabid lion," Snyder supplied with a glare of his own.

The woman just hugged Xander again. "The PTA will hear about this, young man, and I and the rest of the parents will see that you're honored for your bravery."

A father had walked over and added, "And I for one am going to chip in to pay for the damages. Nothing is too much to pay for the life of my son." The cowboy with the squirt gun was hovering nearby.

Snyder scowled darkly at the parents, and Xander grinned at him. Snyder came close to Xander, and on the pretense of shaking his hand, whispered, "You may have gotten off this time, but next time I have the excuse, your ass is mine."

HONEY, I'M HOME!

Spike wandered the streets alone. Depression threatened to overtake him. His Dru was lost to him forever. He'd lived for her for so long, taking care of his weak baby, that now he didn't know what to do with himself.

Searching for the traitorous Ethan Rayne had occupied him for a little while after the demon escaped, but a look through the costume shop showed that the man had left in a hurry. Where he'd gone, Spike had no idea, and though he wanted to tear the man's heart out and feel it beat its last, the vampire was too heartsick at the moment to contemplate a logical and rational search.

After that, he just wandered. A quick stroll by the high school - he was sure to keep to the shadows - showed him that the chaos demon was dead.

Thank the bloody heavens for that at least, Spike thought as he continued on his way.

After awhile, Spike pulled himself away from his inner torment and looked around, surprised to see that he was in front of the factory. Fate had given him another surprise. But maybe he would take the tricky lady up on this one.

He marched up to the front doors and barreled in past the sentries like he owned the place -which to an extent, he did. Spike walked straight into Willow's bedroom. He was glad that she'd taken the big room - not the cozy little nest that he'd shared with Dru.

Willow was there, primping at a dressing table. The large, wooden piece of furniture was a beautiful antique, perfect except for one thing - the big, round, beveled mirror had been removed. To a non-vampire, it would seem ludicrous to see her sitting there preening without a mirror. It made Spike smile.

"Hi, honey," he said without preamble, and with just the tiniest hint of sarcasm, "I'm home."

The red head with the luminous skin turned her head and gave him an arch look and a seductive smile with just a hint of cruel vampire fun to come. "Good."

WHAT ABOUT BOB?

When the adoring parents had finally taken their lucky children home to bed, Giles and Sonya whisked Xander back to their condo. Xander walked in, marveling once again that the Watcher and the Slayer could live here together and not get totally sick of each other. The huge stereo system and big TV clashed with the shelves and boxes of books that littered the room. Ramps and other aides had been constructed to allow Sonya complete access to the apartment, and the floors had been kept relatively free of clutter so as not to impede her chair.

Both the Watcher and the Slayer were gratifyingly complimentary of Xander's actions, though Sonya did chide him for picking Snyder's car, of all of them in the parking lot, to destroy.

"Now he's going to be on our backs every step of the way," she complained.

"Is that anything new?" Xander retorted, and she acknowledged the truth with a small smile.

Giles pushed Xander down into a comfy chair and made him a cup of bracing, hot tea. Xander didn't have the heart to tell the man that he couldn't stand tea, so he just took a few sips and said thank you.

"Overall, Xander, I must say I'm quite impressed at your first night," Giles said, settling himself into the desk chair. "You thought on your feet, and saved several lives. Good work."

Xander smiled, and then joked, "What happened to Halloween being quiet?"

"I guess no one told the demon," Sonya teased back.

Getting serious for a minute, Xander said, "You know this is going to be all over school by tomorrow. I mean, of all people, Cordelia witnessed it."

"And you blew up the principal's car," Sonya added. "That's bound to attract some attention."

"People on the Hellmouth have quite an aptitude for surprising the truth. Mayhap, Miss Chase won't remember anything."

Xander remembered the death glare Cordelia had given him after the whole incident, and sighed. "Somehow, I think that she's going to remember something. Even if it's the rabid lion. And I don't think she's going to tell the story with me in a very heroic light."

"Well, the parents think you're hero enough for everyone," Sonya remarked with a smirk.

"We'll see how long that lasts, too."

Before Xander could entirely retreat into pessimism, Giles said, "Here, Xander, I have something for you. I think you've proven that you're ready for it."

Xander looked up with interest to see Giles holding a small, wooden box. He took the box and just stared at it for a minute. "What is it?"

"Something my father gave to me when I took up my destiny." Giles gave the boy a small smile. "You may have chosen this path more so than others who take it, but you're still doing a good job."

The box opened without a problem, and Xander looked down at a finely cut stake. It had no ornamentation or anything cheesy like that, but its point was sharp and deadly. He took it out of the box and hefted it. It had the perfect weight and fit just right in his hand.

"Many vamps have seen the business end of that thing," Sonya remarked, looking at it fondly. "It was my favorite one. I hated to give it back to Giles, but I figured that the situation warranted it..."

Xander smiled, but then he had to break the moment with a joke. "Thanks you guys. This is great. I'm going to call him Bob."

"Bob?" Giles and Sonya chorused.

"He looks like a Bob!" Xander said in a mock-angry tone.

Sonya dissolved into laughter, and even Giles cracked a smile. Xander sat back, feeling the pleasure of a job well done. He'd been afraid of patrolling alone - he could admit that now - but now that the first time was over, he felt much more confident to do it again. Thinking of doing it again brought something else to Xander's mind. He broke through the laughter to ask, "Does anyone know when Angel is coming back?"

WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN

Angel walked up the street in the happy, normal-looking suburb of Los Angeles. It was a bit late for trick-or-treating, but a few porch lights remained on just in case of a straggler or two. The vampire paused in front of a house that looked remarkably like the rest on the street - curtains in all the widows, trim siding, a neat lawn with well-groomed bushes. Only one thing stood out, marking the house he sought - a homemade ramp that covered the front steps.

He moved closer, careful to stay out of the glow of the porch light. Angel didn't know why he was doing this. It shouldn't matter, but it did. He couldn't seem to stop himself. When she'd been in the hospital and the rehab clinic, it had been easier. A simple phone call from a 'relative' and information was almost always given to him. But now that she was home...

A cute sign on the mailbox read "Summers" in yellow, curlicue letters. Angel caressed it with his hand. Then he leaned to the side and peeked in the window. He could see her mother sitting on the couch, talking. Angel assumed the woman was talking to her.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of laughing children behind him. He jumped off the porch, and hurried to the relative security of the shadows beneath the large tree in the front yard. Several kids, older than most trick-or-treaters, trotted up to the porch and rang the doorbell. Probably junior high kids, Angel assumed, out to get the leftovers now that the young ones had gone home.

But Angel's attention was distracted when the door swung open to reveal a blonde with a big bowl of candy. Her hair was pulled back from her face with two clips, and she wore no costume, not even make up. She smiled as she handed the kids several pieces of candy each. The kids left with happy smiles, and Angel's soul was buoyant as well, until she stumbled taking a step back inside. The porch light glinted off something metallic on her legs. Her expression looked a bit pained as she stepped back more carefully and shut the door.

Angel looked at the door for a moment longer, and then turned to go home. "Good night, Buffy."

The End