~Chapter 3~
Buffy knocked on Jessie's bedroom door. No reply came from within, only the muffled
sound of the Goo-Goo Dolls' "Slide" coming from Jessie's CD player.
"Jessie? Are you in there?" Buffy opened the door and entered. The room
was quite normal for a 14 year-old's: the occasional piece of clothing on the floor,
a backpack lay unopen on a heap of magazines, a CD player rested at the foot of a
small bedside table littered with CD cases, pieces of paper, a glass, an alarm clock
and kleenexs. On the single bed against the wall was draped an open sleeping bag,
and on the wall are assorted photos, of celebraties and photographs of the young
slayer and her friends. "Jessie, where are you?" From under the blankets
came a small shift of movement. From the side, a hand fell out and felt it's way
to the CD player, which then pressed a button and the guitar intro for "Iris"
came through the speakers.
"Come on, what's wrong?" Buffy walked to the bed, sat down and rolled back
the covers. Jessie layed on her back, a book covering her face.
"I hate my life," Jessie replied, picking up the book and sitting up. "I
didn't do any of that! Okay, I may have started a catfight with Clarissa in the washroom,
but that was because she started that rumor that I lived on the street. I get grounded
for something a vampire did. Typical..."
"At least you didn't get nailed for anything major. Listen, if we find that
vamp out there when we go patrolling next week, you can kill her." Buffy smiled
at her cousin. Jessie's face didn't change.
"But I can't stand by and let her walk around impersonating me! What if Zac
invites her in, thinking it's me, and she kills him?" Jessie sighed fustratedly
and layed back down.Buffy thought for a few seconds, then came up with an idea.
"You can sneak out. I'll tell mom that you're asleep and not to bother you.
I do it all the time." Jessie looked at her, her eyebrows creased together.
"That's so crazy it might work. Ooh..slaying with Zac..."
"You're crushing majorly."
"Am not!"
"Fantasizing about doing stuff, even slaying, with a guy is sign of crushing.
He likes you too, I heard him and his friend talking about it." Jessie blushed
lightly.
"Really?"
"Yep."
"I'll make it up to ya, remind me to." Jessie got up, actually smiling,
and walked to her closet.
"You'd better .I think I'm going to go see what Angel's up to."
Buffy said, heading for the door.
"But...Aunt Joyce..."
"I'll leave a note saying we're asleep and don't want to be bothered,"
Buffy replied. The slayers smiled at each other and Buffy walked out.
"I love having a slayer for a cousin!" Jessie slipped a fresh t-shirt and
a pair of jeans on, grabbed her slayer supplies and her roller blades and walked
out the door.
~Chapter 4~
"Zac! Hey, you made it," Jessie called as her friend skated up. "You
brought your blades, too. Coolness."
"Yeah, my mom gave me your message. So it's just us? Slaying?"
"Yeah. I wanna show you how to do it. Come on, let's go. There's probably some
newly risin newbies around here." Jessie waved towards the cemetery to their
right, handed him a cross and a stake, and the two bladed towards the tombstones.
* * *
"I guess I was wrong," Jessie said as they exited their third cemetery.
"I thought slaying was more exciting than this," Zac said, stopping.
"It is. When there's stuff to slay." Jessie gazed around the surrounding
area and saw a shadow move into the cemetery.
"Did I just see something?" Zac asked, starting to head towards the gate.
"Oh yeah. It is about to pick up." Jessie rolled ahead of him, pulling
out a stake and went up to the open gate where the shadow had gone through. "Come
on," she whispered to Zac, he followed her in and the two began looking around.
"Hello? You'd better not be Mardelnina."
Another shadow moved against the wall, sending Jessie into a crouch. A foot swung
out and hit Jessie in the chin. The slayer was knocked off balance, and a shadow
sprung forward, grabbed Zac and put a stake to his heart.
"One move and your boyfriend's dust!"
"What the hell are you talking about?!" Jessie hissed, getting up. She
grabbed a cross from her pocket and held it up. The person didn't budge. "Come
on. You can hold out for long."
The figure just stood there, stake poised above Zac's heart, not twitching.
"Jessie? Please stake her. This is very uncomfortable."
"Jessie?" repeated the figure behind him.
"Yeah, what's it to ya?" The figure let Zac go and eased her stance, walking
over to Jessie. From the streetlamp beside the cemetery, Jessie could see the person's
face.
"Cory?"
~Chapter 5~
"Jessie?" the dark red-haired girl in front of her asked in reply. They
smiled at each other and the friends wrapped each other in a tight hug.
"Oh my God!" Jessie proclaimed, then she turned serious. "What the
hell are you doing here?!"
"Iris sent me. Plus you're my best friend. I missed you." They smiled again
at each other, when Cory's eyes travelled behind them. "Look out!" Jessie
spun around and was met with by a powerful back-hand. Her coordination returned,
and getting a first look at her attacker, she gasped loudly. The demon in front of
them back-handed her with the other hand and grabbed her by the neck, pulling her
to him.
"What, you're not happy to see me again?" he whispered. Jessie felt his
fangs graze her neck.
Jessie gasped softly as his teeth caught gently on her skin. The vampire looked up
at the other two and drew back his lips. He licked the front of his teeth and started
to go in for a bite,when Zac's arm came up, grasping a cross. The vampire jumped
back,letting the slayer go. He chuckled evilly and said lowly at the three, "I've
got to get going. Say hi to Buffy for me, Jessie." He chuckled again and turned,
slinking back into the shadows.
"Wha-what the hell was that?!" Jessie gasped.
"A vampire?"
"Duh,Cory."
"Didn't he look like...Angel?" Zac asked. Jessie looked at him and behind
her into the darkness.
"Come on, Buffy and Giles need to know about this.Cory, got your board or your
blades?"
"My board."
"Let's go. Stay close to us," Jessie told her friend. She and Zac rolled
out of the cemetery ,soon followed by Cory on her skateboard.